God’s will is for us to be holy. All of God’s great and exceeding promises in the Word of God are fully fulfilled for a person who lives a holy life. A person who lives a holy life is blessed in every way. There is no limit to the blessings of God for those who live holy lives. We can live a gloriously healthy spiritual life and be useful to our generation. The cause for all curses, chastising, and trials in this life is that we are not holy. But what spoils holiness is temptation. Do you know what lies between you and your next sin? Temptation. Temptations are the entry door to every sin. Even if you might not have realized it, you were tempted before you sinned. Adam and Eve’s blessed life was cursed by entering temptation. Every person loses God’s blessing by entering temptation. If you learn about temptation and how to overcome it, you can truly live a blessed life. All blessings return when we avoid temptation; this is the story of all saints. Joseph overcame temptation, and what a blessed and useful life he had for his entire generation! Our perfect example is Jesus Christ, who was tempted in every way but never entered temptation and sinned. So temptation is an important subject, and we are looking at it in our study of the Lord’s Prayer.
The Nature of Temptation
Temptation is everywhere for us. No place, no age, and no situation are exempt from it. If we flee to the desert and avoid the sight of our fellow creatures, we carry the fiend within us. We can live in a monastery and eat dry bread daily, but we cannot avoid Satan. Whether we are alone or in a crowd, in a hut or a palace, we will be tempted. If the poor are tempted to envy and dishonesty, the rich are equally tempted by pride and luxury. The great adversary has his snares in every scene and varies his baits for every age and condition. Every man, woman, and child has a besetting sin. The rash and the cautious, the young and the old, the educated and the uneducated, the churchgoer and the non-churchgoer, the lover of solitude and the lover of society—all have their snares.
The ultimate goal of this enemy is to make you repeatedly fall into temptation. Only then will your mind be darkened and you will live a depraved life. People who enter temptation think that nothing in life is important except to eat, drink, and be happy. If you become like that, you will not live for hallowing God’s name, his kingdom, and his will. He makes your life fruitless, empty, and useless, and he fills it with vanity by making you fall into temptation.
Last week we saw what temptation is, what entering into temptation is, the hour of temptation, how this prayer is prayed with so much earnestness, and where temptation comes from. Today, let us look at the meaning of the first part of this prayer. I want to share 24 ways Satan tempts us. Why 24 ways? Not 2,400 ways, but he is watching to tempt us for 24 hours, so 24 ways. And next week, we will look at how we can avoid entering temptation and overcome it.
The Meaning of the Prayer
There is a lot of confusion about this prayer. James 1:13 says God does not tempt anyone. If that is the case, how can we pray, “Lead us not into temptation”? A closer look at it raises several questions. “Lead us not into temptation.” Does God lead us to temptation if we do not ask him not to? Can a holy, righteous, pure, undefiled, blameless, unblemished, and virtuous God possibly lead anybody to temptation? And to ask him to deliver us from evil—I mean, if we don’t ask him, is he going to put us into evil? It looks contrary.
But this prayer is not “God, tempt us not”; that would be a problem. There is a big difference between tempting and leading into temptation. It is against God’s nature to tempt us, but for his wise purposes, God may allow Satan to tempt us. God allows Satan to tempt us so that we do not enter temptation and that we overcome it, and we grow in grace and patience. God may allow Satan to bring certain trials into Job’s life, but Satan does the tempting, not God. No, Jesus Christ himself, though free from sin, was not free from temptation. We read of his baptism, then he was “led into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil” (Matthew 4:1). People sin because they are tempted, and they are tempted internally by their lust and externally by the enticement of Satan. God allows evil. That’s in his own choice, and we will have to wait for eternity, if even then, to find out why. But God allows evil. In his providence and sovereignty, we see everything is in God’s control. God does not do evil or tempt us to do evil. He allows it, but his will is not that we enter and sin, but that we overcome it.
“Blessed is the man who endures temptation.” The prayer is “God, though you allow Satan to tempt us for your glory and our profit, in whatever way Satan may tempt me, please do not lead me into temptation and fall into evil, but deliver me from that evil of that temptation.” The key word is “into” — “lead us not into,” which means “into the power of” or “into the hands of.” The word is “peirasmos,” which has an “-asmos” ending, implying a process. “Don’t put us into any process, any procedure, any series of circumstances, any situation that is going to draw us into irresistible sin.” “Lord, for your glory and my good, you may allow Satan to tempt me, but strengthen me, protect me, and don’t allow me to enter temptation, for it takes control so I will not be able to resist it.” “Don’t ever lead us into something we can’t handle. Don’t lead me into temptation and deliver me from the evil as a natural consequence.” It is a prayer to kill the power of temptation in our life. The more we overcome temptation, the more we weaken sin in our life, and therefore, we kill sin. “Lord, help me to kill sin.”
