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The worst possible trap to fall into as a Christian is to compare yourself with someone else in the church beside you. It's also one of the most common traps to which people succumb. I've known people who continue in sin even though they know what the Word of God says about it, simply because they see someone else doing it or something within their minds is "worse" and so they use that to justify their wrongdoing. On the flip side of the coin, I've known people to get mad at God because they compared their results in God against what they saw someone else receive and didn't think that God had been fair. I've also known people who beat themselves up because they try to mimic the anointing of someone who has been faithful and sacrificed in secret and fall short and get mad because their level of sacrifice didn't match up!

The next time that you feel led to compare yourself with someone and use that to get discouraged or encouraged or whatever, remember two things about the folly of comparing. The first is that as a human being, you never know the entire story. You don't know all of the perfect will of God in someone's life. You don't really know that person's heart or faithfulness in secret. God does but you don't. And if there seems to be a discrepancy in the blessings that you are receiving and others are receiving then remember that God is always fair and He doles out according to what He knows, which means that if you knew the whole story -- His perfect plan, or what had gone on in secret, then you would have to admit that God allows the rain to fall on the just and the unjust. He's a fair God. That's why good people have bad days and bad people have good ones. God is a fair judge. And the second thing to remember about the folly of comparing ourselves with each other is that when you stand in judgment, you will stand by yourself and will either inherit eternal life or eternal judgment based upon your life choices and decisions and actions. You'd better not make eternal decisions based upon what others do, but you'd better decide to live for God no matter what someone else says or does. Because in the day of judgment, you will stand alone.

If it's bad to compare ourselves to each other in the here and now, then how can we see where we stand in God? How can we know if we are doing good or badly in life? How can we know if we are growing as God wants us to? It's very simple. We must compare ourselves to the Word of God. And it's okay and even profitable to compare yourself with the people whose lives are detailed in the scriptures. In fact, you'd better make it a habit of comparing yourself with the stories of the Bible, because they were written as an example to us of either how TO live or how NOT to live.

That means it's safe and even vital to compare yourself to Jesus Christ. Paul said that Jesus Christ was the ultimate barometer to test His life upon:

None of us have reached the level of the high calling and great example left us by Jesus Christ, but we should be reaching for it continually! We should strive to walk as "he walked!"

And furthermore, I want to emulate the actions of those who pleased Jesus Christ. We spend a lot of time preaching about the lives of the people recorded in the Bible that approached and lived for God and what we're really doing is comparing ourselves with them; seeing if we have that kind of faith or resolve or tenacity. It's okay to compare yourself to the characters of scripture. I want to have the same determination of the woman with the issue of blood who pushed through the crowd and obstacles in her way to get to Jesus for her healing! I want to be willing to get beyond the critics as Blind Bartimaeus did and cry out to Jesus and not miss my time of visitation. As a minister, I want to preach with the zeal and passion of a Noah who never one any converts beyond his immediate family and yet preached faithfully and was faithful to God for over a century! If you're going to compare yourself to anyone, then compare yourselves to some of the heroes of the faith like Abraham, and David, and Jeremiah, and John the Baptist and the Apostles. They weren't perfect, but they did a mighty work for God and most importantly they were saved! Compare yourself to those men and women who died right with God!

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But I'm not here to really preach about all the great heroes of faith today, because not only have I preached about them many times before, I am also aware that there is a tendency to dismiss the people of scripture as "ideals" and that some people view them as "special cases." They are not special cases, but ordinary people who allowed God to have His way in their lives, but there is a tendency for people to say things like "well yes, God did that for the Apostle Paul, but that was the Apostle Paul, someone who lived in that age only and who had been a Pharisee and who was destined to be a legend. I'm not sure that God can do something like that for little old me." For starters, God is no respecter of persons and so what He did for them, He can do for you too. But some people use such faulty logic to justify their lack of obedience or faith like Paul had. Others view Peter, Paul, Daniel, David as unattainable levels of living for God. They view such walks and lives as beyond their reach, therefore they never try to emulate them or copy the positive things that they did. I've had people look at me and say "preacher, I ain't no saint. I ain't one of the disciples so don't expect me to live like one." They view such a commitment as unattainable.

So I'm here to preach to you today. For a little while, let's forget about trying to live up to the perfect human being of Jesus Christ. For a short time let's get our attention off all of these heroes and legendary men and women of faith that we always preach about and let's go to the bottom. Let's get it down to the bare minimum. Let's compare ourselves and at least make sure that we are doing better than someone that is definitely going to be lost. And I'm not talking about someone who is barely going to miss heaven. Let's take someone this morning that has absolutely chance of going to heaven. Surely, if you are going to be saved, then you must have a greater relationship with God than someone who absolutely has no chance of salvation. Who are you talking about preacher? Who are you telling us to compare ourselves to this morning?

