1 Peter 5:8-9

• The Light of the World (John 8:12)

  • Jesus' Identity: Jesus claims to be “the light of the world”, not just a source of light, but the light itself—revealing truth and guiding people to life.

  • Backdrop: The context is the Feast of Tabernacles, where large lamps in the temple symbolized God's presence and guidance during the Exodus. Jesus presents Himself as the ultimate fulfillment of that symbolism.

  • Spiritual Darkness: Humanity is lost in darkness without Christ. This darkness represents sin, ignorance, and alienation from God.

  • Promise to Followers: Those who follow Jesus will not walk in darkness but will have the light of life—clarity, direction, and eternal hope.

  • Call to Discipleship: Following Jesus requires leaving the darkness, embracing truth, and walking in daily dependence on Him.

  • Exclusive Claim: Jesus doesn’t say He’s a light, but the light, pointing to the exclusivity of salvation in Him alone.

  • Fulfillment of Prophecy: Jesus fulfills Old Testament prophecy (e.g., Isaiah 9:2), where a great light shines on those in darkness.

Walking in the Light of Christ

Theme: Jesus Christ is the true Light who dispels darkness and gives life.

1. Key Text

• John 8:12: “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

2. Biblical Cross-References

• Isaiah 9:2 – Prophecy of light dawning on people walking in darkness.

• Psalm 27:1 – “The Lord is my light and my salvation...”

• John 1:4-5, 9 – Jesus as the true light coming into the world.

• Ephesians 5:8-14 – Call to live as children of light.

• 1 John 1:5-7 – Walking in the light and fellowship with God.

3. Historical Context

• During the Feast of Tabernacles, massive golden lampstands were lit in the temple courts to celebrate God's guiding light during the wilderness journey.

• Jesus’ declaration occurs in this setting, making His statement not only timely but radically bold—He presents Himself as the true Shekinah glory.

4. Westminster Standards

• Westminster Confession of Faith 14.2 – Speaks of saving faith, which enables believers to rest in Christ and walk in new obedience, part of living in the light.

• Larger Catechism Q&A 7 – God is light, life, and goodness in Himself and to His creatures.

• Shorter Catechism Q&A 1 & 4 – Our chief end is to glorify God and enjoy Him; God is a spirit, infinite in light, wisdom, and truth.

5. Practical Applications

• Assurance: Followers of Christ can live with certainty that they are not in spiritual darkness.

• Guidance: Jesus provides moral and spiritual clarity in a world of confusion.

• Witness: Believers are called to reflect Christ’s light in the world (cf. Matthew 5:14–16).

• Daily Walk: Examine areas of life where we may still walk in darkness and bring them into the light through repentance.

walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. But may the God of all grace, who called us to his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you. To Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen. Let's pray. Father, we have read your word. It is true and perfect altogether. And Lord, we pray now that as we come to the preaching of it. Father, we pray that your Holy Spirit would be with each of us, both the speaker and the hearers. Lord, that each one of our hearts would be conformed to your word. Lord, we pray, knowing that your word does not return void, that you indeed would convict us, strengthen us, and train us. Lord, only your Holy Spirit can do this. And so please, Father, we plead with you for help. In Jesus's name, amen. There has been a massive rise in the last couple of decades of one specific church, the church of Satan. And it's interesting, if you read their documents online and things like this, the Church of Satan doesn't, well, they'll say this, right? They say, we do not believe that Satan actually exists, but that he is just a literary figure, right? He's just somebody and fictional in the Bible and fictional in Western history. That's just kind of there, but we don't actually believe he exists. We just want to be moral. Well, I just like to say that's the exact type of thing Satan would like you to believe. I don't exist. I'm just made up. By the way, you can still have a church that you do all the satanic things and like all the witchcraft and all the other stuff that comes in within the occult, right? Yeah. Okay. Bait and switch, right? No. Okay. I'm not going to say that you're, you're dense enough to fall for that, but these are the types of things that's just outright there. I'm telling you, there are people in our communities who believe this type of thing. And so what I want to encourage you today is that Satan is real. There are demonic forces. And we need to be sober about that, and yet not slavish to fear with it. We need to be sober, but not slaves to the fear of that. So let's go ahead and jump into this, and let's see what the Holy Spirit specifically has today. So first, I gave some of you, just as a note, some of you got the four-page outline, some of you got the half-page outline. The four-page outline is far more than I could ever cover here, but I think it's helpful material, maybe for you at home later to read and pray over and think about, but as I was going through it, I realized that would be like a 10-part sermon, and I ain't doing a 10-part sermon on Satan. I'm gonna do a one and done, and we're gonna keep on moving. So you can go home later and keep studying, but it will follow the general pattern. So the first thing is we need, we are commanded by God here, be sober. Be sober. Again and again and again, this idea of sobriety, of clear thinking, not intoxicated type of mindset is used all throughout the Bible. All right, 1 Thessalonians 5, 6 through 8. So then, let us not sleep as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. Ephesians 5, 18. Do not get drunk with wine, but be filled with the Spirit. Titus 2, 11 and 12. The grace of God trains us to renounce all ungodliness and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives. That's self-controlled is sober. Sober lives. You can be intoxicated by literally drinking too much beer or wine or liquor. But this is speaking of, no, no, in your thinking, don't get drunk on the world. Don't get drunk on the philosophies and the things of this world, of this life. You need to have a mind that is sober, temperate, sound, able to make judgments, able to tell what's going on in your heart and what's going on in your life. Now, I'm just going to jump into this for a second. Satan is a real being. He is a spiritual being. He is an angel full of pride who fell from heaven like a star falling from the sky. And he has a dominion that's underneath God. And what I mean by that is we do not believe in a dualism. Right? Like, almost like if you've studied some Eastern philosophies, right? A yin and a yang, where you have a light power fighting against the dark power. And they're just in this eternal, constant struggle. And the light power doesn't know if it's going to win, and the dark power thinks it's going to win. That's not the picture that the Bible paints of us. Right? No, no, hold on. God is the one who created Satan. He has a being. He has a will. He has a will able to fall just like yours. All the angels had the same choice that our first father and mother did in the garden, whether they would actively serve God or not. And Satan filled with pride, wanting his own kingdom, fell because of that. And so what does he want to do? He's on a fool's errand. He's on a dummy mission. He's trying to fight a battle that he thinks he could win, but all of us know if we're being sober, he could never actually win. How are you going to fight against the omniscient God and the omnipotent God of the universe? The one who spoke this created being into existence is trying to fight against his creator. I don't know about you, but that sounds like the height of pride and let's be honest, stupidity. But yet, isn't that what we do too? Every time we try to fight against God's will, Every time we try to go against the Lord's directives, we're not so much better, are we? So we need to be sober. We need to be sober about who we are. We need to be sober about who Satan is. We need to be clear thinking. We need to understand that we can't just be drunk on this world thinking we're gonna make it through just fine. That's like drinking 10 gallons of beer, hopping in your car and thinking, yeah, this is gonna end out well for me. No, it's not, you know it's gonna happen. So be sober in your life, be sober in the way you're living, be sober in the way you're thinking. I think one of the best examples of this, the book of Daniel, right? And we can go multiple different places with this. Daniel knew who