21. The Resistance
Chapter 21 The Resistance Submit therefore to God.Resistthe devil and he will flee..(James 4:7) Resisting Satan’s World System
During many wars, evil kings or governments would invade other countries and conquer them. The local people usually just submitted to them. But some people formed “underground armies” which they called The Resistance. They fought the invaders in order to win back their own country. In a similar way, we Christians are also a Resistance army. Satan has invaded the world and gained control over many of its people. We can chose to submit to him and his world system or we can learn to resist Satan’s world. In the last chapter, we saw that Satan eagerly desires to work with our sin nature and use it in such a way as to tempt us. In this chapter we want to look at how Satan uses the world system to tempt us and how we can resist. But what is the “world system?” The Bible usually just calls it “the world,” but in simple terms, it’s like a kingdom or world government that is unseen, but very powerful. It’s a spiritual government led by evil spirits. The Bible tells us that Satan is the ruler of this world (John 16:11; John 12:31) and we have also seen from chapter 5 how his government or kingdom rules over the lives of human beings by influencing us through various ways. We know that Satan is only one person, and he cannot be everywhere all the time and tempt everybody. But he uses his control over his government (the world system) to influence and tempt people everywhere. He can use many things in the media like TV, videos and advertisements or businesses and education, bad teachers and politicians, poverty or money, and even churches and religion to influence people through his world system.
Loving Satan’s World System Is Like Fighting God
1 John 2:15-16 says: “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world.” When we love the world or the things in the world, we are falling into Satan’s trap, and we are actually fighting against God (James 4:4). That’s because the world system is Satan’s kingdom and we are being influenced by Satan’s wrong way of thinking. But Romans 12:2 says that if our minds are renewed by God then we are not being conformed to this world. Satan uses his world system in many different ways to influence our thinking. But in this chapter, we want to focus on the “3 main pathways to temptation” that he uses in order to tempt our sin nature.
Three Pathways Satan Uses To Tempt Us Using The World System
We introduced these 3 different pathways to temptation when we talked about the temptations of Adam and Eve and also the temptations of Jesus. Let’s look at them in more detail from 1 John 2:16 above:
Lust of the flesh – desires from within the body, like hunger and thirst and other needs Lust of the eyes – desires that come from seeing things, like money, houses and other possessions Pride of life – the uncontrolled desire for approval from others and honor and glory for ourselves.
#1: LUST OF THE FLESH The first one is talking about “the flesh.” As we learned in chapter 20, this word “flesh” in the Bible comes from the Greek word "sarx" which literally means the soft tissue of a body, of both humans and animals. Sometimes it is translated literally as body, meat or flesh. It’s also translated figuratively as sin nature. The human body was created by God and so it is NOT sinful by itself. But our bodies have vulnerabilities, needs, and desires that can lead to sin IF they are not kept under control of the Spirit. They are called lusts and cravings. In Galatians 5:24, uncontrolled desires are called“…the flesh and its passions and desires.” Verse 15 of that same passage talks about people “biting and devouring each other.” They weren’t actually eating each other, but they were acting similar to animals—fleshly. So, the words “Spiritual” and “fleshly” (1 Corinthians 3:1) are often used to contrast the difference between a Spirit-controlled human—acting as God would act—vs. an unspiritual sinful human, acting instinctively, similar to an animal—only thinking about the physical desires of the body without Spirit control. Adam and Eve were created as perfect humans in God’s image—they acted like God, being spiritually-minded and Spirit-controlled. But when they chose to rebel against God, they separated themselves from God’s Spirit and lost that Spirit control. They became merely flesh or “fleshly.” So then, “the lust of the flesh” is talking about uncontrolled desires of the body.
What Are God-Given Needs And Desires?
It is important to understand that our bodies naturally have many needs and desires. These are “built-in” to our physical bodies as babies when we are born, and not something we learn. We hunger for food. We thirst for water. We need rest and sleep. We need to be held and loved. We need to socialize and express ourselves through words, etc. These needs or desires are good and natural and they are NOT evil in themselves. God himself created those desires in us so we would care for our bodies’ needs. But all these needs were designed to be controlled by God’s Spirit within us. If we don’t allow God to control these desires, then they become evil desires and lead us into sin—and Satan knows that very well. Which Sins Result From Desires If God Is Not In Control?
