“Shut the Door on the Devil”
6/8/25
James 4:7 ESV “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee (run away) from you.”
Now, James is writing to Jewish Christians here, scattered from Jerusalem to different locations throughout the world due to persecution.
James notes that things aren’t going so well for some of them.
They are embroiled in conflict, fighting with one another, envying one another, and have been flirting with the world.
James warns them that, “Friendship with the temptations and allurements and values of the world makes you the enemy of God!”–4:4
He says in vs. 5 that the Spirit of God living in you wants you all to himself!
So their compromising lifestyle has opened the door to the devil, who is wreaking havoc in their lives.
So James gives them a two-part solution: SUBMIT to God, RESIST the devil.
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So resisting the devil begins with being:
• SUBMITTED to God
A disobedient or un-submitted believer will never defeat the devil.
A couple of questions to ask yourself regarding being submitted to God:
• Have you yielded your will and life to Christ’s Lordship?
• Is your conscience clear between you and God?
–It is a fact of spiritual warfare that submission to God precedes effectively resisting Satan.
The Book of Acts tells us of a group of siblings known as the 7 sons of Sceva.
They had watched how Paul the Apostle had cast demons out of people and decided to try it themselves.
The Bible records they tried to use the name of the Lord Jesus in their incantation, saying,
“I command you in the name of Jesus, whom Paul preaches, to come out!” 15 But…the evil spirit replied, “I know Jesus, and I know Paul, but who are you?” 16 Then the man with the evil spirit leaped on them, overpowered them, and attacked them with such violence that they fled from the house, naked and battered.”–Acts 19:14-16
The message of the story is you must truly know the Lord and walk in submission to him to win against the devil!
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Once we’re SUBMITTED we are in the position to RESIST.
We resist the devil in the following ways:
Refuse to give ground,
Recognize his tactics,
Reject his bargains,
Repel Him with Scripture.
So First,
I. Refuse to give up ground
The phrase “resist the devil” means “to withstand, stand up against, to push back against or to oppose.”
The Bible says in Eph 4:27, “and do not give the devil a foothold.”
Foothold is from a word meaning “space, opportunity, room.”
Don’t give the devil a place, not so much as a tiny closet in the house!
Give him a closet he’ll go for the room; give him a room he’ll go for the whole house!
So stand firm, stand strong–don’t give the devil ONE INCH!!
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Secondly, to resist the devil we must:
II. Recognize his tactics
2 Corinthians 2:11 “Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices (tactics).”
Notice what we’re being told here–Satan is a schemer.
He plans his attacks thoughtfully and preemptively.
He sizes up his target and decides on what and when would be the most effective mode of attack.
He looks for an opening, a weakness, a vulnerability, and waits for just the right time to move.
It says that even with Jesus, “When the devil had finished every temptation, he [temporarily] left Him until a more opportune time.”–Lk 4:13
He attacks at vulnerable moments, like times of:
A. DOUBT—In times of confusion or heavy trial he jumps, hoping to sow doubt about God’s word, God’s love, God’s care.
B. DISCOURAGEMENT—One of the devil’s favorite opportune moments. He whispers that there’s no use in going on; just put up the white flag and quit!
C. DISTRACTIONS—Satan’s scheme is to distract you with trivial things, or even good things as opposed to God’s best or highest.
D. DECEIT—Satan’s stock in trade is lies…Jesus said that he is “a liar and the father of lies.”
His scheme is to plant a lie in your heart that pulls you off the safe road of life into a forest of confused wandering.
–One verse that’s always stuck with me is found in 2 Samuel where David and his men are in battle with his renegade son, Absalom.
And the Bible notes that “the woods devoured more people that day than the sword devoured.”—vs. 18:8
This illustrates a truth–more people perish in the woods of Satanic deception than on the open battlefield!
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Satan doesn’t play fair:
He has no sympathy,
no empathy,
no concern at all for the victims of his attacks.
The Apostle Peter compares him to a prowling lion:
“Be careful—watch out for attacks from Satan, your great enemy. He prowls around like a hungry, roaring lion, looking for some victim to tear apart.”—1 Pet 5:8 LB
Notice that Peter doesn’t call him “THE enemy,” he calls him YOUR enemy.
And he roars!—Lions paralyze their prey with fear by their loud roar, and in the same way Satan uses fear to disarm you.
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So resisting the devil is to REFUSE to give up ground, REMEMBER his tactics–and third we’re to:
III. Reject his bargains
The devil is a bargainer!
A bargain is, “an agreement between 2 parties based on what each one will give and receive from the transaction.”
The devil’s favorite line when tempting us is:
“Have I got a bargain for you!”
He dangles something in front of us that he promises will be beneficial, saying “If you take my offer you’ll be…
happy,
fulfilled,
have fun,
live life to the fullest, and have your deepest needs met.
“All you have to do is COMPROMISE a little bit, cut a few corners…
But not to worry—the REWARD will be well worth it!!”
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This was his modus operandi all the way back to Eve!
He said to her, “Eat of the tree of the forbidden fruit (the compromise) and you will be wise like God (the reward).”
He whispered to Esau, “Give up your birthright for Jacob’s stew (the compromise) and it will satisfy your hunger (the reward).”
He even tried bargaining with Jesus in the wilderness:
It says he “showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9 “I will give it all to you,” (the reward), “if you will kneel down and worship me (the compromise).”
Jesus saw straight through it and resisted the devil:
10 “Get out of here, Satan,” Jesus told him. “For the Scriptures say, ‘You must worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.’”–Matt 4:8-10
So here’s the rule of thumb:
If the reward being offered requires compromise with truth, it’s from Satan and NEVER from God!
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So we Resist the devil by Refusing to give up ground, Recognizing his tactics, Rejecting his bargains, and finally, we:
III. Repel him with Scripture
When a dictator or tyrant wants to take over a country, the first thing he will do is disarm it.
He knows that an armed nation will be difficult to defeat, so he wants them defenseless.
Satan is no different—in order to defeat you he knows he must disarm you.
So he does all he can to dilute, hide, obscure, and water down our understanding of the one offensive weapon in the armor—the sword of the Spirit!
Jesus exclusively used the Word of God to resist the devil!
Three different times in their showdown in the desert, Jesus said to Satan, “It is written!”
He didn’t argue or debate with him.
JESUS wielded the sword of the Spirit every single time!
The Bible, the Word of God, is the Christian’s sword!
“And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”—Eph. 6:17 NKJV
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In ancient times the purpose of a sword was to defeat an enemy, and advance on the battlefield.
Win and advance, win and advance.
So it is with the mighty sword of the Spirit—God’s Word!
The Bible says that to successfully resist the devil, we must strike him hard with the mighty sword of the Spirit!
Every time you and I read God’s word we provide ammunition to our soul for the day of battle!
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—So, to resist the devil we must:
REFUSE to give up ground,
RECOGNIZE his tactics,
REJECT his bargains, and
REPEL him with Scripture, all while being truly submitted to God!