Let's turn back to James chapter
4. Last sentence of verse 7. Resist the devil and he will
flee from you. I've entitled this message, How
to Resist the Devil. Now I've got to admit, if I heard
a preacher get up and announce that as his subject, I'd feel
a bit of skepticism. Oh, we're going to get everything
figured out now. So I hope that you will be patient
with me, and I hope you'll understand why I entitle it, How to Resist
the Devil, by the end of this message. The first thing I want
to consider is who is the devil? Who is the devil? His name means
the slanderer or the accuser. And he is a mighty spiritual
being. He is real. He's not almighty. I love to
say this at the beginning. He's God's devil on God's chain
doing God's bidding. He doesn't mean for it to be
that way, but that's the way it is. And everything he does
is involved in that blessed promise. And we know that all things,
including everything the devil does, all things work together
for good to them who love God, to them who are the called according
to his purpose. He's not omnipresent. He can't
be two places at once, but he is some kind of mighty spiritual
being that can rapidly transport himself from one place to another.
The Lord said to his disciples in Luke 10, verse 18, I beheld
Satan as lightning falling from heaven. Now, turn with me for
a moment to Isaiah 14. I know this is certainly speaking
of the Babylonian king, but I think it alludes to the fall of Satan. Verse 12, Isaiah 14. How art thou fallen from heaven,
O Lucifer, son of the morning? How art thou cut down to the
ground which did weaken the nations? For thou hast said in thine heart,
I will ascend into heaven. I will exalt my throne above
the stars of God. I will sit also upon the mount
of the congregation in the sides of the north. I will ascend above
the heights of the clouds. I'll be like the Most High. Yet thou shalt be brought down
to hell to the sides of the pit. In Revelation 12, verse 4, there's
an allusion to him bringing a third of the stars of heaven with him
in this fall, and it seems that a third of the heavenly host
fell with him when he fell. Now, he is called the tempter. He's called the accuser of the
brethren. He's called the father of lies. He's called Satan or the adversary. He's called the god of this world. And he's called the prince of
this world. And he's even called an angel
of light. He masquerades as an angel of
light and his ministers, ministers of righteousness. Now, this I
know regarding Satan. He hates Jesus Christ. That's what you and I need to
know about him. He hates Jesus Christ. You know, people present
the devil as trying to make your life unhappy and miserable and
trying to bring sickness in your life and trying to cause all
kinds of trouble. He doesn't care anything about you. The only thing he cares about
with regard to you is your association with the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
it. And he is actively working. He
goes about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. And his main sphere of operation
is right here in the pulpit. Like I said, he's called or he
masquerades as an angel of light. and a minister of righteousness,
and I don't have any doubt that the great majority of men who
call themselves preachers are servants of the devil. And they're
preaching a gospel that is not the true gospel, that if you
believe, you'll go to hell right with them. Now that is a very
serious charge, and I don't make that lightly. Thank God, according to 1 John
chapter 3 verse 8, the Son of God was manifested that he might
destroy the works of the devil. That's why he came, to destroy
the works of the devil. Now, when we talk about the works
of the devil, what are we talking about? Well, the first thing
I think about is the fall. Turn with me for a moment to
Genesis chapter 3. Verse 1. Now the serpent, John calls him
in the book of Revelation on two or three different occasions,
that old serpent. Now the serpent was more subtle,
was more deceitful than any beast of the field which the Lord God
had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea?
