The Devil No.5 His Tactics (i)

Our reading today is taken from Job chapter 2. Last week we read chapter 1 and how God allowed Satan to test Job, who was a wealthy and prosperous man. He had a family he loved, many possessions, and a large number of servants. It says in verse 3 of chapter 1 that he was the greatest man among all the people of the He was also a very godly and upright man.

He loved God and worshipped him. Satan tried to tell God that Job only loved and worshipped him because God had blessed him with so much. Satan said that if everything was taken from him, Job would turn away from God.

So God allowed Satan to destroy all Job had, his children, his possessions, and his servants. But God said that Job himself must not be harmed. After all this had happened to Job, he was still able to worship God.

We take up the reading now in Job chapter 2, verse 1. On another day the angels came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came with them to present himself before him. And the Lord said to Satan, where have you come from? Satan answered the Lord, from roaming through the earth and going to and fro in it. Then the Lord said to Satan, have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him.

He is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil, and he still maintains his integrity, though you incited me against him to ruin him without any reason. Skin for skin, Satan replied. A man will give all he has for his own life, but stretch out your hand and strike his flesh and bones, and he will surely curse you to your face.

The Lord said to Satan, very well then, he is in your hands, but you must spare his life. So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord and afflicted Job with painful sores from the soles of his feet to the top of his head. Then Job took a piece of broken pottery and scraped himself with it as he sat among the ashes.

His wife said to him, are you still holding on to your integrity? Curse God and die. He replied, you are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God and not trouble? In all this, Job did not sin in what he said.

When Job's three friends, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite heard about all the troubles that had come upon him, they set out from their homes and met together by agreement to go and sympathize with him and comfort him. When they saw him from a distance, they could hardly recognize him. They began to weep aloud and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads.

Then they sat on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights. No one said a word to him because they saw how great his suffering was. The Lord will bless the reading of his word.

Let's turn again to these well-known words of Ephesians in chapter 6. I exaggerate not when I tell you that I feel a greater burden preaching from these verses than I think I've ever known in the years that I've been here at the tabernacle. And I want you to read with me from the tenth verse and let's go down to the sixteenth. That's not the end of the sense, but it will do for our purposes this morning.

So if you've got the NIV, read with me please. Ephesians 6.10. Finally be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes.

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground. And after you have done everything to stand, stand firm then with a belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.

In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Amen. If I were to say to you this morning that I believe the world to be bedeviled, that would not be the cheap attempt of a preacher to make a somewhat feeble pun.

I believe that in the literal meaning of that word, that we are confronted with problems in our society that can only be explained within the term that I've just deliberately used, bedeviled. I don't know how you understand human history, my friend. Those of you who don't come along here regularly, Sunday by Sunday, perhaps I should say this.

I don't know how you understand the psychology of the individual, how you understand yourself. I'm not in any sense being boastful when I tell you that I'm an addict to reading. In some ways I wish I could get out of the habit, but of the many, many volumes that I've read, and particularly in the area of history from the Middle Ages through through the 20th century, I find myself challenged to understand how do you explain all this? Why does man behave like this? And then sometimes I must confess publicly, I look into my own heart and I ask myself at times, why do I react like I react? Why is there sometimes a sense of shame after a few moments have gone, that one responded in such a way that one allowed such words to come forward, such feelings, such hostility.

How do you understand yourself, your own psyche, let alone how do you understand the world? Well, I put it to you that the way to go about understanding your life and the way to go on about understanding society is by taking very literally what the Apostle Paul has to say here when he speaks about the spiritual struggle in which all sensitive people are involved and knowingly so as they push their way through the pilgrimage that is theirs in this world. We have a war on, says the Apostle Paul, a struggle it's not against flesh and blood but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world. And he tells us as he leads into this piece of exhortation in the 11th verse, take your stand against the devil's schemes.

Now all that I'm concerned about this morning is that you go away knowing what the Bible teaches. What I have to comment is relatively unimportant but if what I say is making the Bible clear then go home and reflect upon this. You may have no confidence in me and I have no right for you if you're a stranger to me to have confidence in me per se.

But perhaps you have confidence in the Lord Jesus Christ, I trust you do. Well on one occasion he's involved in dialogue, in dispute. There are those who try to frustrate his ministry though they are the equivalent in his day to the professional clergy.

And in the eighth chapter of John's Gospel you discover the Savior confronting them. They're at loggerheads with him. They don't appreciate what he has to say and he turns on them because they're denying the very testimony that he was God ordained to bring into this world.

