Christ Church

Hope that Purifies

Joe Harby on

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Introduction

Everything God does in our world is aimed at glorifying His name through the salvation of sinners like us. He declared his saving intentions right after the Fall, in the first pages of Scripture. He unfolded more and more details as the era of the patriarchs and prophets went on, and then, when it was time for the curtain to rise on the gospel itself, Zechariah and Elizabeth heard the overture, and then Gabriel himself appeared to Mary. But why? What was the point? The point was to deal with sin.

The Text

“And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus: for he shall save his people from their sins” (Matt. 1:21)

“And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure” (1 John 3:3)

“Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord” (Heb. 12:14)

Summary of the Texts

When Joseph found out Mary was pregnant, and he knew that he was not the father, he was mulling over what to do (Matt. 1:19). While he was considering these things, an angel of the Lord appeared to him and reassured him. That which is conceived in her is by the Holy Spirit, the angel said. The name of her son will be called Jesus, and the reason for this is that He will save His people from their sins. The Greek name Jesus is the equivalent to the Hebrew Joshua, which means God is salvation. And so the angel said to Joseph, you shall call His name God is salvation for He will save His people from their sins.

The apostle John notes that God has shown us great love in that He has called us sons of God. Because the world doesn’t know Him, it doesn’t know us (1 John 3:1). We have just begun our transformation to be like Him, and when He comes again, that will happen (v. 2). Everyone who hopes this way is hoping for that final purification. And you cannot hope for purification this way without it having a purifying effect (v. 3).

God has decided not to purify us all in one instantaneous moment. He has determined to do it over time, subjecting us to His loving discipline. He disciplines us so that we might be partakers of His holiness (Heb. 12:10). So pursue peace, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord (v. 14). The direction is real holiness.

The Problem

We are told in Scripture, in no uncertain terms, that God’s whole point in sending His Son into this world was to accomplish our salvation from sin. He liberates us from sin, which is the condition of not being like God at all, to holiness, which is the condition of partaking in what He is like. This is a momentous liberation, and for it to occur it was necessary for Jesus to take on a human body that could die, live a perfect, sinless life in that incarnate state, die on the cross, and to come back from the dead. The reason He did this was to bring you from somewhere to somewhere. He did not do all this aimlessly.

But holiness has somehow gotten a bad reputation. Who wants to be a holy Joe? It has gotten this reputation because we have not looked at the scriptural descriptions of it, and have allowed certain posers to step in. We pretend that we don’t like those posers, but they are really very convenient for us.

If someone, a preacher, say, declares that “without holiness no one will see the Lord,” we say, “yes, but . . .”

  • Yes, but I don’t want to be like those dour people in that legalistic church I grew up in. Well, who asked you to?
  • Yes, but I don’t want to be like that smarmy goody two-shoes who is photogenic enough to garner every faculty award known to man. Well, who asked you to?
  • Yes, but I don’t want to slip into a works-righteousness mentality. Well, who asked you to?

Holiness is not what we sometimes want to pretend it is. Holiness is being like God. Does He have issues? Does He have problems?

Understanding the Options

Think of it this way; let’s look at teenagers growing up in biblical homes in order to make the point stick. There is actual holiness and there is looking like you are pursuing it. Given these two variables, we have four options.

  • Someone can want to not be holy, but want to look like he is pursuing it. This is the hypocrite, Pharisaism junior grade.
  • Someone can want to not be holy, and want to look like he doesn’t want to be holy. This is the open heathen.
  • Someone can actually want to be holy, just so long as it doesn’t look like he wants to pursue it. This is the poor white kid who tries to stay out of actual big-time sinning, and who gets a nose stud five years after the trend-setters among 7-11 clerks quit wearing them.
  • Someone can want to be holy, and he doesn’t mind who knows it. This is the open Christian. He doesn’t want to sidle into holiness, without which no one will see the Lord. He doesn’t want to sneak into holiness, without which no one will see the Lord. He wants to be with the Lord, and to be like the Lord. There is nothing to be ashamed of here.