This is an earnest heart cry of a true child of God. This is a very emotional prayer, more than a theological one. It is a prayer shrinking from the horror of sin. The sinner whose evil past has been forgiven longs to be delivered from the tyranny of sin in the future. I know what sin has done in the past. It is so deceptive; it lies to give me joy, but it always cheats me, removes all true joy from God, and leaves me in misery and a curse. I don’t want to be involved in it again in the future. God has been so gracious to forgive my past, and I will not trample on his grace or abuse his love in the future. The true Christian does not seek license to sin, but rather seeks sanctification to avoid it. All sin leaves some tendency for recurrence. The path that one avalanche has hollowed out is ready for another, and more and more until the whole mountain collapses.
The Nature of a Person Who Prays This Prayer
This prayer expresses our recognition of God as the one ordering all circumstances. It pleads with him to order circumstances in such a way that we do not fall into any temptation and that he does not lead us anywhere where we might fall into temptation. It implies that our chief wish is holiness and our greatest dread is sin. This is the only negative petition. How much do we pray, “Lead us not into sorrow, loss, poverty, disease, or death?” This petition can only come from a person whose life goal is not living for their own comfort but for the glory of God. The one thing he fears is to sin. The one thing he desires is to overcome temptation and live a holy life.
This prayer expresses our self-distrust. If we rightly understand our own weakness, we will dread to meet the enemy because we know how often circumstances make all the difference between a saint and a sinner. I do not trust myself. I have to set a watchman over my eyes. I have to set a watchman over my ears. I have to set a watchman over my tongue. I have to be careful where I go and what I see and who I talk to about what. Because I do not trust myself, and when I get into a trying situation, it is at that point that I rush into the presence of God like a sentry on duty who does not fight the enemy himself but runs to tell the commander. I retreat to the presence of God and say, “God, I will be overwhelmed in this thing unless you come to my aid.” And so it is a prayer based on self-distrust. The child of the kingdom realizes he lives in a fallen world and that fallen world pounds against him with temptations of great strength which he, in his own humanness, can never resist.
Okay, that is the meaning: an earnest desire to avoid all temptations in life. He earnestly prays and pleads with God to help him to avoid all temptation in life.
Satan, The Tempter
Temptation comes internally from our indwelling sin and externally from Satan. He is called the Tempter (Matthew 4:3). He lies in ambush to do us mischief. The devil lays a bomb of temptation to blow up the fort of our grace. Do you realize there is a real devil? Until we realize him and his cruel attack on us every day and how he watches us, this prayer will not be a reality to us. This is a child who sees his enemy, who is in the spiritual world. Do we have any fear of Satan? He lives in this world and is watching us. Let me spend some time helping you see your enemy, the tempter, Satan. He is here on this earth now, and you know what his mood is. “The devil is come down unto you, having great wrath” (Revelation 12:12). He is angry at whom? You, the believer, the church (verse 17).
Jesus Christ said, “Watch and pray that you do not enter into temptation.” May this meditation on how Satan tempts make us watchful and make this an earnest daily prayer of our lives. Paul, in 2 Corinthians 2:11, taught them about Satan’s devices. I will share 24 of them. May these thoughts make you watchful so you may not be deceived by Satan, knowing his schemes.
The Subtlety of Satan’s Temptations
- His Malice and Hatred: The more we are tempted to evil, the more our souls become weak, and life in no sense glorifies God or does anything for his kingdom. We actually become members of Satan’s kingdom. If we have to escape that, we need to often pray, “Lead us not into temptation.” That we may see in what danger we are from Satan’s temptations: “Why no other job? Leave me alone.” This hellish serpent is swollen with the poison of malice. Satan envies our happiness. To see a clod of dust so near to God and call him “Father in heaven,” while he, once a glorious angel, is cast out of the heavenly paradise, makes him pursue mankind with inveterate hatred. “If there be anything this infernal spirit can delight in, it is to ruin souls and to bring them into the same condemnation with himself.” His malice is great because he will tempt even where he knows he cannot prevail in the end. He tempted Christ. “If thou be the Son of God” (Matthew 4:3). He knew well enough Christ was God as well as man, yet he would tempt him. He tempts the elect to blasphemy; he knows he cannot prevail against them, and yet such is his malice that though he cannot finally spoil their souls, he will try to do as much damage as possible to them. His malice is great because even though he knows tempting people to sin will increase his own torment in hell, he will not stop doing it. Do we have any fear of Satan? He lives in this world and watches us. Therefore, being such a malicious and vengeful spirit, we need to pray that God will not let him prevail by his temptation. “Lead us not into temptation.”
