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An Antidote to Satan’s Devices by Charles Spurgeon

January 7, 2010 by ADMIN

“Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made.” — Genesis 3:1.

Or course, we understand that this verse refers to “that old serpent, called the devil, and Satan.” That old deceiver, of whom our Lord Jesus said to the Jews. “When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it,” was “more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made.” God has been pleased to give to many beasts subtlety … in order that they may be the more destructive to certain classes of animals whose numbers require to be kept under. To others, he has been pleased to give instincts of most marvelous wisdom, for self-preservation and the destruction of their prey, and for the procuring of their food. But all the wise instincts and all the subtlety of the beasts of the field are far excelled by the subtlety of Satan.

Satan has abundant craft, and is able to overcome us, for several reasons. [First], because he is malicious; for malice is of all things the most productive of cunning. When a man is determined on revenge, it is strange how cunning he is to find out opportunities to vent his spite. Let a man have enmity against another, and let that enmity thoroughly possess his soul, and pour venom, as it were, into his very blood, and he will become exceedingly crafty in the means he uses to annoy and injure his adversary. Now, nobody can be more full of malice against man than Satan is, as he proves every day; and that malice sharpens his inherent wisdom, so that he becomes exceedingly subtle.

Besides, Satan is an angel, though a fallen one. We doubt not, from certain hints in Scripture, that he occupied a very high place in the hierarchy of angels before he fell; and we know that those mighty beings are endowed with vast intellectual powers, far surpassing any that has ever been given to beings of human mould. Therefore, we must not expect that a man, unaided from above, should ever be a match for an angel.

Again, Satan may well be cunning now — I may truthfully say, more cunning than he was in the days of Adam — for he has had long dealings with the human race.

And now, brethren, I shall for a few minutes first occupy your time by noticing the craft and subtlety of Satan, and the modes in which he attacks our souls; and secondly, I shall give you a few words of admonition with regard to the wisdom that we must exercise against him, and the only means that we can use effectually to prevent his subtlety from being the instrument of our destruction.

I. Let us notice, in the first place, THE CRAFT AND SUBTLETY OF SATAN, as we have discovered it in our own experience.

And I may begin by observing, that Satan discovers his craft and subtlety by the modes of his attack. There is a man who is calm, and quiet, and at ease; Satan does not attack that man with unbelief or distrustfulness; he attacks him in a more vulnerable point, than that— self-love, self-confidence, worldliness—these will be the weapons which Satan will use against him. Another person is noted for lowness of spirits and want of mental vigor. It is not probable that Satan will puff him up with pride, but examining him, and discovering where his weak point is, he will tempt him to doubt his calling, and endeavor to drive him to despair.

There is another man of strong robust bodily health, having all his mental powers in full and vigorous exercise, enjoying the promises and delighting in the ways of God. Possibly Satan will not attack him with unbelief, because he feels that he has armor for that particular point, but he will attack him with pride, or with some temptation to lust. He will most thoroughly and carefully examine us, and if he shall find us to be, like Achilles, vulnerable nowhere else but in our heel then he will shoot his arrows at our heel.

I believe that Satan has not often attacked a man in a place where he saw him to be strong; but he generally looks well for the weak point, the besetting sin. “There,” says he, “there will I strike the blow;” and God help us in the hour of battle and in the time of conflict! We have need to say, “God help us!” for, indeed, unless the Lord should help us, this crafty foe might easily find enough joints in our armor, and soon might he send the deadly arrow into our souls, so that we should fall down wounded before him.

And yet I have noticed, strangely enough, that Satan does sometimes tempt men with the very thing which you might suppose would never come upon them. What do you imagine was John Knox’s last temptation upon his dying bed? Perhaps there never was a man who more fully understood the great doctrine that “by grace are ye saved,” than John Knox did. He thundered it out from the pulpit; and if you had questioned him upon the subject, he would have declared it to you boldly and bravely, denying with all his might the Popish doctrine of salvation through human merit. But, will you believe it, that old enemy of souls attacked John Knox with self-righteousness when he lay a-dying? He came to him, and said, “How bravely you have served your Master, John! You have never quailed before the face of man; you have faced kings and princes, and yet you have never trembled. Such a man as you are may walk into the kingdom of heaven on your own footing, and wear your own garment at the wedding of the Most High;” and sharp and terrible was the struggle which John Knox had with the enemy of souls over that temptation.

The modes of Satan’s attack, then, as you will speedily learn, if you have not already done so, betray his subtlety. Ah! sons of men, while you are putting on your helmets, he is seeking to thrust his fiery sword into your heart; or while you are looking well to your breastplate, he is lifting up his battle-axe to split your skull; and while you are seeing to both helmet and breastplate, he is seeking to trip up your foot. He is always watching to see where you are not looking; he is always on the alert when you are slumbering. Take heed to yourselves, therefore: “put on the whole armor of God;” “be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: Whom resist steadfast in the faith;” and God help you to prevail over him!

