There is much talk in our day
by most people about faith. Whenever a politician wishes
to impress you with his nobility or his goodness, he says, I'm
a man of faith. Whenever someone wants you to
have some confidence in them, they've said something, done
something, they want you to trust them, I'm a person of faith.
Or when they wish to brag about someone else, make you think
highly of them. She is a person of faith. He's
a man of real faith. Now listen carefully. God help
you to hear me. The most dangerous thing on this
earth is faith. The most dangerous thing on this
earth is faith. Any faith except faith in Christ. Any faith except God-given faith. Any faith except that faith which
God alone can give and does give to chosen redeemed sinners by
the mighty operations of His grace. You'll find my text tonight
in the second chapter of the book of James. James chapter
2. In the latter portion of this
chapter, God the Holy Ghost gives us some very clear distinctions
between true faith and false faith. True faith, saving faith,
is willingly obedient to God, bows to God's Word and bows to
God's will, trusting Jesus Christ alone for everlasting salvation. True saving faith is willingly
obedient to God, bowing to God's Word, bowing to God's will, trusting
Christ alone. It is what the Apostle Paul calls
faith which worketh by love. True faith is known and identified
by obedience, as James writes to us here. False faith, damning
faith, is nothing but a head knowledge of facts. False faith, damning faith, is
nothing but a head knowledge of facts, a faith that has no
effect at all upon your life. Therefore, we are admonished
in the book of God to examine ourselves, to examine ourselves
to be sure that we are in the faith, to examine ourselves knowing
that Christ is in you except you be reprobate. Hold your hands
here in James and turn over to 1 Peter, or 2 Peter rather, chapter
1, verse 10. The Apostle Peter says, wherefore,
the rather brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election
sure. Oh, God, help me never to be
presumptuous with regard to these things vital to my soul. God, help you never to be presumptuous
with regard to these things vital to your soul. Give diligence
to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things,
you shall never fall. For so an entrance shall be ministered
unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord
and Savior, Jesus Christ. Are you in the faith? Am I in
the faith? Or do we merely profess faith? May God the Holy Ghost, who alone
can give faith, be our teacher and give us faith in Christ.
The title of my message is The Devils Also Believe. The Devils Also Believe. James chapter 2 verse 19. Thou believest that there is
one God, thou doest well. The devils also believe and tremble. Faith without works, James tells
us. that has no effect on your life.
Faith that doesn't change me is nothing but the faith of devils
who are forever damned. You believe there's one God,
you do well. That fact is a fact revealed
in creation, by nature, revealed in your conscience, revealed
in the Word of God. You can't deny that fact. It
is so clearly revealed, the devils also believe, and yet the devils
are damned though they believe those same facts that we may
believe. The devils having faith have
only a historic faith, nothing but knowledge. The devils having faith have
only a historic faith, all they have is knowledge. Not life. Not life. Not the life of God in the soul. Not Christ in you. Not repentance. Not love for God and His people. Not conversion. Just knowledge. Knowledge. that will carry them
to hell, nothing else. If my faith is true, it will
bear examination. Examination in the light of Holy
Scripture. God, keep me from that faith
that's possessed by devils. Oh, Spirit of God, let me not
go to hell with a profession of faith on my lips and no possession
of faith in my heart. Faith in Christ is the one thing
essential to salvation. Dost thou believe on the Son
of God? That's the one thing that matters.
That's the one thing essential. That's the one question that
must be settled. Faith is an inward heart thing. a work of grace given to us and
performed in us, not just performed once when first we're born again,
but performed in us day by day so that we believe and go on
believing only by the power and grace of God the Holy Spirit. Faith is a state of life and
a way of life. It's a condition of life and
a course of life. Faith is an inward thing. A matter
of the heart. It's the experience of the soul.
With the heart, man believeth. With the heart, man believeth. With the heart, man believeth. There are many attempts made
by men to describe what the scriptures mean when it speaks of the heart.