- His Diligence: He “walks about” (1 Peter 5:8). He neglects no time; he walks about—he watches where he may throw in the fireball of temptation. He is a restless spirit. Satan’s diligence in tempting is seen in the variety of temptations he uses: if lust doesn’t work, he tries pride, covetousness, anger, revenge, lies, and temptations of omission, such as causing us to leave off praying, reading the Bible, or going to church, and causing us to doubt God, murmur at God’s providence, and test God.
- His Power: He is called “the prince of this world” (John 14:30) and the “great red dragon.” He is full of power. His power in tempting is seen in several ways: (1) As a spirit, he can convey himself into our fancy and poison it with bad thoughts. (2) Though Satan cannot compel the will, he can present pleasing objects to our senses, which have great force in them. (3) He can excite and stir up the corruption within and work some inclination in the heart to embrace the temptation. Thus, he stirred up corruption in David’s heart and provoked him to number the people (1 Chronicles 21:1). He can blow a spark of lust into a flame. (4) Being a spirit, he can convey his temptations into our minds so that we cannot easily discern whether they come from him or from ourselves. This is like a man’s mind getting into our body. We hardly know whether they are his or ours. We are in great danger and have a need to pray not to be led into temptation.
- His Experience: Satan’s power in tempting appears by the long experience he has acquired in the art; he has been a tempter for nearly as long as he has been an angel. Who is better for action than a person with experience? We give any work based on experience, and they do it perfectly. Satan has gained much experience by being so long versed in the trade of tempting. Having such experience, he knows what temptations have foiled others and are most likely to prevail. Satan having such power in tempting increases our danger, and we have a need to pray, “Lead us not into temptation.”
- His Subtlety: The Greek word to tempt means “to deceive.” Satan, in tempting, uses many subtle policies to deceive. We read of the depths of Satan (Revelation 2:24), of his devices and strategies (2 Corinthians 2:11), and of his snares and darts. He is called a lion for his cruelty and an old serpent for his subtlety. He has several sorts of subtlety in tempting.
- Exact target subject: He observes the natural temperament and constitution. As a farmer knows what seed is proper to sow in a certain soil, so Satan, finding out the temperament, knows what temptations are proper to sow in such a heart.
- Fittest season: He chooses the fittest season to tempt in. As a cunning angler casts his line when the fish will bite best, so the devil can hit the very moment when temptation is most likely to prevail. There are several seasons he tempts in.
- Unemployment: The devil tempts when he finds us unemployed. Satan observes us sitting still and shoots his fiery darts of temptation at us. When David was walking on the housetop unemployed, the devil set a tempting object before him, and it prevailed (2 Samuel 11:2-3).
- Trials: When a person is reduced to trials, outward wants, and lack, the devil tempts him. When Christ had fasted forty days and was hungry, the devil came and tempted him with the glory of the world (Matthew 4:8). When provisions grow short, Satan comes in with a temptation: “What, will you starve rather than steal? Reach forth your hand and pluck the forbidden fruit.” How often does this temptation prevail? How many people do we see who, instead of living by faith, fall into sins?
- Weakness: Satan tempts when he sees us at our weakest. On two occasions, Satan comes upon us in our weakness:
- Poverty and sickness: How much temptation poverty brings! I have seen houses where one cannot sleep, where four people sleep in one room, where there is no food, and where clothes are torn. What temptations this brings, and what doubts and questions about God’s love! And we listen to what Satan says. Sickness is another weakness. When our body is in pain and wasting away from sickness, with a diseased liver, heart problems, or arthritis, many people are very holy when in good health, but when a small sickness strikes them, how we blaspheme! What temptations! Or when our children become sick and suffer, we suffer more than them. How bitter we become and question God, sometimes even angered, and then fall straight into Satan’s hand in emotions and bitterness. How many of us have fallen into this temptation and do not live for God’s glory and kingdom? He keeps people at this level so they do not rise because of these temptations of deceitful riches, pleasures, and worldly worry. Mark 4:15 says what he does so the kingdom does not grow in people (verse 18).