A second thing in which Satan betrays his cunning is, the weapons which he will often use against us. Sometimes he will attack the child of God with the remembrance of a ribald song, or a licentious speech which he may have heard in the days of his carnal state; but far more frequently he will attack him with texts of Scripture. It is strange that it should be so, but it often is the case that, when he shoots his arrow against a Christian, he wings it with God’s own Word. “Ah!” he will say, “here is a text that I love, taken from the Book that I prize, yet it is turned against me. A weapon out of God’s own armory is made to be the instrument of dearth against my soul.” Have you not found it so, dear Christian friends? Have you not proved that, as Satan attacked Christ with an “It is written,” so also has he attacked you? And have you not learned to be upon your guard against perversions of Sacred Scripture, and twistings of God’s Word, lest they should lead you to destruction?

At other times, Satan will use the weapon of our own experience. “Ah!” the devil will say, “on such-and-such a day, you sinned in such-and-such a way; how can you be a child of God?” At another time, he will say, “You are self-righteous, therefore you cannot be an heir of heaven.” Then, again, he will begin to rake up all the old stories that we have long forgotten of all our past unbeliefs, our past wanderings, and so forth, and throw these in our teeth. He will say, “What! you, YOU a Christian? A pretty Christian you must be!” Or, possibly he will begin to tempt you after some such sort as this: “The other day, you would not do such-and-such a thing in business: how much you lost by it! So-and-so is a Christian; he did it. Your neighbor, over the road, is he not a deacon of a church, and did not he do it? Why may not you do the same? You would get on a great deal better if you would do it. So-and-so does it, and he gets on, and is just as much respected as you are; then why should not you act in the same way?” Thus, the devil will attack you with weapons taken from your own experience, or from the church of which you are a member.

Ah! be careful, for Satan knows how to choose his weapons, He is not coming out against you, if you are great giants, with a sling and a stone; but he comes armed to the teeth to cut you down. If he knows that you are so guarded by a coat of mail that the edge of his sword shall be turned by your armor, then will he attack you with deadly poison; and if he knows that you cannot be destroyed by that means, seeing that you have an antidote at hand, then will he seek to take you in a trap; and if you be wary, so that you cannot be overtaken thus, then will he send fiery troubles upon you, or a crushing avalanche of woe, so that he may subdue you. The weapons of his warfare, always evil, and often spiritual and unseen, are mighty against such weak creatures as we.

Again, the craftiness of the devil is discovered in another thing, in the agents he employs. The devil does not do all his dirty work himself; he often employs others to do it for him. When Samson had to be overcome, and his Nazarite locks to be shorn away, Satan had a Delilah ready to tempt and lead him astray. He knew what was in Samson’s heart, and where was his weakest place, and therefore he tempted him by means of the woman whom he loved. An old divine says, “There’s many a man that has had his head broken by his own rib;” and certainly that is true. Satan has sometimes set a man’s own wife to cast him down, or he has used some dear friend as the instrument to work his ruin.

You remember how David lamented over this evil: “For it was not an enemy that reproached me; then I could have borne it: neither was it he that hated me that did magnify himself against me; then I would have hid myself from him: but it was thou, a man mine equal, my guide, and mine acquaintance. We took sweet counsel together, and walked unto the house of God in company.” “Ah,” says the devil, “you did not think I was going to set an enemy to speak evil of you, did you? Why, that would not hurt you. I know better than that how to choose my agents; I shall choose a man who is a friend or an acquaintance; he will come close to you, and then stab you under the folds of your garments.”

The devil is always ready to take in his hand the net into which the fish is most likely to go, and to spread the snare which is the most likely to catch the bird. I do not suspect, if you are a professor of long standing, that you will be tempted by a drunken man; no, the devil will tempt you by a canting hypocrite. I do not imagine your enemy will come, and attack and slander you; it will be your friend. Satan knows how to use and to disguise all his agents. “Ah!” he says, “a wolf in sheep’s clothing will be better for me than a wolf that looks like a wolf; and one in the church will play my game better, and accomplish it more readily, than one out of it.” The choice of Satan’s agents proves his craft and cleverness.

And once again, Satan shows his cunning by the times in which he attacks us. I thought, when I lay sick, that if I could but get up from my bed again, and be made strong, I would give the devil a most terrible thrashing, because of the way he set upon me when I was sick. Coward! Why did he not wait till I was well? But I always find that if my spirits sink, and I am in a low condition of heart, Satan specially chooses that time to attack me with unbelief. He will therefore come upon us when there is a cloud between ourselves and our God; when the body is depressed, and the spirits are weak, then will he tempt us, and try to lead us to distrust God. It is the timing of his attacks, the right ordering of his assaults, that makes Satan ten times more terrible an enemy than he would otherwise be, and that proves the depth of his craftiness.