Well, it's just talking about the mind. It's talking about
something more than that, Lindsay. It doesn't bypass the mind. It's
not just talking about emotions, but it is with the heart that
a man believes with reference to righteousness. With the heart
that a man believes. If we would worship God, we must
worship Him in spirit and in truth. That is, we must worship
Him by faith in Jesus Christ. For without faith, it's impossible
to please God. You can't please God in any way
except by faith in His Son. If we would pray, we must, as
James tells us, pray in faith, ask in faith, nothing doubting. It is the prayer of faith that's
saving and effectual when the Gospel is preached. It is only profitable to those
who hear it if the Gospel heard is mixed with faith. faith. That's the one thing essential. The Philippian jailer said, Sirs,
what must I do to be saved? And the Apostle Paul answered,
Believe on the Son of God and thou shalt be saved. Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. It's faith
and faith alone. not faith in baptism, not faith
in church membership, not faith in good works, not faith in good
experiences, not faith in a good life, but faith alone that savingly
unites us to the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, gift of gifts, oh, grace
of faith, the gift of God so free, amazing mercy, grace, and
love bestowed on one like me. Into the most unlikely hearts
free grace delights to come. Christ's glory is to seek and
find in darkest spots a home. He knocks with his almighty hand,
omnipotent is grace, breaks down the door bolt and bar, creating
faith and peace. Thou believest there is one God. Thou doest well. The devils also
believe and tremble. I repeat, faith is not always
a good thing. Faith possessed by most people
is damning. The faith that most people you
know and I know and most of the people we know profess faith
of some kind or another. Faith in most people is damning. Faith in Allah is damning. Faith in Buddha is damning. The faith of the papist is damning.
The faith of the will-worshipper is damning. Faith in a false
Christ is damning. You may as well believe in a
frog as to believe a false gospel. You may as well trust a tree
to save you as to trust a false Christ to save you. False faith
is damning. In this day of mass evangelism
and easy-believism, In religious revivalism, almost everybody
is deceived with some kind of false faith. Trusting a false
god, a false Christ, believing a false gospel, walking in a
false spirit. They have a false faith, just
as James describes here, as the faith of devils who believe. Judah's faith was just this kind
of faith. Multitudes who call on the name
of the Lord have no real faith in him. And it has always been
the concern of faithful men preaching the gospel to identify the faith
of God's elect in terms of scripture. Listen to this word by John Owen
written in the 1600s. It's one of the most important
statements I've ever read concerning faith. Of all the poison which
at this day is diffused in the minds of men, corrupting them
from the mystery of the gospel, there is no part that is more
pernicious than this one perverse imagination, that to believe
in Christ is nothing at all but to believe the doctrine of the
gospel. No poison greater than to confuse
believing facts with believing God. No poison greater to the
soul than to confuse believing facts with believing Christ.
