Satan’s Devices

1This is a listening version of John Wesley's sermon, Satan's Devices. It is the sermon as printed in John Wesley's 1771 Works. Rendered in modern English.

2We are not ignorant of his devices. 2 Corinthians 2:11.

3The devices by which the subtle god of this world (2 Corinthians 4:4) labors to destroy the children of God, or at least to torment those he cannot destroy, to perplex and hinder them in running the race set before them (Hebrews 12:1), are as numberless as the stars of heaven or the sand on the seashore. But it is of one of them only that I now propose to speak (though exerted in various ways), by which he endeavors to divide the gospel against itself, and by one part of it to overthrow the other.

4The inward kingdom of heaven, which is set up in the heart of all who repent and believe the gospel (Mark 1:15), is nothing other than righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit (Romans 14:17). Every babe in Christ knows we are made partakers of these the very hour we believe in Jesus. But these are only the firstfruits of his Spirit. The harvest is not yet. Although these blessings are inconceivably great, yet we trust to see greater than these. We trust to love the Lord our God, not only as we do now, with a weak though sincere affection, but with all our heart, with all our mind, with all our soul, and with all our strength (Deuteronomy 6:5). We look for power to rejoice always, to pray without ceasing, and in everything to give thanks, knowing this is the will of God concerning us in Christ Jesus (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18).

5We expect to be made perfect in love, in that love which casts out all painful fear (1 John 4:18), and all desire but that of glorifying him we love, and of loving and serving him more and more. We look for such an increase in the experiential knowledge and love of God our Savior as will enable us always to walk in the light, as he is in the light (1 John 1:7). We believe the whole mind will be in us which was also in Christ Jesus (Philippians 2:5), so that we shall love every man as to be ready to lay down our life for his sake (1 John 3:16), so as by this love to be freed from anger and pride and from every unkind affection. We expect to be cleansed from all our idols, from all filthiness whether of flesh or spirit (2 Corinthians 7:1), to be saved from all our uncleannesses, inward or outward, to be purified as he is pure (1 John 3:3).

6We trust in the promise of him who cannot lie, that the time will surely come when in every word and work we shall do his blessed will on earth as it is done in heaven (Matthew 6:10), when all our conversation shall be seasoned with salt, all fit to minister grace to the hearers (Colossians 4:6; Ephesians 4:29), when whether we eat or drink or whatever we do, it shall be done to the glory of God (1 Corinthians 10:31), when all our words and deeds shall be in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him (Colossians 3:17).

7Now this is the grand device of Satan: to destroy the first work of God in the soul, or at least to hinder its increase, by our expectation of that greater work. It is therefore my present design, first, to point out the several ways by which he endeavors this, and second, to observe how we may turn back these fiery darts of the wicked one (Ephesians 6:16), how we may rise the higher by what he intends as an occasion of our falling.

8I am, first, to point out the several ways by which Satan endeavors to destroy the first work of God in the soul, or at least to hinder its increase, by our expectation of that greater work. And first, he endeavors to damp our joy in the Lord by the consideration of our own vileness, sinfulness, and unworthiness, added to this: that there must be a far greater change than as yet, or we cannot see the Lord (Hebrews 12:14). If we knew we must remain as we are, even to the day of our death, we might possibly draw a kind of comfort, poor as it was, from that necessity. But as we know we need not remain in this state, as we are assured there is a greater change to come, and that unless sin is all done away in this life we cannot see God in glory, that subtle adversary often damps the joy we would otherwise feel in what we have already attained, by a perverse representation of what we have not attained, and the absolute necessity of attaining it. So that we cannot rejoice in what we have, because there is more which we do not have. We cannot rightly taste the goodness of God, who has done such great things for us, because there are so much greater things which as yet he has not done. Likewise, the deeper conviction God works in us of our present unholiness, and the more vehement desire we feel in our heart for the entire holiness he has promised, the more we are tempted to think lightly of the present gifts of God, and to undervalue what we have already received because of what we have not received.

9If he can prevail this far, if he can damp our joy, he will soon attack our peace also. He will suggest: Are you fit to see God? He is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity (Habakkuk 1:13). How then can you flatter yourself, so as to imagine he beholds you with approval? God is holy. You are unholy. What communion does light have with darkness (2 Corinthians 6:14)? How is it possible that you, unclean as you are, should be in a state of acceptance with God? You see indeed the mark, the prize of your high calling. But do you not see it is far off? How can you presume then to think that all your sins are already blotted out? How can this be, until you are brought nearer to God, until you bear more resemblance to him? Thus he will endeavor, not only to shake your peace, but even to overturn its very foundation, to bring you back by insensible degrees to the point from which you first set out, even to seek justification by works, or by your own righteousness, to make something in you the ground of your acceptance, or at least necessarily prior to it.

