WORKING
AGAINST SATAN’S KINGDOM

When the spirit that is at work operates against the interests of Satan’s kingdom, which lies in encouraging and establishing sin, and cherishing men’s worldly lusts; this is a sure sign that it is a true, and not a false spirit.

This sign we have given us in verses 4 and 5: “Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world. They are of the world, therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them.” Here is a plain antithesis: it is evident that the apostle is still comparing those that are influenced by the two opposite kinds of spirits, the true and the false, and showing the difference; the one is of God, and overcomes the spirit of the world; the other is of the world, and speaks and savors the things of the world. The spirit of the devil is here called “he that is in the world”. Christ says, “My kingdom is not of this world”. But it is otherwise with Satan’s kingdom; he is “the god of this world”.

What the apostle means by the world, or “the things that are of the world”, we learn by his own words in 1 John 2:15–16: “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world: if any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him: for all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.” So by the world the apostle evidently means everything that appertains to the interest of sin, and comprehends all the corruptions and lusts of men, and all those acts and objects by which they are gratified.

So we may safely determine from what the apostle says that the spirit that is at work among a people, after such a manner as to lessen their esteem of the pleasures, profits, and honors of the world, and to take off their hearts from an eager pursuit after these things; and to engage them in a deep concern about a future state and eternal happiness which the gospel reveals – and puts them upon earnestly seeking the kingdom of God and his righteousness; and the spirit that convinces them of the dreadfulness of sin, the guilt it brings, and the misery to which it exposes – this must be the Spirit of God.

Waking up the conscience

It is not to be supposed that Satan would convince men of sin, and awaken the conscience; it can no way serve his end to make that candle of the Lord shine the brighter, and to open the mouth of that viceregent of God in the soul. It is for his interest, whatever he does, to lull conscience asleep, and keep it quiet. To have That, with its eyes and mouth open in the soul, will tend to clog and hinder all his desires of darkness, and evermore to disturb his affairs, to cross his interest, and disquiet him, so that he can achieve nothing he wants without being molested. Would the devil, when he is trying to establish men in sin, take such a course, in the first place, to enlighten and awaken the conscience to see the dreadfulness of sin, and make them exceedingly afraid of it, and aware of their misery by reason of their past sins, and their great need of deliverance from their guilt? Would he make them more careful, inquisitive, and watchful to discern what is sinful, and to avoid future sins, and so be more afraid of the devil’s temptations, and more careful to guard against them? What do those men do with their reason, who suppose that the Spirit that operates thus is the spirit of the devil?

Possibly some may say that the devil may even awaken men’s consciences to deceive them, and make them think they have been the subject of a saving work of the Spirit of God, while they are indeed still in the gall of bitterness. But to this it may be replied that the man who has an awakened con science is the least likely to be deceived by anyone in the world; it is the drowsy, unaware, stupid conscience that is most easily blinded. The more aware conscience is in a diseased soul, the less easily is it quieted without a real healing. The more aware conscience is made of the dreadfulness of sin, and of the greatness of a man’s own guilt, the less likely he is to rest in his own righteousness, or to be pacified with nothing but shadows. A man that has been thoroughly terrified with a sense of his own danger and misery is not easily flattered and made to believe himself safe, without any good grounds. To awaken conscience, and convince it of the evil of sin, cannot tend to establish it, but certainly tends to make way for sin and Satan’s being cut out.

The spirit of the devil

Therefore this is a good argument that the Spirit that operates in this way cannot but the spirit of the devil – unless we suppose that Christ did not know how to argue, when he told the Pharisees (who supposed that the Spirit by which he worked was the spirit of the devil) That Satan would not cast out Satan (Matt. 12:25–6). And therefore, if we see people made aware of the dreadful nature of sin, and of the displeasure of God against it; of their own miserable condition as they are in themselves, by reason of sin, and earnestly concerned for their eternal salvation – and aware of their need of God’s pity and help, and committed to seek it in the use of the means that God has appointed – we may certainly conclude that it is from the Spirit of God, whatever effects this concern has on their bodies – even if it causes them to cry out aloud, or to shriek, or to faint; or if it throws them into convulsions, or whatever other way the blood and spirits are moved.

The influence of the Spirit of God is yet more abundantly manifest if people have their hearts drawn away from the world, and weaned from the objects of their worldly lusts, and away from worldly pursuits, by the feelings they have for those spiritual enjoyments of another world, That are promised in the gospel.