The other day I was sitting at my desk, taking a break from my studies when I began to feel sorry for myself. Yes, your pastor is a sinner just like everybody else. There was no lust or envy involved, no jealousy, and I may be wrong, but I don’t think there was any pride. I just began to feel sorry for myself. After a few minutes of self pity – far too many minutes, I asked myself, “From where has this come?” Sure, my wicked flesh was a part of it, but that flesh is there all the time. Why now? What prompted my sinful flesh, all of a sudden, to go somewhere it doesn’t usually go? Why did this sin rear up its ugly head at this point?
As I tried to analyze the situation, praying about it, I reached the conclusion that I was in a spiritual struggle. I had been in the process of preparing the gospel message I shared with you this morning. It occurred to me that on of the Devil’s servants might have been involved in that attack. The Bible tells us that Satan is not pleased with Christian efforts at evangelism and gospel preaching. If the preacher can be thrown off track; if his spirit can be pushed down into his flesh; he will not be receptive to the leadership of the Holy Spirit, and that could have an effect on what is said from the pulpit. To give my story a happy ending, the Lord blessed, and by the time I had finished preparing, I believe that God was once again in control.
Then later when I was praying about a message for this evening, the Spirit suggested to me that I am probably not alone in these periodic spiritual and emotional struggles. There are likely moments in your lives when you become self piteous, unjustly angry, envious, or worried. It occurred to me that you might benefit from hearing me confess to my sin and my spiritual battle. Perhaps we both can benefit, if together we can come up out of those sins for the glory of the Saviour. And so, now you know what has prompted our lesson for this evening.
Looking back on the notes I had prepared for this message, I realized that it is not particularly new or unusual. This won’t be much more than a reminder of things which I hope you’ve heard before. But to make our approach somewhat different, I’m going to start in middle of my message. I’ll come back to the beginning, talking about our spiritual enemy. But hoping that you know that the Bible teaches the existence of Satan, let me share something that perhaps you’ve never considered before. It is something at which I’ve already hinted.
Our sinful flesh, as Christians, may not be as flammable in itself as we have come to believe.
For example, our Mommas and Sunday School teachers may have instilled in us the rudiments of good morals. Of course, we are all very different from each other, having different weaknesses. But we all know we shouldn’t steal and lie; we know we shouldn’t lust after things and people; we know that anger can be dangerous. So we learn, generally speaking, to keep such things under control.
But then why do we sometimes get proud and full of ourselves? Or why do we become envious? Isn’t it because someone or something lights a spark and ignites that wildfire? Paul said in Romans 7 – “I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.” That same apostle added in Ephesians 6: “We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” You might smile at this, but I have come to think that my little pity-party was a fire in my flesh which was ignited and then stirred by Satanic influence in some fashion. The devil wanted to disrupt my preparations for the Lord’s Day, and he tried to use my flesh to do it.
Consider this as an illustration. The Bible tells us there is coming a day when Satan will no longer have any influence on humanity. Revelation 20:1 – “And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.” That upcoming millennium will be as blessed, or even more greatly blessed, than life in the Garden of Eden. It will be a day when “the wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: and dust shall be the serpent’s meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the LORD” – Isaiah 65:25.
During that thousand year period, very likely millions and billions of people will be born. Those people, and the world in general, will be saturated with the gospel, and Christ Himself will be known by everyone. But not everyone will be genuine children of God. Even in the most ideal circumstances the lost will remain lost, until the Holy Spirit gives them life. I know this to be true because of what will take place at the conclusion of the Millennium. During those ten centuries, without Satanic influence and with Messianic control, life will essentially be blissful. But then will come Revelation 20:7 – “And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go out to deceive the nations…” What will Satan do? Among other things, he will ignite the flesh of those unregenerated souls. Human flesh, which didn’t have the devil teasing and tempting it, will often stay relatively quiet. But when Satan is released, going about his evil business, once again, there will be rebellion against God.
What I’m trying to point out is that the flesh, as fallen and corrupt as it is, will often lie dormant and placid until Satan comes along to set it on fire. And that is as true in the saved person today as it will be among the lost during the Millennium. Our great spiritual enemy knows our every weakness, and he knows what evil buttons in our flesh to push. So we sin – perhaps we feel sorry for ourselves – not simply because we live in the flesh. Our corrupt flesh is often the kindling the devil uses against us.
Now going back to the beginning of this message: notice that there are two spiritual beings before us.
James says, “Submit yourselves… to GOD; resist the DEVIL.” Obviously, the Lord is a spiritual being, without flesh and blood like us. So also is the devil. And just as one exists so does the other. Satan is as real as Jehovah. But we cannot see either of them, unless they choose to reveal themselves to us. We cannot touch them with our fingers, or with our ears or eyes, unless they desire us to do so. Therefore, just as it is important to submit to God, there is the necessity of resisting the devil.
