has already won the victory! Then, we have a wonderful prom ise in I John 4:4, "Greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world." The prospects of Satan against the child of God are indeed weak. This is not because of any strength we have in ourselves. It is only in the greatness and power of the One, the Holy Spirit, who indwells us. Because the Victor abides in us, living in our bodies, we, too, can be victors over the evil forces about us. The battle al ready has been fought and won! He is strong, and we who belong to Him are strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man (Ephesians 3:16). The devil's prospects are certain ly not so good if we walk in the light of God's revealed truth. The Bible is to the child of God all that it needs to be to withstand against the wiles of the devil. Take the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of Cod. Fortify your soul and mind with the Scriptures. God has made possible our triumph over the devil. Rest in the Lord, study the Word of God, apply yourself to truth and He will make you strong. In the epistle of I John there is an interesting and frequent appear ance of the word commandment which is found in the singular and plural forms 14 times. Each time we find it in the singular it refers specifically to our loving one anoth er (2:7; 3:23; 4:21). Actually a commandment means a precept which, in this case, is given as an imperative exhortation to those who are born again. Our Lord Jesus similarly encourages us, "A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love Page 35
eth in you." They had learned, as we should also, how to put on the whole armor of Cod. In the Bible there is milk for babes and strong meat for those more developed. To possess divine truth is to pos sess divine strength. Men and wo men of Scripture are poor pros pects for the devil. Another reason why the devil's prospects with the Christians are poor is to be found in the words, "For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might de stroy the works of the devil" (I John 3:8). The effect of Christ's work on the cross was that He might take and nullify the works of Satan. To refuse to avail oneself of the atone ment is folly beyond degree. That person must expect to pay the consequences of sin. The work of our Lord is far more than simply being a counterpart to the works of Satan. His public ministry com menced with a mighty triumph ov er the devil. What a challenge to us as we study Matthew four and Luke four to see how Christ defeated Satan. We see here how the Lord answered the tempting of the dev il with the words, "It is written." This happened in each of the three ways in which temptation was thrown into His path. From this we should learn that we, too, can be victorious as we find our strength in the Word of God. In every en counter with the enemy, Christ personally proved that He was su perior to the devil. It was through His death and resurrection that full and final victory was won against this continuing adversary who con stantly accuses Cod's people. Christ destroyed the works of the devil by His sacrificial substitutionary death on the cross (Hebrews 2:14). He
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