The devil is a formidable foe. Jesus calls him the father of lies, and also “a murderer from the beginning.” Peter urges us to “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.” He is a master at leading souls into sin. But it’s not a game to him. He wants to destroy us. He makes sin look so good and feel so right at the time. “There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.” His goal is to trap us by our sin and guilt so much that we believe there is no hope for us. He wants us to believe that God only wants to condemn us for our sin.
But the truth is that no matter how great our sins have been, there is hope and forgiveness for us in Christ. “Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.” God “gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” And “there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit.”
To resist the devil’s lies and temptations, we need God’s Word. In God’s Word we learn that Jesus already faced the devil’s temptations for us in the wilderness and gives us his complete victory. In God’s Word we also have Christ’s example, who simply quoted the Scriptures to make the devil flee, saying, “It is written…”. For the Gospel “is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth.”
- Pastor Wyatt Rosebrock