- Being alone: He came to Eve when her husband was away. He has the policy to give his poison privately when no one is around to discover the treachery. Like a cunning suitor who woos the daughter when the parents are away from home, when we are alone and no one is near, the devil comes wooing with a temptation and hopes to have the match struck up. When a saint is weak, the devil pecks at him with a temptation.
- After an ordinance: Puritans have written a lot on this. When we have been hearing the word, or at prayer, or at the sacrament, Satan casts in the lure of temptation. Even after we finish Sunday service and go home, what different temptations Satan brings! Many temptations come after we finish praying and reading the Word of God. When Christ had been fasting and praying, then came the tempter (Matthew 4:2-3). Why does Satan choose a time after an ordinance to tempt? We should think it to be the most disadvantageous time, when the soul is raised to a heavenly frame!
- Malice: Malice puts Satan upon it. The ordinances, which cause fervor in a saint, cause fury in Satan. He knows that in every duty we have a design against him; in every prayer, we put up a suit in heaven against him and against his kingdom and will; in the Lord’s Supper, we take an oath to fight under Christ’s banner against him; therefore he is more enraged and lays his snares and shoots his darts against us.
- Security: Satan tempts after an ordinance because he thinks he will find us more secure. After we have been at the solemn worship of God, we are apt to grow careless and leave off our former strictness, like a soldier who, after the war, puts off his armor. Satan watches his time. When we grow careless after an ordinance and indulge ourselves too much in carnal delights, Satan falls upon us by temptation and often foils us.
- Gradual sin: Not immediately a big sin. Just a sight, a lust, and it grows and grows and then a big sin comes. The old serpent winds himself in by degrees: he tempts first to lesser sins so that he may bring on greater ones. Satan first tempted David to an impure glance of the eye to look upon Bathsheba, and that unclean look occasioned adultery and murder. It is a great subtlety of Satan to tempt to lesser sins first, for these harden the heart and make people ready for committing more horrid and tremendous sins.
- Using friends: Satan’s policy sometimes is to hand over temptations to us by those whom we least suspect.
- Close friends: He tempts us by those who are close to us. He tempted Job by a proxy; he handed over a temptation to him by his wife. “Do you still retain your integrity?” (Job 2:9). As if she had said, “Job, you see how, for all your religion, God deals with you; his hand has gone out against you. What, and still pray and weep? Cast off all religion, turn atheist! Curse God, and die!” Thus, Satan made use of Job’s wife to do his work. The devil often stands behind the curtain—he will not be seen in the business but puts others to do his work.
- Religious Christian friends: He tempts sometimes by religious Christian friends. He keeps out of sight so that his cloven foot may not be seen. Who would have thought to find the devil in Peter? When he would have dissuaded Christ from suffering, saying, “Master, spare yourself,” Christ spied Satan in the temptation. “Get thee behind me, Satan.” When our religious friends would dissuade us from doing our duty, saying, “Okay, relax, don’t be so zealous,” Satan is a lying spirit in their mouths and would by them entice us to evil.
- Targeting specific people: Satan tempts some people more than others. Some are like wet kindling that will not so soon catch the fire of temptation as others; some are very dry. Satan tempts most where he thinks his policies will most easily prevail. Some, like a sponge, soak in Satan’s temptations. There are five sorts of people that Satan most broods upon with his temptations.
- The spiritually ignorant and careless: These are people who do not practice spiritual disciplines like prayer and the Word of God. The devil can lead these people into any snare. You can lead a blind man anywhere. An ignorant person cannot see the devil’s snares. Satan tells them that something is no sin, or only a small one, and they will be fine; they just have to repent. The Word of God and prayer act as a vaccine, but people who do not use them regularly will be tempted by Satan.
- The proud: Satan tempts proud people; over them, he has more power. No one is in greater danger of falling by temptation than he who stands high in his own conceit. When David’s heart was lifted up in pride, the devil stirred him up to number the people (2 Samuel 24:2). Lofty towers crash with a heavier fall, and lightning strikes the tops of mountains.
- The melancholy: This refers to people who are spiritually depressed and who murmur and complain without any joy. There are three things in melancholy that give the devil great advantage: [1] It makes a person unfit for duty. When the spirit is sad and melancholy, a Christian is out of tune for spiritual actions. [2] Melancholy often sides with Satan against God. The devil tells such a person that God does not love him and that there is no mercy for him, and the melancholy soul is apt to think so too and signs its name to the devil’s lies. [3] Melancholy breeds discontent, and discontent is the cause of many sins, such as unthankfulness, impatience, murmuring, and it often ends in self-misery.