And yet once more, and I will have done with this point. Satan’s subtlety in another thing is very great, that is, in his withdrawings. When I first joined the Christian Church, I never could make out a saying which I heard from an old man, that there was no temptation so bad as not being tempted, nor did I understand then what Rutherford meant, when he said he liked a roaring devil a great deal better than a sleeping devil.

Now, dear friend, do you know anything about your own state of heart just now? If so, that is the answer to the enigma, that not being tempted is worse than being tempted. Really, there have been times, in the past experience of my own soul, when I would have been obliged to the devil if he had come and stirred me up; I should have felt that God had employed him, against his wish, to do me lasting good, to wake me up to conflict. If the devil would but go into the Enchanted Ground, and attack the pilgrims there, what a fine thing it would be for them! But, you will notice, John Bunyan did not put him there, for there was no business for him there. It was in the Valley of Humiliation that there was plenty of work cut out for Satan; but in the Enchanted Ground the pilgrims were all slumbering, like men asleep on the top of the mast … therefore the devil knew he was not needed there; he just left them to sleep on. But it was into the Valley of Humiliation that he went, and there he had his stern struggle with poor Christian. Brethren, if you are passing through with drowsiness, indifference, and slumber, you will understand the craftiness of the devil in sometimes keeping out of the way.

III. And now, in the second place, let us very briefly inquire, WHAT SHALL WE DO WITH THIS ENEMY?

You and I feel that we must enter the kingdom of heaven, and we cannot enter it while we stand still. The City of Destruction is behind us, and Death is pursuing us; we must press towards heaven; but, in the way, there stands this “roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” What shall we do?

Shall we attack him with wisdom? Alas! our wisdom is but folly. The only way to repel Satan’s subtlety is by acquiring true wisdom. Again I repeat it, man hath none of that in himself. What then? Herein is true wisdom. If thou wouldst successfully wrestle with Satan, make the Holy Scriptures thy daily resort. Out of this sacred magazine continually draw thine armor and thine ammunition. Lay hold upon the glorious doctrines of God’s Word; make them thy daily meat and drink. So shalt thou be strong to resist the devil, and thou shalt be joyful in discovering that he will flee from thee.

“Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way,” and how shall a Christian guard himself against the enemy? “By taking heed thereto according to thy Word.” Let us fight Satan always with an “It is written;” for no weapon will ever tell upon the arch-enemy so well as Holy Scripture will. Attempt to fight Satan with the wooden sword of reason, and he will easily overcome you; but use this Jerusalem blade of God’s Word, by which he has been wounded many a time, and you will speedily overcome him.

But, above all, if we would successfully resist Satan, we must look not merely to revealed wisdom, but to Incarnate Wisdom. O beloved, here must be the chief place of resort for every tempted soul! We must flee to him “who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.” We must keep close to him in communion. The sheep are never so safe from the wolf as when they are near the shepherd. We shall never be so secure from the arrows of Satan as when we have our head lying on the Savior’s bosom. Believer: walk according to his example; live daily in his fellowship; trust thou always in his blood; and in this way shalt thou be more than a conqueror even over the subtlety and craft of Satan himself.

What has the devil been doing these thousands of years? Has he not been the unwilling servant of God and of his Church? He has always been seeking to destroy the living tree; but when he has been trying to root it up, it has only been like a gardener digging with his spade, and loosening the earth to help the roots to spread themselves the more; and when he has been with his are seeking to lop the Lord’s trees, and to mar their beauty, what has he been, after all, but a pruning-knife in the hand of God, to take away the branches that do not bear any fruit, and to purge those that do bear some, that they may bring forth more fruit?

[At one time] the Church of Christ was like a little brook — just a tiny streamlet — and it was flowing along in a little narrow dell. Just a few saints were gathered together at Jerusalem, and the devil thought to himself; “Now I’ll get a great stone, and stop this brook from running.” So he goes and gets this great stone, and he dashes it down into the middle of the brook, thinking, of course, he should stop it from running any longer; but, instead of doing so, he scattered the drops all over the world, and each drop became the mother of a fresh fountain. You know what that stone was; it was persecution, and the saints were scattered by it; but then, “they that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the Word,” and so the Church was multiplied, and the devil was defeated.