Hath God said you shall not eat of every tree of the garden? No, God didn't say that. He didn't
say that. He said every tree of this garden
is given to you freely to eat. There's one tree that you're
not to eat of. Just one. But Satan tries to
make it out where God said, has he said you can't eat of any
of this? Verse 2, And the woman said unto the serpent, We may
eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden. That's not what
God said. He said, We may eat of the trees of the fruit of
the garden, or the fruit of the trees of the garden, but of the
fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden. God
has said, You shall not eat it, neither shall ye touch it, lest
you die. Now, I didn't read in Genesis
chapter 2 where God said not to touch it. But he did say don't
eat it. And look what Satan says in verse
4. And the serpent said unto the woman, you shall not surely
die. Now that was a lie. But I'd never
thought about this before. And I didn't even know what a
lie was. This was a new thing for them. They'd never heard
of a lie. They didn't know there was such a thing. They were in
a state of innocence. And they just automatically believed
what somebody told them because they didn't know there was any
such thing as a lie. But Satan lied to them. He deceived Eve. And she bit the hook. Now look
at the argument he uses. Verse 5. After telling her this
lie, he says, For God doth know that in the day you eat thereof,
then your eyes shall be opened, and you shall be as gods, knowing
good and evil. Now, what makes God God? This is what he's saying. What
makes God God is that he knows good and evil. And he makes the
choice of the good over the evil. And that's where virtue comes
from. There's no virtue in your obedience because all you're
doing is obeying your nature. Big deal. I mean, dogs obey their
nature. Cats obey their nature. You're
just doing what is natural for you. Therefore, there's no moral
virtue into obedience. There's nothing to it, but if
you eat of this tree, you're going to know good, and you're
going to know evil, and you're going to be able to choose the
good over the evil, and that's what's going to make you like
God. Now what he's tempting her with is free will, the essence
of sin. free will. You eat this fruit,
and you're going to be exercising your free will. You're going
to be choosing the good over the evil, and that's what's going
to make you like God. Now, that again is a lie, but
it sounded plausible. It seems to me, I could see you
thinking, you know, that makes sense. It seems like there is
more virtue in choosing good over evil than just simply obeying
your nature, which it sounds plausible, but it's wrong because
God obeys His nature, doesn't He? and everything he does is
holy and right and just and good and it's glorious and all he's
doing is obeying his nature, but he was trying to come up
with this subtle, deceitful change of what God said. So Eve listened
to him and we read in verse 6, and when the woman saw that the
tree was good for food and that it was pleasant to the eyes,
and a tree to be desired to make one wise. Now there's the lust
of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. She saw that it was good for
food, the lust of the flesh, and pleasant to the eyes, the
lust of the eyes, that desire about being concerned about what
other people see. And the pride of life is desire
to make one wise. She did eat, and gave also unto
her husband with her, and he did eat. Now, he deceived Eve
so that she believed what he said, and this cast our entire
race into spiritual death. Now, that's the work of Satan,
isn't it? He hates God. He hates Christ. He sees God's creation. He wants
to mar it. That's his work. He wants to
do whatever he can to be against God. That's what he does. Now,
Christ was manifest to destroy the works of the devil. He made it to where it's better
for us than it was before the fall. Now, he is right now actively
at work, going to and fro all over the world. And I don't have
any doubt that he has worked anywhere where the gospel is
preached. He's going to do whatever he
can to hinder the preaching of the gospel. And he'll try to
tempt me. He'll try to tempt you. He'll try to create some
kind of situation or some kind of attitude where we're unable
to hear the gospel. That's his purpose. And he's
a crafty devil. He's deceitful. He's a lot smarter
than me and you. And he's got a whole lot of experience
at what he's doing. Now, Paul said in Ephesians chapter
4 verse 27, don't give place to the devil. Don't give him
a foothold. Don't give him something that
he can work with. Neither give place to the devil. Now turn with me, here's an example.
Turn with me to 2 Corinthians chapter 2. Verse 10. To whom you forgive
anything, I forgive also. For if I forgive anything, to
whom I forgave it, for your sakes forgave I it in the person of
Christ, lest Satan should get an advantage of us. For we are
not ignorant of his devices. Now simply to fail to forgive, is to put myself where Satan's
got a whole lot to work with me. It's so contrary to the gospel
to fail to forgive. And Paul said, I'm going to forgive
this man. And then he said, lest Satan should get the advantage
of us. We're not ignorant of his devices. Now he attacks believers. He
tempts them. You know, Christ once said to
Peter, get thee behind me. Who? Satan. And this is Peter. This is the
Apostle Peter. He had come under the influence
of Satan. And he didn't know what was going
on with him. And the Lord said to him, Get thee behind me, Satan. Thou savest not the things that
be of God, but the things that be of men. Do you remember when
the Lord told Peter? He said, Satan has desired to
have you. Literally, Satan has asked permission
to have you, to sift you as wheat. Now, I want us to think about
Peter's condition at that time. The Lord said, you're going to betray me. He said,
the rest of this bunch may, but not me. I'll never do anything
like that. Did Satan have much to work with?
