How Are We to Deal with the Devil?

Introduction and Review of Christian Living Principles

0:03 This adult Sunday school class was held on June 13, 1982, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey.

0:12 Our Father, we come to you again, thanking you that the way of access into your presence has been secured for us in the person and work of your beloved Son. Because you have invited us to draw near with boldness to the throne of grace, we would be emboldened to call upon you as our God and our Father. And we would remember this morning your servant who labors in the word and in doctrine out in Anderson, Indiana. We ask special help in the Sunday school class that as Pastor Nichols attempts to set before that congregation the biblical rationale for the ministry of the Academy, that he may be greatly helped and that the hearts of the people, there may catch the vision and share the burden of this work. We pray, O Lord, that a tangible result of his labors will be an increased volume of persistent prayer for this endeavor. And then we pray for the ministry of the word there this morning and again this evening. And then, our Father, we come again conscious of our need this morning.

1:25 You know us. You know our frame. You remember that we are dust. You know our tendency.

1:31 You know our tendency to dullness on heavy, dreary, rainy days. And we pray that you would give us grace to shake off all remnants of sloth and spiritual sluggishness that we may stir ourselves up to engage our minds and hearts in the study of your own holy word. Father, come amongst us with quickening grace and power and meet us, we plead, in the name of our Lord. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

2:04 Now, if some of you wonder why, week after week, I take the time to give a brief review and introduction of our subject. The main purpose is simply an attempt to fulfill the biblical injunction, as you would that others do unto you, even so do ye also unto them, for this is the law of the prophets. And I don't believe there's been a Lord's Day that I've stood up to teach you, but what I've looked into the faces of at least a half a dozen visitors, and frankly, I find myself having to fight irritation when I come as a visitor into a class where there is a sustained thread of unfolding of truth, and the teacher doesn't take a few minutes to let me know where they've been, where they're at, and where they're going, and it's two-thirds of the way through the lesson before I catch up and know what's going on. And so it's simply the pressure of the word of God upon my conscience that constrains me each Lord's Day to give this brief capsulization of the word of God. Of where we've been, and where we are, and hopefully where we are going. Now, this subject matter that we are dealing with in the adult class these days, and we have been for, I think this is the fourth Lord's Day morning, the subject is what? Someone tell me, please.

3:26 Yes.

3:28 All right. Major principles of living the Christian life. So, the concern is not how to enter into the Christian life, how does one become a Christian, but the subject is how are we to live once having become children of God and true Christians. And I've suggested that there are at least three basic goals that I have in mind in setting this subject before you.

3:55 What are those goals? Give me one each, if you will please, in the order in which I have set them before you. All right? Great.

4:10 All right. Number two. We have three goals.

4:15 One of them is immunization against errors on the subject of how to live the Christian life. All right? The other two goals are?

4:25 Yes, Denise. All right? And in doing so, to sketch out a what? What's the key word?

4:36 A theology of living the Christian life. All right? To sketch out or sketch in a practical theology of living the Christian life. And then to immunize against errors.

4:49 And then the third goal. Yes, Louise? All right, to turn around, I use the word to purge out any errors that we may have imbibed along the way. All right?

5:01 So much for our subject, our goals, and now we're laying out the subject and seeking to attain these goals by stating certain principles and then going to the scriptures to see those principles demonstrated and illustrated. Principle number one that we examined was, or is, Jim? He left out a key word. There is no one master key to living the Christian life.

5:32 There are many keys, and there are some that are more important than others, that open, as it were, larger doors or more doors, but there is no one master key to living the Christian life. So any theology, any teaching on the Christian life that says, this dimension of biblical truth is the key, you know immediately, if there is not positive error, there certainly is imbalance. There is no one master key because the scripture tells us we need the whole Bible to become whole men and women in Jesus Christ. 2 Timothy 3, verses 16 and 17.