The current formatting and editing is copyrighted by Jim Ehrhard, 1999. You are permitted to reproduce and distribute this material in any format provided that: (1) you credit the author; (2) any modifications are clearly marked; (3) you do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction; and (4) you do not make more than 100 copies without permission. If you would like to post this material to your web site or make any use other than as defined above, please contact Teaching Resources International

Posted in C. H. Spurgeon |

Christian Warfare by Robert Murray McCheyne

January 7, 2010 by ADMIN

“For I delight in the law of God after the inward man; but I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.” Romans 7:22-25

A believer is to be known not only by his peace and joy, but also by his warfare in distress. His peace is peculiar; it flows from Christ, it is heavenly, it is holy peace. His warfare is as peculiar: it is deep-seated, agonizing, and ceases not till death. I have chosen the subject of the Christian’s warfare that you may know thereby whether you are a soldier of Christ—whether you are really fighting the good fight of faith.

The Believer Delights in the Law of God. “I delight in the law of God after the inward man.”

1. Before a man comes to Christ, he hates the law of God his whole soul rises up against it—”The carnal mind is enmity against God, and is not subject to the law of God” (Romans 8:7).

First, unconverted men hate the law of God on account of its purity—“Thy Word is very pure, therefore Thy servant loveth it.” For the same reason worldly men hate it. The law is the breathing of God’s pure and holy mind. It is infinitely opposed to all impurity and sin. Every line of the law is against sin. But natural men love sin, and therefore they hate the law, because it opposes them in all they love. As bats hate the light, and fly against it, so unconverted men hate the pure light of God’s law, and fly against it.

Second, They hate it for its breadth—“Thy commandment is exceeding broad” (Psa. 119:96). It extends to all their outward actions, seen and unseen; it extends to every idle word that men shall speak; it extends to the looks of their eye; it dives into the deepest caves of their hearts; it condemns the most secret springs of sin and lust that nestle there. Unconverted men quarrel with the law of God because of its strictness. If it extended only to my outward actions, then I could bear with it; but it condemns my most secret thoughts and desires, which I cannot prevent. Therefore ungodly men rise against the law.

Third, they hate it for its unchangeableness. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but one jot or one tittle of the law shall in no wise pass away. If the law would change, or let down its requirements, or die, then ungodly men would be well pleased. But it is as unchangeable as God: it is written on the heart of God, with whom is no variableness nor shadow of turning. It cannot change unless God change; it cannot die unless God die. Even in an eternal hell its demands and curses will be the same. It is an unchangeable law, for He is an unchangeable God. Therefore ungodly men have an unchangeable hatred to that holy law.

2. When a man comes to Christ, this is all changed. He can say, “I delight in the law of God after the inward man.” He can say with David, “O how I love Thy law: it is my meditation all the day.” He can say with the Lord Jesus in the 40th Psalm, “I delight to do Thy will, O God, yea, Thy law is within My heart.” There are two reasons for this:

First, the law is no longer an enemy. If any of you who are trembling under a sense of your infinite sins, and the curses of the law that you have broken, flee to Christ, you will find rest. You will find that He has fully cancelled the demands of the law as a Surety for sinners, that He has fully borne all its curses. You will be able to say, “Christ hath redeemed me from the curse of the law, being made a curse for me, as it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree” (Gal. 3:13). You have no more to fear, then, from that awfully holy law; you are not under the law, but under grace. You have no more to fear from the law, than you will have after the Judgment Day. When that awful scene is past-when the dead, small and great, have stood before the Great White Throne—when the sentence of eternal woe has fallen upon all the unconverted, and they have sunk into the lake whose fires can never be quenched; would not that redeemed soul say, I have nothing to fear from that holy law; I have seen its vials poured out, but not a drop has fallen on me? So may you say now, O believer in Jesus! When you look upon the soul of Christ, scarred with God’s thunderbolts, when you look upon His body, pierced for sin, you can say-He was made a curse for me; why should I fear that holy law?

Second, the Spirit of God writes the law on the heart. This is the promise: “After those days, saith the Lord, I will put My law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be My people” (Jer. 31:33). Coming to Christ takes away your fear of the law, but it is the Holy Spirit coming into your heart that makes you love the law. The Holy Spirit is no more frightened away from that heart; He comes and softens it; He takes out the stony heart and puts in a heart of flesh; and there He writes the holy law of God. Then the law of God is sweet to that soul: he has an inward delight in it. “The law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.” Now he unfeignedly desires every thought, word, and action, to be according to that law. “Oh, that my ways were directed to keep Thy statutes: great peace have they that love Thy law, and nothing shall offend them.” The 119th Psalm becomes the breathing of that new heart. Now also he would fain see all the world submitting to that pure and holy law. “Rivers of water run down mine eyes because they keep not Thy law.” Oh that all the world but knew that holiness and happiness are one. Try yourselves by this. Can you say, “I delight in the law of God after the inward man?” Do you love it now? Do you long for the time when you shall live fully under it—holy as God is holy, pure as Christ is pure?

