So many times people talk about the devil, and give him far more credit than he deserves. "The devil made me do it," is a well known saying. And the truth is, the devil didn't. The devil can't. He doesn't have that power. God, Himself, has kept the power from making us do anything, to allow us free will. So how much less able is Satan able to make us do anything? He can tempt, mislead and outright lie. But it's your own decision to sin and listen to the devil.
Another thing I like to point out. Is while the devil's native tongue is lying, often times we say he is lying, when he actually isn't. The serpent telling Eve that she will "be like God" really wasn't a lie. After all, God knows good and evil. So by learning good and evil, Eve did, technically, become more like God. Of course, her horror upon immediately learning this was that she had done evil by disobeying God. The same is true about when Satan tempted Jesus in the wilderness. He did not lie to Jesus. Instead, quoting scripture, he spoke truth. Jesus was discerning enough to understand that, but that the scripture were not intended to be used the way Satan was claiming. And while not an outright lie, we can all agree he was still misleading. (and some translations word some passages differently, so perhaps there was more outright lying)
That being said, there's another thing Satan says that we often say is a lie, but it really isn't. So often we are told that when Satan says we are not good enough, it's a lie. But is it really? No. Satan, in fact, speaks truth. He speaks scripture when he tells us we are a fallen, broken, shameful, sinful, disgusting piece of human filth who is unworthy of God and His love. All these things are true. And not only are they true, but we need to understand them. We need to understand what are fallen nature means. We need to understand just how wretched we are. How terrible all of humanity is. There is none good among us. Not even one.
This is what makes grace so amazing. Grace isn't that we are good enough, it's that even though we are deserving of eternal punishment, God still chooses to save us. Instead of relying on our own goodness, we are given a way to use Jesus' instead of our own. We are able to use a perfect payment, instead of our own. Our sin is no longer used to judge us, rather it's Christ's own sin that is how we will be judged. And since Christ did no sin, neither will we have any sin to answer for on the day of judgement.
Just as someone forgiven a great debt is far more thankful than someone forgiven a small one, so should we understand that we have a massive debt that we cannot pay. No one can pay. And yet it is forgiven. So often we think ourselves as mostly good. As better than most. If anyone is deserving of God's love and forgiveness, it's you. But that's simply not the case. We have all broken the entire Law. We are all completely sinful. We are all deserving of eternal punishment in Hell.
But those who call upon the name of the Lord will be saved. Those who confess they are sinful and need Jesus as their savior, will be saved. Those who accept the fact that Satan is right, we are deserving of death for our sin, are able to then accept grace and receive salvation instead.
And the freedom of knowing this, is Satan's words no longer cause you pain. Oh Death, where is your sting? Rejoice in your salvation. Because you and I both deserve a fate that is far worse. But God has lovingly chosen to give a way to avoid it. Even though we don't deserve it.
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