I want you to compare yourself with Satan this morning. That's right, the devil. Surely everyone here can agree that if you are going to be saved, then you'd better have a better relationship with God than the devil does. Right? Surely we can all agree on that. And I may shock you with the next few statements that I make, but it's a safe bet that there are some people who consider themselves "Christians" whose relationship with God is really no closer than the devil's. And I'd say it was also a safe bet that if we could get everyone here to just elevate their relationship with God a little bit higher than the devil's then we would have massive revival! Before you disagree with me, maybe we'd better look at some scriptures that outline the devil's level of relationship with God. And then you can compare and see if you are closer to God than he!

And surely you can live up the level of the devil's relationship with God. Surely that's an attainable goal for all of us, no matter who we are. But as the Lord laid this message on my heart, I began to realize that too many people don't even measure up to the devil's commitment. Their are some "Christians" that don't even live for Jesus as the devils do.

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First of all, the devil has taken the time to memorize, study, and learn scripture. When Jesus was in the wilderness fasting for His ministry the devil came to tempt Him and get Him sidetracked with sin. Go read it some time, the devil quoted scripture to Jesus. He had the wrong motives and the wrong spirit, but he knew what the scripture said. And Jesus overcame him by quoting scripture right back to him, but the point is that the devil knows the Word of God. In the Garden of Eden, the first words recorded ever spoken by the devil is "hath God said?" He knows the Word of God backwards and forwards. He knows what promises are there. He knows what things will cause him to fail to get a person and what things that will always pull a person away from God. And he acts according to the Word of God. Not for good but for bad. The devil tried to get Jesus to worship him. Where did he learn that? He tried to get Jesus to throw Himself from the temple and ask for angelic protection. Where did he learn that such protection was available? From the Word of God. The devil knows that the Word of God is true and that he will end up losing, he just wants to take as many people with him as possible.

How do you compare with the devil? Do you know the scriptures for why you believe and live as you believe and live? Do you make learning the Word of God a priority in your week? Or are you just taking somebody's Word for it!? Eve got into trouble because the devil knew the Word of God better than she did! You'd better get all of the preaching and teaching that you can! It'd better be priority, if you want to be closer to God than the devil!

And the interesting thing is that even though the devil knows that he is going to lose, he never loses sight of the ultimate goal of winning souls! His life is committed to winning souls to hell. He never gets distracted. It's never far from his mind. He lives for one purpose and that is to take someone with him into eternity!

How about you? Are there other things more important than winning souls? Can there be anything more important than getting someone on their way to heaven? If not, then how come some people never win souls or invite someone to church? If soul winning is so vital, then how come it's been a while since some of us have taught a Bible Study or witnessed to someone about the power of God? How come some of us always have something else that's more important than outreach, or bread, or bringing somebody to church?

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Let me get off of preaching to the church people and get back to everyone in my focus. Is your relationship with God closer than the devil's relationship? That's the question. Are you as sold out to some of these things as the devil is?

With that question in mind, I want you to know that the devil knows who Jesus Christ is. The scriptures say:

There are many scriptures that record devils crying out Jesus' identity. And let me say this. They are not confused as to how many are in the Godhead because James said in our text:

The devils know that there is only one God. They know that Jesus is the "son of God" or God manifest in the flesh. The demons know that the scriptures call Satan the "Father of lies," the "son of perdition," and the "Spirit of the Antichrist" and yet they know that all of those are just titles for the one devil and refers only to different ways the devil reveals himself to mankind and doesn't make any essential threeness to him at all! The devils understand that concept and they know that conversely there is only One God and that His name is Jesus Christ! If you've got the revelation of who Jesus Christ is, that He's more than just the second person in some triune godhead invented by man but is God Almighty come in flesh, then that's great and essential! But understand that's very basic, really. The devil's know that! They know that there is only one God! To get past the devil's level of belief, you've got to commit yourself to obey that one God! The revelation has to cause you to live differently!

And the devil believes in that one God. James said that the "devils believe, and tremble." The devil believes in God. I've even got scripture to prove to you that the devil "knows Jesus." When the seven sons of Sceva tried to cast out a devil like they had seen Paul do in Ephesus, the Bible records this in Acts chapter 19:

The evil spirit said "Jesus I know!" That word for know in the original Greek means "to get a knowledge of, to come to know, to understand, and to become acquainted with."

There are some religions that have watered down the message of the scripture so much that they say that all you have to do to be saved is just mentally "believe" and come to "know" Jesus as your personal savior. If that's all it takes, then the devil should be saved because the demons believe in One God and they know Jesus. And that's why some preachers today -- most notably the evangelical pastor, Carlton Pearson -- have stood up in their pulpits and proclaimed that the devil was going to be saved. Because all they teach for salvation is that you must "believe."