And he refers in the 55th verse of John 8 to the force that controls them. He says you don't know the heavenly Father but I know him. If I said I didn't I would be a liar like you but I do know him and keep his word.

Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing by day. He saw it and he was glad. And in the 44th verse speaking again of those people to whom I've just made reference he describes them in these very, very strong terms.

You belong to your father the devil and you want to carry out your father's desire. That's very strong isn't it? From the meek and mild Jesus Christ. Well let's go to Ephesians in chapter 2 because here is the Apostle and he is describing those who have not yet made a commitment to Jesus Christ, those who are unbelievers.

And he makes this reference by suggesting the Ephesian Christians reflect back on what they used to be like before they became Christians. As for you, he says in chapter 2, as for you you were dead in your transgressions and sins in which you used to live when you followed the 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. What does he mean by this spirit who is now at work? Well he's referring exactly to the same personage, the same personality as our Lord Jesus in the discussion to which we have just made reference.

He's referring to the devil and the Bible clearly teaches whether you believe it or not that the devil is personal and that the devil is influential and that you are confronted by him and his powers. And what is more, you are either deliberately or unconsciously on his side or you are deliberately on the side of Jesus Christ. There is no other issue.

The Bible makes this very clear, there is no third category, there is no gray area, it's black, it's white, it's yes, it's no, you're a Christian or you're not a Christian, it is so very clear. Well then, let's come back to this notion of the devil. I want to put up three or four questions and it will be a miracle if I get to the fourth but I'll try.

How powerful is the devil? This adversary who confronts us, how powerful is he? Well he's powerful enough for us to respect him and fear him. Powerful enough, as you will have gathered from Joan's reading earlier from the book of Job, at times to interfere with the very climate, the very lightning that flashed down and caused fire in the dwellings of Job was as a result of the devil's interference. That does not mean to say that every disturbance in nature has him as its cause, but he can, he can interfere in this area, that's how powerful he is.

That storm on the lake, when Jesus is on the boat with the disciples and they're absolutely terrified, it seems to me that there's something uncanny about that storm, as though it's an attempt of the devil to sink the Lord Jesus Christ. He has this sort of power, power in the realm of nature. What is more, he has the power over the realm of the body.

You come across occasions in Scripture where men are troubled by devils, by demons. Jesus comes down from the mount of transfiguration and here are the disciples, nine of them who didn't accompany him to the mount and they are perplexed. Why? What is the reason? Well, there's a man who's come along and his boy is demon-possessed and they can't throw out the devil.

The Lord Jesus deals with the situation and on one occasion you find the Lord Jesus saying in Matthew's Gospel in chapter 10, don't fear those who can just affect the body, fear those who can send the soul and the spirit into hell. Now, who is he referring to? He's referring to none other than the devil. He is a personality to be respected.

He's one who can furthermore affect the purposes of God. Says the Apostle Paul when he's writing to the church at Thessalonica, he had intended to come and see them on a previous occasion, 1 Thessalonians in chapter 2. And in the 18th verse he concedes, we wanted to come to you. Certainly I, Paul, did again and again, but Satan stopped us.

He has great power. I have made reference to Josephine McKim and her expulsion recently from India in the last three or four days, despite the fact that request got through to the secretary of the new Indian Prime Minister for her to return, retain her residence in the country. But no, she's been interfered with as far as her service for the Lord is concerned.

The devil has power. We must recognize this, but that power is not an unlimited one. God is all knowledgeable.

He is aware of every situation. That's what theologians call being omniscient. The devil is not.

He does not have all knowledge, as I shall show you in a moment or so. God is everywhere. You can pray to the Lord in Australia and you're not impoverished by praying to Him in the northern hemisphere.

His power, His presence, it circumnavigates, it goes around the globe. He is aware of everyone, even if I've made my bed in hell, says the psalmist. You will be there.

He's omnipresent. The devil is not. He can manifest himself, he can materialize when he so desires, but his intelligence is dependent upon these principalities, these powers that cover the earth and report back to him.

I put it to you that C. S. Lewis was right in his understanding of the doctrine of the devil, in his Screwtape Letters. The devil has power, but he is not omnipotent. He has knowledge, but he is not omniscient.

He can manifest himself in certain locations, but he is not omnipresent. He is a being to be feared, as Michael feared, or Michael respected him, as he contended for the body of Moses. Moses having died on the earth, came under the authority, or so the devil thought, his authority.

He died there as a sinner. Michael contended with the devil, and he rebuked the devil in the name of God, but he respected the devil. He is a powerful being to be feared, but we are not to have a cringing fear, those of us who trust the Lord Jesus.