6:11 And now we are presently examining and flushing out principle number two, which is, all right, there is no escape from tension and conflict in living the Christian life. So much erroneous teaching on the Christian life, becomes attractive to people because in one way or another, it promises release from tension and conflict in living the Christian life. And only people in whom there is something either spiritually sick or mentally deranged, delight in tension and conflict. No one who is a healthy Christian delights in any kind of tension and conflict. And so the errors abound with respect to theology, and teachings on the Christian life in this very area. Now, what factors establish this principle that there is no release from tension and conflict in living the Christian life until we are glorified? What are the factors which make that principle true?

Factors Establishing Inescapable Tension: Indwelling Sin, The World, and The Devil

7:22 Factor number one, Jerry, all right, and I've stated it this way, the fact of indwelling sin with its incessant and powerful activity. The key passages, Romans 7, Galatians 5, all right? What is the second factor which determines that there shall be no release from tension and conflict? Factor number one is indwelling sin, all right?

7:49 Factor number two, all right, Dominic? All right, the presence of the world system, and I use this terminology, the presence of the world with its restless and aggressive pressure. Romans 12, 2. Don't let the world squeeze in.

8:05 Squeeze you into its mold. It will if you let it, and it is constantly attempting to do so. All right, and now we're studying the third factor which establishes this principle. We have indwelling sin, the presence of a pressuring world, and what is that third factor?

8:26 Why, you're all so awake this morning. All right, someone who hasn't contributed yet. Yes, all right? The devil, and the way I've stated it is this, the activity of the devil with his vicious, devouring intentions.

8:42 And what we did last week was to, first of all, establish from the Scriptures our former relationship to the devil, and we saw by looking at some key passages that we were his spiritual children, we were his slaves, we were his disciples, we were blinded by him to the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, as set forth in the Gospel. And when we have been released and delivered by grace and power, Acts 26, 18, the devil is not content to leave us alone, but he is seeking continually to ensnare us, as we saw in those key passages, 1 Peter 5, 8, Your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour, Ephesians 6, 10 through 12, James 4, and verse 7. Now I said at the end of the class, and that's the end of our review, that there was another key passage concerning an activity of the devil with respect to Christians that we need to consider. And this is not an effort to be exhaustive, but we're looking at some of the major passages, and that one is in 2 Corinthians chapter 11. If you will please turn there with me.

The Devil's Activity: Corrupting Minds Through False Teaching

10:00 2 Corinthians chapter 11. Paul is writing to the Corinthian believers, and he expresses a very deep spiritual concern which he has with respect to them. Notice the language, beginning with verse 1 through verse 3, and then we'll go to several other verses in this chapter. Would that you could bear with me in a little foolishness, but indeed you do bear with me, for I am jealous over you with a godly jealousy, for I espoused you to one husband, that I might present you as a pure virgin to Christ. Here he uses very graphic imagery. He regards his place as their spiritual father, as the position of an earthly father who is jealously guarding the purity of his daughter until he can present that daughter to her rightful husband to whom she is engaged. And he says, you are espoused to Christ, and I long to present you as a pure virgin.

11:11 But he's apprehensive, that someone or something may destroy the spiritual virginity of the Corinthians. And who is that someone or something? Well, verse 3 tells us, But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve in his craftiness, your mind should be corrupted from the simplicity and the purity that is toward Christ. So here he regards the devil, as the tempter who came to Eve, as the one who would destroy the spiritual virginity of the Corinthians.

11:52 And notice, he is particularly concerned about this with respect to false teaching. For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom he did not preach, or you receive a different spirit, etc. So the whole subject, then, that he opens up, is the activity of these false teachers. And what he says is culminated in the teaching of verses 13 to 15 of this same chapter.

12:20 For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, fashioning themselves into apostles of Christ, and no marvel. In other words, we should not be surprised if the believers at Corinth are attacked by false teachers who are the instruments of the devil, who try to beguile them as the devil beguiled Eve. Why should we not be surprised? Well, he tells us, And no marvel, for even Satan fashions himself into an angel of light.