No poison greater to the soul than to confuse believing facts
with the gift of God called faith in Christ Jesus. Paul was much
concerned for the saints at Corinth and Galatia and Colossae. They
had the faith of Christ. Many among them, however, just
had a protest faith. He feared that some did not have
heart faith. And we see this grave concern
in almost every line of James Epistle. Of all the snares by
which Satan carries souls to hell, none is more effectual
to his purpose than false faith. have a false faith produced in
them by the sight of some miracle. That was common in the days of
our Lord when He sent out His disciples performing miracles
and He performed miracles. Folks saw miracles and they believed
on Jesus. They saw multiply loaves and
pieces and said, oh we'll believe that. But our Lord did not believe
them and He did not commit themselves to them. All they had was a faith
produced by that which they saw with their eyes. Such is the
case with many today in this day of Pentecostal delusion when
men run around the world claiming to have apostolic gifts, performing
miracles, and folks see miracles and say, oh, now I believe in
Jesus. Another form of false faith is what we might call,
and what I've referred to many times already, is historical
or theoretical faith. That is merely giving assent
to historic facts of the gospel. I want it to be so clear. I don't
want any confusion. Like many of you, when I was
a boy seven years old, I can remember some things like they
were yesterday. Yesterday I've forgotten, but
I can remember some things like they were yesterday from a long
time ago. When I was seven years old, I went forward at the end
of a church at an altar call, they called it, and knelt down
at an altar at a mourner's bench and a fellow Went through what
they called the Romans road plan of salvation asked me if I knew
I was a sinner and I said What do you mean? He said what did
you ever do anything wrong? I said, oh, yeah, I've done that
You don't want to go to hell when you died. Do you know I
don't want to do that. Do you believe in Jesus? What do you
mean? Do you believe that Jesus is the Son of God that Jesus
died on the cross that Jesus rose again? Well, yes, I believe
that and he said well say I believe in Jesus and he called that faith
He called that faith and assured me, now you're safe. Don't let
anybody ever tell you any different. And I got up a seven-year-old
boy sinner and went home a seven-year-old boy sinner and didn't know God
from a billy goat. Didn't know God from a billy
goat. The faith of God's elect is more than just giving assent
to historic facts. And then there's a false faith
that's described in Scripture as a temporary faith, the seed
sown on stony grounds. It springs up and it endures
for a while. The seed sown among thorns, it
springs up and it endures for a while. But after a while, it's
gone. It's faith that just lasts for
a while. Read the Word of God again and
pay attention to what it says. This book tells us of many who
have lived and died numbered among God's people who possessed
a false faith and went to hell. There are multitudes in hell
today because they were satisfied with just a profession of faith
and not the knowledge of God. Have you never heard of Lot's
wife? Of Saul, the king of Israel?
of Judas, of Simon Magus, of Ananias and Sapphira, of Demas
and Diotrephes, all of these professed faith and none of them
possessed life. All of them today suffer the
wrath of God in hell. True faith, that faith founded
on the Word of God, that faith arising from the veracity of
the testimony God has given. That faith which God the Holy
Spirit creates in our souls is a faith certainly that involves
knowledge. You can't believe on a Christ
you don't know. You can't believe an unrevealed,
unknown Savior. Faith involves knowing who Christ
is, what he accomplished at Calvary, how God saves sinners by the
sacrifice of his Son, how God saves sinners righteously and
justly through the obedience and death of Christ. But knowledge
is not by itself faith. Faith assents to those things
revealed in the book. You often find people who argue
with what God says. They say, I believe that, but
I don't believe this. I believe that, but I don't believe
that. believe what Paul wrote, but I don't believe what James
wrote. That's not faith. That's not faith. Faith assents
to God's revelation, but there's something else involved in faith.
Faith involves commitment. Faith, moral heart, is the giving
up of ourselves to the Son of God. It is taking up your cross
daily, denying yourself and following the Savior. It is giving yourself
willingly to the Lord Jesus. This faith is the gift of God. That faith that causes a man
or a woman a born rebel to God. That faith
that causes one who's born with a heart full of hatred for God. that faith that's given by God,
that's given to a person who's lived all his life long full
of enmity toward God, now suddenly he's made glad to give himself
to the Son of God. That faith is God's gift. God alone performs this operation
of grace in the heart. James wrote his epistle primarily
to expose the grave error that had crept into the church during
his age and that grave error that continues to this age. It
is the flattering delusion generally held by religious people that
knowledge is faith. More than 30 years ago, I was
sitting in a pastor's home in Albany, Georgia, who was trying
to convince me that knowledge is faith. If you know this doctrine,
know this doctrine, know this doctrine, that's faith. And you've
got to know these doctrines before you can come to Christ. And I
said to him, what you're preaching is a complete denial of the necessity
of the new birth and the work of God the Holy Ghost. And it
is as damning to the souls of men as if you taught them they
had to keep the law or be circumcised to be saved. Whatever it is you
put between Christ and the sinner and call that salvation, that
just works. It's nothing but Gnosticism,
the idea that you arrive at salvation by your knowledge, your superior
knowledge. Any faith that doesn't radically
change my life, any faith, yesterday, today, or tomorrow, that doesn't
radically change my life. Any faith that doesn't radically
change your life is a false faith. Faith in Christ is that faith
that arises from that new creation of a man, the new creation of
a woman, the new creation of a sinner being made partakers
of the divine nature. It is Christ in you. the hope
of glory that brings faith into the soul. Now let me show you
three things from our text. First, understand this. There are demon spirits in this
world. I have several books on demonology.