his God was. Daniel knew, even though he was in exile, even though he was taken, against his will, hundreds and hundreds of miles away from home, he wouldn't eat the king's food in Babylon. Why? Because he knew that if he started doing that, he started to eat the food, what would he start doing after that? If he compromised in that area of his life, that area of holiness, what would happen to the rest of his holiness? That was a point in Daniel's young life that he had to decide, who am I going to be as a Jew in a pagan land? Who are you going to be? Christian, you live in a hostile world that's trying to encourage you, it's okay, just partake a little bit. It's not going to ruin your whole life. And I'm just going to say, I can't explore all of Satan's attacks. I can't explain all of Satan's strategies. Thomas Brooks, in his book on this topic, says if you were to try to go through all the different attacks and strategies of Satan, it would be like trying to count all the sand on the seashore. You're not going to be able to do it. So I can't give you comprehensive, but I'm giving you general ways here. And so you need to be sober that one of the ways he's going to try to get you to just loosen up a little bit is open up your hand and just, just take you a little bit further, but you need to be sober about yourself. What I mean by that sober about yourself, you need to know who you are and your own weaknesses. If you're given over to overeating is what he's going to do. He's going to try to pull you that way. If you're given over to an overly tender conscience, he's going to pull you towards scrupulosity. If you're given over towards a heart of anger, guess what he's going to do? He's going to pull you that way. If you're given over towards being too free-going with things, he's going to pull you over to being able to just lose all self-control. Satan is studying you And where are your areas of weakness? Where are you naturally inclined to areas that make you more available to sin? You need to be sober and honest about yourself, and maybe even honest with other people about it. If you wonder, what areas am I naturally inclined towards sin? Children, go ask your parents, or ask your siblings. That's a dangerous thing. Ooh, parents ask your children where they see you are naturally inclined to sin. We sharpen each other. We get input from each other. So we need to be sober. Be sober about who we are and be sober that we really do have an adversary. And so we need to be watchful. That's the second command that we're given here in verse eight. Look with me again at verse eight. Be sober. Be vigilant. Be vigilant. If you've ever met somebody who's gregarious, This is somebody who doesn't just kind of sit around and thinks, oh, I don't know who these people are. I'll just kind of let them be whoever. No, if you met somebody who's very gregarious, that means that's somebody who's like, OK, I want to know who you are. Oh, and I want to talk to you. And oh, I'm going to meet you because I want to figure out who you are. They're watchful of their surroundings. They want to know. They're curious about what's going on. This is also a military term. This is an idea that if you were to have a city, and the city's got a wall around it, you would build a watchtower, and on that watchtower, you put someone up there. Now, I gotta tell you, do you want a watchman on the tower who's lazy, not curious, would rather be sitting on their smartphone, you know, doom-scrolling or playing a game, or do you want to have a watchman who's actually looking out and trying to figure out what's going on in those trees? What's happening on the horizon? What's going on? Why is that person carrying that heavy thing over there? That looks weird. I've never seen that person before. I wonder what's up. Can someone go find out who that person is? How watchful are you in your own life? How often do you take a step back and just ask yourself, week to week, month to month, year to year, where did I trip up? How was I caught in sin? Where did things go wrong? Jesus commanded his disciples in Matthew chapter 26, watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. And then 1 Corinthians 16, 13, be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. 2 Corinthians 2.11, so that we would not be outwitted by Satan. for we are not ignorant of his designs. We need to be aware of the dangers and have focused attention on what is going on in our lives and where are the areas in which we are possibly open to attack. Nehemiah is a fun example of this. If you remember, they're literally building a wall around Jerusalem, right? They built a temple during Ezra's time. Later on, Nehemiah shows up on the scene, and there's the city, but it's still in ruins. The wall's all broken down. And they've got a problem, because there's all sorts of enemies who are willing and able to attack. There's all sorts of enemies who are trying to intermix with the people, intermarry with the people, bring down their defenses. And in Nehemiah 4.9, it says, we prayed to our God, All right, so they prayed, they went, they prayed to God, but what else did they do? Did they just say, God, keep us safe? No, and set a guard as a protection against them day and night. You need to depend on God, right? You need to pray to God. I think this is very helpful, what Jesus gives us here, right? When we pray and deliver us from evil, it's a dependence on God. