A Satanic Wedding - Learning from the Unteachable - John 13:21-30

1:42Well, I cannot read these words without a heavy heart. Painful words when you read them seriously. Title of this morning's message is A Satanic Wedding: Learning from the Unteachable. And that is what I hope we do this morning: learn from this unteachable one who ministered, knew, walked with Jesus for many years, and yet remained undiscipled. So I want you to see a satanic wedding this morning. Have you ever been to a satanic wedding before? No, probably not. Well, we're going to walk through one this morning. A satanic wedding, and I want you to see this satanic wedding so that you will stop courting the devil.

2:45Question before we get started: what is a soulmate? Popular language now: soulmate. Well, Miriam defines a soulmate as a person who is perfectly. Suited to another in temperament or a person who strongly resembles another in attitudes or beliefs. So, my question to you this morning on a spiritual level, who is your soulmate? Who is your primary soulmate? Is it Christ or is it Christ's adversary, Satan? And so, what I hope to do as we walk through this, I hope to think in terms of a wedding, and I hope that it will serve us to guide us through this text in a memorable way so that you can come away with some of the rich truths that are in it. It's only a device. The outline is only a device to take us into the text so that we can mine its truths. And so, when I say a wedding, I'm not referring to a traditional wedding, like a traditional church wedding that you might see later today with Evan, who's getting married. I think a number of people are out for that. Or what we see with Anna, my daughter, getting married in a few weeks now or months. Yeah, it's getting class coming up quick. But that's more of a traditional wedding. The kind of wedding that I envision here is more of a justice of the peace wedding, something we do here. In Texas and in some other states. But a Justice of the Peace wedding is different from a church wedding. Because in a traditional church wedding, the officiant is usually a minister. And so the wedding proceeds along the laws and rules for that particular church, of course. But with a wedding with a Justice of Peace, it's basically a civil marriage. It's a legal marriage that's for the purpose of getting a certificate. Usually the goal is just get married, short and sweet, get it done, get the certificate. And there's a lot of reasons why people opt to do this.

5:17Well, I have more of that in mind, where the celebration isn't so much the issue, but just the marriage. A JP wedding or a Justice of the Peace wedding is usually simpler, shorter. The guest list is very small. There's no bridal party. There's not very much money spent on the decorations at all. Short ceremony. And usually it's done by some government official. And many times it's the judge. It's the district judge that officiates. And so once the wedding vows are done, The judge announces the marriage, the couple leaves together and spends their life together. That's a justice of the peace type wedding officiated by a judge. And so, as we walk through the text this morning, it's this kind of wedding ceremony that I have in mind. And there is a wedding official, there is a witness, there is a bride and groom, and then there is an audience. And I just want to walk through and look at each of these this morning and mind the truths therein. First of all, oh, we didn't get the. Can you? Wow.

6:44Yeah, that's, I revised it this morning, but that's okay. We can, you can. So, first of all, you know, the last couple of weeks, we've been looking at this in John chapter 13, we've been looking at the foot washing ceremony. Part one, we looked at Jesus' love for his disciples. In part two, we looked at the joy of being a slave of Christ. And then, part three, we looked at the dignity of being a slave. And today, we step into this betrayal mode and this satanic wedding. And so, the wedding official is a troubled Jesus. I want you to see the wedding official, the wedding judge, if you will, as playing the role of the district judge. Officiating. Look at verse 21. When Jesus had said this, he became troubled in spirit and testified and said, Truly, truly, I say to you that one of you will betray me. So it's clear that Jesus is the judge. You remember in chapter 5 and verse 22, Jesus said, For not even the Father judges anyone, but he has given all judgment to the Son, so that all will honor the Son even as they honor the Father. All judgment is in Christ's hands. All of it, including Satan himself, including Judas, including his, it's under his authority, his jurisdiction. He's the one that has to make the union official.

8:28And that's the judge. But I want you to see the emotion that this judge, this Christ, that Jesus displays here. He is troubled in spirit. When he talked about being betrayed, he became troubled in spirit. We saw that similar emotion. Remember back in chapter 11, verse 33, remember there it was Mary who was weeping because her brother Lazarus was in the tomb and she was weeping and so were the Jews with her. There, they were weeping as those who had no hope, and Mary should have known better.