The exhortation to submit to one and to resist the other might be based on their different characters. One is truth, love and purity; the other is falsehood, hatred, murder and filth. It makes sense to resist the evil and to embrace the righteous. If you go out into your backyard and a both a butterfly and a wasp begin buzzing around your head. You might be willing to let the butterfly land on you, but definitely not the wasp. Why? Because they are different characters. “Submit yourselves to GOD; resist the DEVIL.”
But it is not just about their natures; we are to submit to one and to resist the other because of relationships. One of the two is our Creator. He is the One who upholds our world by the word of His power. The other is a fellow creature – a creature who chose to rebel against our Creator. As Christians, one of these spirits is our Friend and always has been, but the other is our adversary and always has been. One of them is our Advocate while the other is our accuser. One defends us before the law while the other wants to prosecute us to the fullest extent of the law. One is our Redeemer, while the other is our slave master. One is the Life-giver, but one of the names of the other is “destroyer.” As Christians we have contact with both of them. What should we do? “Submit yourselves… to God; resist the devil.”
Considering the one we are to resist, notice his names and titles.
Our scripture tells to resist “the devil.” It might surprise you to know that “the devil” is a term only found in the New Testament. The literal meaning of the word in Greek is “slanderer.”
Another term which the Bible employs to describe our spiritual arch-enemy is “Satan.” That term is used 49 times, 11 of those being found in the first two chapters of Job, but with the majority coming in the New Testament. In its first use, “Satan” is described as tempting David to number the people of Israel, getting everyone into serious trouble. And then you are familiar with Satan’s attempt to destroy righteous Job. It is the Lord Jesus who uses the name “Satan” more than anyone else. Is that significant?
In both the major languages of the Bible “Satan” means “adversary.” I believe that Jehovah has a major enemy and adversary, who is constantly working trying to destroy the Lord’s authority. Satan was the adversary of Christ, pulling the strings of his evil puppets – the Pharisees and the Romans. I believe that Satan is still the adversary of the Lord. And that makes him the adversary of every Christian. He wants us to sin. And he opposes every attempt you make to grow in Christ and to serve the Lord. Satan is an adversary of the gospel, attempting to keep people from worshiping Christ. And he is the Christians’ adversary – “for we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”
Another of the devil’s names or titles is “Beelzebub.” The Pharisees said that Christ cast out devils by the prince of the devils, Beelzebub. What they said about Christ was about as disgusting and blasphemous as humanly possible. Who is this Beelzebub? This was one of the gods of the Ekronites – either Philistines or Canaanites. The word “Baalzebub” signifies “master fly” or the “lord of a fly.” The Canaanite idol may have been in the form of a fly. There is some speculation that this developed because so many flies accumulated around altars and their blood sacrifices. Over time the Jews associated Baalzebub with the dunghill where so many flies are found – it was considered to be “the god of dung.” There are other theories about the meaning of the name and the nature of its worship, but clearly there could have been very few things more derogatory and blasphemous uttered against the Lord Jesus.
Another special pair of names are given to Satan in Revelation 9. As that chapter begins, the fifth angel blows his trumpet and the bottomless pit – the abbys – is opened. Out pours smoke and stench, along with scorpion-locusts, carrying power to torment the people of earth. In those days multitudes of people will yearn for death, but not find it. After the scorpion beasts are described in a little more detail, verse 11 says – “And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon.”
“Abaddon” and “Apollyon” both refer to “destruction” or “the destroyer.” Satan is in the destruction business. I believe that current state of our society is the product of human sin, inflamed by Satanic evil. But the devil’s interest is not confined to the wicked immoral majority, he’d love to destroy your testimony and service for the Saviour. Beware.
There are many names and titles applied to Satan, which are DESCRIPTIONS of his CHARACTER.
“Belial,” for example, may be another name for Satan, although it might be only a description. There wicked and worthless people in the Bible were called “sons of Belial.” The word refers to “worthlessness.” Paul exhorts us: “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.”
As I’ve already said Satan is an accuser – he would love to be a prosecuting attorney against us. Revelation 12:10 – “And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.”
And he is our adversary, so “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: Whom resist steadfast in the faith.”
Satan is described as “the god of this world,” “the prince of the power of the air” and “the ruler of darkness.” It was the Lord Jesus who first called Satan “the prince of this world.” And it was Paul who called him “the prince of the power of the air.” These scriptures suggest the authority which Satan wields in society. “We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”
Among other things, Satan is described as “the tempter.” Paul warned the people of Philippi against the work of the tempter. Matthew referred to Satan when he wrote, “And when the tempter came to (Christ), he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.”
