All that is in the world...

by Phil Johnson

eople love to blame the world or the devil when they do wrong, but there is never a time when other people—or even Satan himself—can lure us into sin unless our own fleshly depravity yields and cooperates with the world and the devil.

"There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it" (1 Corinthians 10:13).

When Satan is successful in tempting us, it is invariably because we yield. We cannot escape the blame for our sin by claiming it was Satan or the world—rather than our own fleshliness—that drove us to sin. The world, the flesh and the devil all work together to tempt us, but when we sin, it is by definition our own fault.

During one of my trips to India a few years ago I met a college student who approached me after a meeting where I taught. He said he believed he was suffering under an intense Satanic attack, and he wondered if I knew of any special methods of spiritual warfare that could help rid his home and family of Satanic influences.

So I asked about the nature of the attack he was under. He said he was finding it impossible to get along with his mother. He said the two of them hardly ever spoke a civil word to one another, and it was destroying the peace of their household. He said he found it hard to study the Bible or grow spiritually as long as evil tension ruled the home environment. He was hoping I would tell him how he could get Satan out of his household.

I first asked him what made him think this problem was uniquely Satanic. As he described it to me, it sounded much more like raw carnal pride on both his part and his mother's. They were constantly saying unkind and unloving things to one another. He admitted that he purposely did things he knew would annoy her. He spoke disrespectfully to her. He stated quite clearly that he couldn't stand her and didn't like being around her. It sounded like an unbridled case of youthful rebellion on his part, rather than a satanic attack.

So I told him that. I said, "It sounds to me like you're just behaving in a fleshly way. I think you need to look into your own heart for the culprit, rather than blaming the devil and outside influences."

But he insisted that I just didn't understand the issue. It must be Satanic, he said, because the nature of his conflict with his mother was so powerful. And besides, he said, living with her was like living with the devil. And when I raised my eyebrow at that, he quickly added that he couldn't help himself; the temptation to speak hatefully to her and about her was so overpowering, it was as if evil forces had taken over his mind.

I told him first of all, that regardless of Satan's involvement in his home, the root sin causing his problems was fleshly, carnal pride. I also reminded him that when he sinned with his tongue, he was sinning deliberately of his own accord, so he couldn't escape his own responsibility by blaming Satan for the turmoil in his household.

But I told him I agreed that his trouble was probably also demonic. After all, James 3:6 says, "The tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell." I also reminded him that according to 1 Samuel 15:23, "Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry." By indulging in that kind of rebellion, he was committing a sin as evil and as satanic as witchcraft. He was opening his own heart and life to Satan's influence, and he was giving Satan every opportunity to take advantage of him.



And then I told him, "I'm going to let you in on a secret. I'm going to give you a foolproof technique for spiritual warfare that is the most powerful and most potent defense against Satan you could ever employ. If you do what I say, and follow these instructions every time you are tempted to speak an unkind word to your mother, I guarantee this will solve your problem.

So he took out his pen and a piece of paper and prepared to take notes. And when he was looking at me expectantly, ready for the answer, I quoted James 4:7: "Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." And Ephesians 4:26-27: "Let not the sun go down upon your wrath: Neither give place to the devil."

"If Satan doesn't flee," I said—"if he is successful in luring you into sin—it is always because your own wicked heart agrees with him and cooperates with him, and so you do whatever sinful thing he has tempted you to do. When that happens, instead of blaming it on influences beyond your control, you need to repent, and admit your own fleshly complicity with the devil, and resist him rather than cooperating with him."

"Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour . . . resist [him, and remain] stedfast in the faith" (1 Peter 5:8-9).

I could tell he wasn't pleased with my reply. He desperately wanted me to agree that his problems were caused entirely by the devil, and that therefore the whole problem was completely outside his own heart and beyond his own control. If I had offered to come to his house and conduct some kind of ceremonial exorcism, I'm sure he would have taken me up on it immediately. But he was not prepared to admit that he was in any way culpable for the disharmony in his own home.

We'd all like to believe that our struggle with sin involves only external enemies. We're willing to say that Satan is to blame for our sin. We'd be just as happy to blame the world—or any convenient scapegoat in the world—as long as it's an external cause. As long as we don't have to take the blame on ourselves.

But the ultimate culprit is always our own flesh. We cannot escape blame for our sin by saying, "The devil made me do it," or "the world is to blame."

Even our struggle with the world is a struggle that is fomented by inordinate desires that emanate from within ourselves. "All that is in the world [is] the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life." Have you ever thought about that? That's how Scripture defines "the world," but those are actually sinful tendencies that come from within us. We ourselves are ultimately to blame when inordinate worldly affections crowd out what should be a pure love for God and the things of God. Neither the world nor the devil could ever take advantage of us if our own flesh did not cooperate.

---