9:07And so Jesus was deeply moved. He says, Take away the stone. Well, here, same deep emotion. When you see Jesus deeply troubled, pay attention. What is it that's moving him? And here, it's the faithless friend. It's the bitter pain of watching one of his closest friends become completely apostate. Unbelief again. Let me just read to you a little portion of Psalm 55 and verses 12 to 14. You don't need to turn to, but just listen to these words that the psalmist went through, and we could see how Jesus' situation would have very well resonated with these words. For it is not an enemy who reproaches me, then I could bear it. Nor is it one who hates me, who has exalted himself against me. Then I could hide myself from him. But it is you, a man, my equal, my companion, and my familiar friend. We who had sweet fellowship together walked in the house of God in the throng.

10:29That's the pain. Going on in Jesus' gain, unbelief deeply moves him. That's the wedding official. Now I want you to see the witness, the witness in this satanic wedding, and it's a teachable disciple, a teachable disciple. Look at verse 22. The disciples began looking at one another, at a loss to know of which one he was speaking. There was reclining on Jesus' bosom one of his disciples, whom Jesus loved. So Simon Peter gestured to him and said to him, Tell us who it is of whom he is speaking. He, leaning back thus on Jesus' bosom, said to him, Lord, who is it?

11:20That's interesting. This is John, as we will know. We get introduced to him here as the disciple whom Jesus loved. Profound words, but get the position here that this John is in close proximity, right? He's able to lean back. And by the way, there's this custom of reclining at the table. They eat on an elbow. They have a table in the floor. They lean up against it. Their feet would be away from the table. And so they would be eating that way. And so if you ever have seen Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper, it's awesome.

12:01It would render washing the feet and leaning back on Jesus' chest virtually impossible or just awkward. And so, what you have here is that John is close to Jesus, close enough to be able to lean back and talk to him directly. So, he's very close, right there at Jesus' bosom. But it's interesting to just dial into this disciple for just a moment. He refers to himself as the disciple whom Jesus loved, and he's going to show up and he's going to use that again. But if you look at John's life in a quick survey fashion, John is a beautiful progression into godliness.

13:04You know, he goes from a son of thunder. How would you like to be called a son of thunder? I mean, what does that say about your disposition? You're probably a hothead, right? Sons of thunder, you know, James and John, sons of thunder. And you see this fiery disposition in Luke chapter 9, verse 54. When the Samaritans did not receive Jesus, this is what John said: Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from Heaven and consume them. It's the Apostle of Love.

13:38And then, just days before, remember, in Mark chapter 10, they're going up to Jerusalem. And what is the topic of discussion? Who's going to be the greatest? Listen to these words. In Mark 10:35, James and John, the two sons of Zebedee, sons of thunder, came up to Jesus saying, Teacher, we want you to do whatever we ask of you. And he said to them, What do you want me to do for you? And they said to him, Grant that we may sit, one on your right and one on your left in your glory. So this is John, had an ambition for worldly greatness, a son of thunder, and he moves from that, progresses to a disciple whom Jesus loved. And that's how he's known. That's how he sees himself. This is what being taught does. He listened to the words of Christ.

14:39His progression is the outcome of being taught. He received the words. And you know what receiving the words means? You believe them. Ah, Jesus said them. I believe them. I believe that Jesus is the highest. John believed that he is currently in the Father's presence. John believed that. Jesus now is currently his advocate. He believed that Jesus was all-wise, all good, and he knew exactly what to do and when to do it. He could be trusted, he could be obeyed. He understood that, and he knew that Jesus, at this very present moment, and at the very present moment this was written, when he was writing this, he knew that Jesus' intense love had not changed at all for him, and that it was being expressed, even though Jesus was in the presence of the Father.

15:31He found his identity in Christ. Do you see this? There is no name for John here. This is how he refers to himself. He identifies himself with an act of Christ. I'm going to tell you who I am. I'm one that Jesus loves. And that's all I ever want, hope, aspire to be. There is no higher place. There is no greater satisfaction, the highest one with the highest kind of love. I'm satisfied. And that's where he found himself.