I could go on this afternoon, but I’ll stop with one more designation – “the wicked one.” It was the Lord Jesus who introduced this term, but it was used more often by the Apostle John. “When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the way side.” “The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one.” “I have written unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one.” “We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not.” When someone sins, through his wickedness he associates himself with the wicked one. And when the Christian sins against His Lord; when he brings shame against the Saviour, by his actions he associates with Satan. The Devil would love to tempt you into some heinous sin, and in so doing drag the name of Christ though the mud. He is wicked, and He wants you to be wicked.
Against Satan, in each of these forms, we are exhorted to resist.
But HOW are we to resist the devil?
That is the question. The Bible gives us some explicit instructions. There will be no victorious resistence unless the Biblical rules are followed.
First, it goes without saying, James was writing to Christians – people of God. No one has any hope of successfully resisting Satan, if they are property of Satan and members of his family. But in contrast to them I John 5:18 tells us, “whosoever is born of God, that wicked one toucheth him not.” As people indwelt by the Holy Spirit, the devil has no claim on us, except as we willingly submit ourselves to him. We always have the potential of victorious resisting, because we are born of God.
Then James says, as Christians, submit yourself to God. That in itself is resisting Satan. To come within the range of God’s light is to dispel the Satanic darkness. When there are two opposing forces claiming your attention, to turn to one is to leave the other. In submitting to God, as Lord and king over our hearts and lives, we resist the devil in ways no other kind of resistance can offer. Self-pity should vanish when we meditate on all the great things the Lord has done for us and on what He has promised yet to do. Why should we feel sorry for ourselves as we look into the scarred face and wounded hands of the Saviour?
My next suggestion is mentioned with a bit of hesitation. I don’t want to sound charismatic, catholic or hypochondriac. But in Luke 10:17 Jesus’ disciples returned to Him after a successful preaching journey. They had great joy in saying, “Lord, even the devils are subject to us, through thy name” – the name of the anointed Lord Jesus. There is no name which causes the devil to fear but the name of Christ Jesus. But it is not simply that the utterance of Jesus’ name takes his breath away; it is the authority which lies behind that name. It was in the authority of Christ Jesus that Satan’s demons ran in terror. In Acts 19 there were some Jewish exorcists trying to cast out demons by “Jesus whom Paul preacheth.” On one occasion the indwelling evil spirit retorted, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye?” It had no fear of those men, because they were not working under the authority of Christ Jesus. But it knew who Paul was. Who are you, and who is David Oldfield? I can tell you who I am. I am a child of God. Aren’t you enwrapped in Christ’s righteousness, and aren’t in full surrender trying to serve the Lord? The devils have no power against the authority of the Son of God.
How can we resist the devil? We can do so by the Word of God. In the classic example of Satanic temptation… in the temptation of Christ… it is important to see that the Lord Jesus didn’t use His authority to defeat Satan, although He certainly could have. And He didn’t start calling out His own name as if it was some sort of charismatic talisman. No, the Lord Jesus used something available to us all. He started quoting the Word of the Lord. “It is written, it is written. Get thee hence, Satan, for it is written.” He took the sword of the Spirit and started swinging with each trust finding its mark in the heart of the enemy.
I John 5:18 tells us when it comes to spiritual attack to “keep ourselves.” What does that mean? The thought is this – none of us can surrender ourselves to someone or something, if we have already given away our allegiance. Satan cannot take my heart because it belongs to Jesus, and I am keeping it for Him and Him alone. We are tenants dwelling in the Lord’s property. We cannot give it away. All those cases of demon possession were people who allowed evil spirits to dominate their individuality. Christians, although they can’t be indwelt by Satan, they can be lead around and pushed around by him. Therefore it is expedient upon us to “keep ourselves” for our Saviour.
Then I Peter 5:8 reminds us to put sentries on either sides of our hearts, because we are temporarily passing through dangerous territory. “Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.” The guide to that African safari, takes his tourists with their cameras out into the lion-infested savanna. All he needs to do to protect them during the night is to surround the camp with campfires and serious, vigilant men to keep the fires burning.
Finally, put on the whole armor of God. “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” – Ephesians 6:10-17
I will conclude with an old hymn that Texas Baptists used to sing a hundred fifty years ago.
I wish I knew the music to it. “My soul, be on thy guard, Ten thousand foes arise; The hosts of sin are pressing hard To draw thee from the skies. Oh, watch and fight and pray, The battle ne’er give o’er’; Renew it boldly ever day, and help divine implore. Ne’er think the vict’ry won, nor lay thine armor down; The work of faith will not be done, Till thou obtain thy golden crown.”
I know from experience how hard it is to constantly implement these safe guards. I am a sinner like everyone else. But for the sake of Christ’s glory, these are things which we – which I – need to work on.