- The idle: An idle mind is the devil’s workshop. The devil will find work for the idle to do. If you are a leisurely person, being leisurely busy studying God’s word is fine, and meditation is fine. Jerome gave his friend this counsel: “To be ever well employed, so that when the tempter comes, he might find him working in the vineyard.” If the hands are not doing good work, the head will be plotting evil (Micah 2:1).
- Feigning a flight: Satan gives some little respite and seems to leave off tempting for a while so that he may come on later with more advantage. Just as Israel acted as if they were beaten before the men of Ai and fled, but it was a policy to draw them out of their fenced cities and ensnare them by an ambush (Joshua 8:15). The devil sometimes raises the siege and feigns a flight so that he may the better obtain the victory. He goes away for a time so that he may return when he sees a better season. “When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walks through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, he says, ‘I will return to my house, whence I came out'” (Luke 11:24). Satan, by feigning a flight and leaving off tempting for a while, causes people to feel secure. They think they are safe—”Oh, for two or three months, there has been no temptation”—and they become victors, when, on a sudden, Satan falls on and wounds them. Just as someone who is going to leap runs back a little so that they may take a greater jump, so Satan seems to retire and run back a little so that he may come on with a temptation more furiously and successfully. We need, therefore, to always watch and have on our spiritual armor.
- Discouraging means of grace: The old serpent’s great job among Christians is to hinder them and not allow them to use the means of grace or, if they do use them, to do so formally.
- Discouraging from duty: He labors to get people to stop doing their duty—to stop praying and hearing—in order to discourage them; and to do that, he has two tricks:
- Suggesting unworthiness: He discourages them from duty by suggesting their unworthiness; that they are not worthy to approach God or have any signals of his love and favor. They are sinful, and God is holy, so how dare they presume to bring their impure offering to God? That we should see ourselves as unworthy is good and shows humility, but to think we should not approach God because of unworthiness is a conclusion made by the devil. God says, “Come,” though we are unworthy.
- Objecting lack of success: Satan endeavors to discourage from duty by objecting to a lack of success. “I have so many problems. I have no time. What is the use of sitting and reading the Bible? How can it help my life?” God says if you read his word day and night, all you do will prosper and you will walk wisely wherever you go. The secret to a blessed life is meditation on the Word of God. Satan says, “Oh no, there is no fruit from that. It is a complete waste of time; there is no pleasure. Enjoy TV, news, and worldly things. Waste your time instead of just sitting there.” In prayer, when people have waited upon God in the use of ordinances and do not find the comfort they desire, Satan disheartens them and makes them resolve to stop all religion. They begin to say as a wicked king, “What should I wait for the Lord any longer?” (2 Kings 6:33). When Saul saw God did not answer him by dreams and visions, Satan tempted him to leave his worship and seek the witch of Endor (1 Samuel 28:6). “There is no answer to prayer,” Satan says. “Therefore, leave off praying. Who will sow seed where no crop comes up?” So watch TV and use the internet. Thus, the devil, by his subtle logic, would dispute a poor soul out of its duty.
- The Subtleties of Satan’s Temptations
8th subtlety: He works to trap us by using lawful things; many people perish through them. More people are hurt by lawful things than unlawful ones. While gross sins are frightening, many people use lawful things to their own detriment. Satan tempts us to use lawful things inordinately. Recreation and entertainment can be lawful, but excessive use is very dangerous. Eating and drinking are lawful, but gluttony is a sin; food becomes a snare. Relationships are lawful, but how often does Satan tempt us to love selfishly? “My wife, my child… if something happens, I will not even care for God.” A relationship becomes more important than God! How often are a wife and child put in God’s place! Excess makes lawful things sinful.
9th subtlety: He misrepresents true holiness to make others dislike it. He suggests that holiness is the most boring thing in life and that worldly life is the most enjoyable. The reality is the opposite. He makes it seem as if worldly people are enjoying themselves, while God’s holy people are always sad. This is very wrong. It is an outward deception. The most suffering and miserable people are worldly people, they just hide it. He paints the face of religion full of scars and apparent blemishes to create prejudice against it in people’s minds. He represents religion as the most melancholy thing, suggesting that anyone who embraces it must banish all joy from their life, even though the apostle speaks of “joy in believing” (Romans 15:13). Satan suggests that religion exposes men to danger: he shows them the crosses, but hides the crown from them. He works to put all the disgrace he can on holiness to tempt them to renounce it. He calls a truly zealous person “hot-headed” and “factious”; he represents the patient person who bears injuries without revenge as a coward; the humble person as “low-spirited”; and the heavenly person as a fool. By this temptation, he draws men away from solid piety and makes them scorn it rather than embrace it.