But I'm here to tell you that the devil is not going to be saved but rather he and his demons will be cast into the lake of fire that was created for them. Does the devil believe? Yes. Does he know Jesus? Yes. But he is not saved because in order to be saved, you must act upon your belief and obey the Word of God. The devil will not be saved because he does not use his belief to cause him to obey what the Word of God says is necessary for salvation.

I'm here today to tell you that you must do more than just say "I believe in Jesus Christ" to be saved. You must repent of your sins. Jesus commanded repentance and said if you didn't repent, then you'd die in your sins. Repentance is more than saying you are sorry, but is asking God to change you and telling Him that you want to turn from sinful lifestyle. Jesus also commanded water baptism as a part of salvation. Mark 16:16 says "he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved..." He also commanded receiving the Holy Ghost and said "ye must be born of the Spirit" (John 3:5). He went on to say in Mark 16 that speaking in tongues would be a sign of a true believer (Mark 16:17). He also commanded that we must bear the fruit of the Spirit and put away the deeds of the flesh and the works of sin in our lives. I could go on and on. Those who would say that they can live like they want to or don't need to be baptized or such to be saved simply because "they believe" barely live for God as much as the devil does! But we've got to get beyond the devil's level! I must believe and act! And the devil does act with His belief, he trembles! Get beyond that! Believe and obey! Believe and do what God has told you! Do ALL that God has commanded in His Word!

You'd better get beyond the devil's level of living for God! You'd better desire ALL that God has for you! Your attitude should not be do I have to get the Holy Ghost, but I GET too receive the Holy Ghost! You ought to be hungry for all of God. You ought to be hungry for this salvational experience. You ought to be hungry for this being born again. Peter said:

Notice that the gospel that the Apostles preached came "with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven." In the Apostolic mind, you had not really obeyed the Gospel of Jesus Christ until you had received the Holy Ghost. And then he makes this statement: "which things the angels desire to look into!" The angels desire to be able to receive the Holy Ghost. They desire to experience the power of God recreating a life when the person is obedient to God's Word. They wish that they could have this Pentecostal experience! That includes good angels and fallen angels. Peter doesn't make a distinction. All angels wish that they could have this experience! The devil wishes that he had the opportunity to get the Holy Ghost. That's why Simon the Sorcerer tried to buy the ability to give the Holy Ghost!

But there are some who don't want the baptism of the Holy Ghost with the evidence of speaking in other tongues as the Spirit gives the utterance. They don't preach that it's necessary and really they don't desire to look into it any further. There are some that when you mention the baptism of the Holy Ghost being for us today, they avoid you like the plague. I'm here today to say that such people don't even live for God at the devil's level, because at least the devil is interested in trying it! What about you? Are you going to move beyond the devil's level of God and receive it because for YOU it's available!

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In our other text, we read about the demoniac from the Gadarenes that Jesus healed. Jesus had crossed the Sea of Galilee with His disciples on a boat and landed on the shores where this man happened to live. The scriptures say that he had a "legion of devils" in him. The term "legion" was a Roman military term that referred to a company of about 600 soldiers working together. This man had hundreds and hundreds of devils living within him. And they were having their way with this man. They had caused the man to strip off his clothes and to leave his family and civilization and run naked among the tombs of the local cemetery, living in the many caves with the dead. He would scream throughout the night and day and cut himself with stones and the town was scared to death of this man because many times men had tried to catch him and bind him up with chains and fetters and yet the man with supernatural strength had broken the chains of men and ran free along the coast completely consumed by the spirits inside him.

When Jesus showed up on the seaside, we find that the legion of devils in the man caused him to run to meet him at the beach. The scripture records some interesting points. First of all, it was the demons speaking through the man and yet the scriptures says that not only did they know who Jesus Christ was, but they "worshipped Him." The demons worshipped Jesus! And then they immediately began to beg Jesus not to send them into the water when He cast them out, finally convincing Jesus to send them into a bunch of pigs nearby. The story ends with the man clothed in his right mind, freed from the devils that had been cast out starting a massive revival in his hometown. Thank God for that. But let's look at the story from the standpoint of our sermon.

We need to learn to live for Jesus like a man possessed. We need to match and go beyond the spiritual relationship and understanding that the devils of this man showed. Can I preach to you for a moment?