10Or if we hold fast, that other foundation no man can lay than that which is laid, even Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 3:11), and I am justified freely by God's grace, through the redemption which is in Jesus (Romans 3:24), yet he will not cease to urge: But the tree is known by its fruits (Matthew 12:33). And do you have the fruits of justification? Is that mind in you which was in Christ Jesus (Philippians 2:5)? Are you dead to sin and alive to righteousness (1 Peter 2:24)? Are you made conformable to the death of Christ, and do you know the power of his resurrection (Philippians 3:10)? And then, comparing the small fruits we feel in our souls with the fullness of the promises, we shall be ready to conclude: Surely God has not said that my sins are forgiven me! Surely I have not received the remission of my sins, for what lot do I have among those who are sanctified?

11More especially in the time of sickness and pain, he will press this with all his might. Is it not the word of him who cannot lie, that without holiness no one shall see the Lord (Hebrews 12:14)? But you are not holy. You know it well. You know holiness is the full image of God. And how far is this above, out of your sight? You cannot attain to it. Therefore all your labor has been in vain. All these things you have suffered in vain (Galatians 3:4). You have spent your strength for nothing (Isaiah 49:4). You are yet in your sins and must therefore perish at last. And thus, if your eye is not steadily fixed on him who has borne all your sins, he will bring you again under that fear of death by which you were so long subject to bondage (Hebrews 2:15), and by this means impair, if not wholly destroy, your peace as well as your joy in the Lord.

12But his masterpiece of subtlety is still behind. Not content to strike at your peace and joy, he will carry his attempts further yet. He will level his assault against your righteousness also. He will endeavor to shake, yes, if possible, to destroy the holiness you have already received, by your very expectation of receiving more, of attaining all the image of God.

13The manner in which he attempts this may partly appear from what has been already observed. For first, by striking at our joy in the Lord, he strikes likewise at our holiness, seeing joy in the Holy Spirit is a precious means of promoting every holy temper, a choice instrument of God by which he carries on much of his work in a believing soul. And it is a considerable help not only to inward but also to outward holiness. It strengthens our hands to go on in the work of faith and in the labor of love (1 Thessalonians 1:3), manfully to fight the good fight of faith, and to lay hold on eternal life (1 Timothy 6:12). It is peculiarly designed by God to be a balance both against inward and outward sufferings, to lift up the hands that hang down and confirm the feeble knees (Hebrews 12:12). Consequently, whatever damps our joy in the Lord proportionally obstructs our holiness. And therefore, so far as Satan shakes our joy, he hinders our holiness also.

14The same effect will follow, if he can by any means either destroy or shake our peace. For the peace of God is another precious means of advancing the image of God in us. There is scarcely a greater help to holiness than this: a continual tranquility of spirit, the evenness of a mind stayed upon God (Isaiah 26:3), a calm repose in the blood of Jesus. And without this, it is scarcely possible to grow in grace and in the vital knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ (2 Peter 3:18). For all fear (unless the tender, filial fear) freezes and numbs the soul. It binds up all the springs of spiritual life and stops all motion of the heart toward God. And doubt, as it were, mires the soul, so that it sticks fast in the deep clay. Therefore in the same proportion as either of these prevails, our growth in holiness is hindered.

15At the same time that our wise adversary endeavors to make our conviction of the necessity of perfect love an occasion of shaking our peace by doubts and fears, he endeavors to weaken, if not destroy, our faith. Indeed these are inseparably connected, so that they must stand or fall together. So long as faith subsists, we remain in peace. Our heart stands fast while it believes in the Lord (Psalm 112:7). But if we let go our faith, our filial confidence in a loving, pardoning God, our peace is at an end, the very foundation on which it stood being overthrown. And this is the only foundation of holiness as well as of peace. Consequently whatever strikes at this strikes at the very root of all holiness. For without this faith, without an abiding sense that Christ loved me and gave himself for me (Galatians 2:20), without a continuing conviction that God for Christ's sake is merciful to me a sinner (Luke 18:13), it is impossible that I should love God. We love him because he first loved us (1 John 4:19), and in proportion to the strength and clearness of our conviction that he has loved us and accepted us in his Son. And unless we love God, it is not possible that we should love our neighbor as ourselves (Matthew 22:39), nor consequently that we should have any right affections either toward God or toward man. It evidently follows that whatever weakens our faith must in the same degree obstruct our holiness. And this is not only the most effectual but also the most comprehensive way of destroying all holiness, seeing it does not affect any one Christian temper, any single grace or fruit of the Spirit, but so far as it succeeds, tears up the very root of the whole work of God.

