Resisting the Wiles of Satan — Reformed Systematic Theology

Learn ten crucial strategies for defending against the Wiles of Satan from pastor and theologian Dr. Joel Beeke.

Paul says, “Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil” (Eph. 6:11). The word translated as “wiles” (methodeia) refers to the schemes or strategies by which the Devil tries to deceive us and overcome us.¹ Paul similarly warns against letting Satan “get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices” (2 Cor. 2:11). “Devices” (plural noēma) means thoughts or designs.

It is our duty, therefore, to know Satan’s tactics, to keep watch against them, and to resist them with all our might. Thomas Brooks said, “Christ, the Scripture, your own hearts, and Satan’s devices, are the four prime things that should be first and most studied and searched.”² Calvin wrote, “All that Scripture teaches concerning devils aims at arousing us to take precaution against their stratagems and contrivances, and also to make us equip ourselves with those weapons which are strong and powerful enough to vanquish these most powerful foes.”³

Satan is a fool for opposing God, but he is a highly intelligent fool. His methods are many and varied, and well proven over centuries. Gurnall said no actor has so many costumes to wear upon the stage “as the devil hath forms of temptation.”⁴ To assist believers in their meditations upon Satan’s strategies, we present the following principles.⁵

First, Satan promises that disobedience will make us happy, but obedience will ruin our lives. This strategy cast a sinless man and woman down into depravity (Gen. 3:1–4), cast mankind out of Paradise, and will cast many into hell. Charnock wrote, “Satan paints God with his own colours, represents him as envious and malicious as himself.”⁶ He also paints himself to be as good as God, seeking to supplant the Lord in our faith and affections. We must respond by believing in the goodness of God and the trustworthiness of his promises. Brooks said, “Satan promises the best, but pays with the worst: he promises honor and pays with disgrace, he promises pleasure and pays with pain, he promises profit and pays with loss, he promises life and pays with death; but God pays as he promises, for all his payments are made in pure gold.”⁷

Second, Satan attacks at the point of our greatest personal vulnerability. For example, Paul warns married couples not to abstain from sexual relations, “so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control” (1 Cor. 7:5 ESV). Our points of vulnerability can change over time. Spurstowe said Satan tempts a young man with sexual lust, a middle-aged man with “an itch for honor and to be great,” and an old man with “covetousness and peevishness.” Therefore, continuously evaluate how your circumstances make you vulnerable to Satan.

Third, Satan can use one sin as a beachhead in the believer’s soul. Paul commands, “Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: neither give place to the devil” (Eph. 4:26–27). To give place to bitterness is to give the Devil a headquarters from which to launch further attacks into our lives. The same is true of other sins. Spurstowe warned, “Small sins are as the priming of a post or pillar, that prepare it to better receive those other colors that are to be laid upon it.”⁸ Therefore, wage war against the smallest temptations. If you do sin, double your guard against temptation and look continually to Christ for grace.

Fourth, Satan clouds our fellowship with God by igniting lusts for this world. Just as Balaam taught the Moabites to draw Israel away from the Lord by sex and idols (Num. 25:1–2; 31:16), so Satan entices Christians by worldliness (2 Pet. 2:14–15; Rev. 2:13–14). He may use lawful things, for it serves him just as well if he can get us to love things more than people and anything more than God. Food, recreation, and hard work are good in themselves, but, Spurstowe said, desires for such things become sinful “when they are unbounded and not according to the rule and warrant of the Word.”⁹ Richard Gilpin (1625–1700) reminded us, “The world is not so desirable a thing as many dream”; indeed, the wealthy “walk in the midst of snares.”¹⁰ The Devil would make us into “adulterers and adulteresses” who provoke God’s jealousy, but the Lord commands us, “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you” (James 4:4–8).