Oh come, sinners, give up your hearts to Christ, that He may write on it His holy law! You have long enough had the devil’s law graven on your hearts. Come you to the Lord Jesus, and He will both shelter you from the curses of the law, and He will give you the Spirit to write all that law in your heart; He will make you love it with your inmost soul. Plead the promise with Him. Surely you have tried the pleasures of sin long enough. Come now, and try the pleasures of holiness out of a new heart. If you die with your heart as it is, it will be stamped a wicked heart to all eternity: “He that is unjust, let him be unjust still; and he that is filthy, let him be filthy still” (Rev. 22:11). Oh come and get the new heart before you die; for except you be born again you cannot see the kingdom of God.

A True Believer Feels an Opposing Law in His Members:

“I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.”

When a sinner comes first to Christ, he often thinks he will now bid an eternal farewell to sin: now I shall never sin any more. He feels already at the gate of heaven. But a little breath of temptation soon discovers his heart, and he cries out, “I see another law.”

1. Observe what he calls it—”another law,“—quite a different law from the law of God—a law contrary to it. In vs.25, he calls it a “law of sin”—a law that commands him to commit sin, that urges him on by rewards and threatenings. In Rom. 8:2, it is called “the law of sin and death”—a law which not only leads to sin, but leads to death, eternal death: “the wages of sin is death.”

It is the same law which in Galatians is called the flesh: “the flesh lusteth against the spirit” (5:17). It is the same which in Eph. 4:22 is called “the old man,” which is wrought according to the deceitful lusts. The same law which in Col. 3 is called “your members” which is wrought according to the deceitful lusts: “mortify therefore, your members which are upon the earth” (vs.5). The truth then is that, in the heart of the believer, there remains the whole members and body of an old man, or old nature-there remains the fountain of every sin that has ever polluted the world.

2. Observe again what this law is doing—warring. This law in the members is not resting quiet, but is always fighting. There can never be peace in the bosom of a believer. There is peace with God, but constant war with sin. This law in the members has got an army of lusts under him, and he wages constant war against the law of God. Sometimes, indeed, an army is lying in ambush, and they lie quiet till a favorable moment comes. So in the heart the lusts often lie quiet till the hour of temptation, and then they war against the soul. The heart is like a volcano, sometimes it slumbers and sends up nothing but a little smoke, but the fire is slumbering all the while below, and will soon break out again. There are two great combatants in the believer’s soul. There is Satan on the one side, with the flesh and all its lusts at his command; then on the other side there is the Holy Spirit, with all the new creature at His command. And so “the flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh; and these two are contrary the one to the other, so that ye cannot do the things which ye would.”

Is Satan ever successful? In the deep wisdom of God, the law in the members does sometimes bring the soul into captivity. “Noah was a perfect man,” and Noah walked with God, and yet he was led captive: “Noah drank of the wine, and was drunken.” Abraham was “the friend of God,” and yet he told a lie, saying of Sarah his wife, “She is my sister.” Job was a perfect man, one that feared God and hated evil, and yet he was provoked to curse the day wherein he was born. And so [it was] with Moses, and David, and Solomon, and Hezekiah, and Peter; and the apostles.

Have you experienced this warfare? It is a clear mark of God’s children. Most of you, I fear; have never felt it. Do not mistake me. All of you have felt a warfare at times between your natural conscience and the law of God. But that is not the contest in the believer’s bosom. It is a warfare between the Spirit of God in the heart, and the old man with his deeds.

If any of you are groaning under this warfare, learn to be humbled by it, but not discouraged.

First, be humbled under it. It is intended to make you lie in the dust, and feel that you are but a worm. Oh! What a vile wretch you must be, that even after you are forgiven, and have received the Holy Spirit, your heart should still be a fountain of every wickedness! How vile, that in your most solemn approaches to God, in awfully affecting situations, you should still have in your bosom all the members of your old nature. Let this make you lie low.

Second, let this teach you your need of Christ. You need His precious blood as much now as you did at the first. You can never stand before God in yourself. You must go again and again to Him to be washed. Even on your dying bed you must hide under Jehovah, our righteousness. You must also lean upon Christ. He alone can overcome in you. Cleave closer and closer to Him every day.

