How can in I resist evil?
Introduction
We live in a society that uses the word evil increasingly. We frequently hear of the ‘axis of evil’ or the outcry over ‘evil’ paedophiles living in our communities. We use the word a lot. But what do we really mean by it? And where does the evil we speak of come from.
For many, evil is simply the absence of good, rather than a force to be stood against. It is hard to believe in a force or person who is deliberately intent on evil. But the bible is clear - directly, or indirectly behind our own evil desires and the temptations of the world is evil personified – the devil himself.
Most of us think of the devil as a little red beast with a forked tail and a poker. A figure of fun – especially if you are a Manchester United supporter (the ‘Red Devils’). We have turned what was originally created to communicate the terror of the devil to an illiterate age into a figure of fun, and make-believe. But the spiritual warfare between good and evil, between God and the devil is very real.
The word devil comes from the Greek work ‘diabolos’ which is a translation of the Hebrew word Satan. The Old Testament itself doesn’t give us much information to go on as to who Satan is, but it hints that he is a fallen angel who rebelled against God.
The New Testament however, gives us much more to go
A summary of the NT teaching about the devil would be “A personal, spiritual being who is in active rebellion against God and has the leadership of many demons like himself”
Paul, in Ephesians, speaks of the devils work like this – “Put on the full armour of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” Ephesians 6:10-11
He and his work is not to be underestimated. He is a scheming (v11), evil and powerful (v12) being and needs to be recognised as such and stood up to.
But why should we believe in the existence of the devil?
Well, there are 3 reasons.
Firstly because the Bible makes his personal existence very clear.
We have already mentioned that the OT doesn’t elaborate much but the NT is much clearer. Jesus himself was tempted by the devil. Matthew , Mark and Luke all record this confrontation when Jesus is in the desert at the very beginning of his ministry. After a 40 day fast, the devil tempts Jesus to act in a way that would deny God as God and worship the devil. The account is clearly a conversation and confrontation with a personal force of evil that each of the writers call the devil.
A little later in the New Testament, Peter tells us that the devil “prowls around like a lion looking for someone to devour.” (1 Peter 5:8)
Secondly, Christians down through the ages have been aware of the devil and his work and many of them speak of knowing what it is to battle him. As soon as people start to serve God, the devils interest is aroused.
And of course, it makes sense, thirdly, that if there is a force for good in the world that causes good, then there will be, conversely a force behind the evil too. How else do we explain evil regimes, institutional torture, murder, rape, large scale drug trafficking, abuse, occultic activity and satanic rituals. Who is behind all of this?
All this points to the reality of the Devil – evil personified. But we mustn’t get carried away and become obsessed by him.
C.S.Lewis, speaking of the Devil and his demons as “devils” says -
“There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They themselves are equally pleased by both errors and hail a materialist and a magician with the same delight.”
Most of us disbelieve in him – leaving ourselves unguarded towards him. But some people have an excessive and unhealthy interest.
I was giving blood a few weeks ago and got talking to one of the nurses. Most weekends she went to séances, tarot card reading etc. There is a real interest in palm-reading, Ouija boards, ‘channelling’ (consulting the dead), astrology and horoscopes, witchcraft and occult powers. Because of the danger of these things and their opposition to the good work of God the bible forbids them (Deut 18:12). If we have been involved in these things, we can be forgiven. We will need to repent and destroy things associated with it such as cards, books magazines etc.
But Christians can also have an unhealthy interest. There are books that speak – not about the good things of God, but spend their time predicting what the devil is going to do. Sometimes we put anything that we don’t like down to the devil – even at times some good things that God has done. We need to be careful of this and not give him too much airtime in our minds.
So, what are the devils tactics?
The first place we see the devil at work is right back in the beginning - in Genesis Ch 3
In v1-5 we see the work of the devil very clearly.
