A Question for the Devil: Is That All You Got?

By Dr. Horace L. Patterson

Dr. Horace L. Patterson has come up with an excellent question for Satan: “Is That All You Got?” This question hammers home the central focus of the Christian faith: Jesus’ resurrection. The author points out the failure of the adversary to stop Jesus from doing the good and perfect will of the Father—to provide His Son as a ransom to redeem humankind. This continually points to the great power of God in light of difficult circumstances and proclaims God as victorious over all things. The author examines a variety of situations, and in the end he declares all attempts to undermine God’s people as failure. Christians can gain inspiration and strength from reading this book.

• Language: English
• Publisher: R.H. Boyd Publishing Corporation
• Release date: May 1, 2015
• ISBN: 9781681670041

Book preview

INTRODUCTION

In every generation and during each dispensation, God is undauntedly committed to the raising up of a special breed who possess no glass jaws but take the devil’s best shots and ask defiantly, Is this all you got? A glass jaw refers to the vulnerability of a boxer to a knockout punch. In the political arena, it suggests the image of a public figure who is assailable by destructive criticism. In the church, a glass jaw Christian might be Demas who left Paul because a lure and love of this present world knocked him off his feet.

For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica; Crescens to Galatia, Titus unto Dalmatia.

(2 Timothy 4:10, KJV)

1. In his commentary on what drove Demas to forsake Paul, Mathew Henry said, "He quitted Paul and his interest, either for fear of suffering (because Paul was now a prisoner, and he was afraid of coming into trouble upon his account) or being called off from his ministry by secular affairs, in which he entangled himself; his first love to Christ and his gospel was forsaken and forgotten, and he fell in love with the world. Note, Love to this present world is often the cause of apostasy from the truths and ways of Jesus Christ. He has gone off, has departed to Thessalonica, called thither perhaps by trade, or by some other worldly business."¹

2. Warren W. Wiersbe viewed the fall of Demas saying, "He had, as a believer, ‘tasted . . . the powers of the world to come’ (Heb. 6:5); but he preferred ‘this present evil world’ (Gal. 1:4). In his Pilgrim’s Progress, John Bunyan pictured Demas as the keeper of a silver mine at the Hill Lucre. Perhaps it was the love of money that enticed Demas back into the world. It must have broken Paul’s heart to see Demas fail so shamefully; yet it can happen to any believer."²

Wiersbe is correct in saying it can happen to any believer because Satan stalks every believer by day and by night. Be sober, be vigilant: because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour (1 Pet. 5:8, KJV). The devil is never far removed from us and Jesus declared of him that the thief [Satan] cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy (John 10:10, KJV). The Apostle Peter knew that the devil was on the prowl. He found out the hard way. He denied the Lord three times in the courtyard of the residence of the high priest, and on one occasion his denial came in the form of a fisherman’s oath. Then began [Peter] to curse and to swear, saying, I know not the man; and immediately the cock crew (Matt. 26:74, KJV). The Lord had warned Peter:

And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.

(Luke 22:31–32, KJV)

In his commentary Exploring Epistles of Peter, John Phillips says of the devil,

He is the malignant enemy of both God and man. The word means slanderer. As Satan, he is our adversary; as the Devil, he is our accuser. He walks about, a graphic picture of his restless energy. He is looking for those whom he can devour. The word used is katapinō, which means to swallow. The word is used to describe the doom of the Egyptian army when its cavalry pursued the Hebrews across the bed of the Red Sea. They were drowned (katapinō), we are told. They were swallowed up (Heb. 11:29). Moreover, the Devil is as a roaring lion. The word for roaring is ōruomai. It means to howl. It occurs only here. It suggests the howl of a wild beast when it is hungry.³

It could be a disciple that so worships one’s devil delivered inspired ability to select from the calls and ideas of Jesus that one is floored by the adoration of picking preferences.

And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.

(Luke 9:62, KJV)

In his own gifted way, that prince of preachers Dr. Gardner C. Taylor in his sermon A Terrible Warning says

[Jesus] said on another occasion, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God (Luke 9:62). There is a life outside of God which we must give up—it is a Sodom which is to be destroyed no matter how delightful it may seem. Turn from anything or anybody who stops you from loving and serving the Lord. True repentance is metanoia. It means about face, turn around, stop going the way you are now going and go in the opposite direction. From doubt, turn toward faith. From fear, turn toward trust. From filth, turn toward decency. From fleshiness, turn toward spirituality. From people’s opinions, turn to God’s Word! From the valley, turn toward the mountain.⁴

A glass jaw may well be a carnal soul that is easily thrashed by the fiendish promise of pleasure. But she that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth (1 Tim. 5:16, KJV). The promise of pleasure tantalizes. Paul’s assessment is that pleasure-seeking results not in dreams momentarily deferred but in hope eternally denied. The glass jaws of pleasure seeking result in a kind of struggle where the fulfillment is always out of reach. This is why some are forever changing and chasing after that which eludes their best efforts and their most sacred grasp. God, however, is determined to populate this planet with a people who take on all that the devil throws without looking for some soft spot to land in the ring. This desire in the heart of God is what moves Him to create a people with enough pugnacity, gallantry, grit, guts and intestinal fortitude to claim what is rightfully their inheritance regardless of what the devil says, does, or threatens to do.

