Is it you, your old sinful nature that has yet to be fully removed, or is it an emissary of our adversary, a fallen angel now named a devil?
“Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.” (Psalm 46:10)
The call of the world is the call of Satan, its purpose, his purpose, is to create covetousness, to reveal the path to pride and thereby vainglory, to reveal to all who live, lost, wicked and saved, the availability of the lust of the flesh and of the eyes.
The more we die to self, the closer the Living God draws us to Himself, the more subtle our adversary must become, the offering of blatant, open sin rarely works with those who have been crucified with Christ.
“There is none greater in this house than I; neither hath he kept back any thing from me but thee, because thou art his wife: how then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?” (Gen. 39:9)
“There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.” (1st Cor. 10:13)
I am contemplating here if every opportunity we have to sin is caused by a temptation from our adversary, for sin cannot occur in our lives without a desire of our own to obtain that which we know is in direct contradiction to the will of God.
“Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.” (Romans 3:20)
Yet this is not the Mosaic Law, but the law of love, the love of the Almighty for us. A desire within our minds from the past that we know today as a sin against the Most High was once a temptation that we fell to before we were saved by His grace, but was forgiven at the cross of Christ when we fell on our knees in repentance there.
It is unlikely, knowing it now as sin, that the same temptation would be placed before us by our adversary, for those who are growing in the grace and knowledge of the Lord are not as easily deceived as they once were.
The subtle deceptions must be modified.
The transforming of our minds means, in part, the ability to recognize what sin is, and so this question must be asked, one which we have no answer for. Would Adam have taken of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil without the temptation of our adversary?
The devious plan was to reach the man Adam through his wife Eve, it was her voice that he harkened to. We have a sinful nature because of this one action, a nature that will be removed from us when we are glorified.
“Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.” (Eph. 6:13)
Are there always going to be temptations as long as we are in the flesh, must there always be new ones, new ways to sin, or are our memories enough to cause us to fall? In either case, is it always Satan that is the perpetrator of offered desires that are against the will of God for our lives?
Every sin that we knowingly commit is an offense against our Father in heaven.
“If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” (1st John 1:8)
Our responsibility comes in not succumbing to the temptation, not who brings that temptation upon us.
The availability to sin is the responsibility, so to speak, of Satan, but he cannot make you sin. He had one opportunity, one item in the garden of Eden to work with, today there are untold numbers of ways to fall into temptation.
Without his influence there is no opportunity to sin, this will be proven in ways that we cannot yet understand after we are glorified. The point therefore is not who offers the ability to sin, but our actions in that moment, for we will all give an account before God.
There is sin under the armor of God that you wear, be aware of it.
