What I John 3:9 does mean, however, is that sin is of Satan, not of God. As long as we continue sinning, no matter how firmly we profess to be a Christian, we are not serving God in the questionable area but are serving the devil. We can be delivered from every bondage if we will turn to the Lord.

In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother. (I John 3:10)

The children of God are those who resist the devil and practice righteousness. This we can do provided we walk carefully in the Holy Spirit, laying hold on the virtue that is in Christ.

Satan promises us power and glory if we will worship him. But all we will receive is remorse, grief, broken health, the destruction of those who were trusting in us, early physical death, eternal separation from God, and everlasting torment in the Lake of Fire.

Only God is able to give us true power and true glory. He has promised to us both power and glory if we will lay hold on the grace of God to the point of overcoming the world, the sins of our flesh, and our self-will.

And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. (Luke 4:8)

When we are approached and it is suggested to us that we worship and serve Satan by disobeying the Holy Spirit and the Scriptures, no matter what area of lust, of personal advantage, of covetousness, of murder, or of occult practices may be involved, there is only one answer: "Get behind me, Satan, for I am a servant of Christ. I choose to serve Him and to resist the deeds, words, motives and imaginations that the Word of God declares to be unholy and against God's will."

If Adam and Eve had resisted Satan in this manner, think of the agony that would have been spared the peoples of the earth!

So it is with us. Our decisions for righteousness will prove to be the source of deliverance and blessing for multitudes of people—perhaps many of them yet unborn.

But if we decide to yield to Satan our decisions may become the source of agony and death for the same multitude.

He who is not for Christ is against Him. He who gathers not with Christ, scatters. There is no middle ground.

The first area of redemption is initial salvation. The first temptation of Christ had to do with bread. The question is that of human survival. Must we come to Christ in order to be saved from destruction or can we save ourselves by our own resources?

The second area of redemption is sanctification. Sanctification is death to our sinful nature and resurrection into the life lived in the power and holy ways of the Holy Spirit. The second temptation of Christ had to do with the worship of Satan. Are our actions, our words, and our motives and imaginations holy or unholy? Are they part of God's Person or not part of God's Person?

To be continued.