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. I gotta tell you, I'm so dense in my life, sometimes I find myself where I'm being tempted and I didn't even realize I was being tempted until after I'm knee deep in sin and my wife or my children or my mother-in-law pointed out to me, I'm like, oh man, I'm such an idiot. How did I not see that? Because I wasn't being watchful of my life. I wasn't being vigilant. I wasn't thinking that there's snares and traps setting around for me. There are bear traps for your soul and for your life all over the place. We cannot walk in life acting like we're walking through Crapo Park. You're walking through the DMZ. You're walking through the border between North and South Korea, and there are landmines all around you. And if you don't got a metal detector, it's going to blow up on you. Be watchful. Be careful where you step. Pay attention. Why? Why look at me at the next clause? Because your adversary, the devil. You have an adversary. You have one, the word here is antidekus, right? So against righteousness. Your adversary is real, and do you know what Satan loves to do, especially with Christians? He's a plaintiff against you. He's an opponent to your righteousness. He is trying to hurl accusations against you, try to get you to question whether or not you truly have a right standing with God or not. Satan's designs are to try to either accuse you of sin or make you to sin. This is why he's called the accuser. He doesn't want you to think that you have any peace with God. And yet, you know that if your hope is in Christ Jesus alone, there is no condemnation for you, therefore, in Christ Jesus. And yet, you know what it's like to have Satan whisper in your ear, yeah, but did you really believe last time? You know what it's like to have nagging doubts. You know what it's like to know, hold on, I did that for the right reasons. I tried to follow you, Lord, and yet somehow it seems like something is accusing you. But if you're standing in Christ's righteousness, you are righteous. The accuser is there trying to find ways to Call you out. He's a person. He's intelligent and he's powerful. There's a few different ways in scriptures. If you look at the, if you got the long outline, I gave you a whole bunch of different ways in which scripture speaks about the devil. Here we get it, your adversary, the devil, diabolos. It's also called the old serpent. An allusion to Genesis chapter three, the great dragon, the ruler, or the prince of the world, the prince of the power of the air, Abaddon, the destroyer. He's a tempter, he's an accuser of God's people. He's a deceiver of the world, he's a liar and a murderer. Jesus calls him the father of lies. He's a master of misrepresentation. Jesus calls him Beelzebub, the lord of the flies, or the dung god. He's the enemy, power of darkness, adversary, the ancient serpent, the evil one, even one disguised as an angel of light. I don't think it was a empty thing when Paul told to the Galatians, even if someone was to come to you and preach a different gospel, even an angel, let him be accursed. because even one of the most heinous things that will happen, I'm warning you this, because I'm telling you, not because I want to stir up controversy, but because I want to love you. The cults love this type of thing, to give you some new teaching, something that's right next to the Bible, something that sounds very biblical, and yet just a little bit off. And do you know where they'll say they get these truths from? Moroni. Gabriel, Michael, it's always seems to be coming from an angel. I'd encourage you, right? You may think, man, this is crazy. I've never heard an RP pastor say this before. Pray and pray and pray and go pick up any book of Mormon and read one chapter of the book of Mormon. And you will see how closely it is next to the Bible. And then just little twists, little twists, little twists, Go do it with the Quran. Go read the second surah, and you'll find the same thing. Very similar language, right adjacent to the truth. And then twist, and twist, and twist. That's what your adversary is doing. against the righteousness of God and against you, anything that he could possibly do to make you see, this seems religious. This seems like it's so close to the Bible. It must not be that bad. There's a reason why they have to claim an angel gave it to them, because it gives some sense of religion and validity to it. And I'm convinced that these things come not from angels of light, but from angels of darkness. They are the doctrines of demons. One of the most clear pictures of this adversarial relationship is the book of Job. When there's this divine counsel that happens, and God is there, and the angels come, and somehow Satan is able to walk into the presence of this counsel. And Satan wants to do everything he can to prove to God that Job isn't really one of his. You think he's righteous. You think he's one of yours, God. Take away his wealth and see what happens. He only believes you because you've been so good to him. And God says, okay, go ahead, take it away. All of his wealth, all of his livestock, his family, gone. And Satan said, well, hold on. It was just, do you see how this adversary works? See, it's just not just because he had this stuff, but you've given him good health too. Take away his health and see what happens. Okay, fine. You want to accuse my beloved like that? Take away his health and see what he's really made of. And in the midst of Job's pain and hurt, His breath's so bad, it's obnoxious to his wife, and she says, why don't you just curse God and die? When his friends come up, he's got a piece of pottery that he's scraping the maggots out of his open sores. And yet in that pain and in that trial, in that suffering, what does he say? I know that my Redeemer lives. Satan could try to accuse him all he wants. Satan could try to tempt him all he wanted to, to try to steal away his joy, steal away all the stuff and try to make him forsake his God. And yet what do we find at the end of the book of Job? A humble man that when God reveals himself, he says, this is too great for me. I was a fool. Even some of the stuff I said, you're even that much better than I recognized. Satan is an adversary. But if you are in Christ, you cannot be stolen away from Jesus's hands. So be vigilant, be sober against your enemy, the devil, because he's trying to kill you. Make no doubt about that. Look with me again at verse eight. Because you're an