12:59 It is no great thing, therefore, if his ministers also fashion themselves as ministers of righteousness, whose ends shall be according to their works. Now you see the particular activity of the devil to which Paul regards the Corinthians susceptible? It is the activity of the devil in seeking to corrupt people's minds with respect to the truth as it is in Jesus. That's the area of his concern.

13:33 And he does not regard the devil as having gone on a vacation, because the Corinthians were brought to the truth under the great apostle, and were continually under the influence of his ministry. So if the great apostle, with power to work miracles as an apostle, if he fears lest his spiritual children should be corrupted by false teaching instigated by the devil, how unrealistic it is for ordinary pastors to think, no matter how carefully they instruct their people, that they are immunized against this influence of the devil. You see the point? I am not so naive as to think the devil has drawn a chalk line around Trinity Church saying, Well, those people are too consistently and too well instructed for me to bother with them. No, siree, I don't believe that for a moment. I believe I share with my fellow elders something of Paul's genuine spiritual concern. We fear, lest as the tempter tempted Eve, your minds be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Jesus Christ.

14:50 And if some of you wonder why again and again in teaching the truth of God, we not only give positive statements of what that truth is, but then mark it out by saying it is not this and it is not that, and beware of this and beware of that, it is because of this. It is because of this biblical realism. And the moment you get weary of that, you are a sitting duck for the devil to come and hoodwink you. You see it?

15:19 This is not some kind of quirk of Pastor Martins. This is not some kind of quirk of Pastor Nichols and the other elders. It is a biblical perspective. And we don't have miracles to attest the validity of our ministry.

15:36 We have an ordinary ministry. We have ordinary pastors and teachers. Here is a man who in this very passage said, I did not come behind the chiefest of the apostles, but the signs of an apostle were wrought in me. And in spite of all of that, they were susceptible to the devil's minions who came in the form of ministers of righteousness, apostles of Christ, preachers of the gospel.

16:02 And yet he regarded them as the very tools of the devil. So, though we do not become preoccupied with the devil as we saw last week, neither do we act like he has gone on a vacation. We are not naive and simplistic with respect to his presence and his activity. All right?

16:22 So that is why there can be no release from tension and conflict in living the Christian life. The devil is active. 1 Peter 5.8, James 4.7, Ephesians 6.10-12, and this key passage.

How to Deal with the Devil: Humility, Prayerfulness, and Holiness (James 4)

16:35 Now then, the question I want to raise this morning, and I only do this because it has been a long time since we have had any teaching directly on how the Christian is to deal with this activity of the devil, so we are going to spend the rest of our time raising the question, how then in this conflict and tension that arises out of the presence of a devil who is vicious and devouring his intentions, how are we to deal with the devil? That is a very vital question. His feelings with us are real. They are vicious.

17:10 He is out for blood. He is seeking to devour, literally swallow us up. How are we to deal with him? Well, let us go back to the passages in which he was mentioned, and I believe we will find some keys to the answer.

17:26 All right? Let us turn to the James 4 passage. James 4. Verse 7.

17:45 Resist the devil. And he will flee from you. Now notice the setting in which that command is given. Verse 6.

17:59 He giveth more grace. Wherefore, the scripture says, God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Be subject therefore unto God, but resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you.

18:20 Cleanse your hands, ye sinners, and purify your hearts, ye double-minded. Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall exalt you.

18:38 Do you see the setting of this injunction to resist the devil? It is a call to what we might call a life marked by humility, prayerfulness, and holiness, while feeding on the promises of God. It is a call to humility. God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.

19:03 Be subject therefore unto God. Don't go about strutting as though you have strength to carry on of your own. God resists the proud, the self-sufficient, the stiff-necked. He gives grace to the humble, a call to humility.