My second question. I've answered the question, how powerful is he? At least I've attempted an answer. Why does he attack the church? Now I find that to be a very interesting question.

Why doesn't he give in? After all, Jesus died on the cross of Calvary, was raised again on the third day, and in that sense expelled the power of Satan, inasmuch as he is very much limited in the authority that he has on our earth, compared to what he had before, and yet there is still his influence. He still exerts some sort of subtle conniving relationships with people in the church of God. Now why is this? Why doesn't he recognize that he is defeated, that ultimately there is no chance in hell for him? Well, why did not Adolf Hitler, as I mentioned two or three weeks ago, why didn't he realize in Berlin that his position was hopeless? Well, I'll tell you why.

Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad. And Adolf Hitler had lost his rationality, controlled by a spirit world, sold his own soul, and the devil himself does not have this omniscience, this all-knowledge. He will not believe that his cause is hopeless.

And so there are these last thrusts of the devil. And to where are they directed particularly? To ordinary people who don't know the Lord Jesus? Not first of all. He directs his approach specifically to the church.

Why? Well, I can demonstrate this quite easily. You see, in the Garden of Eden, the devil manifested himself. He took on the subtle form of a snake, and he tempted Eve and Adam.

Why? Well, the glory of God was at stake, for the glory of God, as I explained last week, is reflected more in man than any other being, including those in heaven. Now, when the Lord Jesus came on earth, what did he come for? He came once more to establish God's glory. He is the Son.

He reflects the glory of God. And the devil made an unqualified attempt to sully the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. But now our Saviour is away, physically speaking, from the world.

And what is here? What is left? Well, his body. How do you describe his body? It is the church. And what is the function of the church? It is to glorify God.

So, Ephesians 3.20, this beautiful doxology. Now to him, the Lord Jesus, who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be what? Glory in the church. Not the tabernacle alone.

Not a denomination. The aggregate. Line up, if you can, all those who belong to Jesus Christ.

The Russians, the Chinese, the American, the Indians, those from Latin America, ourselves. Line them all up, and God is glorified in them. Make us, Jesus, bled and died for all these people.

And as the angels of heaven look down upon this assembled community of the redeemed, they marvel at the great plan of God in bringing back to himself those who sinned as Adam sinned. And so the devil makes a beeline at every young person in our gallery who claims the name of Jesus. I don't say that dramatically.

I mean it. I remember arguing with a lady some years ago, I trust my argument was in love, that it is far, far more difficult for a young person to stand today for Jesus Christ than it was twenty years ago. Because the sewage is at street level, and the devil's temptations now are emblushingly directed at every level towards the minds, towards the personalities of our young people, and of course others.

Go to Luke 11 and chapter 21, and there you will find a very interesting piece of reasoning, and it's that of our Lord Jesus. Luke 11, 21. Let me set up the scenery as you find it, and I'd be glad if you'd all look.

Our Lord is speaking of the devil in terms of a strong man, and he's speaking of himself in terms of one who is stronger than the devil. The strong man, the devil, he has taken for himself. He has plundered certain things, certain people.

Here it's described in terms of a house with possessions in. When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own house, his possessions are safe. The Authorized Version puts it, he keeps his possessions in peace.

But when someone stronger attacks and overpowers him, he takes away the armor in which the man trusted, and divides up the spoils. All right, here's interpretation. Here is the devil, and those who don't belong to him are his.

Those who do not belong to the Lord Jesus are his spoils. But here are these for whom Jesus has died. The stronger man has come, and taken from the devil what he has plundered.

And what does the devil do? He directs his attention to them, particularly. I once heard somebody quip, there is more unity in my golf club than there is in the local church. Precisely so.

The devil does not have a great deal of interest, and neither incidentally do I, for little white balls that go along greens, and sink into holes. I'm sure it's a very interesting and entertaining and very challenging sport like fishing, but there we are. I don't think that the devil is that concerned about what goes on at the average golf club.

And now I'm serious, for I wasn't being terribly serious in my analogy. I respect sport. The devil's infinitely concerned about what goes on in this church, about what goes on in your life, about our testimony, about dragging it down to the bottom.

Why? Well you see, you're part of the church, the great church of God. You've been born again to reflect the glory of God, and it's that glory that he wants for himself, and therefore he attacks us. How does he do it? What is his technique? My third question, and it's twelve o'clock, and I've got another one to go, so I'm getting worried.

