Is anyone telling you "If you are the Son of God,..."

Believers whose righteousness is in Christ, when the Holy Spirit inspired Peter to write the words “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8,) he was talking about religious leaders in the church that the devil uses to try to make you feel that you are not really a child of God because you sinned, because you're not doing/giving enough or because you are not righteous enough, usually according to their own standards; those that tell you, just as the devil told Eve, that you have to perform certain tasks in order for you to be godly aka "be like God." 

The bible interprets this for us in Matthew 27 and Psalm 22. As Jesus hung on the cross, the people, including the religious leaders of the day mocked Him - Matt. 27:39-40 – “And those who passed by blasphemed Him, wagging their heads and saying, 

“You who destroy the temple and build it in three days, save Yourself! If You are the Son of God, come down from the cross.”

These highly religious people were echoing the same words that the devil tempted Jesus with in the wilderness “If you are the Son of God…”

Also check out v.41-43 of the same passage – “Likewise the chief priests also, mocking with the scribes and elders, said, “He saved others; Himself He cannot save. If He is the King of Israel, let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe Him. He trusted in God; let Him deliver Him now if He will have Him; for He said, ‘I am the Son of God.’”

Little did they know that they were fulfilling Psalm 22, where King David prophesied the suffering of the Messiah with their words and actions-

7 All those who see Me ridicule Me;

They shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying,

8 “He trusted in the LORD, let Him rescue Him;

Let Him deliver Him, since He delights in Him!”

Verses 12-13 of the same Psalm is where we see that it is the religious leaders that asked Jesus to perform works (save Himself from the cross) in order to prove that He is the Son of God that are the devil going about ‘ like a roaring lion’ seeking whom to devour!

12 Many bulls have surrounded Me;

Strong bulls of Bashan have encircled Me.

13 They gape at Me with their mouths,

Like a raging and roaring lion.

The descendants of these scribes and Pharisees are in the church today, having seemingly high moral standards, preaching the abominable mixture of law and grace- neither cold nor hot; telling and making people perform works to attain righteousness as well as save themselves from the sins and judgment that Christ died that we might FREELY have, all while paying lip-service to Christ as Saviour. 

Believers, the devil will not come at you looking all ugly and scary just as his agents will never come to you “babalawo” style. According to Paul in 2 Corinthians 11:13 - 15, they present themselves as the real deal in Christ! -

“For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works.”

Believers, the devil walking about like a roaring lion seeking whom to devour is any religious leader that makes you doubt that in Christ, you are saved once for all and not by what you did but by what Christ has done (Hebrews 10:11-18;) any leader that tells you that you have to perform some tasks or do good deeds in order to prove yourself to be a child of God or make yourself righteous in His sight. Such echo the devil's "If you are the Son of God;" any leader that tells you that God surely cannot love or bless you because of your kind of sins and addictions so you need to transform yourself into the kind of person that God blesses. 

Believers, the reason Jesus came is to deliver you from these same sins and addictions! How could He use the very sins He came to save you from as an excuse for not saving you? This is akin to an oncologist father refusing to treat his own beloved child who has cancer because the child has cancer. If you can stop sinning on your own, you don’t need Jesus!

The reason we are not committing particular sins like those we deem to be "core sinners" is because we have not been tempted at those points. If temptation comes, no one will be able to stand in their own power. Peter KNEW that he could stand in his own strength as he boasted of his love for Christ. He was so sure that he would not deny our Lord Jesus; but he failed, denying our Lord three times; the first time because of a simple servant girl, not like someone put a gun to his head yet. The arm of flesh will fail. Let's remember that next time we turn our noses up at "core sinners." We would be them were it not for God's goodness and mercy.

Instead of doing the devil's work for him after Eve's example (telling people that they will be godly aka "be like God" if they do certain things like feed on the law which gives the knowledge of good and evil,) point all to Christ who died to give us life, make us righteous and to redeem us from every lawless deed.

Grace (Christ personified) did not come to make it okay for people who are drowning (sinners) to continue to wallow in the sins that are causing them to drown. Sinners will surely die if they continue to wallow in sin. Sin destroys. Christ saves from sin. Grace came to save the drowning and free the sinner from the sins that hold him captive. Titus 2:14 says of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ

"He gave His life to free us from every kind of sin, to cleanse us, and to make us His very own people, totally committed to doing good deeds."

He does it all. In Him, we want and get to live right, yet not us but Christ in us. Those puny efforts at keeping the Ten Commandments only serve to cut one off from Christ. Galatians 5:4 says "For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law, you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God’s grace."

There is no salvation without Grace.

John 3:16 tells us all we need to do to be saved; to be in right standing with God – BELIEVE! And even this is not by our strength, lest any man should boast. We are saved by Grace through faith.

The Holy Spirit will teach you all things.

Believe Right and you will Live Right!