He had a whole lot to work with, didn't he? Pride goes before
destruction, and a haughty spirit before the fall. And you see
what Paul means when he says, don't give him place, don't give
him a foothold. Turn with me to 2 Timothy chapter
2. This is one of the scariest scriptures. 2nd Timothy chapter 2. Verse 24. And the servant of the Lord must
not strive, but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach patient,
in meekness, instructing those that oppose themselves, if God,
peradventure, will give them repentance to the acknowledging
of the truth, that they might recover themselves out of the
snare of the devil." Now this is talking about believers. being
entrapped in the snare of the devil. And he talked about preaching
in such a way as God will use it to grant them repentance that
they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil. And
that word that they may recover themselves is one word in the
Greek. It means to return to soberness. a sound mind to regain one's
senses. Now, Satan can take me, he can
take you very easily and twist us to where we don't know straight
up. He did that to Peter. I've seen
him do it to people. It's his work. He's going to
do whatever he can to hinder the believing, the preaching
of the gospel of Christ. And he takes these people And
they're snared by Him. And these are believers, snared
by Him, doing His will. And the only way is when there
is a repentance, a change of mind to the acknowledgement of
the truth. What happens when this happens? Something goes
wrong with the truth. And then when they're delivered,
they're delivered by a change of mind and acknowledgement of
the truth. Now, He's so deceptive, He puts
truth in every lie. It's always deceptive. He can
tempt you to sin. He can't make you sin, but he
can tempt you. I think of David. For some reason,
he decided to not go out to battle the way kings are supposed to
do that. He decided, I'm not going to do that. And he was
up loitering around on his house, and then he saw Bathsheba, and
the temptation had begun. Now, did Satan force David To
commit that sin? Of course not. Of course not.
David did what he wanted to do. You can't say the devil made
me do it. He can't make you do it. But when the temptation comes,
you see what followed. He'll come as an angel of light,
seeking to make you embrace a false gospel. Now, how do we resist
him? I know I'm no match for him.
I know he's got so much to work with with me. How do you go about
resisting the devil? Because James says, resist the
devil and he will flee from you. How do we resist him? Well, here's
what you need to do. You just need to say no to him.
You need to say, I'm not going to give in to that temptation.
I'm not going to do that. You might as well quit with me. You know, somebody that would
say something like that has no idea of sin. They have no idea
who they are. They have no idea who the devil
is. Really, they have no idea who God is. I've heard people
talk like that. I'm going to do a dance on the
devil's head, you know, and just do the way they talk about Satan.
And I like the way the archangel said, the Lord rebuke you. The
Lord rebuke you. I'm afraid to do it. Well, how
do I resist the devil? We'll turn to 1 Peter chapter
5. Verse 8. Be sober. Be vigilant. Because your adversary The devil. Now the word devil means the
accuser. The accuser. How many times have
you heard his accusations? How could you be saved? Why,
you're the biggest hypocrite alive. You give in to temptation
so easily, doesn't take anything with you. You commit the same
sin over and over and over again. How and what in the world makes
you think you're saved? You're not saved. You couldn't
be. How many times have you heard
that? He's the accuser. That's what he does. He accuses.
He accuses God. God's too strict. His demands
are too much. He accuses you. You're nothing
but a hypocrite. Oh, how he accuses. That's what
his name means. And he's called in Revelation
12, the accuser of the brethren. And let me ask you this. Anything
he accuses you of to God, how much of it would be true? The accusations he could make
regarding me and you to God. The accuser. Now what does Peter
say? Verse 8. Be sober, be vigilant,
because your adversary, the devil, has a roaring lion, walketh about,
seeking whom he may devour, whom resist. There's the same word.
How? Steadfast in the faith. And let me tell you how you can
resist the devil by believing the gospel. Not by saying no to him, pulling
yourself up by the bootstraps and say, I'm not going to give
in to his insinuations. You believe the gospel. Whom
resist, steadfast in the faith. And he'll flee. That's one thing
he can't have any answer to. faith in Christ. Now, what I do when I hear these
accusations, they're all true. I really am
that sinful. But I've been told in the Word
of God that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners,
of whom I am the chief. He came to save me. And the blood
of Christ has such power that it can make me perfectly pure
without sin. No matter how sinful I am, I
look to Christ only. That's the way the devil is resisted. Steadfast in the faith. Turn to Ephesians chapter 6. We're given a little bit more
detail Verse 10. Finally, my brethren, be strong
in the Lord, and in the power of His might. Put on the whole
armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles,
the deceitful practices of the devil. Now the only way you're
going to resist the devil and the only way I'm going to resist
the devil is by putting on the whole armor of God. He tells us this is what this
is for. That you may be able to stand against the wiles, the
deceitful practices of the devil. Now the devil's a deceiver. He
can deceive so easily. He can make you think, he can
make me think wrong so easily. That's what he is. He's a deceiver.