What Holiness Is

We were told earlier that the Lord disciplines us so that we might become partakers of His holiness (Heb. 12:10). His holiness is the pinnacle of all His attributes. The seraphim do not cry out, Patience, patience, patience, or Righteousness, righteousness, righteousness. Rather, they cover their faces and feet and cry out Holy, holy, holy. As white light is the sum total of all the colors in the spectrum, so holiness is the sum total of all that God is like.

Among other things, personal holiness is the point. Jesus did not come into this world in order to create a bunch of boring little Christlings, ashamed to be with Him. No, we are after Christians. How does Paul labor? “Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory: Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus: Whereunto I also labour, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily” (Col. 1: 26-29).

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The Knowledge of Good and Evil

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Introduction

The Lord Jesus was born in this world in order to reestablish mankind. The first mankind in Adam had failed at the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and so Jesus was born into this world in order to rebuild the ruin we had created here. Our celebrations at this time of year are dedicated to a remembrance of what He came in order to do. And as we remember, and understand it more fully, that work which He has accomplished is actually advanced in our midst. As you set up a Christmas tree in your living room, remember that in Scripture a tree can be a place of great folly or of great wisdom. Adam disobeyed at a tree, and Jesus obeyed on one.

The Text

“But the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die” (Gen. 2:17).

“But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil” (Heb. 5:14).

Background to the Texts

We all know that there was one prohibited tree in the Garden of Eden, the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Note that the tree of life was not prohibited (Gen. 2:16), but once sin had entered the world it went off limits— lest we should eat from it in a rebellious condition and live forever that way, unredeemable (Gen. 3:22, 24). So God in His mercy barred the way to the tree of life, until it was opened up again in and through the gospel (Rev. 2:7). But what about the tree of the knowledge of good and evil?

So we need to take a moment to consider what that phrase means, and what it does not mean. The two basic alternatives are that it was bad for us to have knowledge of the difference between good and evil, period, or that the prohibition was temporary, and the sin was in grasping for something prematurely. We should be able to see that it was the latter by how God responds to the situation when our first parents disobeyed.
And it cannot mean experience of sin. The Lord said, “Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil” (Gen. 3:22). The serpent earlier had promised that this knowledge would make them “as God” (or gods), “knowing good and evil” (Gen. 3:5). Millennia later, the author of Hebrews does not identify this ability to distinguish sin from righteousness in itself, but rather with maturity, with the capacity to handle “strong meat.”

Too many Christians assume that a pre-fall lack of the knowledge of good and evil was a total blank innocence, no ethical categories at all. But if this were the case then how would Adam have been able to fall into sin? How would he have known it was evil to eat from the prohibited tree? No, the knowledge of good and evil here has to mean something more than a simple knowledge of the difference between right and wrong.

Preparation for Rule

God had created mankind to rule over creation and all creatures (Gen. 1:27-30). In learning how to judge and rule the created order, man really would be like God (Ecc. 12:14). Entering into that rule would have been a transition from immaturity to maturity, and not a transition from moral cluelessness into an ability to tell right from wrong. Kings make judgments. They have to be able to discern right and wrong in the case before them.

Now it is quite true that the Bible often speaks of “good” and “evil” in the simple moral categories of individuals learning to love good and hate evil. But when we talk about this kind of discernment, we are talking about the ability to tell good from almost good, to discern the difference between white and off-white. Because God created us for rule, He created us for this. And when our first parents ate this forbidden fruit, they were grabbing for rule prematurely, before God gave it to them as a gift.

What Children Don’t Do, What Kings Do

Consider the language of Scripture. “Moreover your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, and your children, which in that day had no knowledge between good and evil, they shall go in thither . . .” (Dt. 1:39; cf. Jer. 4:22). This was true of a type of the Messiah, the child born in fulfillment of the promise to Isaiah. “Behold a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel . . . for before the child shall know to refuse the evil, and choose the good, the land that thou abhorrest shall be forsaken of both her kings” (Is. 7:14-16). Extreme old age prevents a man from being able to serve as a judge between good and evil, as Barzillai observed: “I am this day fourscore years old: and can I discern between good and evil . . .?” (2 Sam. 19:35).