16:24You know, we no name, but being actively loved by Jesus. That's what a way to express. Satisfaction in him. He lost his name. You know, a bride takes the name of her husband, right? Loses her name as his practice. So here's John losing his name, finding his identity completely in Christ. Now, that's a satisfied soul. That's a man who found his soulmate to be Christ. And I don't want to be known by anything else. What a beautiful progression into godliness. Let us learn from the teachable, but let's also learn from the unteachable. And this is where we come to speak about the bride. Of course, in any wedding, there's a bride and the groom, right? And we know who the bride is.

17:32It's Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. It says so in verse 26. Not much needs to be said about the groom. We know that he is God's adversary, adversary to the core. 1 Peter 5:8 speaks that he is like a lion, prowling around, like a hungry lion, prowling around seeking someone to devour. That is what he does. Now, Satan is not to be thought of as a physical body, physical entity. Like a literal lion going around just looking for someone's arm to eat or body to eat. No, he's talking in spiritual terms. No, Satan roams around looking for a soulmate. That's what he's looking for, is a soulmate. And his progression is very clearly spelled out in Scripture. He comes tempting somebody, right? He comes up with a satanic inspiration. Here, he needs tempts somebody. And what is he looking for? He's looking for a fleshly resonance, right? He's going to tempt a person with that which would resonate within his fleshly nature, right? That's his goal, to tempt, to have some kind of resonance, to solicit some kind of willful participation. So temptation leads to resonance, leads to participation. And that's where he wants to get them in a cycle, right? Participate. Let me tempt you with some more. Resonate some more.

19:11Participate some more. Let's go through that cycle over and over and over until it comes down to total domination. So from temptation to resonance to participation to domination, that is how he devours. A soul. So that's the groom. We know this about him. Let's look at the bride. This is what's shocking. Judas, but also notice Judas is also in close proximity at this table, is he not? In fact, none of the other ten are going to hear this exchange. John's there, and Judas is close enough to be handed a morsel. So it's probably a good speculation to say John is either on his left or right, and Judas is on the left or right.

20:13But I want to take a look at if John was a progression into godliness, then Judas is an ugly progression into satanic likeness. I want us to take a few moments and just walk through this progression. And it started, Judas's progression into satanic likeness started by not receiving Jesus' teachings. It's what he didn't do. He did not receive Jesus' teaching. He saw Jesus. He knew Jesus. He witnessed the most explicit manifestation of God. He saw all of Christ's beauty, both in his public ministry, in his private ministry. He saw the perfections of Christ on display. Repeatedly for several years. He was one of the inner circle, and yet he remained unmoved. The right message certainly echoed it in his mind. Because in Mark 1:15, remember, Jesus said, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Be repenting and be believing. This is what Jesus sent them out to preach. This is what Jesus preached. You be repenting. Life is going to be a series of repenting. The kingdom of God, as God draws near, you repent, you forsake your ways, you embrace his ways, and this is going to be a pattern.

21:36Initially, this is what you must do: come out of your world of darkness by repenting and believing. It's also going to be the ongoing progression. It's going to be the way of life. In fact, in Mark chapter 6, it's very clear that Judas not only heard the right message, he preached the right message. And Jesus had summoned the 12 in chapter 6, verse 7. He sent the mountain pairs, gave them authorities over all the unclean spirits. They went out and preached that men should repent. And they were casting out many demons and were anointing with oil many sick people and healing them. He saw the power of God on display when the 70 returned in Luke chapter 17. They were rejoicing, saying, Lord, even the demons are subject to. Your name. So, not only did Judas hear the right message, he preached the right message.

22:39The right standard echoed in his mind, but he did not embrace it. So, what's going on in Judas? What's going on on a spiritual level? That's where I want to take us this morning. I want us to think through what's going on in Judas's soul. And to do so, you need to know a little bit about how the conscience works. What is the conscience? Everyone has one. A conscience is that moral awareness of self. And the conscience is that aspect of man that is constantly passing judgment on himself or herself.

23:25So, the conscience lets in light and it thinks through, it reflects, it's constantly judging. We judge ourselves. I liken the conscience to that impartial judge in the courtroom of our minds, constantly passing judgment upon all of our deeds, whether past, whether present, or whether future. We think through, is this right? No, that's not right. Oh, yes, that we justify that. Oh, yes, we have this internal voice, and it is constantly making judgments on what's right and condemning those which it considers wrong. That's the conscience. That's what it does. It's part of God's testimony to man. And everyone has one. Man has light, and enough light to where he should give thanks.