16No wonder therefore that the ruler of the darkness of this world (Ephesians 6:12) should here put forth all his strength. And so we find by experience. For it is far easier to conceive than it is to express the unspeakable violence with which this temptation is frequently urged on those who hunger and thirst after righteousness (Matthew 5:6). When they see in a strong and clear light, on the one hand, the desperate wickedness of their own hearts, on the other hand, the unspotted holiness to which they are called in Christ Jesus; on the one hand, the depth of their own corruption, of their total alienation from God; on the other, the height of the glory of God, that image of the Holy One in which they are to be renewed: many times there is no spirit left in them. They could almost cry out: With God this is impossible. They are ready to give up both faith and hope, to cast away that very confidence by which they are to overcome all things through Christ strengthening them (Philippians 4:13), by which, after they have done the will of God, they are to receive the promise (Hebrews 10:36).

17And if they hold fast the beginning of their confidence steadfast to the end (Hebrews 3:14), they shall undoubtedly receive the promise of God, reaching through both time and eternity. But here is another snare laid for our feet. While we earnestly pant for that part of the promise which is to be accomplished here, for the glorious liberty of the children of God (Romans 8:21), we may be led unawares from the consideration of the glory which shall be revealed. Our eye may be insensibly turned aside from that crown which the righteous Judge has promised to give at that day to all who love his appearing (2 Timothy 4:8), and we may be drawn away from the view of that incorruptible inheritance which is reserved in heaven for us (1 Peter 1:4). But this also would be a loss to our souls, and an obstruction to our holiness. For to walk in the continual sight of our goal is a needful help in running the race set before us (Hebrews 12:1). It was this, the having respect to the recompense of reward (Hebrews 11:26), which in old time encouraged Moses rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt (Hebrews 11:25-26). Indeed it is expressly said of one greater than him, that for the joy set before him, he endured the cross and despised the shame, till he sat down at the right hand of the throne of God (Hebrews 12:2). From this we may easily infer how much more needful for us is the view of that joy set before us, that we may endure whatever cross the wisdom of God lays upon us, and press on through holiness to glory.

18But while we are reaching for this, as well as for that glorious liberty which is preparatory to it, we may be in danger of falling into another snare of the devil, in which he labors to entangle the children of God. We may take too much thought for tomorrow (Matthew 6:34), so as to neglect the improvement of today. We may so expect perfect love as not to use that which is already shed abroad in our hearts (Romans 5:5). There have not been lacking instances of those who have greatly suffered by this. They were so taken up with what they were to receive hereafter as utterly to neglect what they had already received. In expectation of having five talents more, they buried their one talent in the earth (Matthew 25:18). At least they did not improve it as they might have done, to the glory of God and the good of their own souls.

19Thus does the subtle adversary of God and man endeavor to make void the counsel of God, by dividing the gospel against itself, and making one part of it overthrow the other, while the first work of God in the soul is destroyed by the expectation of his perfect work. We have seen several of the ways in which he attempts this, by cutting off, as it were, the springs of holiness. But he likewise does this more directly, by making that blessed hope an occasion of unholy tempers.

20Thus, whenever our heart is eagerly athirst for all the great and precious promises (2 Peter 1:4), when we pant after the fullness of God, as the hart pants after the water brook (Psalm 42:1), when our soul breaks out in fervent desire, Why are his chariot wheels so long in coming (Judges 5:28)? he will not neglect the opportunity of tempting us to murmur against God. He will use all his wisdom and all his strength, if perhaps in an unguarded hour we may be influenced to repine at our Lord for thus delaying his coming. At least he will labor to excite some degree of fretfulness or impatience, and perhaps of envy toward those whom we believe to have already attained the prize of our high calling (Philippians 3:14). He well knows that by giving way to any of these tempers, we are pulling down the very thing we would build up. By thus following after perfect holiness, we become more unholy than before. Yes, there is great danger that our last state should be worse than the first, like those of whom the apostle speaks in those dreadful words: It had been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness, than after they had known it, to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them (2 Peter 2:21).