adversary, the devil walks about like a roaring lion. seeking whom he may devour. He's predatory, he's persistent, and he wants to gobble you up. Jesus says, the thief comes only to steal and to kill. He's walking about. Your adversary, the devil, is walking about. seeking someone he may devour. I remember we went to one of these little tiny zoos north of Pittsburgh one time. And this is the only time I've, this little tiny enclosure, I mean the lion's enclosure, I'm sure the PETA people were mad, but the tiny little enclosure for this lion with his massive mane was probably the size of the sanctuary. And there was one day we went into the zoo and they had not fed that lion yet, it was in the morning. And we were half a mile away from his enclosure, and we could feel it in our chest as he roared for food. And it was interesting, people would still come around his pen. I gotta say, we were probably foolish to do this. We were around his pen, because what did we want? The lion was roaring, and we wanted to go see what that noise was. So we walked over, there's like bulletproof glass, this huge thing of bulletproof glass, we're right up next to it. And one of the times we were there, one of the most scary things was, there was a kid right by there and the lion ran at the glass. But how often do we treat Satan like that? His roar warns us that he's going to devour us. He's going to kill us. His teeth drip with blood. His hunger will be satisfied by nothing less than flesh. And yet we treat him like a kitty cat. We'll play around with our pet sins. And I'm saying we because I'm guilty of this too. Each one of us, God is warning us by his Holy Spirit here that Satan is seeking to devour you. You hear his roar, you know it in your life when things are going sideways and yet we go back to those sins again and again and again. God help us, we're such fools. When will we be wise? When will we be serious? about resisting our enemy? Because that's what he tells us to do. Look with me at verse nine. Resist him. Resist him. James chapter four, verse seven says, resist the devil and he will flee from you. We must be steadfast in our faith. We must not yield to temptation. We must resist by putting on the full armor of God, trusting in God. We must be determined to actively resist, to be in opposition to Satan and his schemes. So how do we do this? We pray. Satan would love nothing more than for you to forget your prayer closet. To just get busy with life. To forget that Jesus told you to plead with God to not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Parents or children desperately need you to pray for your children. Grandparents plead for God to spare your grandchildren. We go to his word and we see a mirror of ourselves. We resist the devil by becoming aware of who we are. We don't go, I'm begging you, don't go to the Bible looking for heroes. Go to the Bible and when you see faults and you think, oh man, I'm not sure if maybe I believe in the scripture because there's all these messed up people. Yeah, because they're just like us. David is just like me. Bathsheba is just like you. Nabal is just like, not your husband, somebody else's husband. But they're just like us. See the footsteps, see the snares, see the traps. See where Satan has just wrapped people up in his chains. Don't go down those alleys. Find the good news of Jesus Christ, who's far more powerful than Satan. Remember, Satan tried to trip him up, Matthew chapter four. And then the spirit led Jesus into the wilderness. He didn't eat for weeks. For weeks, Jesus didn't eat. And Satan tried to exploit any weakness that he might think he could find in our Lord. Just turn that rock into a loaf of bread. Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word which proceeds from the mouth of God. Okay, Satan couldn't accomplish his adversarial moves to try to flank him that way, so he goes around the backside and he says, you want a kingdom of righteousness, I'll take you to the very tippy top of the highest mountain and show you all the kingdoms and I will give them all to you. You don't have to go through the cross, you don't have to go through the suffering, you don't have to go through any of that, I'll give you all the kingdoms, all you have to do is bow down to me one time. And what was Jesus' response? You shall worship the Lord and serve him only. And the last one with throwing himself off of the highest place of the temple. You shall not put the Lord your God to the test. Here's the thing, you and I will always fall to the schemes of Satan, but Jesus never did. And so when we come to scriptures, we find out that it's not ever our victory because of our righteousness or our strength. No, we put on the full armor of God because guess what? The breastplace of righteousness is not our righteousness. We put on the breastplate of Jesus's righteousness. We put on the helmet of salvation, the salvation that Jesus has given to us. We put on the belt of truth and Jesus is the truth. We pick up our shield of faith. And what is the content of your faith, Christian? What is your shield of faith that will put out the fiery darts of Satan? It's your faith in Jesus Christ. as your feet are shod with the gospel, as your hand is on the sword of God's word. Brothers and sisters, that's how we resist him. We keep our eyes fixed on Christ. We fight in the full armor that the spirit has given us of Christ. And we help each other. We don't go at this individually, right? I'm speaking to you and I'm saying you, you, you, but I should be saying y'all. You need each other. You are not called, actually the verb here, resist him, is in the second person plural. It's y'all resist him. Antitiste. Y'all resist him. Y'all stand against him, shoulder to shoulder, as a flank, as an army together. When your comrade next to you falls, they need you to help them up. Two are better than one, for they have good return for their worth. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up. You're not in this fight alone. You resist the devil by standing firm in the faith. We're going to skip straight to point seven with you're not alone. Resist him steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world." This is a really challenging thing, okay? Some of us are more private, and some of us are more open about our struggles. But there's a reason why the scriptures tell us to confess our sins one to another. And I don't think we're told to confess our sins one to another because we need somebody else to pay for our sins. No, Jesus did that. We confess our sins because others are able to help us. They're able to encourage us. They're able to say, I understand. Let me help you. Let me come alongside you. How can I encourage you to bring you God's word, to say, you know, I've been there before. Young people, I'm going to encourage you to go talk to your parents about your sins, or find older members of the church who are able to say, I'm really struggling with this pride. I'm really struggling with this self-control. I'm really struggling with this lust. I'm really struggling with this hatred towards my siblings. I'm really struggling with this bitterness I have towards academia, my stupid schoolwork. Because there are older generations who are able to help you, to show you the path of Christ, to show you the way of life. Because the suffering you're enduring under the hands of your adversary are not just for you. I'm amazed. When I went to India a couple of years ago, The novelty wore off after about 15 hours, because I realized as I went to different people's houses again and again, meeting with different people who are Indian Christians, guess what I found out? They struggle with the same types of sins as us. There's people struggling with worldliness. There's people struggling with submitting to their husbands. There's husbands who are being mean to their wives. There are people who don't have enough money and they're trying to figure out how are they going to send their kids to school. There are people who are covetous. There are people who are angry. They're just people. And they suffer. They suffer under the hands of their adversary. They suffer under their own temptations, their own sins. And they suffer under a hostile government. We've been person who has persuaded by an evil philosophy of Hinduism to try to treat Christians as enemies. We have a different philosophy that tries to weasel its way into our governments, into the minds of our legislatures, into the hands of the judiciary and of the executive branches. There are those who would try to convince Even civil magistrates hear that your faith is a danger. It's a danger to children. Did you know that? There are Christians in India, there are Christians in China, there are Christians in the Philippines, there are Christians in Afghanistan and in Saudi Arabia, that their governments have been convinced that they are dangerous. And so when we face that same type of suffering in an analogous way here, and you get censored, your boss tells you to shut up. People are telling you just keep that to yourself. That's your private belief. You shouldn't be talking about that with other people. That's so bigoted, that's so hateful of you. Why won't you just love people and embrace them as they are? You're physically and emotionally damaging people by your faith. It's nothing new. It's nothing new. Don't be surprised when the fiery trials happen, but rejoice insofar as your sufferings, in your sufferings, you share with Christ. Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. Because it has been granted to you not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake. But you are to endure a hard struggle with sufferings. You are even called in Hebrews 10 to be joyful in accepting the plundering of your own property for Christ's sake. Because if we suffer with Him, We do so in order that we may also be glorified with him. Your suffering is not unique, and your suffering is not random. God is using the various trials in your life, even the adversary's work, even as a devil tries to kill you and devour you, Our sovereign God is allowing that to happen in your life for your good and for his glory. It was no accident when Paul and Silas showed up in Philippi that they were arrested and thrown into prison. Satan had convinced the Philippian jailer, that this was, they were evil, even though they were bringing the good news of Jesus Christ, and yet at night, in prison, wrongfully, illegally, as Roman citizens, what did Paul and Silas do? They sang. They sang. This was no mistake. They're suffering. was not an accident. Their sovereign God had let their adversary do these things, and God was about to do a miraculous work through it. The doors would be unlocked, the Philippian jailer would be about to kill himself, and Paul and Silas would be able to say, stop, we're all here, don't kill yourself, and then go share the good news with him. and he and all his household believed and were baptized. Be sober, Christian. Be watchful. Your enemy, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. Resist him. Steadfast in the faith. Knowing that your suffering, your suffering is common in this world. God gets all the glory. You're filled with the spirit. He's called you to this because he loves you. And he's got an inheritance in heaven waiting for you. Let's pray. Father, we pray that you would forgive us for how sleepy we can be, nodding off on the wheel of life, veering in directions that we know lead to destruction, danger, and damage. Lord, forgive us. Wake us up, Lord. God, only your spirit can do this, so we pray that you would please get us out of our drunken stupor. Open up our eyes, let us see the ways in which we are so easily ensnared. And Father, let us walk by faith, walking in the footsteps of Christ, looking to Christ, the author and perfecter of our faith. God, please help us, in Jesus' name we pray, amen.

