Belief in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior is the first step in God's plan of salvation.
Belief is the first step toward salvation, not the end of it, as some people will have you believe. Remember, the Lord spoke about being the door that we go through for salvation, and also the path that we stay on. (the only door, and a narrow path, or way). So, if the demons have knowledge of Christ (as the verses below will show) what separates your belief from those of the demons destined for hell??
First, let me give you some scripture to prayerfully consider:
Jam 2:19 You believe that God is One. You do well; even the demons believe and shudder.
24 saying, What have we to do with thee, Jesus thou Nazarene? Art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God.
Mar 5:6-7 And seeing Jesus from afar, he ran and bowed the knee to Him. 7 And crying with a loud voice, he said, what is to me and to You, Jesus, Son of the most high God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me.
You who believe that it is simply enough to know that Jesus is Lord, and that he died for the sins of the world, do you not see the folly of your thoughts? The demons all knew who Jesus was, personally knew Him! After all;
“All things came into being through Him, and without Him not even one thing came into being that has come into being”. - John 1:3
Jesus is the creator of all things, and that would include the angels before the fall. The demons had a previous intimate knowledge of Christ that we cannot even possess at this point, and they lost their “first estate” ;
Jude 1:6 And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.
(Much of the book of Jude speaks to those, men and angels, old testament and new, who have walked with God at one point, and then began to walk after the desires of their own flesh.)
Do you still think that knowledge of Christ is still enough to save you?
In the above verses, Christ had not yet risen.
Continue reading:
Act 16:16-18 And it happened, as we went into a place of prayer, a certain girl slave having a Pythonic spirit met us, whose divining brought much gain to her lords.
17 Following after Paul and us, she cried out, saying, These men are slaves of the Most High God, who are announcing to us a way of salvation!
18 And she did this over many days. But becoming distressed, and turning to the demonic spirit, Paul said, In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out from her! And it came out in that same hour.
In the above verse, this demon was actually confirming Paul and company’s witnessing!! Imagine that! We could actually witness and still never make it into the kingdom!! It is plain to see that this demon was actually speaking truth. It was not preaching lies.
You see, the truth has nothing to do with us, it is all God! It is HIS word, not ours. Even if the word gets distorted, God will always point you to truth in and through His word! We are the ones that distort it.
Hence, you could be a pastor with a million members, and still not make it in to the Promised Land yourself. (Does this sound just a little familiar to you?)
It is about your life and your total surrender to the Lord, not your testimony, or your words. Does God use those things? Of Course!! But, that is not what gets you into the kingdom. God will use those things in spite of you, and not necessarily because of you! It is in our obedience to Him, our surrendered hearts, and the fruit of the Spirit that is produced in the life of true believers.
God says plainly that we shall be known by our fruit. He does not say that we will be known by our words.(Though He does instruct us to bridle our tongues and mind our words)
He even tells us in His word exactly what that fruit is!!(P.S., it is neither in witnessing nor in how many people come to the lord “because” of you)
Heb 2:1-3 Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip.
2 For if the word spoken by angels was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward;
3 How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him;
I am sorry if I am stating some obvious things here. In martial arts, all things are built on the basics. A building cannot be built properly if the foundation is askew. Nor can we grow to maturity, if our basics in understanding of Christ has been bastardized be so many people. Whether in greed, desire for material wealth, or just ignorance, God is calling His children to get right with Him and get back to basics.
In the above scripture we are instructed to give more earnest heed to the Word of God. When the writer says “things we have heard” that’s what they are speaking about. Another way of saying “earnest heed” is to sincerely, intently, and deeply pay more attention .
The writer then goes on to say that the penalty for not doing so, will be to incur the same reward as the angels who were disobedient. And we all know their ultimate outcome.
Please, pray for understanding of His word, not through me or through some person in a pulpit or on T.V, but through the Spirit of God that will bless you with discernment.
