Sermon Quotes: "Resist Your Adversary"

“Worry is condemned, but watchfulness is demanded.” Edmond Hiebert

“One of the most dangerous things in the world would be to think that we are not in any danger, which is the mistake Peter made.” Phil Ryken

“Satan cannot ultimately destroy a Christian believer. But he is well able to destroy our assurance and our joy-our pleasure in the gospel. So we need to find in the grace of God a defense against those fiery darts of the Evil One…The most sinister thoughts Satan insinuates into our minds are not enticements to sin but suspicions about God himself…He seeks to distort our view of God and our understanding of His gracious character…Satan’s plan is to blind us to God’s grace and to diminish our trust in Him, crushing our love for Him and destroying all the pleasures of grace.” Sinclair Ferguson

“We ought to expect this. Every morning we ought to wake up and say to ourselves, ‘There is a vicious, dark spiritual battle being waged over me today.’ Satan is very busy; wherever on earth there is a believer walking with God in loving fear, God says, ‘Look, there’s a believer,’ and Satan says, ‘May I attack him/her? I want to prove whether this is a real believer.’ And sometimes the Lord grants that terrible permission. When he does, we ought not to be surprised, ‘as though something strange were happening’ to us (1 Peter 4:12). So here is one inescapable element of the normal Christian life: warfare.” Christopher Ash

“To cower before the devil is to invite sure defeat; resistance in faith procures his flight. Scripture urges believers to flee from various evils, but nowhere are they advised to flee from the devil. In their inner attitude, Christians should stand firm and unyielding like granite in resisting Satan.” Edmond Hiebert

“The danger to the Christian is not that he is helpless but that he will fail to resist.” Ed Clowney

“My dear friend, it is high time that you cease relying on and pursuing your own thoughts…Your thoughts should yield to this divine will, be obedient to it, and not doubt that your thoughts, being in conflict with God’s will, were forcibly inserted into your mind by the devil. Consequently you must resist them sternly and either suffer them or eradicate them with like force…And if it is hard for you to do this, imagine that you are held fast and bound by chains and that you must work and sweat yourself out of their strangle hold by powerful exertions. For the darts of the devil cannot be removed pleasantly and without effort when they are so deeply imbedded in your flesh. They must be torn out by force. Accordingly you must be resolute, bid yourself defiance and say to yourself wrathfully: Begone, you thoughts of the devil!” Martin Luther

“By all means flee solitude, for the devil watches and lies in wait for you most of all when you are alone.” Martin Luther