21And from this he hopes to reap another advantage: even to bring up an evil report of the good way. He knows how few are able to distinguish (and too many are not willing to do so) between the accidental abuse and the natural tendency of a doctrine. These therefore he will continually blend together, with regard to the doctrine of Christian perfection, in order to prejudice the minds of unwary men against the glorious promises of God. And how frequently, how generally, I had almost said, how universally has he prevailed in this? For who is there that observes any of these accidental ill effects of this doctrine, and does not immediately conclude this is its natural tendency? And does not readily cry out: See, these are the fruits (meaning the natural, necessary fruits) of such doctrine! Not so. They are fruits which may accidentally spring from the abuse of a great and precious truth. But the abuse of this, or any other scriptural doctrine, does by no means destroy its use. Neither can the unfaithfulness of man, perverting his right way, make the promise of God of no effect. No: let God be true and every man a liar (Romans 3:4). The word of the Lord shall stand (Isaiah 40:8). Faithful is he who has promised; he will also do it (1 Thessalonians 5:24). Let us then not be moved away from the hope of the gospel (Colossians 1:23). Rather let us observe, which was the second thing proposed, how we may turn back these fiery darts of the wicked one (Ephesians 6:16), how we may rise the higher by what he intends as an occasion of our falling.

22And first, does Satan endeavor to damp your joy in the Lord, by the consideration of your sinfulness, added to this, that without entire, universal holiness no one can see the Lord (Hebrews 12:14)? You may cast back this dart upon his own head, while through the grace of God, the more you feel of your own vileness, the more you rejoice in confident hope that all this shall be done away. While you hold fast this hope, every evil temper you feel, though you hate it with a perfect hatred (Psalm 139:22), may be a means, not of lessening your humble joy, but rather of increasing it. This and this, you may say, shall likewise perish from the presence of the Lord. Just as wax melts at the fire, so shall this melt away before his face (Psalm 68:2). By this means, the greater that change is which remains to be wrought in your soul, the more you may triumph in the Lord and rejoice in the God of your salvation (Habakkuk 3:18), who has done such great things for you already, and will do so much greater things than these (John 1:50).

23Second, the more vehemently he assaults your peace with that suggestion, God is holy, you are unholy. You are immensely distant from that holiness, without which you cannot see God. How then can you be in the favor of God? How can you fancy you are justified? Take the more earnest heed to hold fast this: Not by works of righteousness which I have done (Titus 3:5). I am found in him. I am accepted in the Beloved (Ephesians 1:6), not having my own righteousness (as the cause, either in whole or in part, of our justification before God) but that which is by faith in Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith (Philippians 3:9). O bind this about your neck. Write it upon the tablet of your heart (Proverbs 3:3). Wear it as a bracelet upon your arm, as frontlets between your eyes (Deuteronomy 6:8): I am justified freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ (Romans 3:24). Value and esteem more and more that precious truth: By grace you are saved through faith (Ephesians 2:8). Admire more and more the free grace of God, in so loving the world as to give his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life (John 3:16). So shall the sense of the sinfulness you feel on the one hand, and of the holiness you expect on the other, both contribute to establish your peace and to make it flow as a river (Isaiah 48:18). So shall that peace flow on with an even stream, in spite of all those mountains of ungodliness, which shall become a plain in the day when the Lord comes to take full possession of your heart (Zechariah 4:7). Neither will sickness or pain, or the approach of death, occasion any doubt or fear. You know a day, an hour, a moment with God is as a thousand years (2 Peter 3:8). He cannot be constrained for time in which to work whatever remains to be done in your soul. And God's time is always the best time. Therefore be anxious for nothing. Only make your request known to him, and that not with doubt or fear, but thanksgiving (Philippians 4:6), as being previously assured he cannot withhold from you anything that is good (Psalm 84:11).

24Third, the more you are tempted to give up your shield, to cast away your faith, your confidence in his love, so much the more take heed that you hold fast that to which you have attained. So much the more labor to stir up the gift of God which is in you (2 Timothy 1:6). Never let this slip: I have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous (1 John 2:1), and the life I now live, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me (Galatians 2:20). Let this be your glory and crown of rejoicing (1 Thessalonians 2:19). And see that no one takes your crown (Revelation 3:11). Hold this fast: I know that my Redeemer lives, and shall stand at the latter day upon the earth (Job 19:25). And I now have redemption in his blood, even the forgiveness of sins (Ephesians 1:7). Thus, being filled with all peace and joy in believing (Romans 15:13), press on in the peace and joy of faith to the renewal of your whole soul in the image of him who created you (Colossians 3:10). Meanwhile cry continually to God, that you may see that prize of your high calling (Philippians 3:14), not as Satan represents it, in a horrid dreadful shape, but in its genuine native beauty: not as something that must be, or you will go to hell, but as what may be, to lead you to heaven. Look upon it as the most desirable gift which is in all the stores of the rich mercies of God. Beholding it in the true point of light, you will hunger after it more and more. Your whole soul will thirst for God (Psalm 42:2), and for this glorious conformity to his likeness. And having received a good hope of this, and strong consolation through grace (2 Thessalonians 2:16), you will no more be weary or faint in your mind (Hebrews 12:3), but will follow on till you attain.

