Most people think the devil is just a fictional character who carries a pitchfork, has a couple horns, a long tail, and is fire engine red. When it comes down to it, people do not confess to believing in a very present and active enemy of our souls. The funny thing is, Jesus and his disciples warn the early church about this individual in very frightening and realistic terms. Peter warns, "Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith…" (1 Pet. 5:8-9a). Is this person known as Satan or the devil really after us today? Paul warns the Christians at Corinth about not being outwitted by Satan, saying, "for we are not ignorant of his designs" (2 Cor. 2:11b). Is this character we call the devil really designing and scheming things against us? Paul calls the church at Ephesus to be spiritually armed and ready for, "the flaming darts of the evil one" (Eph. 6:16b). Is there really a such thing as an evil one taking shots at us to the point that we have to be on guard and spiritually prepared? Paul also states, "And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled only to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God." (2 Cor. 4:3-4). Is there really a threat that this "evil one" is going around blinding people's minds so that they do not come to Jesus? Paul also writes, "God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will" (2 Tim. 2:25b-26). Is this devil really capable of ensnaring and capturing people to obey him or is this all a bunch of myth?
Satan or the devil is also known as "the accuser" of the church according to John. For those who do not live for Jesus, he is actively working in your life to withhold from you the life-changing power of the gospel. For believers, Satan is actively reminding you of your former lifestyle before you met Jesus and wants you to sincerely believe that nothing about you has really changed. He wants you to think you've just traded addictions…the addiction of alcohol or internet porn or pre-marital sex for the addiction of Jesus. He wants to make you stumble just one time and then, he floods your mind with thoughts that you are indeed the same old person. When you are around other believers, his work is to convince you that everyone else's life is perfect, while you are still a slave to your old ways. Eventually, if you are not careful, you start believing his accusations. You begin to sense that God is not really who you thought He always was. You start questioning if all this Jesus stuff really is just a temporary fad.
It is for you that Paul wrote the following words: "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ, for the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death. For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit." (Rom. 8:1-4).
Because of the cross of Christ, the accuser of believers is finally silenced. The enemy of our hearts has no more grounds of accusation. It is as if we were in a courtroom and the one accusing us so vehemently was suddenly silenced by one piece of verifiable proof of our innocence. The proof that we are innocent is our faith in the crucified and risen Savior Jesus Christ. Our accuser has been silenced and has no evidence to stand on. You say, "but he does have evidence that I'm the same old person…I still sin". True you still sin, but do you sin in the same way you did before you met Jesus? I mean, really the same way? Do you leap into sin without the convicting power of the Holy Spirit? Can you continue in a habit of sin on a regular day-in and day-out basis with no power to repent? For the believer, the answer is no. Although oftentimes we struggle against the same sins we once gave into, the fact of the matter is we struggle. People who fight against what they want are either clinically insane or are born again Christians who still carry with them a sin nature. Just before Paul stated the above words to the believers in Rome, he confessed his difficulty living a life of holiness with indwelling sin. Unlike what some teach in the Holiness movement, we cannot attain to sinless perfection in this life.
If you are a born again believer who loves the Lord Jesus and loves your church body, you are above the accusations of the Enemy. If your faith is in the blood of Jesus alone to atone for your sins, nothing can separate you from the fellowship you have with God through the Person and work of Christ. As the hymn records,
"Now why this fear and unbelief?
Has not the Father put to grief
His spotless Son for us?
And will the righteous Judge of men
condemn me for that debt of sin
now cancelled at the cross?"
If at the cross, God condemned Jesus for your sins. If at the cross the Son willingly bore the sins of the world in obedience to the Father, you are free from the condemning power of Satan because of the interceding power of Christ. You're righteousness before God is not in the things you do here on earth, but in the Person who stands before your Father in Heaven right now…Jesus Christ.
"Before the throne of God above
I have a strong and perfect plea
My great High Priest whose name is Love
Who ever intercedes for me
My name is written on his hands
My name is graven on his heart
I know that while in heaven he stands
No tongue can bid me thence depart
No tongue can bid me thence depart"
When you stumble and sin, after you have confessed your sins to God and those involved and repented of your sins, do not let the Enemy convince you that you are forbidden from the presence of God. No tongue can bid you to depart from your fellowship with God. Its all because of Jesus you stand before God forgiven, accepted, loved and welcomed. Its all because of Jesus that no accusations can withhold you from your Savior and Lord.
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