The Lord has given to every man his work. It is his business to do it, and the devil’s business to hinder him—if he can. So, sure as God gives a man a work to do, Satan will try to hinder him. He may present other things more promising; he may allure you by worldly prospect; he may assault you with slander, torment you with false accusations, set you to work defending your character, employ pious persons to lie about you, editors to assail you, and excellent men to slander you. You may have Pilate and Herod, Ananias and Caiaphas all combined against you, and Judas standing by to sell you for 30 pieces of silver. And you may wonder why all these things have come to pass. Can you not see that the whole thing is brought about through the craft of the devil, to draw you off from your work and hinder your obedience to Christ? Keep about your work. Do not flinch because the lion roars. Do not stop to stone the devil’s dogs. Do not fool around your time chasing the devil’s rabbits. Do your work; let liars lie; let sectarians quarrel; let editors publish; let the devil do his worst. But see to it that nothing hinders you from fulfilling the work God has given you. He had not sent you to make money; He has not commanded you to get rich. He has never bidden you to defend your character nor has He bidden you to contradict falsehoods about yourself which Satan and his servants may start to peddle. If you do these things you will do nothing else; you will be at work for yourself and not for the Lord. Keep about your work. Let your aim be as steady as a star. Let the world brawl and bubble. You may be assaulted, wrangled, insulted, slandered, wounded, and rejected. You may be chased by foes, abused by them, forsaken by friend, despised and rejected of men, but see to it that with steadfast determination and with unfaltering zeal you pursue that great purpose of your life and the object of your being until at last you can say; “I have finished the work which you, dear God, have given me to do?” [ 1. Galaxie Software, 10,000 Sermon Illustrations (Biblical Studies Press, 2002)] There are some things we can learn about handling the hindering effects of Satan’s opposition to the gospel by looking at Satan’s most widely known tool, temptation.

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Tool Number 3: Temptation

• When we think about the tools of Satan, the one tool which is etched in people’s minds is the tool of temptation.
• People equate Satan with temptation.

Matthew 4:1 (TNIV)
1 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.

• The Greek word ‘tempted’ means to be put to the test in order to ascertain the nature of someone, including imperfections, faults or other qualities.
  • It means to try and trap.
  • To attempt to catch someone in a mistake.
• Satan is involved in the temptation game.
• But you are way more free than you realize because of the Jesus.
• Your authority in Christ is superior to all the junk of the enemy.

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Can the Devil Make You Do It?

• In 1970, comedian Flip Wilson and his show ‘The Flip Wilson Show’ debuted on NBC. His most popular character, was Geraldine Jones, a flirty woman whose most famous line, was “The devil made me do it.” The phrase became a national catchphrase. ¹
• Can the devil make you do anything?
• James, in his letter to Dispersed Jews, addresses just who makes a person sin.

James 1:13–15 (KJV)
13 Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: 14 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. 15 Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.

• Again, the word temptation means to test to ascertain the character or nature of someone.
  God, Himself, tests people.

Genesis 22:1 (KJV)
1 And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am.

• The TNIV has it as “God did test Abraham”.
• What makes a temptation satanic in origin is the addition of evil.
• Note in James 1:13, the phrase “God cannot be tempted with evil.”
• There are godly tests and tests which emanate from evil.
• The tests which come from God are to prove you to lift you.
• The tests from the enemy are to destroy you to drag you down.
• Don’t mix the two.
• There are words which should remain unspoken.
• They should never enter the forums of men.
• Never means nonnegotiable.
• The words, ‘I am tempted of God’ should never take a nasty fall from anyone’s lips on planet earth.
• Can good be mixed with evil? Oil and water come to mind.
• God does not deal in evil. He does not trade in it.
• He will not dump the dirt of evil onto your driveway to see if you will play in it.
• This type of temptation has only one source, devils, demons and evil spirits.
• Get the job descriptions straight. God’s title is not ‘Tempter’, that portrait is of Satan.
• But because of the fall of man and the introduction of the sin nature, a battle against sin opportunities exists. Galatians 5:17
• There’s a war, but it’s not between you and the devil. It’s between you and yourself.