When I was younger and foolish, I read them and studied them
and thought I'd profit by them. I won't say much about demons
because little is truly revealed in the book of God about them.
But these devils of whom James speaks and speaks by divine inspiration
are those spirits led astray by Satan in his revolt described
in Revelation chapter 12. one-third of the heavenly host
in revolt against the throne of God. Do you remember why God
created the angels? Do you remember why God created
them? Hebrews chapter 1 verse 14. Are they not all ministering
spirits sent forth to minister to those who shall be the heirs
of salvation? The angels of God are creatures
indescribably above us. indescribably greater than we,
indescribably more knowledgeable, indescribably more powerful than
we. But God created these angels
to be servants to men. And Satan, in his revolt against
God, said, I won't serve a man. I won't serve a man. And it will be a revolt in heaven
against the God-man, our Mediator, and against all the hosts of
God's elect, determined to destroy Christ and His elect. And for
this, the angels that fail are reserved in chains of darkness
unto the judgment of the last day. Now, I know we're all tempted
to ask, why did God permit the angels to fall? He could easily
have prevented it. Why did God allow and ordain
that sin should come into the world? He could easily have stopped
it. I had no interest in answering the cavils of men about such
things, but I want you to understand clearly what the scriptures show
us. Had evil never been allowed, the justice of God could never
have been revealed in punishing it. Had there been no sin, there'd
been no revelation of God's justice in the world. Had evil never
been allowed, the wisdom of God could never have been seen overruling
it. And the goodness, love, mercy, and grace of God could never
have been known in pardoning and forgiving it. We could never
have known God in the sweetness of forgiveness.
Brother Larry read the first chapter of Colossians back there
in the office a little bit ago. How sweet the knowledge of God
in the forgiveness of sins. We could never have known that
had there been no fault. Had evil never been allowed in
God's creation, we would never have seen the power of God overturning
evil for good. Had evil never been seen in God's
creation, we would never have known God's sovereignty in saving
some and passing by others. Our Lord Jesus came here and
it took not on him the nature of angels. And it took not on
him the seed of Abraham, or seed of Adam, but it took on him the
seed of Abraham. He came here to save God's elect. Had evil never entered into God's
universe, we would never have known the glory of God revealed
in Jesus Christ, our Redeemer. So when you think about the fall,
and all the consequences of it. I mean all the consequences of
it. The fall of Satan, the fall of the one-third of the heavenly
host, the fall of our father Adam in the garden, and our fall
in him. Say, oh, thank God for the fall. Now we know God as we could never
have known Him otherwise. Now having said that, let me
emphasize this fact. Demons are real. And the influence
of demons in this world is real. The demons of hell are too wise
and too powerful for us. Demonic influence is not what
men suppose it to be. I recall Brother Merle telling
me years ago, you can correct me later if I get any of this
wrong, I think I remember correctly, down in Mount Hebron, and there
was a man down there who believed the gospel, but thought it was
who believed the gospel can get mixed up in stuff. Back years
back, a lot of fellas got to toying with demonism, demonology,
and finding demons and casting out demons and all that stuff.
And the stuff going on in the building making strange sounds.
Well, the building's demon-possessed. Is that pretty close to it? The
building's demon-possessed. You won't find that in Scripture.
You won't find that in Scripture. Demons don't move walls. You
don't find that in Scripture. Demons take possession of men.