19:26 And then, verse 8, draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you, a call to prayerfulness, and then cleanse your hands, ye sinners, purify your hearts, a call to holiness, and then laced throughout this call to humility, prayerfulness, and holiness are the promises of God. He gives grace to the humble. If you resist the devil, he will flee from you. If you draw nigh to God, he will draw nigh to you.

19:56 If you deal honestly with your sins, the Lord will indeed meet you. And if you humble yourself, the Lord will exalt you. So how do we deal then with the devil? Well, some say that we ought to go through our days talking to the devil.

20:11 Talking to the devil, rebuking the devil. Every time we feel emotion of sin, we're to talk to the devil and rebuke the devil, and as it were, peep for the devil behind every blade of grass and behind every fold in a drape. That's not the context in which we are commanded to deal with the devil. The overall climate and context of this injunction is this call to a life marked by humility, prayerfulness, concrete progress in godliness, feeding upon the promises of God.

How to Deal with the Devil: Steadfast Faith and Watchfulness (1 Peter 5)

20:47 So that we resist the devil only so far as we obey that overall thrust of this passage in James. Now notice the parallel emphasis in 1 Peter chapter 5. 1 Peter chapter 5, beginning with verse 5. 1 Peter 5, 5.

21:11 Likewise, you younger, be subject unto the elder. Yes, all of you gird yourselves with humility to serve one another. Why? For God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.

21:32 Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time, casting all your anxiety upon him, because he cares for you. Be sober, be watchful. Your adversary the devil is a roaring lion, walks about seeking whom he may devour. Whom withstand, steadfast in your faith, or better translated, steadfast in the faith.

22:06 Steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world. Now do you see again the context of the call to have dealings with the devil? It is not a call to become preoccupied with the devil. It is a call again to walk in humility, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God.

22:31 It is a call to prayerfulness, casting all of your anxiety upon him. It is a call to spiritual sobriety and watchfulness. It is a call to withstand the devil steadfast in the faith. That is having our minds and hearts filled with a present confidence in the objective truths of the gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

23:00 That is what the faith is. And we are to stand steadfast in the faith. We are to occupy our minds not with the devil, but we resist him insofar that we occupy our minds with the truths that surround Christ and the gospel. We look to the Lord Jesus as the one who vanquished the powers of darkness, Colossians 1.

23:24 We look to him as the great captain of our salvation who has dealt a death blow to the enemy of our souls. We look to our Lord Jesus that we might by his grace walk in humility, in prayerfulness, in watchfulness, in dependence upon him and in the consciousness that suffering is part and parcel of the Christian life and we refuse to be turned out of the way when things get rough, knowing that the same sufferings that you are experiencing, he says, are accomplished in your brethren. So you see, when people take these phrases out of James and Peter and lift them out and build a whole theology of talking to the devil and talking to demons and preoccupation with the devil, they violate one of the most fundamental principles of biblical interpretation we look at the setting, the context, the overall thrust of the passage in which that direction is given to us. And then turn, if you will, to Ephesians 6 and this is perhaps the most helpful passage. The others are rather preliminary. Ephesians chapter 6, we looked at verses 10 to 12 last week, the statement that we do wrestle against the devil though we don't want to become preoccupied with him, we cannot ignore him, for we wrestle,

How to Deal with the Devil: The Shield of Faith (Ephesians 6)

24:52 verse 12, against principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this darkness, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Then, as spiritual warriors, Paul instructs us with reference to this taking to ourselves the whole armor of God. And after he mentions the various pieces of the armor, notice the statement to verse 16, with all or upon all taking up the shield of faith wherewith you shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the evil one. And here is the picture, of course, of ancient warfare. And some of you have seen this perhaps in an old movie in which the Indians took their arrows and they tied some kind of combustible, some fabric that could burn and they dipped it in some kind of a combustible material and then they'd take the fiery arrows and shoot them, hoping thereby that to ignite a fire where the arrow landed. Well, here's the picture of the devil who shoots his arrows and they are fiery arrows.

