God provides us with resources to strengthen us in our walk. This devotional reading looks at how knowledge of God’s Word and truth keeps us from Satan.
Nuggets
- God’s Word keeps us free from Satan.
- Knowledge keeps us free from Satan.
- Truth keeps us free from Satan.
In the last devotion, we started a new series on from what should disciples be kept. We looked at being kept from error and delusion.
Well, we got through one verse that Wilcox used to support his opinion. We are going to finish the other three in this devotion.
Let's Put It into Context
To read devotions in the Habitual Holiness of Heart and Life theme, click the button below.
Here is a running list of nuggets for the theme.
Devotions in the Habits to Keep Us from Evil study
Here is a running list of nuggets for the study.
We are using Wilcox’s sermon as the foundation for this series.
Resource
Being Kept by God’s Word
“Concerning the works of men, by the word of thy lips I have kept me from the paths of the destroyer” (Ps. 17: 4 KJV)
God’s Word keeps us free from Satan.
Dale said that God’s Word keeps us from three things: compromise with Satan, self-indulgence, and false appearances.
Resource
There are so many things on which the world wants us to compromise today. We can’t ignore God’s Word. Only He can tell us what is right or wrong.
Neither can we follow our own opinions. God is Sovereign God and doesn’t ask for our opinions.
We’ve talked a lot about Matthew 7: 21 people appearing to be sheep but are really goats is not good. They genuinely think they have asked Jesus to be their Savior and Redeemer when they haven’t.
Evil putting on the appearance of being good is worse. This deception is intentional. It is designed to lure disciples away from God.
Dale said that a characteristic of this was lax morality. They may look like they have a good character and conduct, but it is all for show.
They do not have a relationship with Sovereign God.
David’s request here was to be kept from the paths of Satan. We have to do what James told us to do — resist him (Jas. 4: 7).
It seems strange that Satan will flee from us when we do. But we have to remember it really isn’t us from whom Satan is running. It is God.
That is what happens when we take the Words from God’s lips and hide them in our hearts. “I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you” (Ps. 119: 11 ESV).
Being Kept by Knowledge
“But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge” (I Jn. 2: 20 ESV)
Knowledge keeps us free from Satan.
We have to put this verse into context. John is talking about the antichrist.
“Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. Therefore we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us” (I Jn. 2: 18-19 ESV).
We get several statements about which describe the knowledge we just possess.
- We have to know the antichrists are coming — not just one, but many.
- Their appearance means Judgment Day is coming soon.
- The antichrists come out of the Church.
Disciples must have knowledge of what to look for in order not to be pulled away from God.
“They went out from us, but they were not of us …” (I Jn. 2: 19 ESV) could mean they are a Matthew 7: 21 person. They look like a sheep, but they are goats. They do the Matthew to-do list but aren’t motivated to do it for God because they didn’t have a relationship with Him.
We have to be knowledgeable enough about God’s Word to know when someone is trying to teach us something different. We can’t always take everything on face value.
Remember, the antichrist comes out of the Church. He is going to have his sheep’s costume all pressed and fluffy clean.
The antichrist may be hard to pick out for a while. A big difference between him and the real Church is he won’t be anointed.
The knowledge will only come from the anointing. The anointing is our salvation. It comes from the Holy One – Jesus.
- “For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption” (Ps. 16: 10 ESV).
- “Thus says the LORD, the Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One, to one deeply despised, abhorred by the nation, the servant of rulers: ‘Kings shall see and arise; princes, and they shall prostrate themselves; because of the LORD, who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you’” (Isa. 49: 7 ESV).
Isn’t it great to know that we are the opposite of the antichrist? That is because we are consecrated. Consecrated is the result of being set apart.
A benefit of this consecration is that we gain the Holy Spirit. We get a Comforter who guides us and strengthens us.
The sermons I read we built off the King James Version. They translated the end of the verse “… ye know all things” (I Jn. 2: 20 KJV).
I have a little problem with that. We don’t know all things.
“And the disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said to them again, ‘Children, how difficult it is to enter the kingdom of God!’” (Mk. 10: 24 ESV). We don’t have the vast knowledge that God has.
Yes, we are one of Gods holy ones. But Stanford explains this. He wrote,
“And, although all ransomed spirits are called God’s ‘holy ones,’ the term applies in its highest truth to Christ alone; for to which of the sons of men could you ever point and say, ‘Behold the Holy One of God!’ But the evangelist is not now speaking merely in a general way of Christ, but of Christ as our High Priest. A priest who could be charged with the slightest infraction of the law would have been no Saviour.”
Resource
Jesus makes us His holy ones. We can emulate His actions and attitude.