The feelings of a believer during this warfare:

1. He feels wretched. “O wretched man that I am.” (vs.24) There is nobody in this world so happy as a believer. He has come to Christ, and found rest. He has the pardon of all his sins in Christ. He has as near approach to God as a child. He has the Holy Spirit dwelling in him. He has the hope of glory. In the most awful times, he can be calm, for he feels that God is with him. Still there are times when he cries, O wretched man! When he feels the plague of his own heart—when he feels the thorn in the flesh—when his wicked heart is discovered in all its fearful malignity-ah, then he lies down, crying, “O wretched man that I am!” One reason of this wretchedness is that sin discovered in the heart takes away the sense of forgiveness. Guilt comes upon the conscience, and a dark cloud covers the soul. Another reason is the loathsomeness of sin. It is felt like a viper in the heart. A natural man is often miserable from his sin, but he never feels its loathsomeness; but to the new creature it is vile indeed. Ah brethren, do you know anything of a believer’s wretchedness? If you do not, you will never know his joy. If you know not a believer’s tears and groans, you will never know his song of victory.

2. He seeks deliverance. “Who shall deliver me?” In ancient times, some of the tyrants used to chain their prisoners to a dead body; so that, wherever the prisoner wandered, he had to drag a putrid carcass after him. It is believed that Paul here alludes to this inhuman practice. His old man he felt to be a noisome putrid carcass, which he was continually dragging about with him. His piercing desire is to be freed from it. Who shall deliver us? You remember once, when God allowed a thorn in the flesh to torment His servant, a messenger of Satan to buffet him, Paul was driven to his knees. “I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me.” Oh this is the true mark of God’s children! They of the world have an old nature; they are all old men together. But it does not drive them to their knees. How is it with you, dear souls? Does corruption felt within drive you to the throne of grace? Does it make you call on the name of the Lord? Does it make you say, like the importunate widow, “Avenge me of mine adversary?” Does it make you, like the Canaanite woman, cry after the Lord Jesus?

3. He gives thanks for victory. Truly, we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us; for we can give thanks before the fight is done. Yes, even in the thickest of the battle we can look up to Christ, and cry—Thanks be to God! The moment a soul groaning under corruption rests the eye on the Lord Jesus, that moment his groans are changed into songs of praise. In Christ, you discover a fountain to wash away the guilt of all your sins. In Christ, you discover grace sufficient for you-grace to hold you up to the end—and a sure promise that sin shall soon be rooted out altogether. “Fear not, I have redeemed thee. I have called thee by My name; thou are Mine.” Ah, this turns our groans into songs of praise. How often a Psalm begins with groans, and ends with praises! This is the daily experience of all the Lord’s people. Is it yours? Try yourselves by this. If you know not the believer’s song of praise, you will never cast your crowns with them at the feet of the Lamb. Dear believers, be content to glory in your infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon you.

The current formatting and editing is copyrighted by Jim Ehrhard, 1999. You are permitted to reproduce and distribute this material in any format provided that: (1) you credit the author; (2) any modifications are clearly marked; (3) you do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction; and (4) you do not make more than 100 copies without permission. If you would like to post this material to your web site or make any use other than as defined above, please contact Teaching Resources International

Posted in Robert Murray McCheyne |

God’s Use of Satan by Jim Ehrhard

January 7, 2010 by ADMIN

One of the mysteries of life for believers is God’s use of Satan’s activities to accomplish His will. Often we are tempted to become discouraged when it appears that Satan has triumphed. But in reality, God’s will is never thwarted by any evil activity. He is sovereign over every situation and circumstance. He knows every event before it ever occurs. And He often allows and permits evil, but He always uses it for “good to those who love Him and are called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28).

It is essential that believers understand this doctrine. Without it, we may believe that Satan is winning the day. Without it, the death of martyrs appears to confirm the victory of evil over good. But with it, we recognize what Joseph proclaimed, “You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good.” While we will not always see the reason, we can be confident that our Sovereign Lord allows nothing in our lives except what is for His ultimate glory and our ultimate good.

Such an understanding is essential if we are to be victorious in spiritual warfare. Much of spiritual warfare is a battle for our minds. This is why Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 10:3-6 that we do not war with carnal weapons, but that our weapons are for “casting down arguments” and “bringing every thought captive to Christ.” Our ability to “stand firm” (Ephesians 6) is, in large measure dependent on our standing firm in the faith no matter what seems to be happening around us, know that God is indeed working all things together for good.

Before we examine this teaching in the Scriptures, it may be helpful to review four general principles:

First, God controls all things for His own glory. Not just the good, but also the evil. Like Job, nothing Satan does can touch us without God’s permission.

Second, God never does evil nor can He ever be blamed for it. James 1:13 reminds us of this truth. In all evil acts, God is never the immediate cause. He never has to force anyone to sin. In fact, His restraining grace prevents all of us from doing all the evil we think about doing. When God removes His restraint on Satan or on sinful men, then, and only then, does evil occur. God never does evil, nor does He need to force anyone to do it.