The need for food can become gluttony.
The need to drink can lead to drunkenness.
The need for rest and sleep can lead to laziness.
The need for socialization and friendship can lead us to the wrong kinds of friends or bad relationships.
The need for love and sex can lead to fornication or adultery.
The need to talk and express ourselves can lead to boasting, lies or dirty talk……etc., etc.
God has given us these desires and needs for our own good. But he himself needs to be the one who helps keep these desires in balance and under control by his Spirit. On the other hand, Satan wants to use his world system to influence and tempt those needs and desires within people, in order to ruin our lives.
Satan Uses Fleshly Cravings To Control The World
Ephesians 2:1-3 says: “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followedthe ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air,the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time,gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts…” When we were children of Satan, he used the world system to constantly tempt us to be controlled by our desires and be “gratifying the cravings of our flesh.” But now, we are children of God and the Spirit of God lives within us to give us balance and control over those human needs and desires. So now, we no longer need to be driven by the uncontrolled, evil desires or lusts which lead to sin.
Romans 6:12-13 says: “…do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness.” As you can see, we need to constantly offer our physical bodies to God by making good choices, so that under his Spirit’s control we will not be giving in to “lusts of the flesh”—the uncontrolled cravings of the body. We do this by “walking by the Spirit.” That means listening to and obeying the Spirit’s directions as we “walk” through life together. (We’ll talk more about this in the next chapter.)
Galatians 5:16-17 says “...walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other...”
Romans 12:1-2 says “...I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, tooffer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God...Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind...”
Here again we see that as we continue to offer our physical bodies in obedience to the Holy Spirit, then we are not conforming to the world system which is being run by Satan himself. We know that Satan uses many things in this world to lure us into being under his control and listen to his way of thinking—a worldly mindset. He wants us to forget God’s way of thinking.
Spiritual Armor For Our Body
Satan knows very well that our bodies have weaknesses and needs, so he tries to use those weaknesses against us. He wants to rule over our physical bodies, but we must remember that we are primarily spiritual beings that live inside those physical bodies, so our battle is more spiritual than physical. We can’t fight Satan with physical weapons as we would a human, because he is a spirit. So we need to use spiritual weapons and spiritual armor to protect us. And that’s exactly what God has given us! He gave us spiritual armor! Remember all the armor that we read about in Ephesians 6?
Ephesians 6:10-13 says: “…be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on thefull armor of God,so that you will be able tostand firm against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resistin the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.” (NASB) The Armor Of God Helps Us Resist Satan The armor that is mentioned in Ephesians 6 can help us in our fight against Satan and the flesh. Verse 11 says the armor will help us ‘stand firm against the schemes of the devil,’ and ‘resist’ him. Satan is always deceiving and lying to us and trying to use our body to entice us to sin. But the armor of truth, righteousness, love, faith, God’s word and prayer, etc. (from Ephesians 6) all work together to protect us and help us overcome Satan’s lies when he tempts us. So when Satan tries to deceive us and use the desires of our human nature (the “lusts of the flesh”) to entice us into sinning against God, we can use God’s word and his promises to defeat Satan’s lies. This is how we use the armor of God to protect our body and spirit and to resist Satan and his world system. And remember that Jesus himself is our armor and he can strengthen and protect us when we are tempted to not give in to our wrong desires.
Romans 13:14 says: “Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think abouthow to gratify thedesires of the flesh.”
2 Peter 1:4-5 “...he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, havingescaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness...knowledge and ... self-control...”