10th subtlety: Satan bewitches and traps men by setting pleasing baits before them, such as the riches, pleasures, and honors of the world. “‘All these things will I give thee'” (Matthew 4:9). How many does he tempt with this golden apple? Pride, money, and luxury are the three worms bred by plenty. “‘They that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare'” (1 Timothy 6:9). We must learn to be content and see how we can serve God with what we have. Many want more and more and spend their time saving money. Their minds are so occupied that their lives never give anything for God’s kingdom. In fact, history has proven that God is always generous to those who are generous to the needs of His kingdom. But many hold on to their money, and that leads to many temptations and sometimes even debt and poverty. Like the Israelites, instead of giving to God as an offering, they followed Baal and did not give what they should have; they gave to the Philistines as a debt with interest. How many, instead of serving God with what they have and asking, “How can I help grow the kingdom?” only ask, “How can I live more luxuriously?” A believer must have a hunger for sacrifice, not only because God will bless me, but for the question, “What can I do for my God, more and more?” We must grow in that. But many are trapped in Satan’s temptation by the pleasures of the world; they are the great temptation by which Satan batters down men’s souls. We need to especially pray for this.
11th subtlety: Satan in tempting pleads necessity. He knows that necessity can in some cases seem to lessen and excuse a sin. A tradesman pleads the necessity of unlawful gain, or he cannot live. “I’m tired, so just a little sin. I have no money, so just a little sin. My child is sick, so this and that.” Thus Satan tempts men to sin by the plea of necessity. He told our Lord that necessity would make the stone into bread. He will quote Scripture to prove that in some extraordinary cases there may be a necessity of doing what is not justifiable at other times. Did not David, in case of necessity, “eat the shewbread, which was not lawful for him, but only for the priests”? (Matthew 12:4). We do not read that he was blamed. Then Satan says, “Why may not you, in extraordinary cases, trespass a little and take the forbidden fruit?” Oh, beware of this temptation! Satan’s cloven foot is in it. Necessity will not justify sin.
12th subtlety: Satan carries on his designs against us under the highest pretense of friendship. He puts sugar on his poison and gives it to us, just as some people make the greatest pretense of love where they have the most deadly hatred. Satan takes off his lion’s skin and comes in sheep’s clothing; he pretends kindness and friendship and wants to consult what might be for our good. Thus he came to Christ, “Command that these stones be made bread” (Matthew 4:3). It was as if he had said, “I see you are hungry, and there is no table spread for you in the wilderness. I, therefore, pitying your condition, wish you to get something to eat; turn stones to bread, so that your hunger may be satisfied.” But Christ saw the temptation, and with the sword of the Spirit, wounded the old serpent. Thus Satan came to Eve and tempted her under the pretense of a friend: “Eat,” he said, “of the forbidden fruit; for the Lord knows, ‘that in the day you eat thereof, you shall be as gods'” (Genesis 3:5). As if he had said, “I am persuading you to do only that which will put you into a better condition than you are in now; eat of this tree, and it will make you omniscient. ‘You shall be as gods.'” What a kind devil this was! But it was a subtle temptation. She greedily swallowed the bait and ruined herself and all her descendants. Let us fear his false flatteries. “I distrust the Greeks even when they bring gifts.”
13th subtlety: Satan tempts men to sin by persuading them to hide their temptations from others and not share. They are like those who have some terrible disease and would rather die than tell the physician. It would be wise, in case of a strong temptation, to open one’s mind to some experienced Christian whose counsel might be an antidote against it. There is danger in concealing it, just as in concealing a disease that may prove mortal. How we need to renew the petition, “Lead us not into temptation!”
