This post is part three of our summary of the Puritan classic Precious Remedies Against Satan’s Devices by Thomas Brooks. You can read part 1 HERE and part 2 HERE. This week, we’re looking at how Brooks characterizes Satan’s attack on keeping Christians from doing what builds up our faith and souls. If he can keep us weak, he can keep us ineffective.
Satan’s devices to keep souls from holy duties, to hinder souls in holy services, and to keep them off from religious performances
- Satan seeks to ensnare the soul by presenting the world as beautiful “Where one thousand are destroyed by the world’s frowns, ten thousand are destroyed by the world’s smiles! The world, siren-like, sings to us, then sinks us!”
By “world,” Brooks isn’t referring to the earth as God made it, but the system of the world that lives in rebellion against God or in apathy to God, as if He doesn’t exist or have a prior claim upon our lives. Because God is such a good creator, He has made an amazing world. The danger behind that truth is that the world is so impressive it can begin to blind us to the even more beautiful world of the eternal.
Remedies:
i. Dwell on the weakness and impotency of all things in the world.
ii. Dwell on the vanity of the things of the world.
iii. Dwell on the uncertainty and inconstancy of the things of the world.
“As a bird hops from tree to tree, so do the honors and riches of this world from man to man.”
iv. Remember that “the great things of this world are very hurtful and dangerous to the outward and inward man, through the corruptions that are in the hearts of men.”
v. Consider that all the happiness of this world is mixed.
vi. Become better acquainted with more blessed and glorious things.
“Let heaven be a man’s object, and earth will soon be his abject.” If we don’t spend time meditating on the things of God and filling our heart with worship, we can become enthralled with the less beautiful world. God and His truth are the standards. If we ignore the standard, we lower our thirst for what truly satisfies.
vii. Dwell on the fact that true happiness and satisfaction isn’t found in the enjoyment of worldly good.
“A man may have enough of the world to sink him—but he can never have enough to satisfy him.”
viii. Dwell on the dignity of the soul.
2. Satan keeps us from religious duties by presenting to us the danger, losses and sufferings which accompany such duties.
Remedies:
i. Remember that the troubles and afflictions accompanying religious duties will never harm what truly matters and satisfy.
Today’s believers tend to view “religious duties” as lifeless legalism, but this isn’t how Brooks sees them or describes them. What he means here is that giving up time to engage in those religious activities that build our souls only serves and can never hinder what leads to true happiness and fulfillment: “The treasures of a saint are the presence of God, the favor of God, union and communion with God, the pardon of sin, the joy of the Spirit, and the peace of conscience. These are jewels which none can give but Christ, nor none can take away but Christ.”
ii. Remember how other saints remained faithful in spite of troubles.
iii. Remember that while the troubles and dangers of religious service are temporary, the neglect of them lays us open to eternal dangers.
“The doing of heavenly services may lay you open to the frowns of men—but the neglect of them will lay you open to the frowns of God.”
iv. Consider that God knows how to deliver us from troubles.
v. Dwell on the fact that you will gain more serving God and walking in his ways than you can possibly suffer or lose by serving him.
3. Satan seeks to make us negligent of religious duties by presenting to us the difficulty of our duties.
Remedies:
i. Dwell more on the necessity of the service and duty than on the difficulty that attends the duty.
ii. Jesus will make his services easy to us through the sweet discovery of himself to our souls as we obey.
iii. Dwell on the difficulties Jesus endured on our behalf for our benefit.
iv. Religious duties are only difficult to the most ignoble part of us.
v. Remember the reward that awaits the faithful.
“One hour’s being in heaven will abundantly recompense you for cleaving to the Lord and his ways in the face of all difficulties.”
“Christians who would hold on in the service of the Lord, must look more upon the future crown than upon the present cross; more upon their future glory than their present misery.”
4. Satan tempts us to make false inferences from the blessed and glorious things Christ has done (i.e., because Jesus has perfectly justified us and fulfilled the law, religious duties don’t matter or aren’t important).