25In the same power of faith, press on to glory. Indeed this is the same prospect still. God has joined from the beginning pardon, holiness, heaven. And why should man put them asunder? O beware of this. Let not one link of the golden chain be broken. God for Christ's sake has forgiven me. He is now renewing me in his own image. Shortly he will make me fit for himself, and take me to stand before his face. I, whom he has justified through the blood of his Son, being thoroughly sanctified by his Spirit, shall quickly ascend to the New Jerusalem, the city of the living God (Hebrews 12:22). Yet a little while and I shall come to the general assembly and church of the firstborn, and to God the Judge of all, and to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant (Hebrews 12:23-24). How soon will these shadows flee away, and the day of eternity dawn upon me (Song of Solomon 2:17)! How soon shall I drink of the river of the water of life, going out of the throne of God and of the Lamb (Revelation 22:1)! There all his servants shall praise him and shall see his face, and his name shall be upon their foreheads. And no night shall be there, and they have no need of a candle or the light of the sun. For the Lord God gives them light, and they shall reign forever and ever (Revelation 22:3-5).

26And if you thus taste of the good word and of the powers of the world to come (Hebrews 6:5), you will not murmur against God, because you are not yet fit for the inheritance of the saints in light (Colossians 1:12). Instead of repining at your not being wholly delivered, you will praise God for thus far delivering you. You will magnify God for what he has done, and take it as an earnest of what he will do (Ephesians 1:14). You will not fret against him, because you are not yet renewed, but bless him because you shall be, and because now your salvation from all sin is nearer than when you first believed (Romans 13:11). Instead of uselessly tormenting yourself because the time has not fully come, you will calmly and quietly wait for it, knowing that it will come and will not delay (Hebrews 10:37). You may therefore the more cheerfully endure as yet the burden of sin that still remains in you, because it will not always remain. Yet a little while and it shall be clean gone. Only wait upon the Lord's timing. Be strong, and he shall comfort your heart. Put your trust in the Lord (Psalm 27:14).

27And if you see any who appear (so far as man can judge, but God alone searches the hearts (Jeremiah 17:10)) to be already partakers of their hope, already made perfect in love, far from envying the grace of God in them, let it rejoice and comfort your heart. Glorify God for their sake. If one member is honored, shall not all the members rejoice with it (1 Corinthians 12:26)? Instead of jealousy or evil suspicion concerning them, praise God for the consolation. Rejoice in having a fresh proof of the faithfulness of God in fulfilling all his promises. And stir yourself up the more to apprehend that for which you also are apprehended by Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:12).

28In order to this, redeem the time (Ephesians 5:16). Improve the present moment. Buy up every opportunity of growing in grace, or of doing good. Let not the thought of receiving more grace tomorrow make you negligent of today. You have one talent now. If you expect five more, so much the rather improve what you have. And the more you expect to receive hereafter, the more labor for God now. Sufficient for the day is the grace of it. God is now pouring his benefits upon you. Now prove yourself a faithful steward of the present grace of God. Whatever tomorrow may bring, give all diligence today to add to your faith courage, temperance, patience, brotherly kindness, and the fear of God (2 Peter 1:5-7), till you attain that pure and perfect love. Let these things be now in you and abound. Do not be slothful or unfruitful now. So shall an entrance be ministered to you into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ (2 Peter 1:8, 11).

29Lastly, if in time past you have abused this blessed hope of being holy as he is holy (1 Peter 1:16), yet do not therefore cast it away. Let the abuse cease; the use remain. Use it now to the more abundant glory of God and profit of your own soul. In steadfast faith, in calm tranquility of spirit, in full assurance of hope, rejoicing always for what God has done (1 Thessalonians 5:16), press on to perfection (Hebrews 6:1). Daily growing in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ (2 Peter 3:18), and going on from strength to strength (Psalm 84:7), in resignation, in patience, in humble thankfulness for what you have attained and for what you shall attain, run the race set before you, looking to Jesus (Hebrews 12:1-2), till through perfect love you enter into his glory!