26:08 He has nothing short of consuming us in his evil intentions. And how are we to resist him? How are we to ward off all of his various fiery darts? Paul says, upon all taking the shield of faith.

26:25 And what does faith do? Faith actively lays hold of the realities pronounced in the Gospel. Faith is preoccupied with its object, the Lord Jesus. Faith is preoccupied with the provisions of grace.

26:43 Faith is not preoccupied with the devil. So when it sees a fiery dart coming, it doesn't look at the dart and analyze the dart. It looks to Christ. It takes the shield of faith and raises it against the dart.

26:58 You see the difference? In one, the preoccupation of the soul is upon Christ. The other is upon dart analysis. And God doesn't call us to dart analysis.

27:10 Now, we are not ignorant of his devices, Paul says. We are not ignorant of his devices. We are not to be simplistic. But we are not to be so preoccupied with his devices that there is a devil fixation in our dealing with the devil.

27:23 Let me read Hodge on this passage or a section of his comments on this passage from his exposition of the Book of Ephesians. I found this most helpful. As burning arrows not only pierced but set on fire what they pierced, they were doubly different from what they pierced when they were pierced by fire. They pierced what they pierced when they were pierced by fire.

27:45 They pierced what they pierced when they were pierced when they were pierced when they were pierced when they were pierced when they were pierced when they were pierced when they were pierced when they were pierced when they were pierced when they were pierced when they were pierced when they were pierced when they were pierced when they were pierced when they were pierced for in any ordinary law of mental action and which cannot be dislodged. They stick like burning arrows, and they fill the soul with agony. They can be quenched only by faith, by calling on Christ for help. These, however, are not the only kind of fiery darts, nor are they the most dangerous. There are others which enkindle passion, inflame ambition, excite pride, discontent, or vanity, producing a flame which our deceitful heart is not so prompt to extinguish and which is often allowed to burn until it produces great injury and even destruction.

29:01 Against these most dangerous weapons of the evil one. The only protection is faith. It is only by looking to Christ and earnestly invoking his interposition on our behalf that we can resist these insidious assaults which inflame evil without the warning of pain. The reference of this passage, however, is not to be confined to any particular forms of temptation.

29:30 The allusion is general to all those attacks of Satan by which the people of the world have been attacked. The allusion is general to all those attacks of Satan by which the people of the world have been attacked. The peace and safety of the believer are specially endangered. And I cannot improve upon those comments of Hodge that it is the shield of faith, it is crying to the Lord Jesus, it is looking to him so that by his grace we may quench the fiery darts of the evil one.

How to Deal with the Devil: Give No Place to the Devil (Ephesians 4)

29:57 And then that passage in Ephesians 4 which was expounded, I believe, about two years ago by Pastor Nichols. In Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 27, a very vital text with respect to the question, how are we to deal with the devil?

30:16 Ephesians 4 and verse 27, neither give place to the devil. And what is the context? It is a call to holiness in terms of the concrete issues of truthfulness. Verse 25, wherefore putting away falsehood, speak ye truth each one with his neighbor.

30:36 Verse 26. It is a call to avoid the indulgence of sinful passion and anger. Be ye angry and sin not. Let not the sun go down upon your wrath.

30:50 It is a call to honesty in all of our dealings with our fellow men. Verse 28, let him that stole steal no more. It is a call to purity of speech. Verse 29, let no corrupt speech proceed out of your mouth.

31:03 It is a call to a gracious, forgiving spirit in our dealings. Now in that setting, he says, don't give place to the devil. In other words, it is in the pursuit of universal holiness at every level of its demands that we do not give unnecessary place to the devil in our lives. And it will not do, you see, to be careless and shoddy in the whole area of truthfulness with our lips.

31:33 In having a forgiving, gracious spirit to our fellow believers when they wronged us. In the whole matter of integrity in our work. It will not do to be shoddy in these areas. Then when we feel a peculiar pressure of attack from the enemy to start rebuking him in the name of Jesus.

