YOUR ADVERSARY THE DEVIL.
1Pe_5:8.
"Your adversary the Devil." These are ominous words, and suggest at once our privilege and our warfare. We fight, not against flesh and blood, not with human beings, but against principalities, and powers, and wicked spirits ruling and reigning in the hearts of ungodly men.
1. His personality. He is called "that old serpent, the Devil," and "Satan, your adversary." The personality of the Devil is about as little realised by the world as the personality of the Holy Spirit is by the Church. How real he was to the Lord Jesus Christ (Mat_4:3).
2. His character. He is described by the unerring Word as-
1. Most subtle (Gen_3:1-7). As cunning as a serpent. It is part of his cunning to appear as an angel of light.
2. A tempter (Mat_4:1). He tempts by presenting desirable objects before the eye. He seeks to pamper our pride that we might forget or deny God. He succeeded with Eve; he failed with Christ.
3. An adversary. He is opposed to every holy resolution, every good work, every heaven-born desire.
4. A deceiver (1Jn_5:19, r. v. ). Deceit is the poison of the serpent. He deceives men with the pleasures of sin, nations with the rule of unrighteousness. We are not ignorant of his devices.
5. A murderer (Joh_8:44). He murdered from the beginning, and will do so until the end, all who come under his destroying sway, every power, and faculty.
3. His purpose. The Devil has a purpose, and is in desperation to carry it out. In the following texts we observe its working in a sevenfold manner. He-
1. Steals (Luk_8:14). He snatches away the Word from off the heart; the Word that is hidden in the heart is beyond his reach.
2. Pollutes (Mat_13:38). The tares are the children after his own heart. His object is to spoil the good by overcrowding it with evil..
3. Suggests (Joh_13:2). In these two texts we have him dealing both with God and man. In Christ he found nothing; in Judas’ heart the fiery darts found wood, hay, stubble.
4. Provokes (1Ch_21:1-14). A man is easily provoked when he thinks it will promote his own honour. His provocations are all to the dishonour of God.
5. Sifts (Luk_22:31). The Devil’s sieve rejects the good and preserves the bad.
6. Devours (1Pe_5:8). What an awful thought- to be swallowed by the Devil, food for a fiend.
7. Resists (Zec_3:1). The Devil is quick to point out man’s filthiness and God’s holiness, and to forget the precious Blood.
4. His power. That the Devil has great power there can be no doubt (see Job 1). He is described as-
1. A lion (1Pe_5:8). A stranger to mercy, and one whose nature is to destroy.
2. The god of this world (2Co_4:4). The object of the worldlings’ worship, because the world lieth in his lap (Mat_4:8-9).
3. Having the power of death (Heb_2:14). As the author of sin he wields the power of death.
4. Able to fill the heart (Act_5:3). It must be a sorry house when the Devil keeps the key.
5. His defeat. To the believer the Devil is a defeated foe. Christ, as our David, has destroyed this giant’s authority by the power of His own sword (Heb_2:14). And the God of peace, who hath given us peace, will shortly bruise him under our feet. It is our privilege now to be more than conquerors. We overcome him by-
1. The Armour of God (Eph_6:11). Put on Christ.
2. The Word of Truth (Mat_4:4). "It is written." It is by this power demons are to be driven out of the hearts of men.
3. The resistance of faith (Jam_4:7). Have the courage to stand in these backsliding days (Eph_6:13).
4. The indwelling Spirit (1Jn_4:4). In the face of this there is no excuse for defeat.
6. His doom. The way of sin is ever downward. Satan fell from Heaven to the air, from the air to the earth, and soon from the earth to the bottomless pit, and again into the lake of fire (Rev_20:1-10). Then our enemies will be seen no more for ever. The way of the transgressor is hard.
Autor: James Smith