Give No Opportunity to the Devil

By Nick Bibile

Ephesians 4:25 Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. 26 Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, 27 and give no opportunity to the devil.

We saw last week verse 24 belonged to the first part of the 10 Commandments. Now verse 25 is speaking of our neighbor, this belongs to the second part of the 10 Commandments. God’s true righteousness and holiness is found in the 10 commandments, Jesus fulfilled all of the commandments and his righteousness and holiness is imputed (Credited) to the believing sinner. And now we are righteous in Christ Jesus.

Therefore let us be truthful with our neighbors. Let us be sincere, not one face in the church and another face at home and work. Let us be honest to one another.

Before we came to Christ we are unrighteous, the heart was deceitful with sin, and we were depraved and out of depravity came all kinds of sin. In the same way now we are righteous in Christ Jesus, this is the head of doctrine. We have a new heart and out of this fountain should flow godliness. Every kind of deceit and hypocrisy is out of place as we are members of one another.

In verse 26 the apostle is quoting Psalm 4.

Psalm 4:2 O men, how long shall my honor be turned into shame?
How long will you love vain words and seek after lies? Selah
3 But know that the Lord has set apart the godly for himself;
the Lord hears when I call to him.

4 Be angry, and do not sin;
ponder in your own hearts on your beds, and be silent.

The Hebrew verb zgr (ragaz) signifies either to be agitated by anger, or, to tremble. As to the passage of the Psalm, there is the idea of trembling; there are some when they get angry they cannot control themselves as they tremble in their flesh. Apostle is telling us do not be like a mad man who is angry as they rush to sin fearlessly.

Do not sin in your anger. When you are offended by someone, and you get hurt and wounded and naturally there is anger but do not sin in your anger. Keep your mouth shut and pray so you will not sin in your anger. Or else your anger will be extended to bad results, fights, quarrels and violence. Do not let the sun go down in your anger. Do not go to sleep with your anger, but sleep in peace with God.

Do nothing when you are angry, and then you will have the less to undo. Remember, anger is temporary insanity.

Let me quote Spurgeon. “Do not say I cannot help having a bad temper.” Friend, you must help it. Pray God to help you to overcome it at once; for either you must kill it, or it will kill you. You cannot carry a bad temper into heaven.”

27) And give no opportunity to the devil.

The Devil is waiting for an opportunity. He is like a roaring lion always looking for an opportunity to devour someone.

1 Peter 5:8 Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

Remember the Devil is more cunning than the wisest Solomon as he trapped Solomon in sin. The Devil is stronger than the strongest and how fatally he overthrew Samson. How soon he entangled Solomon! He is stronger
than the strongest. Even the man after God’s own heart, David was led into sin.

Yes, the Devil is a roaring Lion and he is also an angel of Light. Satan can shave you with a thousand of razors without you knowing it.

Let us see couple of examples in the Old Testament. Remember Dinah, the daughter of Leah, who wanted to check out the ungodly women. That was just opening the door to the devil, she gave an inch to the devil, the devil took the opportunity and you know the rest of the story.

Hamor the Hivite liked her and lay with her, invited Israel to have mix marriages with them. The Sons of Jacob got into the flesh, lied to them saying, they will give their sister only if they would be circumcised. This pleased them and they got circumcised and when they were sore on the third day Jacob’s sons, Simeon and Levi came and killed all the males in the city.

You can read the story in Genesis chapter 34, just one woman opening the door to the devil as she just wanted to go and check out the other women of the land. But brought a massacre. Also with one woman Eve, giving the opportunity to the devil brought sin to the whole world.

Also remember the long war between the house of Saul and the house of David. Remember Abner who was an uncle of Saul and he was the commander and chief of Saul’s army. Abner made a terrible mistake. Instead of yielding to David’s authority after Saul’s death, he made Ish-bosheth the son of Saul as the king.

The chief commander of David’s army was Joab. Abner and Joab hated each others guts. One day Abner and his men and Joab and his men met at a pool in Gibeon. Abner’s men sat at one side of the pool and Joab’s men sat at the other side of the pool. Now what do you think, what’s going to happen here? Yes, they got into the flesh. Abner said, “Let the young men arise and compete with us.” Joab said, “Let them arise.” There was a fierce battle and that was the beginning of a long war between the house of Saul and the house of David.

Abner gave the devil an opportunity, he did not want David to be the king of Israel, he chose his ways with pride he did what he wanted to do, his anger and bitterness turned into a war. (Story is found in 2 Sam chapter 2 and 3)

Remember Cain, he became so angry that he murdered his own brother. But God told him before sin is crouching at the door. Hebrew word is, sin like a demon crouching outside the door. The devil is waiting for that opportunity.

When we are focused on the word of God, the next step is to meditate on the word of God. The result is that his word being the light will direct our steps, meaning we will do the will of God.

If we are not in the word, then we are opening the door to the devil. We can be led not by the spirit of God but by our flesh, the result can be pleasing/comforting to our flesh but can be hazardous to our soul. Remember it is God’s word that saved us and how can we neglect his word.

When you are in the word then you are committed to the Lord when you are committed to the Lord you become busy for the Lord, there is no room for the Devil. There was a time when everyone else were busy at war against the enemy king David was not busy, it was idle time. The Devil loves when God’s people are in idle. He will use his bait and many have fallen into it. King David fell for it when he was idle nothing to do went to the window and saw Bathsheba. The devil was crouching at the door at king David’s mind and it temptation build up and there was adultery and murder.

Don’t be idle as powers of darkness and their demons are busy. While you are sleeping, Satan will be sowing.

We need to be busy in God’s service. Because if you are idle in Christ’s work, you are active in the devil’s work. There are so many loiterers and spectators but very few laborers.

Proverbs 8: 17 I love those who love me, and those who seek me diligently find me.

2 Peter 1: 10 Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to make your calling and election sure, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall.

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