For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

(2 Timothy 1:7, KJV)

God has made it possible for churches to send out not a crowd that cringes but an army that begs for no mercy from the devil, who seek not to curry his favor, lick his boots, kiss his ring, polish his apple, or eat his dust. For the heat of battle, God has shown Himself ready to equip, empower, and attire His special forces with an inspiring and momentous fearlessness that will refuse to go down when hit or turn aside when bleeding. With an unshakable morale and authenticating courage, God’s army can refuse to stagger from body blows or demonic bivouacs, but look evil in the face and ask valiantly, Is that all you got? This is the dream of God and His call for our stage and our age.

Chevis F. Horne in his book of Easter sermons has said, Men and women the world over walk under the shadow of their guilt and into the night of their death.⁶ The vicarious death and the victorious resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ makes it possible and probable for the beneficiary of His blood to take the devil’s heaviest artillery without falling to rise no more. We can face him down and stay on our spiritual feet, even if we are lying on our physical sick bed, and ask without cringing, Is that all you got? This is possible because there is now for us, who believe in Christ, no sickness that leads to death (see John 11:4). We can each become a valued part of that prized and sacred collection that walk not under the shadow of our guilt into the night of our death. The cross of Christ has removed all of our guilt, and the resurrection of Christ is God’s unchanging promise of a more sweeping experience for all of us who trust Him. The Greek word for resurrection in the New Testament is anastasis which literally means a standing up again. This kind of power is available on both sides of the grave. This type of strength is our inheritance for effective living in the now as well as the hereafter. This enormity of dominion can demilitarize whatever the devil knows, shows, throws, or mows. This resurrection regency, this standing up again, this anastasis vigor is what I believe empowers hospice workers to get far more than they give when they take care of the earthly tents that house the souls of heaven-bound saints. Only God knows how many physicians there are who find their own souls’ salvation when they are exposed to the resurrection power at work in the lives of those headed for the abode of the blessed. Seasoned pastors the world over will recall joyfully the times when the pastor went to comfort a passing Christian only to receive comfort from the certainty emanating from a departing child of God. How often it is that in the face of death we discover anew the boundless beauty of the ascendency of the resurrection? While near the end, this comfort is amazing. What is also astonishing and astounding is the fact that God has provided for the redeemed this resurrection power to be applied day by day. The power of resurrection living is not some resource that we need to save for our final days; it is God’s answer for every day and every challenge. The resurrection is not merely an Easter gift to be considered for a season; it is a daily endowment to be drawn upon in the presence of every evil. The resurrection is a regular bounty dispensed to make us more than equal to any and all issues that the devil might transport, transform, or transfer. The resurrection of Jesus Christ has turned loose an unearthly power that enables the believer to absorb menacing strokes and repel all of the powers of darkness while asking the terrorist beyond the gates of torment, Is that all you got?

By faith we walk no more under the shadow of our guilt into the night of our death. Our guilt was settled at Calvary. We do not need another cross, another Savior, another Calvary, or another Good Friday. Jesus remained in the grave until the work that totally defeated death was totally accepted, acknowledged, and accredited. The threat of sin and the threat of death were satanic heavy hitters. The God who paid the price for our bondage from the claws of sin also pulled us from the jaws of death. The God who defeated death surely can’t be baffled by a mortgage payment, utility bill, or a medical diagnosis.

Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.

(Romans 5:20, KJV)

Just as it is accurate to state that nobody out-loves God, it is also true that nothing can subdue the mastery and rule of the Author of all things. As believers, we might live on the outskirts of cities, but we never live on the outskirts of hope.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ.

(1 Peter 1:3–7, KJV)

Our hope as Christians is not reserved alone and apart from the life we now live and the devil we now face. Eternal life and resurrection power begins when we trust Christ as our Savior and become a part of God’s family. No matter what the flesh, the world, and the devil sends, mends, or begins, it is not our final experience. There is for us always more good than bad, more right than wrong, more victories than defeats, more healing than hurt, more love than hate, more peace than confusion, more sweet than bitter, more light than dark, more ups than downs, more causes for celebrations than condolences, more hellos than goodbyes, more reasons to smile than to frown, more power than pain, and more roses than thorns. We have an inheritance that will not decay and will not depart.

Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

(Hebrews 4:14–16)

Neither the selective seductions nor the storming strikes from the shadow of shadows can vanquish our souls or thump our day.

Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.

(Hebrews 2:14–15, KJV)

1. Jesus became what we are while He remained who He was. Augustus H. Strong in his book of systematic theology spends a great deal of time defining the two Natures of Christ—their Reality and Integrity.¹ Jesus expressly called Himself and was called by others a man.

a. Ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth" (John 8:40, KJV).

b. Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you (Acts 2:22, KJV).

c. One man, Jesus Christ (Rom. 5:15, KJV).

d. By man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead (1 Cor. 15:21, KJV).

e. One mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus (1 Tim. 2:5, KJV).

f. And the Word became flesh (John 1:14, NRSV).

g. Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God (1 John 4:2, KJV).

2. The duty of Christ Jesus possessed the knowledge of His duty.

a. Jesus said, and no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven (John 3:13, KJV).

b. Before Abraham was, I am (John 8:58, KJV).

c. Phillip saith unto him, Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us. Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet has thou not known me, Phillip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Show us the Father? Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works (John 14:8–10, KJV).

d. Jesus had supernatural knowledge of Peter (see John 1:42), of Phillip (see John 1:43), of Nathanael (see John 1:47–50), of the woman at the well of Samaria (see John 4:17–19, 39), of the death of Lazarus (see John 11:14), of the donkey’s colt (see Matt. 21:2), of the upper room (see Mark 14:15), of Peter’s denial (see Matt. 26:34), and of the manner of