It is impossible for the Christian to overcome Satan when he is walking in known sin or disobeying God in any manner. The disobedience of Achan was enough to bring down Israel to defeat. The one sin of Adam and Eve resulted in six thousand years of agony and death.

The blood of the Lord Jesus Christ gives us victory over Satan. Through the blood we overcome Satan. The blood of Jesus covers our iniquities so God is able to receive us. But God does not intend this to be a permanent solution to the rebellion, to the lawlessness of people. The covering of the blood is a temporary provision designed to serve until the other aspects of Divine grace have brought forth the new creation of righteousness and obedience.

Today the blood is being presented as the means God has provided to enable the untransformed human personality to walk in fellowship with God, an alternative to actual change in character. To make the blood of the cross of Calvary an alternative to an actual change in character is a gross perversion of the Gospel. The fruit of such teaching is multitudes of self-centered, sinful believers who refuse to accept the standards of discipleship laid down by Christ. (Why should we give up our pleasures and desires when the atoning blood prevents God from seeing our conduct?)

Those who perceive the blood of the Lord Jesus as the means of overcoming Satan, the authority to destroy out of their personalities all the works of Satan, and who act on that perception, are the victorious saints. They are the second stage in putting down the rebellion against God, the Lord Jesus being the first stage. The remainder of the believers are attempting to utilize the blood as the means of continuing in rebellion and yet remaining acceptable to God.

We overcome by the blood of the Lamb and also by the word of our testimony. The earth is a stage and every human being is an actor on that stage. The purpose of the drama is that God may portray to all His creatures the consequences of rebellion against His will and wisdom.

Every word and deed of every person is a testimony to the heavens and to the earth. The lawless individual is testifying of his lack of trust in God's Character and Word, of his willingness to defy God, of his desire that His Creator not interfere with his self-will and his lusts. Such a testimony is pleasing to Satan, for this is how he behaves.

The Christian who clings to his sins and self-will is testifying to the heavens and the earth of his love for the person, will, and ways of Satan. His personality is stating, because of his willful choosing of disobedience or because of his deception or his surrender to demonic urges, that God is not worthy of his love, trust or obedience. He hopes he will be received through God's mercy, but his behavior is proof that sin and self-centeredness are of greater value to him than is reliance on God's Character and Word.

To be continued.