31:54 It is like these healing meetings where corpulent so-called faith healers who are digging their graves with their teeth lay their hands on equally corpulent people. And I have seen some of them. It was just absolutely disgusting. People who are obnoxious.

32:10 People who are obnoxious. People who are obviously utterly intemperate in their eating. And then praying that God will heal their disorders. And so the Lord would come and put his approval upon their total disregard for their bodies which are the temple of the Holy Spirit.

32:25 We can't play games like that with God. Neither can we do that with the devil. And the only one who is effective in resisting the devil is the one who is not giving place to the devil in terms of the overall pattern of consistent practice of practical godliness. So there is no shortcut.

32:45 And the person who will not pay the price of consistency in these areas of practical godliness is a sitting duck for the devil. He is giving place to him again, again, again, again, again, again, again, and again. And it will go on until we are prepared to obey this injunction. Give no place to him.

Debating Direct Conversation with the Devil

33:07 And the manner in which we are to do that is set forth in this very text. So, in the light of that, do you find any hint that a believer is to talk directly to the devil? Do you find anything in these passages to indicate that a believer is to carry on conversations with the devil? Someone want to venture an answer?

33:29 That's a bona fide question.

33:41 Very good. Simple. Straightforward. Simple question deserves a simple answer.

33:46 Alright? Anyone want to disagree with him? Alright, Bob, you want to carry on from that? A very, very good point.

33:56 Do you hear what he is saying? He said that the resistance is in your life or the pattern of your life rather than in debate.

34:02 Right? Someone want to debate his answer. Alright? Yes, Dean?

34:12 Yeah. Yeah.

34:19 I deliberately avoided that passage because as I did my homework on it, the more I studied it, the more I was convinced I don't know what in the world it's saying, so I wasn't going to introduce it.

34:30 But certainly at least this much is true, that he says the mark of these impious men is that they dare to speak very glibly. Even about spiritual beings that are evil. So that much, you're right in introducing. And I figured somebody would bring that in.

34:45 So I did my homework and determined I wouldn't leave it open for discussion because it's a very, very difficult passage. Alright? So with your permission, we'll sidestep that one, alright? With your permission?

34:58 Oh, very good. These people in the back couldn't see you shaking your head. I didn't want them to think I was running roughshod over you. Alright, someone else had his hand raised back here.

The Uniqueness of Christ's Temptation and Dealing with the Devil

35:06 Yes, Michael. Yes. I put in my margin. Objection.

35:35 What about our Lord? Did not he talk to the devil? So someone has raised the objection, alright? How do we respond to that?

35:42 Matthew chapter 4, in the parallel passages, in Mark and in Luke, indicate that our Lord did talk directly to the devil in what is called his temptation in the wilderness. Now, is that regulative for us? If so, why? If not, why not?

36:00 Alright, Bob? Alright. So you're saying there was a unique power that our Lord had with respect to Satan that we do not have, alright? Jim?

36:19 Alright. Was this an ordinary operation of the devil in the manner in which he influences us and seduces us? No. There's the critical point.

36:43 There is no one-to-one parallel between the devil apparently even appearing in a human form. The whole thrust of it seems to indicate then he taketh him up into a high pinnacle. The whole indication is you've got two visible beings. Our Lord in the reality of his incarnate person and the devil in some kind of a physical manifestation of what probably was something apparently human.

37:15 We can't dogmatize where the scripture is silent and there is, according to the passage in the plain sense of it, an actual conversation. Then the devil taketh him and then the devil said to him and apparently even pointing, if thou art the Son of God, command that these stones be turned into bread. So that the whole situation and set of circumstances surrounding the temptation of our Lord is not parallel to our dealings with the devil. Now that does not mean that there is not much in that passage for our prophet and hopefully sometime in the near future I want to preach a series of sermons on the temptation of our Lord and the significance of that for the believer.

