Contrary to popular belief within professing Christendom, Satan is only as powerful as we allow him to be relative to sin.  He can only suggest that we sin; he cannot force us to do so.  Our victory over him or submission to him is in our power.; “Behold, I give you power over all the power of the enemy” (Lk. 10:19).  That is a promise from God.  However, as is the case with all of God’s promises, there is a caveat–a condition that must be met in order for the promise to be fulfilled in our lives.  Caveats are identified by two letters of the alphabet; they are “I” AND “F.”  God’s Word applies to us “IF” and ONLY IF we are ONE WITH HIM, meaning that He is in fact OUR LORD.  Jesus is not now our Savior and will not be our Savior until He returns to earth to establish His Father’s kingdom and lead us into it.  Read Hope and Salvation.  Key word–Hope.  Those who obeyed the “IF” caveat will be saved and born again at that time.  Read Born Again.  Key word–Born.

Notice that in those instances in which the words “Lord” and “Savior” are used together in a statement, “LORD” ALWAYS COMES BEFORE “SAVIOR” (2 Pet. 1:11; 2:20; 3:2; 3:18).  This is the key to understanding how God’s plan of salvation works.  Relative to the “LORD” and “SAVIOR” connection, one statement summarizes God’s formula for living eternally in His presence: TO BE OUR SAVIOR IN THE NEXT LIFE HE MUST BE OUR LORD IN THIS LIFE.  THERE IS NO EXCEPTION TO THIS BIBLICAL LAW.  

The word “LORD” means one who possesses absolute, supreme power and authority–one who has and exercises unlimited rulership.  In the spiritual realm, the “LORD” is the one who OWNS and CONTROLS the individual.  God makes it clear in the Holy Scriptures that a human being is owned and CONTROLLED by EITHER Him or Satan.  Under no circumstances do they share lordship.  One’s “MASTER” is the same as one’s “LORD.”  The Lord does not share control over those who are truly His.  “Sinners Saved By Grace” supposedly operate under dual ownership.  Concerning our spiritual relationship with our Lord/Master, it is all or nothing as Jesus tells us in Matthew 6:24 where He makes that Truth clear.  Satan, however, preaches a different message.  His false prophets tell us that sinning is simply part of the Christian walk due to Adam’s sin transferal miracle.  Read Sin is a Choice.  Key word–Choice.

Satan knows God’s Truth and believes it.  His problem is that he does not obey it.  This puts him above 99% of church people who choose not to know God’s Truth.  Satan’s self-appointed task is to keep as many people as possible from knowing the Truth and embracing its Author as the Lord/Master of their lives.  As the Apostle James tells us in 2:10, all it takes is one seemingly insignificant sin to turn us into Law-breakers (Isa. 28:2/ 1 Jn. 3:4).  Satan uses commandment #4 to turn billions of believers into workers of iniquity (Law-breakers).  First John 3:4 states: “To transgress the Law (iniquity) is sin, for sin is the transgression of the Law.”  Note that this passage is in the New Testament where Jesus said that He does not “know” (intimately) “workers of iniquity”–Law-breakers (Mat. 7:22,23/ Lk. 6:46).  The Law referred to is the same Law that was supposedly “nailed to the cross” of Jesus Christ.  Someone is lying.  We must determine who.

Satan’s weapon of choice for separating man from his Creator is “TEMPTATION.”  The Lord, in His attempt to warn salvation seekers about Satan’s wiles and how to resist them, moved on James to tell us how to repel the devil’s temptations in the first chapter of his epistle.  His overall message is three-fold: 1) Satan will tempt every human being to sin as long as he lives, 2) every human being chooses to either submit to or resist Satan’s temptations and 3) God provides a way to resist him.  Chapter one covers all three.

I once read about a young minister who committed suicide because he could not stop sinning.  His problem was that he had only received John’s baptism and had therefore not received the Holy Spirit.  Read John’s Baptism.  Key word–John’s.  Like 99% of professing Christendom, the young preacher had not been taught God’s Truth.  If he ever read it he obviously did not believe it.  If he did believe it, he obviously did not obey it.

The Truth seeker must understand this important Truth: THERE ARE TWO TYPES OF “CHRISTIANS”: CHURCH CHRISTIANS AND BIBLE CHRISTIANS.  The first group consist of Catholics and Protestants whose “truths” are the Biblical interpretations (wishful thinkings) of the group (denomination, faith, congregation, etc.) to which they belong.  The second group consists of God’s true saints whose Truth is the Holy Bible as written.  The “truths” (doctrines) of church Christians are themselves sins and serve to make sinners out of their creators because IT IS A SIN TO INTERPRET GOD’S WORD (2 Pet. 1:20).  Church doctrines (interpretations) are nothing more than man’s (Satan’s) version of God’s Truth.  The Apostle Paul fought against such versions throughout his ministry.  Read Galatians 1:6-9 where he calls such interpretations “perverted” versions of God’s Gospel.

The two groups are as different as light and darkness, life and death.  Understand this: God’s Word does not need to be interpreted in that it interprets itself.  His interpretations (explanations and caveats) are found in His “fine print” which only true Truth seekers are willing to study using His commanded study method as noted in Isaiah 28:9-13.  Note that He states His instructions twice for emphasis.  Using this study method gets the searcher into His “fine print” where the “how to” information relative to His “headlines” are found.  The “headlines” constitute His promises; the “fine print” tells us how to appropriate them.  The focus of this ministry is God’s “fine print” which constitutes most of His Word.  Without such information, the “headlines” are meaningless, much like a safe full of diamonds minus the combination.

Satan’s job is to separate salvation seekers from God by convincing them to sin.  In the Garden of Eden the Serpent’s weapon of choice was TEMPTATION with which he convinced Adam and Eve that they could reject God’s rules of life, create their own rules, and not only get away with it, but to do so forever.  He told them that they could sin and “You shall not surely die”–inherit eternal life.  Nothing has changed.  The same Serpent sells their spiritual descendants that same lie.  His success rate is about the same today.  Let us turn to the first chapter of James to learn how to recognize the work of the devil and learn how to resist his temptations.  As was the case with Jesus, we cannot prevent Satan from tempting us.  And like Him we must overcome Satan as He did in order to join Him on His throne in the Kingdom of God (Rev. 3:21).

In verse two the apostle makes what appears to be a ridiculous statement, telling us that we should ENJOY being tempted by the devil.  In verses three and four he explains that a temptation is a trying of our faith.  Faith, like a muscle, must be “tried” (through resistance) in order to grow and become stronger.  We are told that our faith will grow as we are tempted by the devil and OVERCOME those temptations.  This is where the “joy” comes from.  Overcoming, the Apostle Paul tells us, will make us “worthy of the Kingdom of God” (2 Thes. 1:3-5).  You read it right: WE MUST PROVE OURSELVES WORDHY OF THE LORD’S CALL ON OUR LIVES.  “Only believing” will not get that done.  Satan believes–he’s not getting it done.

Worthiness, as the prophets and apostles tell us, is not granted, it is EARNED THROUGH WORKS OF FAITH.  FIRST AND FORMOST AMONG THOSE WORKS IS TO OVERCOME SATAN’S TEMPTATION TO SIN.  SIN IS REBELLION AGAINST GOD; IT IS GIVING ONESELF THE POWER TO CREATE ONE’S OWN LAW, THEREBY MAKING ONESELF ONE’S OWN GOD, WHICH IS IDOLATRY.  In this series James explains how God-fearing man can (must) overcome as did the Messiah (Rev. 3:21).  Only those who do so will rise in the first resurrection.  Read The Three Resurrections.  Key word–Three.  L.J.