Our Savior, on one occasion, cast them into a herd of swine.
But demons come and do evil influence with men, causing men to follow
a path of self-destruction. Sometimes it's destruction of
self by acts of insanity, moral degradation, vile behavior, begattery,
demoniac, lived among tombs, running around naked, cutting
himself. wild man. There was a young man
who, as he was coming to Christ, the demons cast him down and
tossed him about and tear him as they came out of him. Number
four, Canaanites, woman's daughter, possessed of demons. The herd
of swine I mentioned a moment ago ran madly to destruction
when they were possessed of demons. Turn over to 2 Corinthians chapter
11. I'll show you something else
demons do. Frequently, the influence of
demons is seen in bringing men and women to destruction by the
strong delusion of false religion. Look at 2 Corinthians 11 verse
13. For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming
themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel, no
reason we should be surprised at this, that men inspired by
hell pretend to be the apostles of Christ. That men inspired
by hell pretend to be preachers of righteousness. No marvel,
for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore
it is no great thing if his ministers be transformed as the ministers
of righteousness. Preachers going about teaching
people to do good to get to heaven not preachers of the righteousness
of Christ Not preachers of true righteousness, but teaching men
to do good to be saved They're transformed in ministers of righteousness.
What's this now whose end shall be according to their works?
Demonism demon influence Demon possession are not things to
be toyed with ignored. They're not even to be investigated.
I remember years ago, I heard Brother Mahan make a wise statement
to some young preachers who were talking about this very subject.
He said, if you go out looking for demons, you're sure to find
them. If you go looking for them, you're sure to find them. What
do you do, preacher? Leave them alone. But demonic
influence is not something God's saints need to fear. Our Lord
Jesus is Lord over the prince of darkness and he's Lord over
the demons of hell. Did you hear me? He's Lord over
the prince of darkness and he's Lord over the demons of hell.
They are like Satan whom he bound with a chain, Revelation 20.
They're bound with chains of darkness reserved to the day
of judgment. James shows us that these diabolic
spirits have faith. The devils also believe. And I want to tell you something.
They're far more orthodox than most preachers you know. Far
more orthodox than most professed Christians you know. They're
not a free willer, a liberal, or a works monger among them.
They seduce men to believe those things. But they know better.
The devils believe there is one God. They believe there's one
God. Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
The Divine Trinity. They believe in the Eternal Triune
Jehovah. Satan and his demons believe
the Son of God assumed human flesh. Read the 12th chapter
of Revelation. They make war against the woman
and her child, make war against the church, and make war against
Christ, the God-man, our Redeemer. They believe all the doctrines
of the Gospel. What I preach to you here three
times every week, the devils of hell all believe. Men fuss
about it. Men argue about it. Men fight
about it. The demons of hell believe it. They believe that
Christ accomplished the redemption of God's elect by his death at
Calvary. No question in my mind concerning
that. The devils confessed that Jesus is the Christ of God. And they said, have you come
to torment us before the time? And they prayed to him as God. They prayed to him, that man
in human flesh, as God, and begged of him not to destroy them. Our
Lord Jesus Christ is believed by the demons of hell. They know
all the work, covenant, grace, and mercy of God our Savior. They know these things. How can
you be certain they do? They only assault God's elect. They only assault God's elect.
They only assault God's elect. All the work of hell is because
Satan knows he has but a short time and he's in a rage. And
his rage is against the Christ of God who cast him out and against
the people of God redeemed by the Lord Jesus. Now, here's something
else you can be sure of. As the devils themselves are
thoroughly orthodox in their doctrine, every human soul suffering
the wrath of God in hell is thoroughly orthodox. Augustus Toplady made
this observation in his sermon on this text. There are no heretics
in heaven and there are no heretics in hell. It's only on earth that
men have the dreadful prerogative of out sinning the very devils
themselves. As soon as the rich man lifted
up his eyes in torment, he understood the value of the gospel. As soon
as he lifted up his eyes in torment, he understood the delusion of
his brethren. As soon as he lifted up his eyes
in torment, he saw the necessity of God giving faith. As soon
as he lifted up his eyes in torment, he saw the necessity of forgiveness
by blood. There's not any such thing as
anyone in hell who doesn't know the truth, even as the demons
of hell do. Arius is not an Arian any longer.