It was not the man who had faith for the supernatural, but the legion of demons inside the man. They knew that they were about to get cast out. They knew that Jesus could do the miraculous. That's why they began to scream at Him begging Him not send them certain places. You see, the devil has faith that Jesus can do the miraculous! There was no wavering in those devils cries, for they knew that they were about to change addresses! Six hundred devils and yet they knew that they were no match for the miracle working power of Jesus Christ!

How about you? Do you believe that Jesus can heal? Do you believe that Jesus can do the miraculous? Even today? The Bible says that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8)! Jesus said:

Those are the signs of those who truly believe! Supernatural power is not just for Biblical times and not just for preachers or ministers, but for anyone willing to step out in faith and believe God for the miraculous! The devils believe and know and have faith that God can do the miraculous, how about you!? Are you at that level of faith? Do you lay hands on the sick and pray for them to recover? Do you even believe that it can happen to you? The devil does! That's why he fights with doubt so much to get you to not believe in the miraculous!

The devil also begged Jesus to send them anywhere in the world but in the sea that was beside them. The devils knew that they were about to be cast out in the name and power of Jesus, and you see, the devil knows about the power going under the water in the name of Jesus! "Anywhere, Jesus! Send us anywhere but there!" There is power in the name of Jesus and going under the waters of baptism! And despite what people try to say today, you'd better get a revelation of the importance of water baptism in the name of Jesus! We've got to get beyond the level of the devil and be willing to go under the water!

And while I'm here, let me point out that 600 devils were living in the temple of one man's body and were in unity and so together that they spoke and responded as one. If the devil can get along with his imps in unity to destroy somebody's life then I think that a group of people with the Holy Ghost in the church of God Almighty ought to be able to dwell together in unity and act with one accord and one voice to save somebody's life! How many churches are divided with backbiting and slanders and as such aren't even as unified as the devils in this man were! But we've got to get beyond the devil's level of operating! And we need to get unified for Christ and His cause!

And so I'm preaching to you! Just as committed as that man was to those devils, so was he then to Jesus Christ! We ought to live for Jesus like a man possessed. We ought to rush to worship Jesus Christ! We don't have devils inside of us, but rather the Spirit inside of us is the Holy Ghost! And so we ought to live for Jesus as this man did for the devil! If the Spirit calls you to separate from your old lifestyle and friends and family, you ought to be willing to do so! We should completely surrender our lives to the Spirit of God in every area! We ought to walk different. We ought to live different than the norm. When men and this world try to put chains of depression and bondage and shackles of opinion on us, we ought to break out of those things by the supernatural power of the Spirit living within us! We ought to day and night scream aloud with the message of the One who lives within us! And we ought to be willing to take off the cloaks and the coats of who we used to be in sin and shed it for a robe of righteousness! I'm talking about living for Jesus like a man possessed! We should at least exceed the commitment and belief of the demons. And we should be more sold out to the Spirit of truth than most are sold out to sin!

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I close with this:

As you read the scriptures about Jesus' life and ministry you can't help but become aware that the devil goes to church. He attends church regularly. He knows that nothing important is going to happen in the spirit at home and so he goes to where the Word and the Spirit of God mingle together to change lives! Church attendance is another place where some people don't even live for God as faithful as the devil does.

Jesus was at church and in the middle of the service, the devil in a man became aware that Jesus was there. And he began to scream out loud to Jesus addressing him, and disrupted the church service of Moses' law. They were usually prim and proper and very low key, but this devil realized that Jesus was there and began to scream out.

There are some people who can sit through a Holy Ghost-filled service and feel Jesus walking the aisles and tugging at their hearts and yet not respond. I want you to remember that even the devils can't sit quietly in church when they realize that Jesus is in the house! If that's true, then there ought to be something within us that cries out when we detect the presence of God in this place. There ought to be something that is willing to praise and adore and seek and cry out to Jesus! Jesus is in the house! I'm not going to let some devil outdo my passion for acknowledging Jesus here!

The story of Job teaches us that the devil goes boldly to the throne of heaven and makes his petitions known. God read Job chapter 1 sometime and you'll find that the devil is willing to approach God with his requests and such. Paul wrote to the church:

Let us come boldly! The devil marches right into the throne of God and makes his requests known and I'm preaching to you that we are not the devil, but we are the beloved creation, the sons of God, the ones whom the God who sits on that throne was willing to die for! Therefore we must come boldly to Him! If you need something from God, come boldly! Don't come timidly and hesitatingly. Don't come with excuses and doubt. Don't approach God today with faltering. Don't let the devil outdo you! Come expecting to yield everything to God! The devil want be saved because of his pride! Don't fall into the same trap! Outdo the devil and come and yield your life to God! Jesus can heal you. He can fill you with the Holy Ghost! He can change your life. He can save you! Allow Him to come inside of you and to take control! Come learn what it's like to live for Jesus like a man possessed!