And how did Solomon please the Lord when a vision was given to him at Gibeon? Even though he sacrificed in the high places, he did love the Lord (1 Kings 3:3). When the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream and told him to ask for whatever he would have, Solomon’s answer pleased the Lord (1 Kings 3:10). So what did Solomon ask for? He said first that he was “but a little child” (1 Kings 3:7), and so what deficiency did he think needed to be corrected? “Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad: for who is able to judge this thy so great a people” (1 Kings 3:10)?

Growing Up in Jesus

We are called to understand the world so that we might grow up into a maturity that is capable of ruling the world. The author of Hebrews knows and understands the creation mandate. He quotes Ps. 8, and says that we do not yet see everything subject to mankind—but we do see Jesus (Heb, 2:9). The world to come is not subject to angels, but to mankind (Heb. 2:5ff). Mankind in Christ is therefore being fitted for godly rule (Heb. 5:14). Because we grabbed the forbidden fruit out of order, we have needed to be retro-fitted for it, but this is what is happening.

In the child Jesus, given to us at Christmas, our response should be the same as that of the wise men. We look at a little child and we see a king. And all around you, you should see princes.

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Gratitude and its Alternative

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Introduction

This Lord’s Day is the first after our Thanksgiving holiday, and is also the first Sunday in Advent. Because we want to stand against what might be called morbid penitentialism, we want this season to be suffused with a glad anticipation. The only conviction we want to awaken would be a spirit of penitence for things we should be repentant for at any time of year. At the same time, if you hear His voice today, do not harden your hearts.

The Text

“Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light” (Eph. 5:14).

Background to the Text

For many evangelicals the parable of the wise and foolish virgins, and wedding preparedness, is related to the doctrine of the Second Coming. But some of you may have noticed that in our Cantus, this seems to be an image that is often used in the context of Advent. For example, consider Behold the Bridegroom Cometh (p. 218), How Lovely Shines the Morning Star (pp. 220-223), and Wake, Awake for Night is Flying (pp. 228-229). Why do we do this? Why think about the Wedding Feast of the Lamb during our preparations for Christmas? The reason is that wisdom can be described as having the end in mind at the very beginning. When Mary was holding Jesus as a baby in her arms, she was told about the crucifixion (Luke 2:35). When she was pregnant and visiting Elizabeth, she exulted in the end of the matter, in the fact that the mighty would in fact be pulled out of their seats (Luke 1:52). She anticipated the end at the beginning. And this is what we want to do in the course of Advent. We know the whole story, and we should live and act as those who know the whole story.

Summary of the Text

The text is an invitation to the unbeliever, closed up in sleep of his sins, to wake up. When he wakes up it is from a condition of spiritual death, and the light of Christ will shine upon him. In the surrounding verses, we have a description of the nature of that death, as well as a series of exhortations to Christians on how to relate to it. Christians are told first that fornication and other forms of uncleanness should not even be named among them (v. 3). He then says that they should not be crude in their joking either (v. 4), but instead they should give thanks. That kind of unclean living is not a trifle; those who live that way will not inherit the kingdom of Christ and of God (vv. 5-6). Christians are then told not to be “partakers” with them (v. 7), just as they will be told not to have fellowship with those works (v. 11). That this partaking has to do with speech is clear (v. 12). Believers used to be that way (vv. 8–10), and should not long for the old ways. That is darkness, and they are now in the light. We are supposed to reprove such works (v. 11), and the reproof is supposed to consist of the light that we shine (v. 13). So this is how unbelievers have the light of Christ shine on them—through us (vv. 13-14). Because of the evil of the surrounding darkness, we should be careful to walk carefully, as those who are wise (v. 15). Time is limited, the days are evil, and so the time should be wisely used (v. 16). We should be wise enough to understand what the Lord’s will is (v. 17). We should not drink to excess, even at Christmas parties, but instead be filled by the Spirit’s work (v. 18). We can tell this has happened because of how we speak (v. 19), and the speaking of psalms, hymns and spiritual songs is the way that we give thanks for all things to God in the name of Jesus (v. 20).

This, Not That

It is really interesting to note how Paul reasons here. For another example of it, Paul says that a thief should quit stealing, and should work with his hands instead (Eph. 4:28). This tells us that Paul thinks that this is a basic alternative.