- He aims to destroy
The devils intention is not to create good things, but to destroy the good that God has made. Ch 1 has the repeated refrain ‘God saw that it was good’. The devil tries to tear down what was good. He is hell bent on it (literally). God made everything good – The NT tells us the devil comes to “steal, kill and destroy” (John 10:10)
- He blinds people
One of the ways he does this is by blinding people to the truth. In the NT, Paul puts it like this “The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” Even in Genesis 3, we see the devil blinding eve to the truth by sowing doubt into Eve’s mind.
- He produces doubt
Doubt that what God said really is true.
- He creates temptation (Genesis 3:6)
The mechanism the devil use for creating temptation is clever – scheming even. Back in Ch 2 of Genesis, God has been very clear with Adam and eve. He has given them permission to eat from any tree, but prohibiting them from eating from only 1 tree. And if they do, he makes the penalty very clear – “when you eat of it you will surely die”.
The devil ignores the permission – the freedom that eve has, but focuses on the prohibition. And when he comes to the prohibition, he raises doubts about it and then removes any thought of the penalty. Clever. And he does the same today.
- He accuses
The final thing we see in these verses is that He also is the accuser. He accuses God – seen here as he accuses God of pulling the wool over Adam and eve’s eyes. But he is also our accuser. He stops us from living in the freedom of forgiveness by continually bringing up past sin. He places accusation after accusation to trip us up.
In short, the Devil lives as though he were in charge and in control of us and our lives. But he is not.
Free from his power.
We have no need to stand for this. We are free from him and his power. Paul in Colossians puts it like this
“And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.” (Colossians 2:15) Jesus has made a laughing stock of the devil
When I was in Zambia, I had terrible trouble being bitten by Mosquitoes. The guy I was staying with 
once told me of the time he had gone to bed only to discover one had managed to get into his mosquito net, and he was getting more and more irritated. He got up, tried his best to catch it, which he did – live! Then cut off it’s probosus! (The tube that pricks you and sucks your blood). He then let it go. As he lay in bed, he smiled. The Mosquito was buzzing around, still making a nuisance of itself, but its power to harm had been permanently damaged ,and it would one day die – for certain. Just like the devil!
So how do we defend ourselves?
Ephesians 6:10-18 makes this very clear. We must ‘Put on the full armour of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes’ (Ephesians 6:11)
What it this armour? Picture a Roman soldier…
- Belt of truth (v14)
Jesus once said “If you hold to my teaching then you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.” The Belt of truth is to be actively worn – put on.
- Breastplate of righteousness (v14)
Righteousness is something that we are given by God – we are made right with him by Jesus’ work on the cross. But, again, we must put it on. When we do, even though the accusations may come, we know they have no grounds – they are not true of us.
- Boots of the gospel of peace (v15)
Peace between us and God as well as peace between each other. This is who we are now, and are fighting for.
- Shield of faith (v16)
That extinguishes all the arrows of the devil. Paul points us to the impregnable fort of a Roman legion standing shield to shield. Remember – this faith is not wishful thinking, it is faith based on good evidence. When I am tempted to doubt or not believe I ask myself –what happened on the cross? Did Jesus die? Was he raised? Is this true, despite my doubts? This with the…
- Helmet of salvation (v17)
Protects us from doubt and accusation.
- Sword of the Spirit (v17)
Then finally Paul speaks of the only offensive piece of armour – the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God.
We thought about this in ‘Why and how should I read the Bible?’ Hebrews puts it like this -
“For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” Hebrews 4:12
We don’t fight with fists because we are not fighting flesh and blood. We fight with the spiritual sword, the sword of the Spirit.
How do we fight?
We take our stand, we put on the armour, we pray, we preach the word, we seek to reverse the devils destruction by praying for healing, those struggling with demonic attack
Because he is like a Mosquito with his probosus removed – his time is up, but he still exists to fight a losing battle on another day…
This talk is based on the outline in the Alpha Manual. For more information, visit Alpha.org