He's an accuser. He's an adversary. He's the father
of lies. Oh, what a liar he is. Now look
what he says in verse 12. 4 We wrestle not against flesh
and blood. This wrestling match we're in,
it isn't with men. It isn't with men. Your great enemy is not flesh
and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers
of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness
in high places. Now he's talking about Satan
and his army. Wherefore, verse 13, taken to
you the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand
in the evil day, and having done all to stand, not to be overcome
and taken in his snare, but stand. Stand therefore, and look at
the first thing he mentions, stand therefore having your loins
girt with the truth. Now God, listen to me real carefully,
God only uses truth. He doesn't use error. He doesn't
use that which is false. He only uses truth. God is spirit and they that worship
Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth. The truth of the gospel. The truth of the true character
of God. All of His glorious attributes
as they're manifest in the cross. the truth regarding the true
character of man and how the trueness of him is seen in the
cross. That's where we see the true character of man, the cross.
The truth of salvation accomplished in the Lord Jesus Christ in what
He did. Now that's the truth. And there is no protection against
the devil with error. Let my Lord, that's what's closest
to me. That's my underwear. Let it be girt with the truth,
the truth of the gospel. That's the first piece of armor. The truth. Now you can just forget
resisting the devil without the truth. The truth concerning God
and how He saves sinners by His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. The
truth concerning man and his deadness and inability to save
himself apart from the grace of God. The truth concerning
who Christ is and what He did, what He accomplished, and where
He is now. The truth! Have your loins girt with truth. Verse 14, the second phrase,
and having on the breastplate, and this is what protects the
heart, having on the breastplate of righteousness. Now, if you're a Christian, you
know that there's only one righteousness. The righteousness of Jesus Christ. His perfect obedience. Now, this is the breastplate
that protects the heart. And the best example I thought
of was Lot. And when we talk about the righteousness
of Christ, we're talking about the righteousness imputed, and
we're talking about the righteousness imparted. Somebody says, what's
the difference? Well, I think the best way I
can explain that is to look at Adam's sin. Adam's sin was imputed
to me, so I became guilty of it. And when I was born, I was
born evil. His sinful nature was imparted
to me. Now when Christ saves a man,
his righteousness is imputed to them. And we just read that
passage of scripture that Claire read in 2 Peter chapter 4, where
we're partakers of the divine nature. His righteous nature
is imparted to the believer in the new birth. That holy nature. Now, the only protection for
the heart is the righteousness of Christ. And let me show you
that in 2 Peter chapter 2. Now what about Lot? Lot was a selfish man. Lot was a materialistic man. Very materialistic. Lot was a self-serving man. He should have given deference
to Abraham. He didn't. Lot seemed in some respects to
be a worldly man. He pitches his tent towards Sodom.
He ends up in Sodom. Lot, even when the angels were
getting ready to destroy the city, Lot lingered. And the angels grabbed him by
the hand and pulled him out. And when he got out, what did
he do? He got drunk and he committed
incest with his daughters. Now that's a pretty poor resume.
I've said before, the Bible's not family friendly, is it? I
mean, when it gives the way people are, Lot would be an example
of that. And there's no excuse in any
way for Lot's conduct. But I love the way none of it's
brought up in the New Testament. Not even brought up. Now I've
let you know, Lot, as a matter of fact, before the New Testament,
people would have said, Lot's not saved. He couldn't be saved
with his... the way he was. He couldn't have
been. And I'll tell you what, the way he was, was awful. He
was awful. But look how God the Holy Spirit describes him in
verse 6 in turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes. Condemned them with an overthrow,
making them an example unto those that afterwards should live ungodly,
and delivered just Lot. Justified Lot. Vexed with the filthy conversation
of the wicked. Oh, how he was vexed in that
city for that what? Righteous man. You see, if you
have Christ's righteousness, you know what you are? You're
a righteous man. That's God's testimony. People
get on, Lot was a righteous man, wasn't he? That's what God said
he is. That righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing,
vexed his righteous soul. Righteous soul. You see, this
is the impartation of Christ's righteousness, isn't it? His
righteous soul that was vexed with the filthy conversation
of the wicked. Vexed his righteous soul from
day to day with their unlawful deeds. The Lord knows how to
deliver the godly out of temptations and to resolve the unjust under
the day of judgment to be punished. Now, do you see what a glorious
breastplate that was for Lot? Now, if you want to stand before
the wiles of the devil, you're going to have to have, I'm going
to have to have this breastplate of righteousness. Back to Ephesians
chapter 6, verse 15, and your feet. That has to do with your walk,
doesn't it? The shoes you put on. Your feet shod with the preparation,
and that word preparation means the readiness. The readiness
of the gospel of peace. Now the only way that I can walk
in this world is with my shoes being the gospel of peace. How that Christ made my peace. with God, having made peace by
the blood of His cross. He is our peace. As you receive
Christ Jesus the Lord, how do you receive Him? I know how I received Him. As nothing but sin, receiving
His righteousness as everything. as you receive Christ Jesus the
Lord, so walk in him in the gospel of peace. Now I want to have
a peaceful walk, don't you? I want to be at peace, but I
know the only way I'm going to do it is walking with these as
my shoes, the gospel of peace. Verse 16. He says, above all things, taking
the shield of faith. Now this is a movable piece of
armor. The shield of faith. Above all
things taking the shield of faith that you may be able to quench
the fiery darts of the wicked. Now, how do I resist the devil? Look to Christ. That's the shield of faith. Faith
is the evidence of things not seen. How can you say you're
justified? Faith in Christ. Faith is the
evidence of things not seen. This serves me in whatever way
I need, looking to Christ. What a shield is the shield of
faith. And you can't quench the fiery
darts of the wicked without faith in Christ. You looking to Christ
only, that's going to quench the fiery darts of the wicked,
and the devil's going to flee. That's promised. Verse 17, And
take the helmet of salvation. What's a helmet? To protect your
head. To protect your head. The things
you think. What protects my head? The helmet
of salvation. Now what do you know about salvation?