Hard work drives out dishonesty with property and dishonesty with property drives out hard work.

Here he says that our language should not be characterized by coarse jesting, but instead by thanksgiving (v. 4). Gravitation toward dirty jokes, foul movies, crude entertainment, and so forth is a principal indicator of an ungrateful and discontented soul. Further, a soul that is overflowing with thanksgiving in the way described in this passage (vv. 4, 20) will naturally recoil from filth. If your nose works, no one has to “make a rule” requiring you stop smelling putrid things. And if you consistently gravitate toward putrid things, this means that your sense of smell is shot. What must you do instead? You must give yourself to the giving of thanks. And if this is something you cannot do, then wake up, oh, sleeper, and Christ will shine on you. If thanksgiving arrives, then crudity is gone.

Evangelistic Confusion

More than a few Christians think that in order to be effective evangelistically, they have to minimize differences between themselves and the unbelievers. They have to fit in, they have to share entertainment standards, they have to go along to show that they don’t think “they are better than other folks.” But the end of this strategy is that you are telling an unbeliever to wake up because the room you are asleep in is just as dark as his.

Sing the Story

In Romans 1, Paul tells us that the unbelieving man hates two things above everything else. He does not want to honor God as God, and he does not want to give Him thanks. Our task, in this dark and sinful generation, should therefore be to honor God as God as much as we can, and to thank Him as much as we can.

And so here is the glorious thing. During the Christmas season, because of our Christian heritage (which the secularists are busy trying to eradicate and outlaw, see above), we still have an open invitation to honor God as God, and to give Him thanks. We can shine the light of the whole story. The sovereign God who arranged for the birth of Jesus at Bethlehem is obviously in control of everything—stars, wicked kings, pagan astrologers, shepherds, and all the rest of history. Tell the story. And He is also the one who did this for us men, and for our salvation. With thanksgiving, sing the story.

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Romans 65: The Commandment Of The Everlasting God (16:21-27)

Joe Harby on

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Introduction

We now come to the final blessing, the final benediction. In this letter, Paul has given us a mere synopsis of his gospel, and that synopsis is overwhelming. If the entire gospel were to be laid out for us all at once, we would be crushed by the glory of it. Never forget that God is in the universe business; we are not servants of some local baal or tribal deity. As Thomas Chalmers once put it, “Regardless of how large, your vision is too small.” Far too small.

The Text

“Timotheus my workfellow, and Lucius, and Jason, and Sosipater, my kinsmen, salute you. I Tertius, who wrote this epistle, salute you in the Lord. Gaius mine host, and of the whole church, saluteth you. Erastus the chamberlain of the city saluteth you, and Quartus a brother. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen. Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began, But now is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith: To God only wise, be glory through Jesus Christ for ever. Amen” (Rom. 16:21-27).

Summary of the Text

Paul has sent his greetings to his friends in Rome, and he now sends greetings from those who are with him. He begins with Timothy, Lucius, Jason, and Sosipater (v. 21). Paul’s secretary, the man who did the actual writing of Romans, a man named Tertius, sent his greetings (v. 22). Gaius, the host of this apostolic entourage, and of the whole church as well, sent his greetings (v. 23). Erastus, a city official, presumably of Corinth, sent his greetings, as did a brother named Quartus (v. 23). Paul appends a benediction to this set of greetings (v. 24). He then turns to deliver a powerful benediction, one encompassing all of them, in accordance with all that he has said thus far (v. 24). He commends everything to Him who has the power to establish the Romans according to Paul’s gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, and this in accordance with the revealing of the mystery, a mystery kept secret from the beginning of the world (v. 25). But that which had been hidden is now made manifest (v. 26). That which was secret is now made known to all nations (so that they might obey) by the Scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God (v. 26). We render glory to the only wise God, and we do so through Jesus Christ, and we will do so forever (v. 27). And amen (v. 27).

