One of the more interesting (and by interesting I mean peculiar) accounts in the Bible is found in Matthew 8. Shortly after He finished delivering His sermon on the mount (Matthew 5-7) Jesus found Himself in the country of the Gergesenes and…
“…there met him two possessed with devils, coming out of the tombs, exceeding fierce, so that no man might pass by that way. And, behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? Art thou come hither to torment us before the time? And there was a good way off from them an herd of many swine feeding. So the devils besought him, saying, If thou cast us out, suffer us to go away into the herd of swine. And he said unto them, Go. And when they were come out, they went into the herd of swine: and, behold the whole herd of swine ran violently down a steep place into the sea, and perished in the waters” (Matthew 8:28-32).
Did you catch that? With nothing more than one single word, “Go,” those demons went running. In a very literal sense, when those men possessed by demons confronted Jesus, He scared the devil out of them. That’s what happens when we acknowledge the power of God’s word – it will scare the devil out of us too.
Have you ever read about what hell is like? It’s the lake that burns with fire and brimstone (Revelation 21:8); a place where the worm doesn’t die and the fire is not quenched (Mark 9:44); and a place of outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matthew 8:12). Eternal separation from God – that’s what we’re talking about. And if that doesn’t scare the devil out of you then nothing will.
But serving God isn’t all about the fear of hell. Serving God is about honoring the sacrifice of Jesus by accepting truth and looking forward to heaven – after all Jesus said that our primary motivation to serve Him should be our love (John 14:15). But when we turn our attention to that same word (God’s word) that has the same power (infinite power) it is going to have the same result (purification). We’ll fill our lives so full of what’s right there will be no more room for those things that are wrong (Philippians 4:8). Or in other words our lives will be so full of God that there will be no room left for the Satan.
Culture, society, and political correctness aside, that is what truth and right will accomplish. In a world otherwise preoccupied with filling our lives with evil we need to turn to the one source that will scare the devil out of us!
-Andy Brewer