Let me tell you what I know about salvation. It's all of grace. It's all in Christ. and I can't
get any more saved or accepted than I am right now in the Beloved.
I'm accepted in the Beloved. The only thing that will keep
my head straight is understanding that salvation is of the Lord.
It's not by works. It's by His grace. Now, that's
a protection for the head. Anything that's contrary to salvation
by grace, pure, free, 100% grace, is wrong. We know that, don't
we? What a helmet. And then he said,
praying, there's no resisting the devil without this. Praying
always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit and watching therein
too with all perseverance and supplication for all saints.
Praying for one another. Praying for me. Me praying for
you. There's something special about
the brethren. The brethren. What a blessed thing it is to
be part of the brethren. And for me, pray for me that
utterance may be given to me that I may open my mouth boldly
to make known the mystery of the gospel for which I'm an ambassador
and bonds that thereof I may speak boldly as I ought to speak.
You know one of the ways to resist the devil is pray that the preacher
might be enabled to truly preach the gospel in all boldness. Pray
for me that I would do that. I covet your prayers because
the way the devil has resisted is through the preaching of the
gospel, the truth. Not the preaching of error, but
the preaching of the truth. Now one other scripture. Turn
with me to the book of Revelation. Verse 9. And the great dragon was cast
out, Revelation 12, 9. The great dragon was cast out,
that old serpent called the devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the
whole world. He was cast out into the earth
and his angels were cast out with him. And I heard a loud
voice saying in heaven, now has come salvation and strength and
the kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ for the accuser
of our brethren. That's who he is. Is cast down
which accused them before God day and night and they overcame
him. How? By the blood of the Lamb. and by the word of their testimony,
and they loved not their lives unto death. Now how do I overcome? By Christ dying for me. By the blood of the Lamb. If He died for me, I must be
saved. You want to hear my personal
testimony? What can wash away my sins? Nothing but the blood
of Jesus. What can make me whole again?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh, precious is that flow that
makes me white as snow. No other fount I know. Nothing
but the blood of Jesus. That's my testimony. That it? Yep. Yep. don't have anything
else to say other than this. I'm not adding anything to that
but he said also says they love their lives not unto death. Now
in that word testimony that's where we get the English word
martyr. Anybody who really believes that
Christ's blood is all in salvation, anybody who that is their testimony,
by the grace of God, and they know only by the grace of God,
they're willing to die for that message. That's a message worth
me dying for. And that's the way every believer
feels. Resist the devil. and he will flee from you. Let's pray. Lord, we ask that you would give
us the grace to put on the whole armor of God, to resist the accuser of the brethren,
steadfast in the faith, Lord, give us grace to love one
another more, to pray for one another more. Lord, we pray that
your gospel might be preached, the mystery of the gospel in
all boldness. Lord, we remember our dear brother
Delfus at this time. We pray that you would cause
the treatment to be successful, and Lord, we ask if it be your
will and for your glory that his cancer might go away. We
pray for our dear brother Tom. We ask that your healing hand
would be upon him according to your will. Now, Lord, accept
our thanksgiving for Christ's sake. Oh, that we might be found
in him, that he might be glorified. In his name we pray. Amen. Well, I hope now we know why
I titled that message, How to Resist the Devil.