37:59 But the significance is not that it forms the pattern by which we are to deal with the devil. There's the fundamental assumption that people make because our Lord talked directly to the devil therefore that's the way we are to deal with him. And that assumption is based on a false premise. Alright, someone else had something to say on that.

38:17 Yes, Ron? Yes, alright. And of course here are some of the factors and I don't want to get into the uniqueness of that passage but you do have as it were the first Adam who fell from the tempter's seductions or Eve and then she gave the fruit to Adam and Adam falls. But the last Adam, our Lord Jesus Christ engages the enemy and conquers on behalf of his people.

38:50 There is something unique in what we call the redemptive history of our Lord in that temptation in the wilderness. It was not even the ordinary measure or framework of our Lord's dealings with the devil because it says, then the devil leaveth him. Then of course we know there are other periods when he came in a peculiar way to tempt him. Now as far as our Lord speaking to Peter, get thee behind me Satan, he is saying to Peter using a figure of speech that in speaking as you are Peter trying to turn me aside from the cross you are the mouthpiece of the devil.

39:27 So he was not saying that Peter had become the devil incarnate and was rebuking the devil but was saying get thee behind me Satan thou art an offense unto me for you do not think the thoughts of God but the thoughts of men. So that passage would be no basis for saying that we are to deal in this direct way with the devil. Right? Yes. Bill?

Preoccupation with God, Not the Devil

39:49 Yeah, well again there are people who have spoken to the devil. The question is do these key passages on dealing with the devil indicate that that is our duty? That's the question I've asked. Yeah, that's why we've got to bring even good biographies to the touchstone of the Bible and ask the question was this activity of this good and godly man rooted in a solid, balanced, biblical perspective?

40:24 And if not, then we only follow men insofar as they follow the word of God. Yes, Mr. Bischoff. Very, very good point.

40:43 In all the trials that the Lord allowed the devil to bring upon Job, Job's preoccupation was with God. The Lord giveth, the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. As someone has so aptly said, whatever the devil does, he does as God's devil.

41:00 He's God's devil. And he's not outside the control of our God. So that whatever is brought upon us is only brought upon us by God's permission. Yes, Louise?

41:28 Yeah, he was lifting the shield of faith. That's right. We need to talk to ourselves in order to take the shield of faith. Not talking to the devil.

41:39 Why art thou cast down, O my soul? Why art thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in God. Psalm 42.

41:45 He's talking himself into the activity of faith. And we need to do that all the time. All the time. We can't lift the shield of faith in many situations without talking to ourselves.

41:59 And say, man, you're acting like someone who believes God is God. Someone is dead. Christ has vacated the universe. You need to look in the mirror sometimes and say, you're a miserable representation of someone who has a mighty conqueror for a savior.

42:12 We need to talk to ourselves. That's surely biblical. We find it all the way through the Psalms. Talking to ourselves.

42:20 But do we find any explicit warrant in the word of God for talking directly to the devil? And it seems that we're getting more and more evidence that the simple answer that Mr. Orr gave us is the right one. All right?

42:33 Yes, Larry? Well, I would say, Larry, the element of truth, though, is that the Scripture does say he was tempted in all points like as we are yet without sin. So that the temptation is aimed in that sense at his incarnate humanity. Now, the difference is the devil comes and finds nothing in him. We read in another passage that our Lord had no indwelling sin. There is already a hook in us with respect to seduction into sin. James 1.

43:32 Every man is tempted when he is drawn away by his own lust. Our Lord never knew that dimension of temptation, for there was no indwelling sin in him. Now, there was a real humanity that had real hunger that could experience real temptation to fulfill that hunger outside of the will of God. So the temptation was real.