What is his technique? Well, he puts down these snares, his wiles, his schemes, as the NIV translates verse 10 of Ephesians 6. Take your stand against the devil's schemes. If you were to turn back to Corinthians, you would discover the Apostle Paul in 2nd Corinthians chapter 2 and verse 11, referring to these schemes and the intelligences of the devil. Let's have a look at that verse for a moment, shall we? Corinthians 2 chapter 2 and verse 11.

I'll read from the 10th verse as it sets the sense. And what I have forgiven, if there was anything to forgive, I have forgiven in the sight of Christ for you, in order that Satan might not outwit us, for we are not unaware of his schemes. We're not unaware of his schemes.

The same word as in Ephesians 6.10. Let's go to 1 Timothy, because here is another word that's not exactly the same, but it's very much related to it. 1 Timothy in chapter 3. And there, what do we discover? Well, the same sort of idea. The devil setting traps for us.

He must, and Paul is here referring to the appointment of a deacon, appointment of an elder in the church. He must also have a good reputation with outsiders, so that he will not fall into disgrace and into the devil's trap. And he makes exactly the same comment in 2nd Timothy and chapter 2 and right at the end.

And they will come to their senses. He's speaking about folks who have had the gospel explained to them, and escaped from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will. Now you see the point.

I've brought to your attention these references, because they all help to give further light on Ephesians chapter 6. Take your stand against the devil's schemes. How does the devil go about trying to trap you and me? Well you've never been to Canada, probably, though one or two of you here I think have. But in the backwoods of Canada, you find the trappers.

These people who make their living by trapping animals. Now how does a trapper go about his job? Well he doesn't get the biggest trap he can see and write the letters for any intelligent animal. Here is a trap.

Animals can't incidentally read, just in case you thought that I was being serious. What does a trapper do? Well, with conniving, with subtlety, he sets the trap and he covers it with foliage, with leaves, with grasses, so that when the unsuspecting animal comes along, he's caught in the snare. And that's precisely how the devil goes about trying to trap you and me, whether we're young or old, sophisticated or unsophisticated.

The devil uses great subtlety. This was one of the things that we first learned about the devil some weeks back when I introduced this subject. The wily dragon, the wily serpent, the devil, conniving, deceit, beguiling, cunning, all these are words which which describe the sort of personality that he is.

With great subtlety he sets his traps, so that in an unsuspecting fashion, you walk straight into them and it can happen the moment you come to church. When somebody says something and you flare up, or maybe somebody passes on a piece of and you don't kill it stone dead. And he's got you even in the very sanctuary of God.

The devil is very subtle. I say, he incarcerates the mind. What does that mean? Well, he imprisons the mind.

He always attacks the mind, because the mind is that which is unique to you that an animal doesn't share. He doesn't have your capacity for intelligence. And so what do you discover the devil doing? Well, he, he imprisons.

He draws the shutters down on the mind. This is what Paul says, writing to the Corinthians, second chapter and second letter in chapter 4, and verse 3, and even if our gospel is hid, it is veiled to those who those who are perishing. Verse 4, the God of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

Now here's irony, if you please. How many brilliant men laugh at the concept of the devil? How many brilliant men laugh at fundamental evangelical Christianity? And the very laughing is indicative of the subtlety of the devil. They reject what he wants them to reject, and their minds, although they're great in other areas, they're imprisoned, utterly darkened, and cannot respond to the light of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

With subtlety he incarcerates, he imprisons the mind, he insinuates doubt. This is what happened, of course, when Adam and Eve are in the garden, and the the devil slides alongside, did God say, hath God said? Here is our Lord Jesus. Can you believe the cheek of the devil? So he comes alongside the Lord Jesus Christ, and he says to him, if you are the Son of God, if.

You know, they've been having a conference of bishops recently, these last few days in London. The Archbishop de Runcie said that he didn't want issues fudged. And though I respect the Archbishop as such, he knew full well when he made that pronouncement two weeks ago, he was bound to fudge the issues.

Why? Well you see, the truth of the gospel is very much in the balance among certain bishops, and clergy, and professional theologians in the Anglican Church. It's this business of the resurrection, and the virgin birth, the literal nature of the resurrection, and the virgin birth. Is it really the case that a bishop has to subscribe to the historic resurrection of the Lord Jesus? We're not going to fudge this as the Archbishop.

And he knows precisely well that he'll split the Church of England, if not down the heart, down the center. He'll certainly take a large chunk, if he doesn't fudge the issue. What is at stake? Truth.

