Introduction
I would like to begin today’s sermon by asking you a couple of questions? Here is the first question. If someone, in your life, that you trust tells you to do something, how likely are you to do what they tell you? I would say that if I trust them that I am likely to do what they say because in the back of my mind I am saying to myself that they have my best interest at heart.
And here is question number two. How many of you trust God and would do what He tells you to do? We know without a shadow of doubt He has our best interest at heart because He tells us so. Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV) 11 For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Hopefully, every bodies answer is absolutely.
I asked you those two questions because I see way too many Christians ineffective in their life because the devil has them tied up in knots. And in our two Scriptures this morning, God tells us as Christians what to do, but we are just not doing it. And I believe that it has to do with us not knowing how to resist the devil.
Scripture
James 4:7 (NKJV)
7 Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.
1 Peter 5:6-9 (NKJV)
6 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time,
7 casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.
8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.
9 Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world.
Background Information
There are several New Testament writers that tell us to resist the devil. We just read a passage from James, the brother of Jesus, and one from the Apostle Peter. But Paul also writes in his Epistle to the Ephesians to withstand (to resist) the wiles of the devil. Three New Testament writers each telling us to resist the devil and yet the church for the most part has not taught its people to resist the devil. So today, let’s discuss how we can resist the devil.
Point #1
OUR POWER TO RESIST THE DEVIL IS FOUND IN OUR WILLINGNESS TO SUBMIT TO GOD.
James 7 Therefore submit to God.
1 Peter 6 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God…
Sometimes it feels like the devil or one of his demons from hell is camped on my doorstep. And when he does that, the Scripture tells me that He wants to destroy me as a Christian. He wants to ruin my reputation; he wants me to be filled with anger; he wants me not to love my neighbor; he wants me to lose interest in church and the things that Jesus loves; and, he wants me to feel so downtrodden that I have no energy to serve God.
The author, William Gurnall, in his book The Christian in Complete Armor says, Satan “sits in the corner and laughs” when he has pulled a Christian into some sin, or gets him or her to feel a spirit of oppression.
But praise be to God, the Bible tells me via these Biblical writers that as Christians you and I have weapons to resist the devil.
Now think about this! When the devil is camped on our doorstep what we usually do is pray. We pray something like this: Dear God, please remove Satan from my doorstep and stop him from putting me under a spirit of oppression. Please give me back my joy as a Christian. In Jesus name. Amen.
Prayer is a wonderful tool that God has given us, but it is not the only tool God has given us, and although it may be a helpful tool in this case (I would never tell you not to pray), it is not the only tool and in this case not the most effective tool. As Christians, we need to use all our tools in our toolbox.
James comes right out and says the best tool to resist the devil is to submit to God. Peter is a little wordier than James by telling us to humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God, but he is saying the exact same thing: submit.
Now that word submit was a military type of term. It referred to the actions of an enlisted soldier when requested by the commanding officer to do something. If you ever served in the military, you know if your commanding officer told you to do something than you did it. Well, God is our commanding officer and if He is telling you to do something in your life and you fail to do it, you open the door for Satan to oppress.
I think it interesting that Jesus was in the wilderness 40 days and nights praying and fasting, but when the devil showed up the tool that He used to resist him was submission. Remember the devil told Jesus to turn these stones into bread. And Jesus answered by submitting to God. Man does not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. He dealt with the devil by submitting to God. And we know what eventually happened, the devil fled.
In my own life, I was under oppression by the devil because God as my commanding officer told me to surrender to the ministry and I told him no. It was during that time that Satan had a field day with me. But when I finally submitted, a peace came over me. Now, I realize it was the best decision that I made in my life, but I did not get the peace until I submitted.
Today, is there something that has asked you to submit to and you have not done that yet. That might be the very reason that you feel the oppression of the devil.
Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians that we should not be unaware of the devil’s schemes. So, I want to make sure you understand that one of his schemes is to try to get you not to submit to God because it opens the door for him to oppress you. Let me show you a couple of ways that he tries to do that.
A. THE DEVIL WILL OFFER YOU A QUICK SOLUTION WHEREAS WITH GOD SOMETIMES SUBMISSION MEANS WAITING.
I want to go back to Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness and read you the third temptation. Let me read it to you. Matthew 4:8-10 (NKJV)
8 Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory.
9 And he said to Him, "All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me."
10 Then Jesus said to him, "Away with you, Satan! For it is written, 'You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only you shall serve.' "
Satan is the god of this world and he could offer Jesus the kingdoms of this world. Satan was offering Jesus a quick solution because in God’s timing all the kingdoms of this world are going to belong to Jesus.
And Satan gets many Christians not to submit to God by offering a quick solution rather than waiting upon God. So many Christians are under oppression because they couldn’t wait on God and they took what the devil offered as a quick fix.
B. THE DEVIL HAS NO PROBLEM ADDING TO OR TAKING AWAY FROM SCRIPTURE IF IT WILL MAKE YOU NOT SUBMIT TO GOD. THE DEVIL’S THINKING IS IF YOU QUESTION THE WORD OF GOD THEN YOU WILL NOT SUBMIT TO IT.
For this example, let’s go all the way back to the Garden of Eden. God had told Adam not to eat of a certain tree. Genesis 2:16-17 (NKJV)
16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, "Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat;
17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die."
But the devil when he is talking to Eve takes away from the Scripture. Genesis 3:3-4 (NKJV)
3 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.' "
4 Then the serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die.
In this case, he took away from the Scripture to get the man and woman to eat of the tree and not to submit to God.
And let me give an example where the devil is adding to Scripture to make us not submit to God. And I see that in the days that we are living in. 1 Timothy 4:1 (NKJV)
1 Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons,
So, many things are being pushed at us in the name of Christianity which have nothing to do with Christianity.
If I am going to submit to God, I better know his Word.
C. THE DEVIL WILL LIE TO YOU AND TELL YOU THAT YOU CAN STAY IN THE NEUTRAL ZONE THAT YOU NOT INVOLVED IN THIS FIGHT BETWEEN GOD AND SATAN. THE DEVIL WANTS YOU IN THAT NEUTRAL ZONE BECAUSE THERE WOULD BE NO PRESSING REQUIREMENT TO SUBMIT TO GOD.
If you read your Bible, then you know that there is no neutral zone. If you are a Christian, you are in the battle. It tells us that we wrestle not against flesh and blood. In 2 Timothy 2:3, we are told to endure hardship as good soldiers of Jesus Christ. Paul tells Timothy in 1 Timothy 1:18- to wage the good warfare. If we realize a war is going on, we will likely submit to our commanding officer, Jesus Christ.
So, the devil’s job is to make us believe that we are not in that war. And looking at how the church has remained silent with all the ungodliness going on it appears the devil has done a good sell job on the church and its members.
Have you been buying any of the devil’s lies in your life?
Conclusion
Today, if you are feeling oppression by the devil, pull out your best tool- submit to God and the devil will flee. It comes down to What has God told you to do that you have not done?