Self-Control
We see here that the Holy Spirit helps us escape those evil desires that come from the world system by giving us his precious promises in his word. This leads to a changed life through faith, goodness, knowledge and self-control, which allow us to reflect his ‘divine nature.’ The self-control mentioned in this verse means to control our bodies in such a way that its desires do not rule over us. But we know that true “self-control” only comes from Spirit control. The Bible says that “self-control” is actually a Fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:23). Satan loves to use the world to tempt our natural desires so that we lose control of our desires. But they don’t need to rule over us! When Satan tempts our bodies to eat too much or drink too much or commit adultery, or any other sin, we just need to say “NO!” The Holy Spirit helps us to deny those evil desires within us (Titus 2:12).
#2: LUST OF THE EYES The lust of the eyes is the second thing Satan uses to tempt us to sin and it overcomes many, many people. Satan’s sinful world system constantly lures our eyes and tempts us to covet things in the world that we don’t need or things we shouldn’t have. If we don’t allow God to control our eyes and thoughts, then the lust (desires) of the eyes will tempt us to covet things that don’t belong to us. Satan uses many things on the earth to tempt us, and our sin nature will crave these things if we are not controlled by the Spirit.
Covetousness
James 4:1-8 says: “What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come fromyour desires that battle within you? You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covetbut you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. You adulterous people, don’t you know thatfriendship with the worldmeans enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. ...Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.”
Unthankful And Always Unsatisfied
God gives us the basic things of this earth, like food and shelter, so that we can live in health and enjoy his goodness. But our sin nature is never satisfied. It always wants more and more. It seems that no matter how much some people get, they are not even thankful for what they do have. These people are “lovers of themselves, lovers of money, ...ungrateful...”(2 Timothy 3:2). If we are unthankful and forget the good things God has already done for us, then Satan will try to use the world system and the lust of the eyes to lure us into coveting what others have, and we become unfruitful for God.
Mark 4:19 says “... the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful.”
Resist Satan By Coming Near To God In James 4:7 above, we also saw that if we resist Satan he will run away. So when Satan tries to use our eyes to tempt us to covet, we need to resist him by saying no. But if we don’t resist, and allow ourselves to get really friendly with Satan’s world system and the ways of the world, then we’re acting like God’s enemies! Instead, verse 8 tells us to come near to God and he will come near to us. This is a very powerful way to resist Satan and covetousness, because when we come near to God we won’t be craving the things of the earth. God will become our highest desire and the things of the earth will become less important to us. We know that God has promised to take care of our basic needs and that we don’t need to worry about those things (Matthew 6:28-34; Hebrews 13:5). But we need to also remember that we won’t live on this earth forever. We need to set our minds on heavenly things first (Colossians 3:1-2; Matthew 6:19-34).
1 Timothy 6:6-10 says: “…godliness withcontentmentis great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.”
#3: PRIDE OF LIFE When our children are young, they can often be heard saying, “Look at me Daddy! Watch me!” Children are born with a desire to seek the approval of their parents and others. This is natural and it is good for us to encourage them in their growth and progress in life’s skills, etc. God actually created us that way. We were made in his image to be reflectors of his excellence and his honor and glory, so that we should seek his approval and godly honor. We should also seek to encourage and approve of others who are godly to reflect God’s image too.
1 Thessalonians 5:11 says: “Thereforeencourageone anotherandbuild up one another, just as you also are doing.” (1 Thessalonians 5:14; Hebrews 3:13)
It is a good thing to imitate God and seek his approval and to show approval of others as they reflect God’s image and glory. But since humans are naturally prone to seek approval, Satan likes to use that in the wrong way. Rather than seeking God’s approval and giving the glory to him for all he has done for us, Satan tempts us to be selfish and seek praise for ourselves rather than God our creator.
John 12:43 says: “...they loved the approval of men rather than the approval of God.” The word “approval” here is the same Greek word for glory and praise. God is worthy of all praise and glory because he is the giver of all good things (James 1:17). If we forget that he is the source of everything good that we have, then we will try to take the glory from those things ourselves. This is called the pride of life. The pride of life is the uncontrolled desire for approval from others, and honor and glory for us. We are all guilty of this sin. Satan’s first sin was to try to rob God of his glory through his own arrogance and pride, and now he is working hard to make us fall in the same way. Satan uses many things in the world system to get us to fall into pride. Sometimes he uses education, or money, or business, or politics, or even church work to make us proud. If you look around and study all the advertisements in today’s world, you will soon see that Satan’s world system is full of ways to make people proud of what they have accomplished or what possessions they have accumulated. It is all centered around self!