Third, God judges all evil. Some might object that, if God allows evil, then the person committing it cannot be held responsible for it. Consider Luke 22:20: “The Son of Man goes as it has been determined, but woe to that man by whom He has been betrayed.” In another passage, we find that Satan “entered into” Judas to continue to move him along toward that betrayal. Yet Judas is held accountable for his sin. While it was determined beforehand, God does not need to force Judas to sin; He allows him to exercise his unrestrained will.

Finally, we cannot use God’s sovereignty as an excuse for evil in our own lives. In Romans 3:5-8 and Romans 6:1-2, Paul anticipates such an argument and strongly answers, “God forbid! How shall we who have died to sin live any longer in it?” We may sin and God will use it for good, but we will experience His hand of discipline in our lives.

But how does God use Satan (and evil) in His sovereign plan?

First, He uses Satan and evil to accomplish His purposes. The example of Joseph in Genesis 50:20 demonstrates this. The evil act of Joseph’s brothers resulted in God using Joseph to preserve Israel during a famine. They clearly meant it for evil; but God meant it for good—to accomplish His purpose and plan for Israel. How many times might God be using the evil motives and actions of others to put us in a place when we can be used as instruments for accomplishing His purposes?

Second, God uses Satan and evil to demonstrate His glory. In Romans 9:17, this is why God raised up Pharaoh—that His glory might be known (also see Exodus 14:2-4, 15-18). In John 11, Jesus allows Lazarus to die so that his disciples might see “the glory of God” (vs. 4). God often allows the apparent triumph of evil that His glory might be displayed.

Third, God also uses Satan to strengthen our faith. In Luke 22, Jesus tells Peter, “I have prayed for you that your faith fail not.” In 1 Peter 1:6-9, Peter reminds suffering believers that the “trial” of their faith will result in it being made more precious than gold refined in the fire. In 2 Corinthians 12, Paul speaks about God sending “a messenger from Satan” to buffet him. But he does not see this as a defeat, but rather one way that God will keep him humble and remind him that God’s grace was sufficient for all things. In 2 Corinthians 1:8-10, Paul notes that he had the sentence of death on him that he should not trust in himself “but in God who raises the dead.” In all these situations, God allows Satan to afflict His own that their faith in Him might be strengthened.

Fourth, God uses Satan to discipline believers. 1 Corinthians 5:1-5 is a good example of this. Here Paul tells the church he has “handed this one over to Satan” in the act of church discipline. We see a similar situation in 1 Timothy 1:19-20. Paul “delivered [them] unto Satan that they might learn not to blaspheme.” One part of God’s discipline on believers is to remove His hand of protection and allow Satan to have his way with them. This is also frequently seen in the OT when God hands Israel over to pagan nations as an act of His discipline.

Fifth, God uses Satan and evil that the gospel might be spread. In Acts 8, we learn that the persecution of the church “forced” the believers to flee Jerusalem. And the disciples went everywhere spreading the gospel. God allowed Satan to even put believers to death, but the result was the spread of the gospel. In Philippians 1:12, the apostle Paul reminds believers that even his being in prison has resulted in the further spread of the gospel. Such has been the case throughout the history of the church—the blood of the martyrs has been the “seedbed” of the church. What may appear as a victory for Satan in the execution of a dynamic Christian missionary is really God working all things together for good.

This teaching is essential. We must understand the power of our evil foe. But we must never forget that he cannot harm us or upset any plan without the permission of a sovereign God who uses all things, even Satan and evil, for His own purposes and for His own glory.

Copyright Jim Ehrhard, 1999. You are permitted to reproduce and distribute this material in any format provided that: (1) you credit the author; (2) any modifications are clearly marked; (3) you do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction; and (4) you do not make more than 100 copies without permission. If you would like to post this material to your web site or make any use other than as defined above, please contact Teaching Resources International

Posted in Jim Ehrhard |

From Our Hearts by Jim & Debbie Ehrhard

January 7, 2010 by ADMIN

No book in the modern or ancient world compares with the Bible in terms of circulation, translation, or impact. No book has influenced the number of lives that the Bible has.

Theodore Roosevelt once said, “A thorough knowledge of the Bible is worth more than a college education.” The Psalmist said to the Lord: “You, through your commandments, make me wiser than my enemies … I have more understanding than all my teachers, for your testimonies are my meditation; I understand more than the ancients, because I keep your precepts” (Psalm 119:98-100).

This issue provides a number of articles related to the Word of God. Some of the articles are doctrinal. A. W. Pink’s “The Unity of the Bible” and Charles Spurgeon’s “The Infallible Word of God” lay some foundations for understanding the unique treasure that the Bible is. Pink’s other article, “A Presumption in Favor of the Bible,” logically demonstrates our need for a clear revelation from God.