Fifth, Satan intimidates believers by the frightening persecutions he incites through unbelievers. He hunts Christians like “a roaring lion . . . seeking whom he may devour” (1 Pet. 5:8). We must recognize that all our sufferings take place “under the mighty hand of God” and humble ourselves before him, waiting on him to exalt us “in due time” (v. 6). We must trust that the Father’s love overrules the Devil’s hate, and cast “all your care upon him; for he careth for you” (v. 7). We must “be sober” and “be vigilant” against compromise, but instead “resist” the Devil “stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world” (vv. 8–9). Rutherford wrote, “The devil’s war is better than the devil’s peace. . . . When the dog is kept out of doors he howls to be in again.”¹¹ Finally, we must hold on to the hope that after we have “suffered a while,” God, “who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus,” will perfect and establish us, to the praise of his glory and grace (vv. 10–11).

Sixth, Satan uses one temptation to drive us toward an imbalanced and sinful overreaction. The presence of unrepentant sinners in the church is a temptation for others to compromise (Rev. 2:20), but when the church responds with discipline, it may err in the opposite direction by a harsh refusal to forgive and comfort the disciplined person when he repents. This too is one of Satan’s devices (2 Cor. 2:10–11). Similarly, Satan may push believers like a swinging pendulum from complacent presumption to despair over sin. He may tempt them to overreact against one heresy by embracing the opposite extreme. The way to avoid extremes is to draw near to God “according to the rule of the Word,” Spurstowe said.¹²

Seventh, Satan may use bad counsel from our own brothers and sisters in the Lord to discourage us from following Christ fully. The same Peter who, by divine illumination, confessed Jesus to be the Christ also rebuked Jesus and sought to dissuade him from the path of the cross (Matt. 16:16–17, 21–22). Christ said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man” (v. 23 ESV). Therefore, let us listen to godly counsel, but not be swayed from obeying God’s Word by unbiblical advice, even if it comes from the best Christians.

Eighth, Satan may shock us with temptations we never thought would move us. Peter thought he was ready to go with Christ “both into prison, and to death,” but did not anticipate that Satan would “sift [him] as wheat” (Luke 22:31, 33). If you are prospering spiritually, give thanks to God, but “let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall” (1 Cor. 10:12). Spurstowe wrote, “Suspect yourself prone to every sin; do not repose anything on constitution or temperament,” but instead seek for wise Christians to counsel and pray for you.¹³ Neither should we think that we face extraordinary temptations that no one has ever experienced. Paul reminds us, “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it” (1 Cor. 10:13).

Ninth, Satan makes strategic retreats so that he may attack again. Christ defeated all of Satan’s devices, “and when the devil had ended all the temptation, he departed from him for a season” (Luke 4:13). When the Devil is quiet, he is reloading. Therefore, “watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation” (Matt. 26:41). There are no cease-fires in this battle. Spurstowe said, “It is a war without a truce.”¹⁴ Christians must always live with one hand on the work of the kingdom and the other hand ready for spiritual battle (Neh. 4:17). Do not think yourself strong and start to play with temptation as if it were a pretty pet. Spurstowe said, “Take heed of venturing upon the occasions of sin and coming near the borders of temptations. . . . Our hearts are [gun] powder, and therefore we must take heed of sparks.”¹⁵

Tenth, Satan uses false reasoning to burden the believer’s conscience with fear and guilt. He is “the accuser” (Rev. 12:10), who both tempts us to sin and then tempts us to despair of God’s mercy once we have sinned. He entangles us with the logic that true Christians would not commit certain sins, but since we have committed those sins, we are not true Christians. We must remember that no sin makes a person a hypocrite except for reigning sin (Rom. 6:14). We also must not measure the genuineness of our love for God by perfect compliance with the strict demands of God’s law, for then no one could stand (Pss. 130:3; 143:2). Spurstowe said, “We are not to place the strength of our confidence in our own righteousness, as if it would abide the severity of God’s trial.”¹⁶ We must confess our sins with true repentance and trust in Christ, who is the perfect propitiation and heavenly Advocate of his people (1 John 1:9–2:2).

Excerpt from
Reformed Systematic Theology, Volume 1: Revelation and God
By Joel Beeke and Paul Smalley

Resisting the Wiles of Satan — Reformed Systematic Theology

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