What are the keys to resisting temptation?

We have to stand against the wiles of the devil (it is not said his power). As soon as I see them I can avoid them. But after all it is not knowing Satan that keeps us intelligent of and able in discovering his "wiles," but keeping in God's presence. It was always so with Christ. Even Peter's affection tried to make the cross ugly to Him; Matt. 16:22. Jesus resisted Satan and discovered his wiles; He not only always received things from above, but in the spirit of dependence on God. The moment we know the thing to be of Satan, the temptation is over if we are walking with God. When the devil came to our Lord (Matt. 4), Christ did not at once say to him, Thou art Satan; that would have been only shewing His power. He acted as the obedient Man, and thus foiled the tempter. When the devil claims worship, He then says, "Get thee hence, Satan." To discern his "wiles," we should see whether the thing proposed leads from obedience to Christ; if it does, no matter who proposes, I must reject it. The devil has this character of subtlety (not always of open opposition), as the serpent (see 2 Cor. 11:3); but the place of obedience to God will always upset him.

133 Satan then cannot hide himself, if in obedience we resist; he flees, conscious that he has met the One who overcame him - Christ in us. The word of God suffices to make us walk in a path, in which Satan has no power, where he is compelled to leave us, in which also we detect his deceit, and discern that he is the enemy. The Saviour walked thus; He quoted the word of God, and the devil was silenced, and sought to deceive Him by other means; he did not openly shew himself, but the perfect obedience of Jesus made his snares powerless. When Satan shewed himself to be such, offering Him the glory of the world, Jesus commands him to depart, and he goes. The Lord's path is ours, His strength is ours, and if we walk with Him in obedience, His wisdom will be ours: only He has already overcome the tempter. The difficulty is, so to walk in communion with Him, as to discern the deception. We must have the whole armour of God.

In short, if the presence of God is realised in the heart, if the Spirit of God rules there, and the sense of dependence is active in the soul, we shall feel that what the enemy presents to us is not of God, and the will of the new man will not desire it. Satan once detected, the new man resists him, and he has no strength. Jesus has overcome him for us. We learn here that, if we resist him, he will flee; he finds that he has met the Spirit of Christ in us, and he flees. The evil is, that we do not always resist him; we accept his enticements, because the will of God is not everything to us: in many things we still like to please ourselves. If grace is known, obedience and dependence guard us from the wiles of the devil. He has no power against the resistance of faith; he is manifested as Satan, the adversary, as he was when Jesus suffered Himself to be tempted for us, and Satan fled before His resistance. He knows it is the same One whom he meets in us.

Our blessed Lord, in the temptation in the wilderness, is the perfect example in this as in all else. Satan sought to ply Him with every possible seduction, but He "kept" Himself by the maintenance of entire dependence and perfect obedience, and thus Satan could not touch Him, could not withstand the two-edged sword of the Spirit which He wielded, namely, the Word of God. And may we also not "keep" ourselves? Satan has no enticements for the new nature, and God has graciously given us the power, in the gift of the Holy Ghost, wherewith to mortify "the deeds of the body," our "members which are upon the earth" (See Rom. 8:13; Col. 3:5), to keep the old man under the power of death, as well as to use the sword of the Spirit, so that there can be no necessity to become entangled in his snares. To overcome his solicitations, however, will require incessant vigilance and dependence, as is shown, by our Lord's words to His disciples, "Watch, and pray, that ye enter not into temptation." Matt. 26:41.