Arminius is not an Arminian any longer. And Wesley is not a Wesleyan
any longer. And the popes are not papists
any longer. Now thirdly, let me try to answer
this question. What's the difference between
the faith of devils and the faith of God's elect? What's the difference? It's just this. The faith of
devils is just knowledge. Knowledge of truth, but no love
of truth. No love for Christ. no concern
for heaven, no regard for the glory of God. Let me see if I
can put this in shoe leather. I'm fully aware that Christianity,
faith in Christ, involves much more than emotion. But I am equally aware that faith
without feeling is worthless faith. The conviction of sin is just theory to me unless I feel the depravity of
my heart, my helplessness, and my guilt. The conviction of Christ's righteousness
is just theory, nothing else. If I don't see the necessity
of it, value it, rejoice in it, and rest in it, the comforts
of the spirit are nothing except fury if I don't feel his comfort. Unfelt consolation, what a contradiction. Unfelt comfort, what a contradiction. Who doesn't feel life? Who doesn't
feel rest? Who doesn't feel peace? Who doesn't
feel joy? Who doesn't feel love? Things
we feel and know and can't begin to express. Shelby and I, people do things
differently, I know that. But Shelby and I go through the
day Sit back here and work and do our work and don't say much.
I'll say, would you get me some coffee or get me some water?
And she goes and gets that. It's time to eat. And she'll
go get something to eat and bring it to me. And other than that,
unless there's questions come up, about the only words that
pass between us is, I love you, sweetheart. And she, I love you,
honey. And she said to me today, she
said, I have no idea how many times, how many times to each
other. And don't take it lightly. She said, I wish I could show
you. just how I love you. And I wish
I could show her and show you just how I love you. But the
love we have being felt in the soul can't be explained with
words. But the fact of it and the reality
of it is certain. You understand what I'm talking
about? Faith in Christ. We know the doctrines, but to
explain that, how can I explain to you what it is to believe
on the Son of God? I tried for 22 years, didn't
I, Eric? How can I explain that to you?
I can't explain it to you. All I can do is declare it. And
when God the Holy Spirit gives you faith in Christ, you rest
in Him. The faith of devils is faith
without repentance. And it involves no love for Christ,
God, His Word, His way, His truth, His people. It's faith without
works. But I'll show you something.
I'll show you something I just saw about a quarter to seven. I was
sitting in the house reading this chapter again, maybe 630.
Look back at James chapter 2, verse 16. verse 18, rather. Now watch what James says. Yea,
a man may say, a man may say this, thou hast faith and I have
works. Show me thy faith without thy
works and I'll show you, show thee my faith by my works. Don't put those words in James'
mouth. James says, a man may say to you, a man may say to
you, you have faith and I have works. Show me your faith without
your works and I'll show you my faith by my works. Only folks
who possess the faith of devils go around bragging about their
works. Only folks who possess the faith
of devils would have you to look at their works. Only folks who
possess the faith of devils will talk about their works. Believers
recognize that their works, the works by which they serve God, are works that can't be spoken
of. with any admiration on their
part. Believers confess the filth and
the sin of their works. Folks who follow the faith of
devils will stand in the day of judgment and brag about how
good they've been and what good they've done. Believers, believers
acknowledge and confess their sin to God all the time. The devils believe and tremble. Believers Having experienced the mercy
of God, rejoice against judgment. Trusting Jesus Christ the Lord
as their only righteousness, their only redemption, their
only holiness, their only salvation. Oh, may God give you faith in
Christ his Son. Amen.