The Wiles of the Tempter

Though Satan is most wileful, "we are not ignorant of his devices" (2 Cor. 2.11). What, then, will be the use of his trickery? Unfortunately, though we know his cunning, we are often not watchful. In Christ we should discern all things through depending on the Holy Spirit. If so, we shall be able to detect all the maneuvers of Satan, and by the Lord’s power we shall make them ineffective.

His artifice against the unsaved. A certain class of unsaved people love to hear the word of God, but Satan steals the word away. It is written in the Scriptures: "those by the way side are they that have heard; then cometh the devil, and taketh away the word from their heart, that they may not believe and be saved" (Luke 8.12). What the Devil is afraid of is God’s word, not a dissertation on the word. In our preaching let us be careful not to speak carelessly lest we lose the power of God. Whenever the Devil sees the word of God he will try to take it away. The minds of the unsaved, the uninterested, and of even those who are on the verge of believing have been blinded by the Devil: "in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should not dawn upon them" (2 Cor. 4.4). We ought to pray that the minds of the unsaved would be opened to receive the word of the Lord, and that it might grow and bear fruit.