“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world.” 1 Peter 5:8-9.
In 1 Corinthians chapter 5 the Apostle Paul is speaking of a brother in Christ who was living in open sin in the church. The church was told to cast him out for doing so, which they did.
“I wrote you in my epistle not to keep company with sexually immoral people. Yet I certainly did not mean with the sexually immoral people of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. But now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother, who is sexually immoral, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner – not even to eat with such a person.” 1 Corinthians 5:9-11.
In time the brother repented and had forsaken this sin and Paul now urged them to forgive him and receive him back into the church.
He tells them to forgive this man:
“…lest Satan should take advantage of us; for we are not ignorant of his devices.” 2 Corinthians 2:11.
What Satan would have accomplished is a split in the church over this man; some thinking he was not punished enough, and some thinking he should not have been punished.
While the man himself would have been embittered over the matter, since he had repented; forgiveness neutralizes all of this. This is why we have to be aware of Satan’s devices.
While they are many and subtle, a few examples should help tell us if it is him or just our own flawed thinking, constant awareness and knowledge of Scripture will keep anyone out of trouble.
Just as understanding a problem is perhaps 80% of solving it, so recognizing the hand of the devil is the best way of avoiding his entrapment.
There are three ways in which Satan tempts men, and they are the same for everyone. His first victim was Eve and that affected us all (read Genesis 3:1-7), watch how he approaches her in the Garden of Eden while she is looking at the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
It began with the devil’s lie, then her acceptance of it:
“And the woman said to the serpent, ‘We may eat the fruit of trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, “You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.” And the serpent said to the woman, ‘You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’ So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.” Genesis 3:2-6.
The first temptation, “the woman saw that the tree was good for food”, this is the lust of the flesh.
She had an entire garden filled with food bearing plants of the finest quality, but she wanted this one. We have always got to have more.
The second temptation, “it was pleasant [a desirable thing] to the eyes”, this is the lust of the eyes.
This will set us apart, make us important, a new car, chic clothes, “I want to be a rock star!”
The last door of temptation is, “a tree desirable to make one wise”, this is the boastful pride of life.
Who needs God when you have a PhD, or any of a string of letters after your name, you can write your own ticket anywhere.
The promise of temptation is that with any of these things, you will be independent of God. For instance this is what is wrong with witchcraft it is an attempt to control one’s own destiny.
Ironically though you have to enslave yourself to Satan to gain the power to control your own life (can a slave control their own life?) instead of following God. The question is whom will you serve? And who would be the better master?
If you study the temptation of Jesus Christ in Matthew 4:1-11, you will find the same sequence of events as in the Garden of Eden.
After He fasted 40 days and 40 nights Satan the tempter came to the Lord Jesus and brought three temptations before Him.
“If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” Matthew 4:3b.
We know that He can do this for later on He changed water into wine (John 2:1-11). Just as Eve saw that the fruit of the tree, “was good for food”, so steaming hot loaves of bread would have appealed to One who had not eaten in 40 days and nights.
However, Jesus did not come to minister to Himself it would have been against the Father’s wishes for Him to do so. This would have been the sin of making Jesus independent of the Father.
“Even as the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many.” Matthew 20:28, KJV.
The devil then took Jesus into the holy city and set Him on the very pinnacle of the temple and said:
“If You are the Son of God, throw yourself down.” Matthew 4:6a.
He then misquotes Psalm 91:11-12, the devil’s partial lies are the most destructive, watch for them.
“If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written: ‘He shall give His angels charge over you,’ and, ‘In their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone.’” Matthew 4:6.
What a temptation, here it is the lust of the eyes, think of the “oohs” and “ahhs” of the crowd below! The Man of sorrows, despised and rejected of men, would now be a great celebrity. But this is not the way of the cross.
He then showed Jesus all the kingdoms of the world and their glory and said:
“All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.” Matthew 4:9.
Satan had robbed Adam and Eve of their rights to the world by causing them to sin in the garden. He is now giving all that back to Christ without a fight if only He would worship him, independence from the Father’s will.
Even though I believe Satan was blindsided by Christ’s sacrifice on the cross and through it he was defeated; the temptation here was that Jesus would have circumvented death on the cross.
The Lord’s answer to all of these temptations was to quote Scripture, and upon the final temptation He said this, “Away with you, Satan!”
Some wonderful day the glorified King of kings and Lord of lords will say that to Satan one last time then he will be cast into the lake of fire.
“Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’” Matthew 4:10.
The last phrase above is important, “and Him only you shall serve”, because it tells us that we serve whomever or whatever we worship.
“Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.” 1 John 5:21.
To clarify the phrase, “If you are the Son of God”, keep in mind that Satan knew that Jesus was the Son of God; he had seen and known Jesus before He was born as a Man.
So the word “if” is not used here as a question but a statement, like this, “[Since] you are the Son of God.”
In the second temptation above Satan misquoted Psalm 91:11-12 which shows that Satan can quote Scripture and use it to his own purposes. Do not think someone is godly just because they quote Scripture.
“For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light.” 2 Corinthians 11:13-14.
“But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed.” Galatians 1:8.
Guard yourselves, know your Scriptures!
“As you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving. Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.” Colossians 2:6-10.
“Let no one defraud you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, and not holding fast to the Head [Christ], from whom all the body [all those belonging to Christ], nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments, grows with the increase which is from God.” Colossians 2:18-19.
Satan’s Devices, Part 1 taken from godisrevealed.com posted on 8-3-15, updated on 10-8-24 ck.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version, copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission, all rights reserved.