Resist Satan! by Pastor Glen Vander

[My friend and colleague Pastor Glen VanderKloot of Faith Lutheran Church in Springfield, Illinois, presented this fantastic sermon during worship yesterday. Glen has given me permission to present the sermon here. And yes, I believe that there is a Satan. A look at the daily newspaper and our own "internal conversations" will prove that to be true, I think.]

1 Peter 5:8-9
Jana used to run a small temporary staffing service. The agency did background checks on all job candidates, even though the application asked them if they had ever been convicted of a crime. One day after a round of interviews, a co-worker was entering information from a young man's application into the computer. Suddenly, he broke out into uncontrollable laughter. He called Jana over to show her that the applicant had noted a previous conviction for second-degree manslaughter. Below that, on the line listing his skills, he had written, "Good with people."

Satan is real. Satan is alive and well on planet earth. Satan is charming, intelligent and astute. Every day he tempts us to sin. Martin Luther wrote in The Large Catechism:

Therefore we Christians must be armed and daily expect to be incessantly attacked. For Satan is an enemy that never desists nor becomes tired, so that when one temptation ceases, there always arise others and fresh ones.

Satan is constantly attacking us with temptation. Satan brings us right to the edge. He convinces us every way possible how good it will be to jump, but we jump all on our own.

It is a cop out to claim, “The devil made me do it.” No he didn’t. He made it attractive and luring. But we chose to sin. It is important that we recognize our sin and confess it. That is why we include confession and forgiveness in each worship service. We join with the Psalmist and pray:

I confess my iniquity;
I am sorry for my sin. (Psalm 38:18 NRSV)

We are by nature sinful. We have a natural inclination to think, say, and do what is wrong. However, through the cleansing waters of Baptism, we are forgiven and empowered to do battle with our sinful nature.

How many think that you could get to the point of being sinless here on earth? Of course not. You can’t. None of us can. We were born sinners and we will die sinners. Jesus went to the cross so that we could be forgiven of all our sins. Yet we still cannot stop sinning.

However, we can sin less than we currently do. To sin less requires that we resist the temptations of Satan. Peter tells us:

Like a roaring lion your adversary the devil prowls around, looking for someone to devour. Resist him.” (1 Peter 5:8-9)

Resist him. You may be thinking: “Ok, I would like to resist the temptations of Satan. But how? How do I say, “No!” in the face of temptation?

To resist temptation it is important to decide that we will not give in to temptation and sin. No matter how desirable, alluring, appealing, tantalizing, or inviting the sin may be, we can resist. We do not have to get suckered into Satan’s web of deceit. We can say "no" to the tempter. We can say "no" to the temptation.

After Joseph’s brothers sold him into slavery, he was taken to Egypt and there Potiphar bought him to be his servant. Under Joseph’s management, Potiphar’s household prospered. So Potiphar gave Joseph more and more responsibility. In the mean time, Potiphar’s wife noticed that “Joseph was handsome and good-looking.” (Genesis 39:6 NRSV)

Day after day, Potiphar’s wife propositioned Joseph. She wanted Joseph to sleep with her. But day after day, Joseph resisted this temptation. Joseph said, “How then could I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?” (Genesis 39:9 NRSV)

Joseph predetermined that he would not commit such a sin against God. That predetermination enabled him to resist. To resist temptation, it is important to decide that we will not give in to temptation and sin.

That does not mean that we will always succeed. In fact, we won’t. Sometimes we will give in. But unless we decide ahead of time, we will quickly and often fall for Satan’s traps.

To resist temptation requires power and strength far beyond what we have. Therefore, to resist temptation it is important to rely upon the strength of God. In the Scriptures, we are told time and time again to rely upon God’s strength to fight off temptation. A friend’s favorite Bible passage is Ephesians 6:10-11:

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his great power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can fight against the devil's evil tricks. (NCV)

The Denver Post reported that like many sheep ranchers in the West, Lexy Lowler has tried just about everything to stop coyotes from killing her sheep. She has used odor sprays, electric fences, and scare-coyotes. She has slept with her lambs during the summer and has placed battery-operated radios near them. She has corralled them at night and herded them during the day. Even with all these precautions, this Montana rancher has lost scores of lambs…fifty last year alone.

Then she discovered the llama, the aggressive, funny-looking, afraid-of-nothing llama. She said, “Llamas don’t appear to be afraid of anything. When they see something, they put their head up and walk straight toward it. That is aggressive behavior as far as the coyote is
concerned, and they won’t have anything to do with that.”

When Satan attacks us with his devilish schemes, we do not have to fight him alone. Instead of a llama, we can send in the Lamb of God, Jesus, to help. Satan backs down in the presence of Jesus. For on the cross Jesus defeated sin, death and the power of the devil.

What else can we do? Pray and study God’s Word. To resist temptation and sin pray for strength from God, help from God, persistence from God. When we are tempted, we can go immediately to God in prayer and ask God to help us resist the temptations to sin.

To resist temptation and sin, study God’s Word. Jesus had read God’s Word, studied the Word, and memorized the Word. Do we? Through the Word of God, Jesus was able to resist Satan.

We are constantly bombarded with desires to commit sin.

• We are tempted to lie on our income taxes.
• We are tempted to get angry and seek revenge on our enemies.
• We are tempted to lust after other human beings.
• We are tempted to be concerned primarily about me, me, me.

All of us are flooded with temptations to commit sin.

And many times we fall for those temptations.

And then after we commit the sin, we are so filled with guilt that we run from God. Remember what Adam and Eve did after they ate the forbidden fruit?

The man and his wife hid from the Lord God among the trees in the garden. (Genesis 3:8 NCV)

That doesn’t make much sense. It did not make any sense in the Garden of Eden and it still doesn’t make any sense today. God knows where we are whether we hide or stay in the open. Instead of running away or hiding when we fall to temptation, we can run to the cross, confess our sin and by the power of the Spirit pick ourselves up and try again.

Everyday we battle temptation, and at times we lose the battle. But we can keep fighting. The Bible tells us that we can resist temptation.

How? To resist temptation requires that…

• We recognize and confess our past sins.
• We decide that we will not give into temptation and sin.
• We rely on the strength of God to help us overcome temptation.
• We pray and study God’s Word.

Even though there are people who say it is impossible to resist temptation, they are mistaken. Although no one can be perfect, it is possible to resist sin and temptation and do all we can to live honest and decent lives. It is a matter of morals and ethics and actually knowing what is right and wrong. It is also true that it is easier to stay-out of trouble and temptation than it is to actually get-out of temptation and trouble.

Avoid the people and places that Satan uses to tempt you.

But when Satan does tempt you call on the strength of God to help you overcome that temptation.

Amen

Reflection questions:

1. Do I try to rely on my own strength when facing temptation?
2. What temptation do I face that I can decide not to give in to?
3. Am I familiar enough with Scripture to let it help me face temptation?

Action steps:

1. Decide not to give in to one specific temptation.
2. Pray for strength to over come temptation.

[If you'd like to receive Pastor VanderKloot's fantastic daily emailed inspirations, send an email to olwf1@gliq.net. Put SUBSCRIBE on the subject line. You will love receiving Glen's daily mailing!]