1 Timothy 6:17 says: “Command those who are rich in this present worldnot to bearrogantnor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, whorichly provides us with everythingfor our enjoyment.” (also James 4:13-16)
We so quickly forget that all good things come from God, and that we owe him everything. Our life, our health, our food, and even the very breath we breathe every minute of the day, is from him. So we can’t boast and become arrogant in something that was actually given to us. Rather, we should seek to give him glory for everything we do and say and own. Is it just rich and famous people that become proud? No! The sin nature dwells in every single person. Even children and poor people can be proud because that’s the way the sin nature works. And Christians too! In fact, there is often a lot of arrogance in the church. Many leaders think very highly of themselves and they fall into sin because of their pride. So God gives a strong warning to church leaders:
1 Peter 5:1-9 says: “To the elders among you, I appeal as a fellow elder…Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, watching over them—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not pursuing dishonest gain, but eager to serve;not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away. In the same way, you who are younger, submit yourselves to your elders. All of you, clothe yourselves with humilitytoward one another, because, “God opposes the proudbut shows favor to the humble.”Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him,standing firm in the faith...”
Resisting The Devil By Humbling Yourself
Satan is like a roaring lion looking to kill. He knows that God hates our pride, so he’s ready to pounce if we will just feed our pride. Pride is a weak spot for us. But God says that we can resist Satan by humbling ourselves under God’s mighty hand. So, no matter what position or status we achieve in life, God is higher still and we need to humble ourselves under him—like Jesus did (Php 2:3-11). By humbling ourselves, we are resisting Satan.
God Can Use Satan To Humble Us
If Christian leaders don’t resist Satan and don’t humble themselves, God has a way of helping them. Remember apostle Paul—God gave him a lot of knowledge and wisdom, but God didn’t want him to become proud about it. So God let Satan give him a “thorn in the flesh,” much like he did with Job (2 Corinthians 12:7-10). God knew that this would help Paul avoid becoming proud. So here we see that God even used Satan to help Paul overcome his pride! Imagine that. Our God really does know everything and can even use our enemy, Satan, to help us and strengthen us—just like he did for Job and Paul. Praise God for his amazing wisdom.
Recap: Three Pathways Satan Uses To Tempt Us Using The World System Lust of the flesh – uncontrolled cravings of the body Lust of the eyes –uncontrolled cravings (coveting) for possessions (things we see) Pride of life – uncontrolled desire for the approval from others, honor and glory for ourselves.
Notice that in each case, we’ve seen God tell us to: “RESIST!” The Holy Spirit can strengthen us to say noand resist Satan.
Conclusion: We Don’t Need To Be Afraid Of Satan
It’s true—Satan is a strong enemy and will try to turn us against ourselves. But as children of God we don’t need to fear him—because Satan himself is afraid when we resist him. Satan is afraid of God’s strength that dwells inside us Christians, and that enables us to resist him in these three areas. So the Bible tells us to resist him by putting on the armor of God and humbling ourselves under God and going near to him. When we do that, Satan will flee (James 4:7). We don’t need to fear him. But we need to watch ourselves because our sin nature likes to befriend Satan and it leads us into sin. As we saw in the previous chapter, one of the reasons God allowed Satan to remain on the earth was so that we would learn to fight against Satan and our sin nature and the world system, and become overcomers (conquerors) (Revelation 2:17; Revelation 2:26; Revelation 3:12; Revelation 3:21)! It is similar to what God did with Israel and the Canaanites. God wants to teach us how to RESIST—to fight Satan, and not give in to him.
“Fight the good fight of faith.” (1 Timothy 6:12) (NASB)
It is true that Satan is stronger and smarter than we are, and he has a powerful world system that is fighting against us. But one thing is stronger than all of them put together—the Holy Spirit who lives inside us! We’ll talk about our special relationship with him in the next chapter.
1 John 4:4 says: “You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.”