• Why is human righteousness insufficient before God? Human righteousness is insufficient before a holy God because, as Romans 3:10-12 and Genesis 6:5 highlight, we are all inherently sinful. Our thoughts, intentions, and actions consistently fall short of God's perfect standard. We are prone to evil, and even our best efforts are tainted by selfishness and pride, meaning we cannot achieve a state of righteousness that would satisfy God's justice. This demonstrates the dire need for an external source of righteousness.

• What is meant by 'substitutionary atonement' in the context of Jesus' suffering? Substitutionary atonement refers to the concept that Jesus, who was completely righteous, willingly took the punishment for our sins upon himself. As Isaiah 53:4-6 and 2 Corinthians 5:21 show, he suffered and died on the cross as a substitute, bearing the consequences of our wrongdoing. This act of love and sacrifice satisfied God's justice, allowing us to be reconciled to him. Christ's suffering was not merely a demonstration of love but a means of payment for the penalty that we deserved, hence the "just for the unjust".

• How does Christ's resurrection impact our hope and justification? Christ's resurrection is vital because it proves the completeness and success of his sacrifice. Romans 5:1-5 and Philippians 3:9-11 describe how it demonstrates that God has accepted Jesus' atonement. It signifies not only the forgiveness of our sins but also our restoration to a right relationship with God. Because Jesus was raised from the dead, the believer has been given an "alien righteousness", one that was not earnt by them, but imputed to them by God through faith. It is through Christ's resurrection that we have the hope of eternal life, having been both acquitted of our sin and declared righteous in God's sight.