Satan’s Battle Against Holy Duties
21st subtlety: Satan encourages doctrines that are flesh-pleasing. He knows that you and I, both preacher and listener, eagerly desire to hear only pleasing truths and show no interest in difficult, flesh-crucifying truths. He knows the flesh loves to be gratified, that it cries out for ease and liberty, and that it will not endure any yoke. Paul says in 1 Timothy 4:1 and 2 Timothy 4:2 that Satan will tempt us to preach pleasing sermons. They have to be pleasing and humorous to the flesh, full of jokes, enjoyment, and entertainment instead of God’s word and learning. Men and even young people nowadays cannot sit and listen to the truth. There is no discipline; they want entertainment. The word says, “Strive as in an agony” to enter into glory; crucify the flesh; take the kingdom of heaven by holy violence. Satan, to weaken these Scriptures, flatters the flesh. He tells man there is no need for such strictness, nor so much zeal and violence; a softer pace will serve; surely there is an easier way to heaven. There is no need for a broken heart for sin; just confess by mouth, and that will procure you a pardon and give you admission into paradise. He stirs up flattering Antinomianism and says, “What needs all this cost? What needs repenting tears? These are legal; what need to be so strict in your obedience? Christ has done all for you: you should make use of your Christian liberty.” This temptation draws many away; it takes them off from a strict life. There is no pattern of holiness, only temptation. Many people are in such churches. He who sells cheapest shall have the most customers, and the devil knows that it is a cheap and easy doctrine that pleases the flesh, and he has no doubt that he will have enough customers.
22nd subtlety: Satan has his temptations related to holy duties. His policy is either to hinder from duty, or discourage in duty, or push men too far in duty.
To hinder from duty: As in 1 Thessalonians 2:18, “We would have come once and again, but Satan hindered us.” So many religious duties would have been performed, but Satan hindered them. One Puritan says there are three duties that the devil is an enemy to and tries to keep us from.
Meditation: He will let men profess, come to church, or pray and hear in a formal manner, which does him no harm and them no good. But he opposes meditation on the truth he heard. He takes the seed, as in Mark 4:15, and then, as in Mark 4:18, he works so the kingdom does not grow in people. This is a means to compose the heart and make it serious. He does not allow the truth to take control and transform the heart. He does not care how much you hear, how many new sermons, all the sermons in the Bible, as long as you do not meditate and make those truths your own. Meditation is chewing the cud; it makes the word digest and turn to nourishment; it gets into our heart and affects our life. It is the bellows of the affections. The devil is an enemy to this. When Christ is alone in the wilderness, giving himself to divine contemplations, the devil comes and tempts him to hinder him. He will thrust in worldly business or something else to keep men from holy meditation.
Mortification: This is as necessary as heaven. “Mortify your members which are upon the earth: uncleanness, inordinate affection” (Colossians 3:5). Satan will let men hear about sin, even be angry with sin, or restrain sin, which keeps it a prisoner that cannot break out. But when it comes to taking away the life of sin, he works to stop the warrant and hinder the execution. When sin is being mortified, Satan is being crucified.
Self-examination: “Examine yourselves” (2 Corinthians 13:5), a metaphor from metal that is pierced through to see if there is gold within. Self-examination is a spiritual inquisition set up in the soul. Man must search his heart for sin, as one would search a house for a traitor or robber, or as Israel sought for leaven to burn it. Satan, if it is possible, will, by his temptations, keep men from this duty and not show men’s hearts to themselves, deceiving them all their lives. He tells them their state is good and what need they put themselves to the trouble of examination? Although men will not buy gold without examining it by the touchstone, Satan persuades them to take their grace on trust and their soul’s state without examining. He persuaded the foolish virgins that they had oil in their lamps. So he deceives millions of people by telling them they are going to heaven, while they have no progress in heart holiness and are more worldly and sinning. They are going to hell, but he does not let them see that their heart has not grown in holiness. He keeps men who do not examine their hearts busy by showing them the faults of others to keep them from searching their own. He will give them spectacles to see what is wrong in others clearly, but will not show them a mirror to see what is wrong in themselves.
23rd subtlety: Satan tempts to sin by the hope of returning out of it by speedy repentance. It is easy for the bird to fly into the snare, but it is not so easy to get out of it. Is repentance so easy? It is so difficult to repent unless God gives it, otherwise, we can harden and deceive ourselves into thinking we have repented. Is it easy to leap out of Delilah’s lap into Abraham’s bosom? How many has Satan flattered into hell with the policy that if they sin, they may recover themselves by repentance! Alas! Is repentance in our power? A spring lock can shut by itself, but it cannot open without a key. In the same way, we can shut ourselves out from God, but we cannot open to him by repentance until he who has the key of David in his hand opens our heart.