43:56 He was hungry, it says. After forty days and nights, he was an hungered, as the Old Authorized translation. So when the devil said, If thou art the Son of God, show your stuff by turning these stones into bread. And looking down at those little round stones that probably looked like the ordinary barley loaf, I imagine our Lord salivated and felt the pangs of hunger and could visualize what that would mean to be able to break a barley loaf and eat it in his conscious hunger.

44:29 But God had somehow made clear to him that he was not yet to break his fast. How, we do not know. So when he responded to the devil, he said, No, it is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. And God, who is my God, has not given me leave yet to break my fast.

44:48 I will not break it at your seduction. I will only fulfill my physical appetites in obedience to the word of my heavenly Father. And there, you see, we have the great principle of how we are to deal with the seductions of the devil. We are to be preoccupied with God and his claims over us and our faith, obedience, response to that word.

45:10 So you see, in that sense, the way in which Christ dealt with the devil is our pattern. The undergirding principle, not the external circumstances of directly talking to the devil. But that is to get into the series of sermons that I hope to preach down the line. Yes, someone else had his hand raised near you, Larry.

Conclusion: The Razor's Edge of Biblical Realism

45:28 Who was it? All right. Yes. Yes.

45:41 That's right. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Well, that brings us into a whole different sphere of concern.

46:13 And I don't know that it would be wise to try to get into that in this context. The whole question, is there demonic possession and is there a ministry of exorcising demons in others? But we're dealing with major principles of living the Christian life and the extent to which we must deal with the devil in the living of the Christian life. So with your permission, I'll table that issue since it's another whole vast area of biblical concern and I would not want to address myself to it off the cuff.

46:43 All right? Good. All right, bud. Yeah.

46:52 Well, you see, we're not dealing with that. So I want to stick to the thing we're dealing with. A major principle of living the Christian life is there's no release from tension and conflict, not only because of indwelling sin, the pressure of the world, but a vicious devouring devil. We've seen his activity is real upon the believer, but now how is the believer to deal with that activity?

47:13 And the great question we're wrestling with is it in terms of the overall thrust of these pivotal passages we've studied in which we deal with the devil by a commitment to a walk of consistent humility, prayerfulness, dependence upon God, trust in his promises, consistent practical godliness, or do we go around talking to the devil left, right, and center? That's the issue. That's the issue that I want us to stick to, and lo and behold, our time is gone. So on that note, we'll have to close.

47:44 I didn't realize I was summarizing to conclude. I had a good quote from Mr. Johnstone, not Johnson, but Johnstone in his commentary on James, and maybe in the review next week I'll give that quote, and then we'll move on to the fourth and final factor which establishes principle number two, that there is no release from tension and conflict, and it's what I'm going to call the dynamics of the changes produced in us by the Holy Spirit. And I would urge you, if you have time, to read the first seven or eight verses of 2 Corinthians 5 during the week and see what there is in that passage which points to the fact that there will be no release from tension and conflict in living the Christian life until we are glorified. Well, let's again look to God in prayer. Our Father, we are so thankful that you have deposited in our hands this blessed book which is able not only to make us wise unto salvation through faith in Christ, but which is also able to furnish us unto every good work. And we pray that you will help us as we seek by your grace to live in obedience to the word that we may biblically,

49:12 resist the devil, that we may biblically be watchful, knowing that our adversary is a roaring lion, seeks whom he may devour. Keep us from the excesses that preoccupy men's minds with the devil. Keep us from a sinful naivety which would act as though the devil did not exist. Lord, you alone can make us walk that razor's edge of a proper respect for and recognition of the activity of this great enemy of our souls, while at the same time ever lifting the shield of faith, fixing the gaze of our soul upon our great and glorious conqueror who has bruised the serpent's head and has been seated in the heavenlies far above all principalities and powers and might and dominion. O Lord, help us in the outward working of these things. We have not meant simply to play verbal ping-pong with notions and ideas, even biblical ideas. But, O Lord, we have meant that we might know how better to walk before you as your children.

50:28 Help us then in the application and outworking of these principles, we plead in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.