• What does it mean for a Christian to be "blessed" in suffering for righteousness? According to 1 Peter 3:13-17, suffering for righteousness is a blessing because it means our lives are aligning with Christ's teachings, and we are participating in His suffering. When we are persecuted for our beliefs, it is not a sign of God's disfavor, but rather a testament to our faith and a confirmation that we are following Christ's example. It gives us a unique opportunity to testify to the hope we have in Christ. Instead of fearing such suffering, we are to view it as an honour and an opportunity to glorify God.

• How should Christians respond when they face evil or persecution? Christians are called to respond to evil or persecution not by retaliating, but by exhibiting compassion, humility and love. 1 Peter 3:8-12 says, instead of returning evil for evil, we should bless those who persecute us. We are to seek unity and pursue peace, trusting that God is ultimately just and will avenge us. The focus should be on reflecting the character of Christ, showing grace even when facing injustice. This includes being gentle and respectful when defending our faith.

• Why is the concept of Christ's finished work so crucial for Christians? The "finished work" of Christ means that Jesus' sacrifice on the cross and his resurrection were all sufficient for our salvation. This means our righteousness is not based on any personal achievement, but a gift given freely by God. As the Westminster Confession of Faith and Catechisms point out, Christ's obedience and sacrifice fully satisfied God's justice. Because of this, we can have full assurance of our salvation. There's nothing more we can or need to add to what he has already accomplished. This frees us from the burden of trying to earn our salvation and establishes Christ as the sole foundation for our relationship with God.

• How should the assurance of Christ's finished work influence our daily lives? The assurance of Christ's finished work should lead us to live with a deep sense of gratitude and confidence in our relationship with God. Knowing we are righteous because of Christ, not ourselves, should cultivate humility and motivate us to pursue a life that is pleasing to him. We should seek to display unity, peace, and love in our interactions with others. In our lives, we must seek to give a defence to others for the hope that we have in Christ, in meekness and fear. This should inform the way we approach every aspect of our lives.

• What is the practical application of the phrase "the just for the unjust" in our lives? The phrase "the just for the unjust" highlights the central tenet of Christian faith: Jesus, being perfectly righteous, took the punishment that we, being unrighteous, deserved. This realisation should foster a spirit of gratitude and humility. We must acknowledge we have no merit of our own, and our salvation comes entirely through grace. The just one took our place so that we might be brought into the presence of God. The application is that we can never rely upon ourselves for our own righteousness, and so must place our full trust in Jesus. This should lead to living lives that honor God's grace.

• Justification: God's act of declaring a sinner righteous in his sight through faith in Christ, not through their own good works or merits.

• Imputation: The act of crediting or transferring something, in this context, God credits Christ's righteousness to believers.

• Atonement: The reconciliation between God and humanity through Christ's sacrificial death, which covers the debt of sin.

• Substitutionary Atonement: The doctrine that Christ died as a substitute for sinful humanity, bearing the punishment and penalty for their sin.

• Righteousness: Moral perfection and conformity to God's law. In Christian theology, it's seen both as a standard and a gift of God through Christ.

• Sanctification: The process of being made holy, where God works in believers to transform them into Christlikeness over time.

• Passive Obedience: Christ's willing submission to suffering and death as part of his obedience to God's will, not limited to simply his active obedience to the law.

• Alien Righteousness: A righteousness that is not inherent to the individual but comes from an outside source. In Christian theology, it refers to the righteousness of Christ imputed to believers.

• Reconciliation: The restoration of a relationship to harmony, specifically, the bridging of the gap between God and humans through Christ.

• The Spirit: In the context of this study, refers to the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity, who is believed to give life and bring about spiritual regeneration.