I like how the English Standard Version translates it. “… you all have knowledge” (I Jn. 2: 20 ESV). We all who have put our faith in Jesus have knowledge.
There are no favorites in God’s kingdom. We all get the same salvation. We all become holy ones.
Stanford said the knowledge we gain is an enlightening virtue because of Jesus. “And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD” (Isa. 11: 2 ESV).
We gain knowledge of things holy. God reveals it to us as we navigate the Sanctification Road.
Sanctification is the transformational process of the mind, body, and soul, which begins with regeneration; gradually changes our nature and morals through the promptings of the Holy Spirit; and ends with perfected state of spiritual wholeness or completeness.
- Regeneration is being changed from spiritually dead to spiritually alive and the internal new birth and requickening that God brings about through the work of the Holy Spirit to give us new character.
- Spiritual death is the separation from God that occurred as a consequence of Adam and Eve’s original sin.
- The spiritually alive are those who have ABCDed, so they are no longer separated from God.
- Spiritual death is the separation from God that occurred as a consequence of Adam and Eve’s original sin.
- Perfection means we reach a state of maturity because the combination of the spiritual graces form, when all are present, spiritual wholeness or completeness — holy, sanctified, and righteous.
- Spiritual graces are worldly morals that have been submitted to God to further His kingdom instead of enhancing this world.
- Sanctified means to be set free from sin.
- Righteous means we are free from sin because we are following God’s moral laws.
Glossary
The ABCDs of Salvation
If you have not become a believer in Christ, please read through the
Plan of Salvation and prayerfully consider what God is asking you to do.
A – admit our sins
B – believe His Son Jesus is our Redeemer
C – confess God as Sovereign Lord
D – demonstrate that commitment by making any changes needed in our lives to live the way in which God has called us
The Disciple’s Job Description
Let’s look at it this way. We know about the essential doctrine. We may not get every point correct, but we know we need to submit to God.
Glossary
Jesus didn’t take His essential doctrine only to the rulers of the land. He didn’t even take them to the high priest. He brought them to everyone.
Being Kept by Truth
“When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come” (Jn. 16: 13 ESV)
Truth keeps us free from Satan.
Jesus promised that the Holy Spirit would be given to God’s children. In fact, it was the last promise that He gave His disciples.
Think about it. Jesus was facing a painful, humiliating death. Instead of focusing on that, He was promising us comfort.
Most importantly, Jesus was promising us His presence. It would be a long time before the printing press was invited and people got Bibles.
Until then, they had the Holy Spirit to instruct and guide them. They needed that.
Come to think of it, we still need the Holy Spirit. He interprets what we need to know of God’s truth and gives us wisdom to understand it. What we get is a loving guide.
No, we aren’t getting truth to make us gods. We aren’t going to learn everything about everything.
What it means is we will get a gradual revelation of God’s truth as we navigate the Sanctification Road. We will get His truth – about Him and Who He is.
The Family Churchman put it this way. In The Spirit of Truth, it says, “The Father is the absolute Truth, the one eternal source of all truth. The Divine Son reveals, embodies, and bears witness to the truth. But the Spirit, coming into contact with souls, brings the truth home to them with power.”
Resource
God is the Truth. He is all we need to know.
Making the Connections
We’re going to chase a rabbit for a second. Dale said something that I need to process. He wrote,
“Religious requirements [harmonize] with natural tendencies, in that they impose a restriction at the very point where satisfaction terminates and excess begins: they apply reasonable and salutary restraints. Regard first the culture of the soul and you will never compromise the welfare of the body; preserve only what is due to God and you will be in little danger of withholding what is due to man.”
Resource
Some would say that God’s laws and commandments put limitations on us because we don’t get to choose the extent in which we get to do something. Maybe. Maybe not.
It was the phrase excess begins that clicked with me. When we are sober-minded disciples, we don’t get into extremes. Excess is an extreme.
Being restrained isn’t a bad thing. Too much of a good thing can become a bad thing. Too much prescription medicine may help the pain go away, but it may also addict us.
Only when we learn God’s truth His way will we be kept from Satan. That is a reasonable restraint because it brings us to the most valuable thing we will ever have – a relationship with God.
How Do We Apply This?
- Read God’s Word daily.
- Study God’s Word to understand what it means.
Father God. Lord, we want to be kept from Satan. Thank You for giving us Your Word and Your truth that equips us to do that. Strengthen us to fight against Satan. Amen.
What do you think?
Leave me a comment below (about this or anything else) or head over to my Facebook group for some interactive discussion.
If you don’t understand something and would like further clarification, please contact me.
If you have not signed up for the email providing the link to the devotions and the newsletter, do so below.
If God has used this devotion to speak with you, consider sharing it on social media.