The Faith of Devils By Charles
Simeon James 2.19 You say you have faith, for you believe that
there is one God, good for you. Even the demons believe this,
and they tremble in terror. Do not suppose that genuine faith
in Christ is a mere assent to Scripture truths which you have
been taught by your parents. If you would not eternally perish,
I charge you before God to dismiss from your minds all such delusive
expectations and to seek from God that genuine faith which
alone can save and sanctify the soul. True faith is the gift
of God. Nothing but the almighty power
of God can form genuine faith in the soul. If ever you have
believed to the saving of your soul, it must have been through
the operation of divine grace. If we possess saving faith, then
Christ will become our meditation and delight. The height and depth
and length and breadth of His unsearchable love will occupy
our minds and inflame our hearts with love to Him. Genuine faith
will always work by love. Genuine faith will always overcome
the world. Genuine faith will always purify
the heart. See then whether your faith produces
these effects. For if it does not, it is but
a dead faith and the faith of devils. If your faith is not
the faith of God's elect, then it will only deceive you to your
everlasting ruin. If God has indeed granted saving
faith to you, then you have the greatest gift that you can ever
possess in this world or the next. Crowns and kingdoms, in
comparison with it, are no more than a speck of dust on a scale. If God has indeed granted saving
faith to you, then you have obtained the forgiveness of all your sins.
If God has indeed granted saving faith to you, then you have within
your own bosom a sanctifying principle which shall progressively
transform you into the very image of the Lord Jesus. If God has
indeed granted saving faith to you, then you have a priceless
inheritance, an inheritance that is reserved in heaven for you,
pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay.