But if any have caused grief, he hath not grieved me, but in part: that I may not overcharge you all. Sufficient to such a man is this punishment, which was inflicted of many. So that contrariwise ye ought rather to forgive him, and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one should be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow. Wherefore I beseech you that ye would confirm your love toward him. For to this end also did I write, that I might know the proof of you, whether ye be obedient in all things. To whom ye forgive any thing, I forgive also: for if I forgave any thing, to whom I forgave it, for your sakes forgave I it in the person of Christ; Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.
— 2 Corinthians 2:5-11
Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 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.
— Ephesians 6:11-12
Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:
— 1 Peter 5:8
For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.
— 1 Corinthians 2:2
But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.
— 1 Corinthians 2:15
Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
— 2 Timothy 2:15
But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them; And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
— 2 Timothy 3:14-15
Study Christ and Satan’s Devices, by Thomas Brooks.
Beloved in our dearest Lord—Christ, the Scripture, your own hearts, and Satan’s devices are the four prime things that should be first and most studied and searched. If any cast off the study of these, they cannot be safe here nor happy hereafter. It is my work as a Christian, but much more as I am a watchman, to do my best to make known the fulness of Christ, the emptiness of the creature, and the snares of the great deceiver.
Beloved, Satan being fallen from light to darkness, from felicity to misery, from heaven to hell, from an angel to a devil is so full of malice and envy that he will leave no means unattempted by which he may make all others eternally miserable with himself. He…uses all his power and skill to bring all the sons of men into the same condition and condemnation with himself. Satan hath cast such sinful seed into our souls that now he can no sooner tempt, but we are ready to assent. He can no sooner have a plot upon us, but he makes a conquest of us. If he doth but show men a little of the beauty and bravery of the world, how ready are they to fall down and worship him!
Whatever sin the heart of man is most prone to, the devil will help it forward. If David is proud of his people, Satan will provoke him to number them that he may be yet prouder (2Sa 24). If Peter be slavishly fearful, Satan will put him upon rebuking and denying Christ to save his own skin (Mat 16:22; 26:69-75). If Ahab’s prophets are given to flatter, the devil will straightway become a lying spirit in the mouths of four hundred of them, and they shall flatter Ahab to his ruin (1Ki 22). If Judas will be a traitor, Satan will quickly enter his heart and make him sell his master for money, which some heathens would never have done (Joh 13:2). If Ananias will lie for advantage, Satan will fill his heart that he may, with a witness, lie to the Holy Ghost (Act 5:3). Satan loves to sail with the wind and to suit men’s temptations to their conditions and inclinations. If they be in prosperity, he will tempt them to deny God (Pro 30:9); if they be in adversity, he will tempt them to distrust God; if their knowledge be weak, he will tempt them to have low thoughts of God; if their conscience be tender, he will tempt to scrupulosity; if large, to carnal security; if bold-spirited, he will tempt to presumption; if timorous, to desperation; if flexible, to inconstancy; if stiff, to impenitency.
From the power, malice, and skill of Satan doth proceed all the soul-killing plots, devices, stratagems, and machinations that are in the world. Several devices he hath to draw souls to sin, and several plots he hath to keep souls from all holy and heavenly services, and several stratagems he hath to keep souls in a mourning, staggering, doubting, and questioning condition.
He hath several devices to destroy the great and honorable, the wise and learned, the blind and ignorant, the rich and the poor, the real and the nominal saints. One while he will restrain from tempting, so that we may think ourselves secure and neglect our watch; another while he will seem to flee, so that he may make us proud of the victory. One while he will fix men’s eyes more on others’ sins than their own, so that he may puff them up; another while he may fix their eyes more on others’ graces than their own, so that he may overwhelm them.
A man may as well count the stars and number the sands of the sea as reckon up all the devices of Satan; yet those that are most considerable and by which he doth the most mischief to the precious souls of men are in the following treatise made known and the remedies against them prescribed…
My desires for you are, “That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God” (Eph 3:16-19); and “That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God; Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness” (Col 1:10-11); “That ye do no evil” (2Co 13:7); “And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment…That ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ” (Phi 1:27, 10); and “That our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfil all the good pleasure of his goodness, and the work of faith with power: That the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and ye in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ” (2Th 1:11-12)…That your hearts may be kept upright, your judgments sound, and your lives unblameable. That as the fishes that live in the salt sea yet are fresh, so you, though you live in an uncharitable world, may yet be charitable and loving; that ye may, like the bee, suck honey out of every flower…That ye may be like the heavens, excellent in substance and beautiful in appearance; that so you may meet me with joy in that day wherein Christ shall say to His Father, “Lo, here am I, and the children that thou hast given me” (Isa 8:18).
My desires to you are, that you would make it your business to study Christ, His Word, your own hearts, Satan’s plots, and eternity more than ever; that ye would endeavor more to be inwardly sincere than outwardly glorious; to live, than to have a name to live; that ye would labor with all your might to be thankful under mercies, faithful in your places, humble under divine appearances, and fruitful under precious ordinances.
For a close, remember this: Your life is short, your duties many, your assistance great, and your reward sure. Therefore, faint not, hold on and hold up in ways of well-doing, and heaven shall make amends for all.
It is my belief, as I have tried to show in my exposition of the apostle’s warnings, that the modern world, and especially the history of the present century, can only be understood in terms of the unusual activity of the devil and the “principalities and powers” of darkness. Indeed, I suggest that a belief in a personal devil and demon activities is the touchstone by which one can most easily test any profession of Christian faith today.
— D. M. Lloyd-Jones
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