Who Is Your Father?

Articles

Ross Triplett
03/29/19 - Articles

Who Is Your Father?

When dealing with Satan and sin, we understand that the characteristics of Satan are exposed in God’s word. The scriptures tell us that Satan: can quote scripture; appeals to human wisdom; takes advantage of man’s weaknesses; desires the souls of man; and does anything in his power to draw people away from God to worship and serve him.

The consequences of sin are physically devastating. When we look into the scriptures, we see how sin resulted in the death of the son of David and Bathsheba. The sin of Herod, when he took his brother Philips wife, resulted in the murder of John the Baptist, and ultimately the sin of Judas Iscariot, after he had betrayed Jesus, resulted in him committing suicide. As devastating as sin is, physically, the far more significant devastation is spiritual. Sin separates man from his Creator. The scriptures tell us, “For the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). Death is a separation. Physically: “the body apart from the spirit is dead” (James 2:26). Spiritually, “your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, so that he will not hear” (Isaiah 59:2).

God is concerned about His creation. So concerned that his Son “became flesh, and dwelt among us” (John 1:14), and suffered death on our behalf that we might be reconciled to God through him (2 Corinthians 5:18-19). God also tells us that “in none other is there salvation: for neither is there any other name under heaven, that is given among men, wherein we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). Satan would have us believe that any religion is fine, or that good moral living will suffice. God however requires two things: that we know him and obey him. Paul referred to “the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven with the angels of his power in flaming fire, rendering vengeance to them that know not God, and to them that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus: who shall suffer punishment, even eternal destruction from the face of the Lord and from the glory of his might” (2 Thessalonians 1:7-9).

The next time you think about sin, remember that it was sin that caused the death of Jesus. Our sins. It is sin that causes broken homes, crime, and war. And remember that Satan is the father of it all.

Remember the words of Jesus, who said, “If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I came forth and am come from God; for neither have I come of myself, but he sent me. Why do ye not understand my speech? [Even] because ye cannot hear my word. Ye are of [your] father the devil, and the lusts of your father it is your will to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and standeth not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father thereof” (John 8:42-44). Whom do you want to call Father? ret