Apostolic Entourage

You can learn a lot about the center by looking at the group standing around it. You can learn a lot about Paul by looking at the kind of men he collects to work with him. Just as Jesus gathered disparate characters—like Levi the tax collector and Simon the John Bircher—so also with Paul. Timothy had been his co-laborer for many years. We don’t know much about Lucius, Jason, and Sosipater. All we know about Tertius is that he worked as a secretary taking dictation, and that the apostle Paul dictated this letter. Paul was hosted by Gaius, but he was a most hospitable man. He hosted the whole church. There was Quartus, another man we know nothing about, and Erastus, a city official. His position is described as, literally, city economist, probably the treasurer. We can see from this that the Pauline strategy for the Roman Empire as a whole was “infiltration without compromise,” and not, as some would have it, “separation for the sake of perfection.” This kind of thing happens naturally if we pray for, and evangelize, everybody (1 Tim. 2:1-2; Acts 26:29). Politics is dirty, sure enough, but so are monasteries. So is dirt, but we still walk around on it.

Kept Secret in the Types

For the apostle Paul, a mystery is not something we do not yet know. It was something that was not widely or fully known from the creation to the resurrection of Jesus. Some, like angels and prophets, knew it partially (1 Pet. 1: 10-12), but for the most part God kept His plans for the world hidden away in secret. How did He do this? How is it now manifest?

When Christ rose from the dead, and His followers went out to preach that resurrection, they were not simply reporting on a remarkable fact, but were also preaching Christ as the great Antitype of all the types and shadows. When Paul refers to the “mysteries,” he is talking in part about Adam, and David, and Sarah and Hagar, and Abraham and all the other types (1 Cor. 4:1; 1 Cor. 13:2; Eph. 3:9; Eph. 5:32; Col. 1:26-27). A typological reading of the Old Testament is certainly dangerous—and absolutely necessary to the health of gospel preaching. In order to guard ourselves against fantastical interpretations, what do we do? How do we stick close to the interpretive shore? Christ is the shore, and the Scriptures of the prophets are the map. And if it is not aimed at the obedience of faith for all the nations, then it is an erroneous reading of the text.

Eternity in their Hearts

Christians are to be established by the gospel, and not by middle age. Christians are to feed on the preaching of Jesus Christ, Lord of Heaven and earth, and they are to glory in the sweep of God’s redemptive design for the whole world.

God has established eternity in the heart of man. He has put the world in our heart, and He does not want us settling for the petty (Ecc. 3:11). We are certainly to glory in the mundane, knowing that nothing is really ever mundane. So why are so many submerged in their pettiness, and blowing bubbles in it? God created you for more. Lift up your heads.

You will live forever. Shouldn’t your goal be loftier than getting teen-aged boys to look at your body at the pool? How hard could that be? God intends that you be more than a curvy little dope. Shouldn’t your goal be more noble than getting the papers from this side of the desk to that side of the desk? God intended that you do more with your life than just shuffle stuff around. Shouldn’t you be less concerned about the muddy footprints your kid left on the entry mat, and more concerned about the muddy footprints you are leaving on his heart? God intended for you to be great in the law of kindness. We are all of us small, but we were not designed to be petty.

And nothing better than the book of Romans to lift you up out of yourself. Amen and amen.

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Romans 64: The God Of Peace Who Crushes (16:17-20)

Joe Harby on

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Introduction

In this small portion of the last chapter of Romans, the apostle arranges a number of profound and important truths. If we have eyes to see the sweep of redemptive history, we will get it. If we do not, then we are missing some crucial aspects of the gospel.

The Text

“Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them. For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple. For your obedience is come abroad unto all men. I am glad therefore on your behalf: but yet I would have you wise unto that which is good, and simple concerning evil. And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen” (Rom. 16:17-20).

Summary of the Text

Paul then pleads with the Romans, and what he asks them to do is identify those who are schismatic, and to have nothing to do with them (v. 17). These are men who, despite their presence within the church, do not serve Jesus Christ, but rather worship their own belly (v. 18). They are deceptive and dangerous (v. 18). Paul knows that the obedience of the Roman church is known to all men (v. 19), and he is glad for this. But at the same time, he has a caution for them—they should be good-wise and evil-simple (v. 19). If they are, then the God of peace will fulfill His glorious promise (Gen. 3:15) through them, and bruise Satan under their feet shortly (v. 20). Paul then pronounces a benediction over them (v. 20).

