If we submit to God and promptly, take the escape route, none of the devil’s weapons against us will prosper.
If you are truly a ‘born again’ Christian, Satan can never damn your soul but he will constantly try to destroy your life, so that you cannot share the good news of the gospel with anyone else. What is the good news? God so loved (John 3:16) the WORLD. The Lamb of God (John 1:29) takes away the sin of the WORLD. Jesus redeemed every human being, paid the ransom for each one of them in order to set them all free to personally choose whether they would receive or reject salvation through His finished work on the Cross on their behalf. He died (Hebrews 9:28) once for all. For those who reject Him there is no other sacrifice, no other way. Everything necessary for their eternal salvation God has done because He is not willing (2 Peter 3:9) that any should perish. Nothing remains but each individual’s personal choice and by that choice each one establishes his own eternal destiny.
Who was the first to hear of a coming Redeemer and King? It was Satan, right there (Genesis 3:14-15) in the Garden of Eden. Look at how much is packed into these verses. The Seed of the woman – only men have seed not women – so the Child would be human and born of a virgin. He will – this holy Baby will be male. He will crush and tread your head underfoot – so He is God. You will lie in wait and bruise His heel. The Cross is already in view.
At exactly the right time (Galatians 4:4) God sent His Son to redeem and atone for sinners. Angels announced (Luke 2:11) His birth when the Saviour arrived. God arranged among the stars that there would be a special star (Matthew 2:2) to guide the men from the East. But long before this holy Birth in Bethlehem, away back in Eden, Satan had been planning his strategy to use particular events and persons to defeat God’s plan to bring salvation. For thousands of years Satan studied prophecy and learned that the coming Redeemer King would be (Matthew 1:6,16) a descendent of David. He found willing accomplices in (1 Samuel 19:1) King Saul and also (2 Samuel 15:10) in Absalom, both of whom wanted to destroy David. The devil failed in both attempts but didn’t give up. He was prepared and ready with a plan for someone before that person was born. A person he could inflame with jealousy so that he, King Herod (Matthew 2:13) would murder all the babies in Bethlehem in his demonic drive to kill Jesus. Defeated again, frustrated but still scheming, still determined. The devil pulled out his big guns for his (Matthew 4:10) temptation of Jesus. Jesus armed Himself with God’s Word and Satan gained no victory over Jesus. But, sadly, he has much greater success in tempting Christians.
We have seen some of the devil’s strategies and recognize our need for (Ephesians 6:10-11) God’s armour and His Word and we also need to know our escape route. (Dr. Jeremiah) said that “Satan has 3 main temptations – immorality, greed and idolatry”. This is true and covers a lot but the devil has a full arsenal of temptation weapons. We know that God (James 1:13) cannot be tempted and He tempts no one. Your EGO is your enemy because EGO always Edges God Out.
We also know (1 Corinthians 10:13) that all believers will be tempted. So how, as individuals, do we deal with temptation? We are instructed to pray (Matthew 6:13) lead us not into temptation but deliver us. How do we discover that detour on the dangerous road? Look again at Jesus. He did not argue or debate with Satan but simply declared the authority of the Word of God. We must never argue, debate or converse in any way with the devil because he is a lot smarter than we are and we will lose every time. He has a bountiful supply of the smarts for treachery, deceit and seduction. We can never resist the devil unless (James 4:7) we first submit to God. Let’s look at (1 Corinthians 10:13) our guidelines and assurances. We are not the only one, it is quite common for all believers to be tempted. God knows us completely and thoroughly and will never allow a temptation greater than He will enable us to conquer. Here’s the detour – He makes a way of escape. This insight of the escape way is sudden, brief and requires an immediate response of the will. It is not something to dilly-dally over but we must act on it at once. If we submit to God and promptly take the escape route, none of the devil’s weapons against us (Isaiah 54:17) will prosper.
We must never be so foolish as to think (1 Corinthians 10:12) that we are mature enough to handle temptation on our own, to deal with it in our own strength. That attitude smells of self-righteous pride and guarantees failure. I was thinking about what the stench of pride is like. The thought came to me that pride smells like rotting flesh because it is totally of the flesh and I truly know that in my flesh (Romans 7:18) dwells no good thing, nothing good at all. I go from this heaviness to (Romans 8:1) no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus.
I ponder all that God has done for me by sending Jesus, Who Himself did fully bear all my sin (1 Peter 2:24) in His own body on the Cross. There are no words to describe what is in my heart. But it burns up any desire to yield to the temptations, which will continue to assault and it fires up my determination to abandon myself to the Holy Spirit for His purpose to reproduce the Life of Jesus in me. A major roadblock to temptation is our love for Jesus. How do I know that? Listen to this encouraging and richly motivating promise – Blessed is the one who endures temptation (James 1:12) for when he is tried he will receive the crown of life, which the Lord promised to them that love Him.