The Battle Against ‘Sin Opportunities’

• “Every man is tempted, when he is drawn away”…James 1:14
• Drawn away means to lure or drag away reluctantly.
• ‘Drawn away’ paints a picture of struggle.
• It projects onto canvas what happens when you face a sin opportunity.
• The temptation presents itself in full military array.
• The battle begins. You know you should not entertain this area.
• Your heart broadcasts that signal.
• The check in your spirit is clear, ‘Don’t do it.’
• Something in your flesh disagrees.
• That something pulls on you.
• It wants you to consider the notion.
• Now, your principles come into play.
• If you roll the idea around like sweet candy in your mouth, you begin to weaken.
• If you try to figure out how you can taste temptation and still enjoy God’s best, you will collapse.
• Every man is tempted of his own lust, and enticed.
• The word ‘own’ puts the responsibility right where it belongs.
• What entices you?
• Is it your friends lust or your own?
• Did the devil force you to do it?
• There’s plenty to pin on demons.
• Finding fault with demons over lust isn’t one of them.
• You can blame the wine.
• You can blame the moonlight.
• You can even blame heaven.
• But it won’t do you any good because it’s all useless.
• Sin, travels in the company of one’s own lust.
• It’s time to man up.
• You have the authority.
• You are in control.

Lust: The Superhighway of Wickedness

• “When lust has conceived, it brings forth sin…” James 1:15
• X-rated lust paralyzes faith.
• But, lust is more than sex.
• Ask the credit strapped shopper who forges ahead anyway despite having 20 maxed out credit cards.
• Think there’s a problem there?
• You can feel the heat of her passion for a pair of shoes.
• Modern translations fall flat trying to express lust as desire.
• The word lust needs adjectives to get the sense right.
• Try hot-blooded, forbidden or burning desire and you get closer to the meaning of lust.
• Heart pounding lust severs the contact between you and God.
• It chokes off God’s Word, Jesus said it would (Mark 4:19).
• What can we do? Paul tells us, ‘Walk in the Spirit and you will not fulfill the lust of the flesh.’ That’s Galatians 5:16.
• It takes a distinctive god-walk to stay out of the fast lane.
• What kind of walk?
• A Spirit led walk.
• A protect God’s Word in your heart walk.
• Only this kind of walk keeps you off the superhighway of wickedness.
• You are in control.

2 Timothy 1:7 (ESV)
7 for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.

Temptation Similarities Between the First and Second Adam

• The Bible is very clear about the fact that there are two Adams.
• Adam of ‘Adam and Eve’ is the first and Jesus is the second.

1 Corinthians 15:45 (KJV)
45 And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.

• The first Adam was placed in the garden.
• The second Adam was placed in a manger.
• Both Adam’s stand as representatives for the entire human race.
• You know what a representative is?
• It’s a person who stands in for others.
• Representatives make decisions which affect others beside themselves.
• In our political sphere, if you vote a person into office, that person is your representative.
• Whatever bill your representative sponsors into law, you have to follow whether you agree with it or not.
• You know the representative doesn’t come to ask you personally about every decision they make.
• You voted them in. They make the call. And one way or another, you are stuck with the results.
• Adam sinned.
• He didn’t ask my permission to do it.
• I’m sure he didn’t ask permission to do it either.
• But you know you are stuck with the results of his decision because of his representative status.
• That’s why you don’t see an account of Satan trying to tempt any single man in the Old Testament like he did Adam.
• Satan didn’t have to go to each individual man and repeat the whole Garden affair to make sure man keeps failing.
• All he has to do is to get the representative to fall and down goes his constituents with him.
• In a similar let’s look at the second Adam Jesus.
• Jesus didn’t sin.
• He didn’t ask my permission to live a sin-free life. He just went ahead and obeyed God and lived it.
• He didn’t ask your permission to live a sin-free life either.
• We can be stuck, in a good way, with the results of His decision because He is my representative before God.
• God doesn’t have to go to every man and demand payment for sin.
• All He did was get the representative man, the second Adam, Jesus to go to the cross and all Jesus constituents get the results (Ephesians 2:4–6).
• The first representative Adam, who was made a living soul, sinned and by his sin, death passed to all men (Rom. 5:12).
• The second representative Adam, who was made a life giving spirit, didn’t sin and by His death and resurrection, life passed to all men.
• The only caveat is that one has to receive Him and His sacrifice. The reception of which is called the gospel.
• If you receive Him, life is yours.

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Satan Attacks the Two Adams

• Satan tried the tool of evil temptation on both the first and the second Adam.
• If you take your Bible and look at Gen. 3:1-6 and then Matthew 4:1-9, you can note the similarities between what Satan tried in the Garden with Adam and Eve and what Satan tried with Jesus in the Wilderness of Jordan.
• If you compare these accounts side-by-side, several points of resemblance appear.

