Neither Give Place To The Devil

Actually, when it comes to advice, someone made this wise statement, "Advice is never appreciated. If it turns out well, the recipient thinks it was his own idea; and if it turns out badly, he eternally blames you."

Still, we should never be afraid of receiving good advice.

The Bible is filled with good advice, and the advice that is given in THIS BOOK, whether we heed it or not, will determine the outcome of our lives. It has a great deal to say about receiving good counsel. For example:

-Proverb 11:14, "Where no counsel is, the people fail: but in the multitude of counsellors there is safety."

-Proverb 12:14, "A man shall be satisfied with good by the fruit of his mouth: and the recompense of a man's hands shall be rendered unto him."

-Proverb 19:20, "Hear counsel, and receive instruction, that thou mayest be wise in thy latter end."

What we do with the counsel of God's Word has everything to do with the way our lives will turn out.

For example, the apostle Paul, in Ephesians 4:27, gives some of the best advice that can be given to Christians. He tells every Christian, "Neither give place to the devil."

We need to consider why Paul would give such advice. We really cannot comprehend why he did until we consider TWO THINGS. First, we have to consider...

I. THE DESIRES OF SATAN

We are well aware that we humans have all kinds of desires, but what we generally do not give much thought to is that Satan has some strong desires of his own.

For example, basically there are two categories of people when it comes to desires.

They are:

-Those with GODLY DESIRES, whose desires come from God. That is, when they were born again, they received a deep urge in their heart to want to please the Lord.

-Those with UNGODLY DESIRES, whose desires are of Satan. That is, since they have never been born again, they still have a sinful nature and they want to live in sin. And, unless they ask the Lord to save them, that is exactly what they will do until the day they die.

But when Paul was writing to the church at Ephesus, he was not addressing the SINNERS, he was addressing the CHRISTIANS, and his advice to them is, even though they were saved by the grace of God, "Neither give place to the devil." It would have been a waste of time for Paul to have written to sinners and tell them not to give place to Satan because they have already given him all kinds of places in their life.

Why does Paul give such advice to Christians?

Because he knows that it is the DESIRE OF SATAN TO DESTROY THE HAPPINESS AND TESTIMONY of Christians everywhere. And Satan knows if they will give him the place he wants in their life, he will destroy their HAPPINESS and TESTIMONY.

We have a good example of that in the life of Samson.

Illus: Samson was like so many Christians today. That is, he felt he could give place to the devil and he could still maintain his testimony and be used of God. God gave very specific orders that he was to live a holy, separated life from sin. However, he ignored God's commands and began to associate with the ungodly and play around with sin as if it was a toy to play with. In his situation, his playing involved a woman named Delilah. But, Delilah was not playing. In the short time he played around with sin, that great man of God, that God had so greatly used, let Satan destroy...

-His testimony.

-His eyesight.

-His life!

If Samson had only known what Paul knew, that Satan is not one to play around with, he would not have suffered such a great loss.

Proverb 6:27 says, "Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burned?"

Paul also said, "Neither give place to the devil," for another reason; that is, Satan will never settle for the small place that a Christian will give him. He NEVER HAS and NEVER WILL!

Illus: There is a story of an Arab and his camel that illustrates how Satan will not settle for just a small place in a Christian's life. As the Arab and the camel were crossing the desert, it got so hot that the Arab stopped the camel and pitched his tent there in the middle of the desert so he could have some shade. While he was relaxing in the tent the big ugly camel struck his head inside the tent and said that it was too hot for him to be outside. First the Arab refused to listen, but then he agreed that the camel could put just his head inside the tent. The Arab went to sleep and woke up later and discovered not only did the camel have his head inside, but also his neck. The Arab, in a disgusted mood, went back to sleep. In a little while he woke up again and this time the camel had his head, his neck, and his front legs inside the tent. The Arab angrily told him, "Wait a minute. You are beginning to crowd me out of my tent." The Arab was really upset, but the camel pleaded with him to let him stay inside because the sun was so hot outside. The Arab dozed off again and suddenly woke up out in the hot sunshine. He told the camel, "Now you have gone too far!" The camel replied, "No, you fool! You have gone too far!"