THE STRATEGY OF SATAN
Ephesians 6:10-17
There is a common misconception of Christianity. Many believe that Christ has come into their lives by means of the cross, and the things which have bound them and blasted them and ruined them have been stricken away, and they have been set free.
All too frequently they feel they have been set free to do as they please, to live as they want to live. But they are set free in order to battle. That is the call which comes to all Christians. We are not set free in order to enjoy ourselves. We are set free to do battle, to engage in the fight, to overcome in our own lives, and to become the channels by which others are set free.
Thus there comes this call to us in this closing chapter in the letter to the Ephesians: "Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armour of God,..." (Ephesians 6:10-11a)
Now we must now give closer attention to the actual conduct of this battle. If this conflict is the basic problem of human life, how much rests upon us in conducting or fighting this battle? How do you do this? Paul's answer is in one phrase: "Put on the whole armor of God." God has made full provision for us to fight these great and powerful forces which hold the world in their grip.
But it would be a mistake to start there, to begin with the armor of God. If we start there, we find that this figure of armor strikes people with a note of unreality. It does not sound real.
I. OUR ADVERSARIES STRATEGY AND WEAPONS
We must start by seeing what it is we are opposed by. Armor is made for defense, and we will see no value in our armor until we see what we are defending against. Let us realize something of the cleverness, the cunning wiliness of the forces against which we are battling, and we will begin to appreciate the armor with which we have been provided.
I want primarily to look at this phrase of Paul's, "the wiles of the devil." in verse 11. The first step for any soldier in training is to be introduced to the strategy and weapons which the enemy will use against him. The devil is a very cunning and wily strategist.
Martin Luther is quite right when he writes,
For still our ancient foe
Doth seek to work us woe;
His craft and power are great,
And, armed with cruel hate,
On earth is not his equal.
Read the Old Testament and you will see that every saint, every prophet, every patriarch, every one of the great and glorious kings of Israel was defeated at one time or another by the devil.
The wisest and greatest of men are absolutely helpless and futile in attempting to outwit the devil by themselves. Yet, as we have already seen, the Bible indicates that it is quite possible to walk in victory.
James says, "Resist the devil and he will flee from you," (James 4:7b). Think of that! This clever, cunning strategist who has held the world for centuries in defeat, will flee from you when you learn, not to be ignorant of his devices.
Now the questions we must ask are, "What is the general strategy of the devil? How does he plan to do this? How is it that he keeps the world in such bondage and such powerlessness?" The only one in all history who has ever consistently and unbrokenly defeated the devil, not only in his life but also in his death, is the Lord Jesus Christ.
He put his finger squarely upon the strategy and the tactics of Satan when he said, "The devil is a liar and a murderer from the beginning," (John 8:44). The strategy of the devil is to murder. The tactic by which he accomplishes this is to lie. If we consider these phrases carefully we will see how accurate they are.
How does the devil plan to oppose the work of God in the world? One of the names given to the devil in the book of the Revelation is "Apollyon," which means the "Destroyer." What does "destroy" mean? It means to create chaos, to lay waste, to ruin, to make desolate. There you have the explanation for the whole tragic story of human history: There is a destroyer at work among men.
It is his delight to smash, to mangle, to twist, to mutilate, to disfigure in every way he can. The aim of the devil is to distort, to blast, to twist, to destroy. That is why the devil can never offer anything positive to human life. He has never made anything and he never can make anything. All he can do is destroy what God has made. His power is totally negative, completely destructive in every way.
What are the tactics the devil employs to accomplish this dastardly destructiveness which is so abundantly confirmed as you look around at life and read your newspaper and review the story of human history? How does he do it?
By deceiving, by lying, by distorting, by counterfeiting, by illusion and fantasy. This is what Paul calls "the wiles of the devil." Read through the Bible and see how many times the work of the devil is referred to in that manner -- the snares, the traps of the devil, the illusions, the wiles.
The Bible makes clear that the tactics of the devil fall into two major divisions. He attacks the human race both directly and indirectly. He is capable of a direct confrontation with human beings, and an indirect approach. And through these two avenues he maintains his world-wide control over the race of men.
II. OUR ADVERSARY'S ARMY
The Bible tells us that there are fallen hosts of angels called demons, whom Paul calls here "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places."
Now "heavenly places" does not mean far off in heaven somewhere. "Heavenly" means "the realm of the invisibilities," the invisible realities of life. The devil and his hosts are not visible.
It is through these hosts of wicked spirits that Satan is able to make a direct assault upon human life. This direct assault covers what the Bible refers to as "demon possession," the outright control of human personality by the power of a wicked spirit.
As to this subject of demon possession, I am very well aware there are many people who raise their eyebrows in apprehension whenever this subject is mentioned.
III. OUR MOST VULNERABLE AREA
This indirect approach comes largely through two media, or channels. One is what the Bible calls "the world," and the other, "the flesh." We often hear the idea, "The enemies of the Christian are the world, the flesh, and the devil," as though these were three equally powerful enemies. But there are not three. There is only one enemy, the devil, as Paul brings out here. But the channels of his indirect approach to men are through the world and the flesh.
If you would like to see these in Scripture in one passage, I turn to Ephesians 2:1-3. Writing to Christians, the apostle says, "And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others." (Ephesians 2:1-3)
He is saying, "Don't forget, that you too, once were following the course of this world, under the grip and in the control of the prince of the power of the air, the evil spirit which is now at work in all the children of disobedience."
Do you see how consistently the Bible presents this picture? Now the most basic of these two channels of approach to subverting the Christian life is "the flesh." When the Bible speaks about the flesh, it uses it in a symbolic sense. Many of us approaching middle age are troubled with too much flesh. But that is not how the Bible uses the term.
The flesh, in this sense, is symbolic. It is not our bodies. It is a term which describes the urge to self-centeredness within us, that distortion of human nature which makes us want to be our own god, that proud ego. It is that uncrucified self which is the seat of willful defiance and rebellion against authority.
You recognize that we are all born with this. None of us had to go to school to learn how to do these things. Who taught us to lie? Who taught us to be proud, and bitter, and rebellious, and defiant, and self centered? We never had to take classes in these, did we? James calls this the wisdom which is from beneath, which is "earthly, sensual, devilish," "This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish." (James 3:15).
The world, on the other hand, is the corporate expression of all the flesh-centered individuals who make up the human race. Since the flesh is in every one of them, therefore the total combined expression of such beings constitutes the world, and determines the philosophy of the world.
It is that tremendous pressure of the majority upon the minority to conform, adjust, keep in step, not to digress or to be different. When the Bible addresses itself to Christians it says, "Be not conformed to this world" (Romans 12:2a), "Do not let the world around you squeeze you into its mold."
Why? Because the world is flesh-centered, flesh-governed, and as Jesus said to Nicodemus, "That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." (John 3:6).
So this is the world -- that human society which insists on satanic value judgments, and is guided by satanic pride and philosophy. It is totally unaware of it, yet nevertheless it is under the control of satanic philosophy. Remember this: The aim, the goal, which Satan has in all this clever scheme by which he has kept the human race in bondage is to destroy, to ruin, to make waste.
Battling against these forces of darkness is what makes human life possible on this earth at all. If Christians, who are the salt of the earth, are not giving themselves to an intelligent battle with Satan and satanic forces, fighting along these lines which Paul suggests -- being "strong in the Lord and in the power of his might" -- it would be absolutely impossible for human life to exist on this planet.
To the Christian Paul says, "Be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might..."