The Bible has been and always will be the best
source of spiritual knowledge. The devil is not
happy about it because the Bible teaches us on
how to guard our whole existence from his subtle
attacks. He hates the Bible because it exposes
his unnoticed ways of destroying human beings.
Since the downfall of man, through the
Scriptures, God has been so faithful to us,
telling us the ways of truth. God wants every man
to be saved through faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ and to be protected from the continual
attacks of the devil. He wants us to submit
ourselves first unto Him, and then resist the
devil, and we will have the assurance that the
devil will flee from us. What a blessed truth to
hold on to.
The temptation of our Lord Jesus in the
wilderness during His earthly ministry was an
excellent illustration on how to guard our whole
existence from the devils deception.
First, He reminds us that we are under God's
care and we should not be intimidated by devils
fiery attacks. Second, He emphasizes that our
existence is not merely physical. The Lord
said, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by
every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of
God. He wants us to be aware of our whole
existence as we live here on earth. Our existence
is a wonderful creation of God. As we study
Matthew Chapter 4, it surely deepens our
consciousness regarding our unique existence.
We have our physical existence, emotional
existence and spiritual existence. Third, God
wants us to become victorious soldiers of Christ.
The Matthew 4 account reminds us that we are
on the winning side because we are on the
Lords side.
(I) The Devil Attacks Our Physical Being
Matthew 4:1-4 Romans 6:12, 13
Romans 13:14
-yielding our bodies to God as as a living
sacrifice protects us from Satans
exploitation
-knowing and using the power of the Scripture
keep us away from yielding to temptation
Being aware of our physical being and our
instinct helps us to defend ourselves from the
harassment of our adversary, the devil.
(II) The Devil Attacks Our Emotional Being
Matthew 4:5-7
-we must watch and guard our emotion
-we must pull down our strongholds
II Cor. 10:3-6
-we must know how to handle the Word of God
rightly
-dont let pride destroy our lives
-dont forget Jeremiah 17:9
Familiarity of our emotional existence and our
own mental reasoning is a great advantage
on our part in times of emotional instability.
(III) The Devil Attacks Our Spiritual Being
Matthew 4:8-11
-we are in need of spiritual strength and
endurance
-we are in need of spiritual food which is
the Word of God
-we need an increase of faith
Knowing our spiritual existence keeps us
watchful to the attacks of our adversary. It
helps us to realize that literal bread cannot
sustain and nourish our spiritual being. Our
adversarys desire is to weaken our faith and
change the true object of our worship, but our
Lord Jesus showed us an example to follow so
we could also overcome every temptation that
comes on our way. Its always a blessing to put
our trust in Him and be aware of the power
of His Holy Word.