Both Temptations Involved Food

• In the Garden, Satan appealed to Eve’s physical appetite.
• “You may eat of any tree” – Genesis 3:1.
• In the Wilderness, Satan appealed to Jesus physical appetite.
• “Turn these stones to bread” – Matthew 4:3.
• Food was one of the common points in the two temptations.
• With Eve, it was fruit. With Jesus, it was bread.
• So, what is it about food which makes it a tempt-able area?
• If the area of temptation area was sex, we wouldn’t even have to answer the question.
• But instead it’s food, an area you wouldn’t think food could be used as a source to cause an entire planet of people to go astray.
• What is it about food? There has to be something to it.
• God put the initial test for man into the form of a prohibition to not eat a certain food, a certain tree.
• Why? Did He do that?
• The answer is found in Jesus reply to the serpent.
• Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word which proceeds out of the mouth of God.
• Jesus quotes a passage out of the book of Deuteronomy to strike back at Satan (Deuteronomy 8:3).
• Food speaks to the fulfillment of human desire.
• Food is what the humanity searches for.
• Matthew 6 says your heavenly Father knows that you have need of it.
• In Old Testament times, food was equated with wealth.
• And so food is a big-Bible area.
• What is the Word saying?
• It’s saying that even in the most essential of areas, food, the Word of God comes first.
• And so God led Israel in the wilderness intentionally, so He could prove this fact to Israel.
• He allowed them to go hungry so an opportunity for the miraculous Word of God could manifest.
• Now, if food is so essential, what about the non-essentials?
• How much more should the Word reign supreme in this area of non-essentials?
• James addresses this in James 4:1–3.

Both Temptations Involved Opportunities for Personal Gain

• In the Garden, Satan presented Eve with opportunity to advance her career.
• “You shall not die”, the serpent said, “when you eat the fruit, but you will have the chance to know good and evil” – Genesis 3:4-5.
• Satan tempted Eve with knowledge.
• He tempted her with the chance to know something she didn’t know before.
• In the Wilderness, Satan made a similar appeal for personal gain to Jesus.
• He told Jesus, “You won’t die, you won’t dash your foot when you jump from the pinnacle of the Temple and to boot you’ll have an angelic experience because the angels will catch you”  (Matthew 4:5-6.” “You want to have an angelic experience Jesus, just jump”, said the tempter.”
• Satan tried to tempt Jesus into having his own personal spiritual experience.

1 Timothy 6:5–6 (KJV)
5 Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself. 6 But godliness with contentment is great gain.

Both Temptations Had Appeals to Power

• Finally, in the Garden, the serpent appealed to man’s desire power when he said to Eve, “If you do what I tell you, you will be like gods” (Genesis 3:5).
• “Want to be as powerful as a god, Eve?” “Just do what I say. I know the way.”
• Satan’s a liar. It’s deception.
  • Why? They were already gods.
  • They were made in the image and likeness of the most High God.
• To Jesus in the desert, Satan said, “All this power I will give you, if you do what I say, fall down and worship me” (Matthew 4:8-9).
• Summarizing, what is Satan’s temptation formula again?
  • Appeal to physical desire.
  • Appeal to the opportunity for gain.
  • Appeal to the opportunity for power.

Satan’s Modus Operandi

• The fact that these two accounts involving the first and second Adam are similar speaks volumes about Satan’s particular method for temptation.
• These two temptations were 4000 years apart and yet they are almost identical.
• What does this tell us about Satan and how he operates?
• It tells you, Satan is not evolving.
• He doesn’t have any new tools in his toolbox.
• Once you know what the tools are, you have him at a distinct disadvantage because you are not ignorant of his devices.
• Your knowledge of his methods puts you, the believer in Christ, in the driver’s seat.
• Now, can you see why it’s important for your life to be involved with the truth of God’s Word.
• The Word tattletales on everything Satan is trying to do.
• You have him right where you want him.

Call to Action:

Being afraid of devils, demons and evil spirits is unsightly for an overcoming child of the Most High God. You are in control, not the enemy. You have the victory not him. Act like it. Walk like it. Talk like it.

Episode Resources

You can find more information on the subject of Authority see the following posts by clicking on the links.

1. Are You Flowing In God Given Authority?
2. Exercising Authority Over Demonic Influences
3. Terrorizing the Terrorist Encore [Podcast]
4. How to Stop Satan from Pushing You Around [Podcast]
5. How You Can Overcome the Tools of Satan’ [Podcast]

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Question: What have you learned about side-stepping Satan’s attempt to tempt the believer in Christ? Please leave your comments in the comments section below.

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