Devices Against the Believer I. Satan Resists Our Cleansing II. Satan Resists Our Full Surrender III. Satan Lifts Us Up with Pride IV. Satan Resists Our Service V. Satan Sifts the Believer VI. The Believer's Victory

1. Devices Against the
Believer
2Cor 2:11
11 Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are
not ignorant of his devices.
I. Satan Resists Our Cleansing
Zech 3:1
1 And he shewed me Joshua the high priest standing
before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his
right hand to resist him.
Zech 3:3
3 Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and
stood before the angel.
Joshua stood before the Lord. He was clothed in filthy
garments.
He was seeking cleansing. Satan stood.

2. This is a good picture of every believer seeking holiness.
God says,
Eph 4:22 That ye put off concerning the former
conversation the old man, which is corrupt according
to the deceitful lusts;
Man’s response is, "Woe is me, for I am a sinful man, O
Lord
Luke 5:8 When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at
Jesus' knees, saying, Depart from me; for I am a sinful
man, O Lord.
Rom 7:24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me
from the body of this death?
Daniel prayed,
Dan 9:5 We have sinned, and have committed
iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled,
even by departing from thy precepts and from thy
judgments:
David said,

3. Ps 51:4 Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and
done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be
justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou
judgest.
Isaiah said,
Isa 6:5 Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone;
because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the
midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have
seen the King, the LORD of hosts.
If anyone says, "I have no sin," he deceives himself.
What we need then is cleansing.
We stand before the Lord and we cry, "Wash me
thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my
sin."
We look around and, lo, Satan stands by to resist us.
He knows full well that a clean life is a life "meet for the
Master's use." Therefore He resists our cleansing.
God says:
Isa 52:11 Depart ye, depart ye, go ye out from
thence, touch no unclean thing; go ye out of the

4. midst of her; be ye clean, that bear the vessels of the
LORD.
Satan says:
"There is no power that can cleanse and keep you clean."
God says:
Deut 23:14 For the LORD thy God walketh in the
midst of thy camp, to deliver thee, and to give up
thine enemies before thee; therefore shall thy camp
be holy: that he see no unclean thing in thee, and turn
away from thee.
Satan says:
Eccl 7:16 Be not righteous over much; neither make
thyself over wise: why shouldest thou destroy thyself?
When a Christians cry is: "Create in me a clean heart"
Satan will resist him.
Satan knows that a clean Christian will be a God-honored
Christian and he resists his cleansing.

5. II. Satan Resists Our Full Surrender
Rom 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the
mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living
sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your
reasonable service.
Eph 5:18 And be not drunk with wine, wherein is
excess; but be filled with the Spirit;
God will not fill what is not surrendered to Him.
Exod 34:14 For thou shalt worship no other god: for
the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God:
Jas 4:3 Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss,
that ye may consume it upon your lusts.
God wants the supreme place & every place in our life.
Satan will resist our surrender by endeavoring to make
us doubt the Lord.
He did this in the case of Eve.
"Hath God said?" or, with, "God doth know."

6. Satan will resist our surrender by endeavoring to make
us think that God has forgotten us and is therefore
unworthy of trust.
He did this in tempting Christ. He said:
"If Thou be the Son of God, command that these
stones be made bread."
That is--"You have fasted forty days and nights. God has
forgotten You. If You are the Son of God, prove it."
Satan will resist our surrender by urging us to go
beyond the plain will of God.
This he did when he said to Christ:
"Cast Thyself down."
However, in spite of all of Satan’s efforts and because of
his efforts we should yield all the more.
III. Satan Lifts Us Up with Pride
1Tim 3:6 Not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride
he fall into the condemnation of the devil.

7. Satan, himself, fell because he was proud and lifted up.
He exalted himself. He said:
"I will be like the Host High."
Nebuchadnezzar fell under the same sin. He said:
"Is not this great Babylon, which I have built …by
the might of my power, and for the glory of my
majesty?"
David slipped from the same reason. Satan moved David
to number Israel. God came against him in swift
judgments.
Jesus Christ made Himself of no reputation.
Satan is forever saying unto us,
"Ye shall be as gods."
God says three things about man’s glory:
1Cor 3:21 Therefore let no man glory in men. For all
things are yours;
1Cor 1:29 That no flesh should glory in his presence.