The truth of God's Word. Hath God said? You see my friend, you might say these things from the book of Ephesians, and from the book of Genesis. They've got nothing to do with modern society.

You only show just how ignorant you are of the devil's devices. In one sense he remains constant. Hath God said? The beginning of time.

He suggests to men that they can pass comment and criticism on the Word of God. And in the first century AD they were saying the same. Jesus is not literally raised from the dead.

John wrote his letters to reject the notion that there was no physical, historical resurrection of Jesus. It's not a child of the 20th century. It's not first been proclaimed from the bishopric at Durham.

This is something that's always been contested. The authoritative Word of God. And it is the devil himself who comes against that revealed Word and insinuates doubts into men and women.

Hath God said? So you get so many people within the Anglican community. And thank God for the brave evangelicals who are still there preaching away. But you get many within the Anglican community and they're utterly confused.

What is authoritative? What is truth? Oh you see my friend, the subtlety of the devil as he comes along and in a conniving fashion he insinuates his doubts. He incarcerates men and women's minds. He imprisons them.

I wanted to go on and to speak to you and the way that the devil uses psychology. But I'll leave that for next week. I want to show you how he takes the extrovert personality and he deals with them in a different way than the introvert.

We're all, we've all got the variety, variation in our personalities. And the devil knows us more than we know ourselves. He knows what I'm like.

He makes a spot ball at the preachers particularly. He knows my weaknesses. And therefore there are subtle, sly innuendos that he puts in my way.

In certain fashions in which he goes trying to trip me up, to use the pulpit as a place to get glory to myself. A fertile soil for pride is the way Spurgeon described the ministry of preaching and the pulpit. There are incipient dangers and the devil knows and he comes along and he deals with me as he deals with you.

But I'm not sending you away on the negative, no. Why not? Well you see, for the very reason that earlier on we had read to us Job chapter 1 at least a fortnight ago, a week ago, and this Sunday Job chapter 2. The devil has limitations. Here is Peter.

I'm going to talk about Peter particularly next week. And Jesus says, Satan has desired to have you, to shake you up and down. That's what he wants to do to you and to me.

But listen, I have prayed for you. You see, Satan has power but he doesn't have all power. Satan has knowledge but he doesn't have all knowledge.

So the authority and the power of Satan, you've got to put within the greater power of the Lord Jesus. So my final piece of advice, as I bring my address to its conclusion right now, is to take you on a positive note to the book of Revelation and chapter 12. And there we are told of how certain people were able to overcome the evil one and the insidious way that he endeavored to get into their lives.

I'll read from the tenth verse. Then I heard a loud voice, this is Revelation 12, then I heard a loud voice in heaven saying, Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ for the accuser of our brothers, who accuses them before our God day and night has been hurled down. How do you overcome the devil? They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, the precious blood of Jesus and by the word of their testimony, communicating the gospel to others and in the sacrificial heroic way in which they lived their lives.

They did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death. So go out from this place aware of the power of the evil one, but aware more of the greater power of the Lord Jesus. Greater is He that is in you and for you than he who is against you.

The precious blood of Jesus cleanses you from all sin and His indwelling spirit will enable you to fight against the innuendo and the insinuation of the devil. But you've got to deal with him as a real foe. You've got to deal with him knowing your own weaknesses and you need to come back and back to the foot of the cross, confessing all the inadequacies of your life and asking for that mighty power of God's Spirit.

Because it's as you are clothed in the power of the might of the Lord Jesus that you're able to go out to conquer and to conquest. For it's there in the hostile arena of the world outside the gathered community of the church that you test the measure, that you know the fullness of the Spirit and strength to be able to cope with the pressures of the devil. Well may God grant to us a greater understanding of the devil's strategy and may we also fall back more and more on the power of our Lord Jesus as we withstand him in every area where he brings pressure to bear on our lives.

Amen. Let's turn to 383. Now I said next week, of course I mean Sunday week's time as next week we have our friends from Moreland's Bible College.

Leave no unguarded place, no weakness of the soul. Take every virtue, every grace and fortify the whole. Father we thank you that over against the power of the evil one is the superior power of the Christ.

We ask that we might know his strengthening this week. We pray Lord that you'll enable us to be more careful in not exposing ourselves to the wiles of the devil. We ask our Lord that we shall not deliberately interfere with any of his traps but rather be much more careful in our Christian life.

Bless us Father God and help us to go out from this place stimulated by the thought that in a hostile environment we can live and live well for the Lord Jesus Christ. Now may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God, the friendship and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit rest and remain with each one of us now and always. Amen.