Division and Dividers

There is a kind of simplistic liberalism that wants to evaluate everything as though right and wrong were not real categories. So if you strike a child, they say, you are simply teaching them violence. Actually, if you spank with a sense of love and justice, then when you spank, you are actually teaching your son not to clock his little sister over the head with his plastic fire truck. This is faux-profundity, like those who think that pro-lifers who support capital punishment are being inconsistent. Let’s see, we support executing the guilty after a fair trial, and oppose executing the innocent who never get a trial. Right, wrong? Guilt, innocence? These are strange words. You tell me who’s being inconsistent.

So they say that if you follow what the apostle says here, and you divide from those who cause divisions, then have you not joined them? Hmmm? But in the world God made, the antithesis is inescapable. This means that you must divide the way God says, or you will divide in another, destructive way. We do not have the option of “not dividing.” We will either divide from the schismatics, or we will divide from those who love Christian unity. There are no other options. There is no way to love the wolves without hating the sheep, and vice versa.

Note the character of these schismatics. First, they cause divisions and offenses. Right and wrong—some are guilty and some are innocent. We are responsible to know which are which. Second, God has given us a way to do this. The measuring rod is the “doctrine” that we “have learned.” What does the Bible say? Third, though these people are in the church they are not of the church. They do not worship Jesus Christ. They do not serve Christ, but rather they serve their own bellies. The rumbling of those bellies gives unction to their eloquence, and so with smooth flatteries, they deceive the hearts of the simple. Anyone who believes that these belly gods have disappeared from the church since Paul’s day is not paying attention . . . or is one of them.

The Right Kind of Simple

Paul says that these smooth talkers deceive the hearts of the simple. And yet in the next breath, he wants our hearts to be a certain kind of simple—simple with regard to evil. We are to be wise in what is good, and simple in the convolutions of evil. Keep it simple. Love God, hate sin. Read the Bible, love your neighbor. Trust in Jesus. Love the good people, fight the bad people. Enroll in the graduate schools of goodness, and repeatedly flunk the kindergartens of sin. In the devil’s kindergarten, you should not even be able to figure out how to hold the crayons.

The God of Peace is a Warrior

The glorious promise of verse 20 is packed with implications that we must draw out. First, we conquer evil, crushing it, bruising it, because the God of peace enables us to do so. Remember the earlier point about dividing from division. There is no contradiction when the God of peace crushes the serpent head of all discord. Peace is brought into this sorry world by means of conquest, and not with a therapeutic group hug. Secondly, notice how Paul shows that the Messianic promise that the seed of the woman would bruise the serpent’s head is a promise that is not limited to Jesus Himself. It is partially fulfilled by means of the body of Christ—it is “your feet.” Third, Paul says that this will happen “shortly.” The Roman Christians he was writing to did not have to wait for the Day of Judgment for this to happen. Fourth, we see here how Satan is connected by the New Testament writers with the events in the Garden of Eden. Genesis doesn’t mention Satan by name, but Paul places him there. Other writers do the same (1 Jn. 3:10, 12; Rev. 20:2). And fifth, the fulfillment of this promise is connected to the instructions he has just given. If we mark and identify the sowers of discord, pursuing goodness with deep and profound wisdom, and avoiding evil with a very simple revulsion, then what? Then the God of peace is at work in our midst, and He will use our feet to crush the serpent’s head.

Good Words and Fair Speeches . . . from Satan

Emissaries of Hell don’t show up at your door like they were straight out of a zombie movie. They don’t say, “Hello, I am here from the devil, and I have come to lead you astray. Come with me to the hellish inferno.” Satanism is not characterized by severed goats’ heads, pentagrams on the floor, troubled teenagers, and guttering candles. Jesus was tempted to become a Satan worshipper (Matt. 4:8) , and He was tempted by something glorious. The apostle Paul tells us that Satan is an angel of light (2 Cor. 11:14), and it is no wonder if his ministers come off looking like ministers of righteousness (2 Cor. 11:15). So what does not crush disturbances in the church? It is the conviction that certain people have that their wants and desires are right, righteous, true, and holy. They don’t want that deeper right than being right. The only serpent they want to be crushed is out there.

But the godly plea is this—bruise in us the serpent’s head.

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