8. Jer 9:24 But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he
understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the LORD
which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and
righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I
delight, saith the LORD.
Paul was given a revelation that would tend toward
"exaltation."
Therefore God allowed a messenger of Satan to buffet
Paul.
Satan was, in reality, working against himself.
He would have done everything possible to exalt Paul, to
lift him up with pride;
yet God used Satan’s messenger to keep Paul humble.
IV. Satan Resists Our Service
1Cor 16:9 For a great door and effectual is opened
unto me, and there are many adversaries.

9. 1Thess 2:18 Wherefore we would have come unto
you, even I Paul, once and again; but Satan hindered
us.
Paul was hindered at every turn by Satan.
Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save
one.
Thrice was I beaten with rods.
Once was I stoned.
Thrice I suffered shipwreck.
A night and a day have I been in the deep.
In perils of waters,
In perils of robbers,
In perils of mine own countrymen,
In perils by the heathen,
In perils in the city,
In perils in the wilderness,
In perils in the sea,

10. In perils among false brethren.
Paul was mobbed in Jerusalem; forty Jews
covenanted neither to eat nor to drink until they had
killed Paul.
Paul was in jail in Philippi; in Damascus the governor
sought to apprehend him, but he was let down
through a window in a basket, and escaped.
Paul was apprehended, sent to Caesarea, and carried
a prisoner to Rome.
No marvel the demons cried:
"Jesus I know and Paul I know."
Elymas the sorcerer sought to withstand Paul; but Paul full
of the Spirit said:
Acts 13:10 And said, O full of all subtilty and all
mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all
righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right
ways of the Lord?
Does Satan still seek to hinder saints?
Yes, he does.

11. He will malign him;
he will misrepresent him;
he will create prejudice against him;
he will stir up persecution against him.
In spite of every effort of Satan against Paul,
Paul was known as the man who
"turned worlds upside down."
V. Satan Sifts the Believer
Luke 22:31-32 31 And the Lord said, Simon, Simon,
behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift
you as wheat: 32 But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith
fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy
brethren.
The sifting that Simon received was not the sifting
that Satan desired.
It was Peter who was the lead preacher at Pentecost.
It was Peter who led in the great the Church in its
mission among the Jewish people.

12. Satan’s purpose was to make shipwreck of Peter's faith.
He wanted to make Peter a Judas 2.0
Before Satan had finished his sifting process Peter could
use swords, and curse and swear;
after the sifting was done, Peter could preach with
boldness and could even die the death of a martyr without
“denying the Lord”.
Satan will always seek to sift us to our hurt.
He will seek to overturn our faith, to weaken our prayer
life, and to kill our testimony.
But, Satan can only get at us as God permits.
What we must follow the Lord fully, and we need have no
fear of Satan’s sifting.
VI. The Believer's Victory
Eph 6:11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye
may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

13. Eph 6:16 Above all, taking the shield of faith,
wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery
darts of the wicked.
Rev 12:11 And they overcame him by the blood of
the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and
they loved not their lives unto the death.
God has warned us of Satan’s strategies but, He also arms
us for the battle.
The Bible says that we shall be able to quench every
fiery dart of the wicked one.
When he comes in like a flood, the Spirit of God will
lift up a standard against him.
In Christ we are more than conquerors.
A modernist with no Bible message has no way to secure
victory over Satan.
A believer, with the Sword of the Spirit has every means
of victory.
Jesus met Satan in the wilderness with the Word of God,
we must do the same.

14. There is a day coming when Satan will be bound for a
thousand years.
There is another day when the devil will be cast into
the lake of fire.
We have present victory, we shall have a future complete
and eternal deliverance.
Rom 16:20 And the God of peace shall bruise Satan
under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus
Christ be with you. Amen.
1Cor 15:57 But thanks be to God, which giveth us the
victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Devices Against the Believer
I. Satan Resists Our Cleansing
II. Satan Resists Our Full Surrender
III.Satan Lifts Us Up with Pride
IV. Satan Resists Our Service
V. Satan Sifts the Believer
VI. The Believer's Victory