Sold Your Soul?

 

That’s not the finality that it is sometimes presented to be in the media, movies, T.V. and in some online discussions. As long as you draw breath, in most instances, you can repent and be saved,

“But though the devil’s power is limited he still has great influence in this world. It is still possible for you to sell your soul to the evil one. This is an important part of how power works in a world ruled by the evil one. Remember, the devil offered Jesus everything if he would just worship him. In other words, the devil wanted Jesus to surrender his soul to him. But Jesus turned him down. It stands to reason that this offer has been made to others and they have taken it up. In fact, this helps to explain why so many talented and gifted people do not rise to prominence in our world and why so many less talented and gifted people do. The key to success in many parts of our culture is not the individual brilliance of giftedness, but the willingness to play according to the system’s rules, and the one who writes the rules is the Lord of Darkness himself.  

But if people think this is a contract they cannot get out of, they have fallen for a lie. Paul tells us in Colossians, that Jesus has broken the power of such debts,

“13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14 by cancelling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. 15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.”[1]

Jesus proved the devil’s power was limited by tricking him into killing him, allowing the devil to think he had won, and then Jesus rose again humiliating him and in large part breaking his power. If you place your trust in the effective work of Jesus’s death and resurrection, the devil’s power has no hold over you, and it even limits further the ways he can attack.

It is not true to say that no matter how much you are given over to the devil, you can still be saved, because Jesus said there is an unforgiveable sin, the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit.^[2] Judas probably qualifies for having committed this kind of sin, because he is the son of perdition^[3] and the devil entered into him^[4] to achieve his most dastardly work. It is certainly the case that he was beyond redemption when he took his own life. Whether or not he could have theoretically repented is somewhat academic. But it can also be said that you can be so given over to the devil that you are a persecutor of Christians, like Paul, and yet you can still come back if you come to repentance.

In fact, if the gospel could not rescue people from the power of Satan, then it would not really be the gospel of Scripture because that is one of its primary purposes. We can show this from many passages, but none more clearly than Acts 26 where Paul recounts why Jesus has called him to ministry and for what purpose,

“16 But rise and stand upon your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you as a servant and witness to the things in which you have seen me and to those in which I will appear to you, 17 delivering you from your people and from the Gentiles—to whom I am sending you 18 to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’”^[5]

The purpose of the gospel is to tell people that God can save them from the power of Satan. The purpose of the missionary is to make sure that people know this. Satan has great power over the lives and destinies of countless Jews and Gentiles, but not if they turn to God. If they turn to God, then this power can be broken.”[6]

In fact this is precisely what we celebrate at Christmas,

“God rest ye merry, gentlemen
Let nothing you dismay
Remember, Christ, our Saviour
Was born on Christmas day
To save us all from Satan's power
When we were gone astray

O tidings of comfort and joy
Comfort and joy
O tidings of comfort and joy

In Bethlehem, in Israel
This blessed Babe was born
And laid within a manger
Upon this blessed morn
The which His Mother Mary
Did nothing take in scorn

O tidings of comfort and joy
Comfort and joy
O tidings of comfort and joy.”

If you know someone in your life who needs to hear this, share this message with them. Share with them how the precious blood of Jesus Christ can redeem them from the power of corruption and evil in this world. Share with them how there is hope, a blessed hope that comes from our Lord Jesus, and him alone. And if you are in the position of having given your soul over to evil explicitly and you are reading this, then know the devil is not the light-bearer or the enlightener, Jesus is the true light of this world that enlightens all mankind.[7] Turn to him while you still can.

 

 

 

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[1] Colossians 2:13-15.

[2] Matthew 12:22-32.

[3] John 17:12.

[4] Luke 22:3.

[5] Acts 26:16-18.

[6] From something I am writing.

[7] John 1:9-13.