Oh, how I would like to name names here! There have been some popular contemporary authors who have built a huge following by teaching this deception. They take the truth that salvation is a gift to which we contribute nothing, but then fall into the error that leads to what Dietrich Bonhoeffer calls “cheap grace” and Thomas Brooks calls “false inference.” This has been a heresy at worst and a spiritual cancer at best throughout the church’s history and remains so today.
Remedies:
i. Dwell as often on the scriptures that show the duties Christ asks of us as we do the Scriptures that tell us what Christ has done on our behalf.
You can find both—there are plenty of both—and it is a lie to stress one in contradiction to the other. In God’s blessed truth, Christ’s work and our work are complementary realities, not enemies.
ii. What Christ has done should motivate us to more service, not less.
iii. The saints before you were motivated toward more service.
iv. Not walking in the ways of righteousness withholds evidence to our souls that we are righteous.
“A Christian’s emblem should be a house walking toward heaven. High words surely make a man neither holy nor just; but a virtuous life, a circumspect walking, makes him dear to God. A tree that is not fruitful is fit only for the fire.”
v. We do what we do not just for justification, but to testify to our justification.
5. Satan taunts us with how few and how poor those are who walk in the ways of God and continue in religious practices.
True believers often are poor, neglected, ridiculed, and looked down upon. Satan wants us to avoid the things of God by telling us we’ll share the same lot if we get too serious about our faith.
Remedies:
i. Though they are outwardly poor, they are inwardly rich.
“Though saints have little in hand, yet they have much in hope.”
ii. History records a few saints who have been great, rich, wise and honorable, and who still persevered in their faith regardless of the difficulties.
iii. Remember that the spiritual riches of the poorest saints infinitely transcend the temporal riches of all the wicked men in the world.
iv. Though the saints be few, taken together, they are an “innumerable number that cannot be numbered.”
v. It won’t be long until the poor despised saints shall shine brighter than the sun.
vi. There will come a time when the reproach and contempt of saints will be taken away and the saints will be made the head.
6. Satan points out the examples of the most celebrated people in the world who follow their own hearts and make fun of those who follow God.
Remedies:
i. Remember the Scriptures that expressly tell us not to follow the example of wicked men.
“The way to be undone forever is to do as the most do. The multitude is the weakest and worst argument.”
ii. Consider that if you win with the multitude you will suffer with the multitude; the multitude will help you sin, but it cannot help you avoid the punishment you will face as an individual.
iii. Dwell on the worth and excellency of your immortal soul.
“Surely, it is better to go to heaven alone—than to hell with company!”
7. By distracting the soul with vain thoughts while the soul is waiting on God or seeking God
Remedies:
i. Let your soul be affected with the greatness, holiness, majesty and glory of God.
“A man would be afraid of playing with a feather, when he is speaking with a king.”
ii. Be faithful in religious services even when distracted.
iii. Remember it’s not a sin to be distracted if we fight against the distractions.
iv. Remember that “watching against sinful thoughts, resisting of sinful thoughts, lamenting and weeping over sinful thoughts, carries with it the sweetest and strongest evidence of the truth and power of grace, and of the sincerity of your hearts, and is the readiest and the surest way to be rid of them.”
v. Labor to be filled with the fullness of God and enriched with spiritual and heavenly things.
vi. Maintain holy affections.
vii. Avoid too many worldly cares.
8. Tempting us to rest in our religious duties by focusing on what we have done rather than us thinking about what we yet need to do.
Remedies:
i. Dwell on the imperfection and weaknesses of your service.
ii. Consider the impotence and inability of even your best services to hold you up in the days of trouble.
iii. Remember that good things rested upon will undo us as much as the foulest sins will condemn us.
iv. Never forget that only Christ is our true resting place.
We’ve still got at least two posts to go to cover the summary of Brooks’ magisterial work. If you’d like to get a copy for yourself, you can find it HERE (Gary Thomas is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program and Church Source Affiliates Program, advertising programs designed to provide a means for Gary to earn fees through customized links to these sites.)
My family and I are experiencing an aversion to going to church, because they all have “worship teams.” The “worship teams” basically put on a show, with affected, theatrical displays of extacy which are quite distracting.