24th subtlety: Satan, in tempting, assaults and weakens the saints’ peace. If he cannot destroy their grace, he will disturb their peace. He envies the Christian his good day, and if he cannot keep him from a heaven hereafter, he will keep him from a heaven on earth. There is nothing, next to holiness, that a Christian prizes more than peace and tranquility of mind. It is the cream of life, a bunch of grapes by the way. Now, Satan’s great policy is to shake a Christian’s peace; so that if he goes to heaven, he shall go there through frights and many tears. He throws in his fireballs of temptation to set the saints’ peace on fire. Spiritual peace is of such great concern that it is no wonder if Satan would, by his intricate subtleties, rob us of that jewel. Spiritual peace is a token of God’s favor. No wonder then, if Satan rages so much against the saints’ peace and would tear this comfortable robe from them. The devil troubles the waters of the saints’ peace because he hopes to have a greater advantage of them.
By perplexing their spirits, he takes off their chariot wheels; it makes them unfit for the service of God and puts body and mind out of temper, like an instrument out of tune. When sadness of spirit prevails, a Christian can think of nothing but his troubles; his mind is full of doubts, fears, and suspicions, so that he is like a person distracted and is scarcely himself. He either neglects the duties of religion, or his mind is taken off from them while he is doing them. There is one duty especially that melancholy and sadness of spirit make a person unfit for, and that is thankfulness. Thankfulness is a tribute due to God. “‘Let the saints be joyful, let the high praises of God be in their mouth'” (Psalm 149:5-6). But when Satan has disturbed a Christian’s spirit and filled his mind with dark and almost despairing thoughts, how can he be thankful? It makes Satan rejoice to see how his plot works. By making God’s children uneasy, he makes them unthankful.
Final Thoughts
Thus I have shown you twenty-four subtleties of Satan in tempting so you can know them better and avoid them. There is a story of a Jew who would have poisoned Luther, but a friend sent Luther a picture of the Jew, warning him to take heed of such a man when he saw him. By this means, he knew the murderer and escaped his hands. I have told you the subtle devices of Satan in tempting; I have shown you a picture of him who would murder you. Being forewarned, I beseech you, take heed of the murderer.
From the subtlety of Satan in tempting, let me draw three conclusions.
It may cause us to wonder how anyone is saved. How amazing that Satan, this Abaddon, or angel of the bottomless pit (Revelation 9:11), this Apollyon, this soul-devourer, does not win all mankind! What a wonder that some are preserved, that neither Satan’s hidden snares nor his fiery darts prevail; that neither the head of the serpent nor the paw of the lion destroys them! Surely it will be a matter of admiration to the saints when they come to heaven to think how strangely they got there; that despite all the force and fraud, the power and policy of hell, they should arrive safely at the heavenly port! This is owing to the safe conduct of Christ, the Captain of our salvation. Michael is too much for the dragon.
If Satan is subtle, see what need we have to pray to God for wisdom to discern the snares of Satan and strength to resist them. We cannot by ourselves stand against temptation; if we could, the prayer would be needless, “Lead us not,” etc. Let us not think we can be too cunning for the devil or escape his tricks and darts. If David and Peter, who were pillars in God’s temple, fell to temptation, how soon would weak reeds like us be blown down if God were to leave us! Take Christ’s advice, “Watch and pray, that you enter not into temptation” (Matthew 26:41).
See how the purpose of all Satan’s subtleties in tempting is that he may be an accuser. He lays the plot, entices men to sin, and then brings in the indictment, as if someone were to make another drunk and then complain of him to the magistrate for being drunk. The devil is first a tempter, and then an informer: first a liar, and then a murderer.
But, thank God, the power of Satan has no more force in our lives than we allow it to have! If we want to stand against it, we can! Firstly, it begins by realizing and waking up and praying so we do not enter into temptation. Our Lord has given us some precious promises that serve to strengthen us in the midst of our temptations and guarantees us the victory over them all if we yield to His will and not to the temptation! What are those promises? Isaiah 43:2, 1 Corinthians 10:13, 2 Peter 2:9. We need a revival of living out Romans 6:6-18!
We need to learn those promises and be on guard and be equipped. This was the tactic used by the Lord Jesus during His own time of temptation—Matthew 4:1-11. When Jesus was tempted, He turned to the spiritual resources of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God, and He made His victorious stand against evil.
Our success lies in doing the very same thing. We are to appropriate the resources we have been given in the Person of the Holy Spirit and in the power of the Word of God. We are to dress in the “whole armor” of God and take our stand (Ephesians 6:10-18).
- Discouraging from duty: He labors to get people to stop doing their duty—to stop praying and hearing—in order to discourage them; and to do that, he has two tricks:
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