Two articles provide some practical helps. Boston’s “Directions for Reading the Word” gives some important helps for all readers. And, although William Gouge’s “Preaching God’s Word” is most specifically for preachers, it also contains some helps for rightly hearing God’s Word as it is preached.

Charles Spurgeon’s “Christ’s Indwelling Word” is his exposition on Colossians 3:16 and includes many insights and helps related our letting the Word dwell in us. Finally, we encourage you to read Watson’s “The Godly Man is a Lover of God’s Word.” This comes from his The Godly Man’s Picture. This is an excellent book that is currently in print from Banner of Truth. We highly recommend it. We have also included some insights from a message Jim preached on “The Sword of the Spirit” from Ephesians 6 in a series on spiritual warfare.

We continue to hope and pray that these articles are helpful to our readers. Most of all, we pray that the Word of God would be the foundation of you life as you enter this new year and new millennium!

By His Grace, Jim & Debbie

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Preaching God’s Word by William Gouge

January 7, 2010 by ADMIN

How Preaching May be Called “The Word of God”

The subject matter to be preached is here called “the word of God.” Although that which is spoken by ministers is only the sound of a man’s voice, yet that which true ministers of God preach in exercising their ministerial function is the word of God. Thus it is said of the apostles, “They spoke the word of God,” Acts 4:31, and it is said of the people of Antioch, that “almost the whole city came together to hear the word of God,” Acts 13:44.

Preaching is called the word of God in four respects.

1. In regard to the primary author of it, which is God. God did immediately inspire extraordinary ministers, and thereby informed them in his will. “For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost,” 2 Peter 1:21. Therefore they would commonly use these introductory phrases, “The word of the Lord,” Hosea 1:1; “Thus says the Lord,” Isaiah 7:7; and an apostle says, “I have received of the Lord, that which also I delivered unto you,” 1 Corinthians 11:23. As for ordinary ministers, they have God’s word written and left upon record for their use, “For all Scripture is given by inspiration of God,” 2 Tim. 3:16. They therefore that ground what they preach upon the Scripture, and deliver nothing but what is agreeable to it, preach the word of God.

2. In regard to the subject-matter which they preach, which is the will of God; as the apostle exhorts, to “understand what the will of the Lord is,” Ephesians 5:17, and to “prove what is that good, that acceptable, and perfect will of God,” Romans 12:2.

3. In regard to the purpose of preaching, which is the glory of God, and making known “the manifold wisdom of God,” Ephesians 3:10.

4. In regard to the mighty effect and power of it, for preaching God’s word is “the power of God unto salvation,” Romans 1:16. Preaching the word of God is “mighty through God to bring every thought to the obedience of Christ,” 2 Corinthians 10:4,5. For “the word of God is quick and powerful,” etc., Hebrews 4:12.

So close ought ministers to hold to God’s word in their preaching that they should not dare to swerve away from it in anything. The apostle pronounces a curse against him, whosoever he is, that shall preach any other word, Gal. 1:8,9.

Therefore we have just cause to avoid such teachers as preach contrary to this doctrine, Romans 16:17; 2 John 10. The whole body of Roman Catholicism is to be rejected for this reason. So are the manifold errors and heresies which have been broached in former ages, and in this our age. The feigning of new light and immediate inspiration in these days is a mere pretence.

The Right Hearing of Preaching

By this subject matter of preaching the word of God, we may receive a good direction to observe two caveats enjoined by Christ concerning hearing:

The first is concerning the matter which we hear, “Take heed what you hear,” Mark 4:24. We must hear nothing with approval except what we know to be the word of God. We must, therefore, be well acquainted with the Scriptures ourselves, and by them test the things which we hear, whether they are the word of God or not, as the men of Berea did, Acts 17:11.

The second caveat is concerning the manner of hearing, “Take heed how you hear,” Luke 18:18. That which we know to be grounded upon the Scriptures we must receive, “not as the word of men, but, as it is in truth, the word of God,” 1 Thessalonians 2:13. We must with reverence attend to it; we must in our hearts believe, and in our lives obey it.

Preach the Pure Word

It is God’s word that does convert, quicken, comfort, and build up, or, on the other side, wound and beat down. What is the reason that there was so great an alteration made by the ministry of Christ and his disciples, by the apostles and others after them, indeed, by Luther, and other ministers of reformed churches? They did not preach traditions of elders like the scribes; nor men’s inventions like the Roman Catholics do. They preached the pure word of God. The more purely God’s word is preached, the more deeply it pierces and the more kindly it works.

Edited and excerpted from Gouge’s Commentary on Hebrews.

Posted in William Gouge |

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