It was then through the word abiding in them that the "young men" overcame the wicked one, and this for a twofold reason. Treasuring up the word, they were in obedience to it, and Satan cannot touch the obedient believer. As long as he is kept in dependence and obedience all Satan's assaults are foiled. And this same word, abiding in the heart, becomes the ready sword of the Spirit wherewith to repel and put to flight the adversary of our souls. The Lord Himself is the perfect example of this, as of all else, in the temptation in the wilderness. Speaking in the Spirit in the Psalms, He says, "I delight to do Thy will, O my God: yea, Thy law is within my heart." Led up of the Spirit into the wilderness, He was tempted of the devil; but to every temptation He replied, "It is written." He used the word already abiding in His heart, and thus met every assault and confounded the adversary, who at last retired baffled and overcome. The instruction for us lies in this, that if the word is not beforehand in the soul it cannot be employed as a weapon for defence. How often have we had to confess, that had we remembered such and such a Scripture, we might have been saved from this mistake and that snare! It is therefore of the first importance that we should seek to have the word of God abiding in us. It is the only sword of the Spirit, and with no other weapon can the ceaseless assaults of Satan be repelled. If indeed we would be strong, "young men," it is absolutely necessary, always necessary, but especially in a day like the present, when the very foundations of our faith are being assailed, to treasure up the living word of God in the inmost recesses of our hearts. The divine resource for us in such a state of things is to prize, meditate. and feed upon the sure word of God.

Our safeguard against temptation is the word, used by the discernment of a perfectly pure heart, which lives in the presence of God, and learns the mind of God in His word, and therefore knows its application to the circumstances presented. It is the word that preserves the soul from the wiles of the enemy.

If you would not be overcome by temptation, flee the "occasions of sin." Occasions of sin have great force to awaken lust within. He that would keep himself free from infection will not come near an infected house. The Nazarite who was forbid wine, might not eat grapes, which might occasion intemperance. Come not near the borders of temptation. Many pray, "Lead us not into temptation," and yet run themselves into temptation.

If you would not be overcome by temptation, be much in prayer. Prayer is the best antidote against temptation. Christ prescribes this remedy, "Watch ye and pray, lest ye enter into temptation" (Mark 14:38). When Paul had a "messenger of Satan to buffet him," he betook himself to prayer. "For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me." (2 Cor. 12:8). When Satan assaults furiously let us pray fervently.

If you would not be overcome by temptation, be humble in your own eyes. They are nearest falling who presume on their own strength. The doves, says Pliny, take pride in their flying high, till at last they fly so high, that they become a prey to the hawk; so when men fly high in pride and self-confidence, they become a prey to the tempter.

This watchfulness of the Spirit is ever contrary to the flesh; but remember the words, "Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation." When in this state of watching unto prayer I see Satan's hook under the bait, I detect him who laid the snare, and then "in vain is the snare spread in the sight of any bird." "He that is spiritual judgeth all things." When I am watchful, every thing turns to prayer. I can "put on the WHOLE ARMOUR of God," and am "able to stand against the wiles of the devil;" but, on the contrary, when walking in the flesh, my prayers are turned into confession and self-reproach, and my life will be a life of sorrow. Watchfulness sees the host, but looks to the Lord against the host; it sees the evil before it is brought out, but remembers the word, "Greater is He that is for us, than all that can be against us."

Observe that the occasion on which David so signally proved how sufficient Jehovah's power was to deliver him from the foe occurred in the ordinary performance of his humdrum duties as a shepherd lad. And we too, in our daily lives, must learn how to "resist the devil." You have the more need to be wary, because you have a traitor within you. Self always inclines to yield to the temptation. Faith only enables you to withstand in a courage which comes from above.

Secondly, the Apostle exhorts, “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” Submitting to God and being content with such things as we have will enable us to resist the devil's temptations to exalt ourselves by the things of this world. As in the temptations of our Lord, the devil may tempt us by natural needs, by religious advancement, or by worldly possessions. If, however, his temptations are met by the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, his wiles will be detected and he will not be able to stand against the grace of the Spirit that dwells in us. The Lord has triumphed over Satan and, in His grace, we can so resist the devil that he has to flee.

It is of great interest to consider the way in which we are preserved. First, we get the fact that there is no necessity for any one to yield to temptation, for God who is faithful will always make a way to escape. As has been often pointed out, the way of escape may be through death. No one can be compelled to give way to temptation, for he can always die sooner than yield — "Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin." This brings us to the truth of the Lord's table, for everything presented in the Lord's table has reached us through death. If I am prepared to die sooner than yield to temptation, I am prepared to respond to the truth set forth there.