24:17But Judas's progression into union with Satan is a story of a conscience that goes from bad to worse. And the first thing that Judas had to do is he had to sear his conscience. 1 Timothy 4, 1 and 2 speak about this concept, but to sear one's conscience is to repeatedly dismiss its warnings. If you want to sear your conscience, you repeatedly dismiss its warnings. And what you will do is you will render your conscience insensitive to the word of God, to even the natural revelation that's given. And so what Judas did by repeatingly doing what he knew to be wrong, he kept violating his conscience until it stopped working properly. Let this be a warning. We would learn from the unteachable. And evidence for this is clearly found in John chapter 12 and verse 6. You remember the situation? We just looked at it not too many weeks ago. Remember, Mary had anointed Jesus with this costly perfume, and Jesus was like, well, why this waste? Why are you wasting? This and John and John the Apostle gives us a little insight in 12:6. He says, Now he said this not because he was concerned about the poor, but because he was a thief. And as he had the money box, he used to pilfer what was put into it. Notice the repeated action. He used to ongoingly help himself, take out. And so he is constantly going on in the presence of Christ, seeing all of his perfections, and he is not listening to the own message that is resonating in his mind. And so he kept doing what he knew to be wrong, and his conscience stopped working. So don't violate your conscience. Now, your conscience isn't infallible. That's why you're to inform your conscience with the word of God. Let your conscience be informed. But listen, don't violate your conscience.

26:31So he had to start with a seared conscience, but then it goes from being seared to being defiled. Titus 1:15 speaks about a defiled conscience, but a defiled conscience is the opposite of a pure conscience. A pure conscience avoids offending God. That's what a pure conscience does. I'm not going to do that because it's going to offend God. A defiled conscience is the opposite. It calls evil good and it calls good evil. That's what happens when you defile your conscience through persistent searing. Then you start seeing what God calls bad, you start calling good, and what God calls good, you start calling bad. That is a defiled conscience. You have an extreme example of a defiled conscience in our society today. An extreme example would be that whole idea of gay pride. You ever heard that? Gay pride. Now, first of all, the Bible teaches us: what about pride?

27:38He doesn't bless the proud, right? He looks to the humble, right? And so, so humble, exhortation in the Bible is to be humble. God opposes the proud. Now, flip that over and think about being proud over that which the Bible calls sinful. So, you're calling evil good, something to be proud about. You're calling good evil. That is a defiled conscience. But listen, that's an extreme example on the national front. But what about, let's bring this down to our hearts. Private sin can do this, right?

28:28Let me just take it even to one of my. More fundamental elements. Do you justify yourself in telling lies? Can you lie? Just think about this past week. I'm talking kids. You guys pay attention. Every one of you. I don't care who you are. Pay attention. Can you tell a lie and be content in it? Or can you justify lies in certain circumstances? You know what you're doing? You're searing your conscience. Not the pattern you want to be on. Let me tell you who your soulmate is.

29:13Do you justify telling lies of any sort? Do not sear. Do not defile your conscience. So, in order to partner with Jesus' enemies, Judas had to justify the unthinkable. And he got there by searing and defiling his conscience. A lot more could be said about this. But due to time, I'm going to keep going. But this much we can, I think it's important to understand that in verse 2, the devil had already put into the heart of Judas the issue to betray. Him. It was already there. And in verse 10, notice that Jesus said, he who has bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean, and you are clean, but not all of you. This should have resonated with Judas, right?

30:15But he doesn't. He remains unmoved. And then again, in verse 21, when Jesus had said this, he became troubled in spirit and testified, Truly, truly, I say to you that one of you will betray me. Judas heard this too, and yet remained unmoved. He had justified his action. It was already in his heart. I mean, did he really think that Jesus didn't know what he was going to do? Did he knew what he was doing? Did you think that Jesus, you think it's just the insanity of sin? He had seen Jesus' power. He understood Jesus' wisdom. He understood his goodness. Did he really think he could stand against him? Well, so now we go from a seared conscience to a defiled conscience, and so now we come to the altar of a satanic wedding. Both parties have already said, I do. In fact, they've been saying, I do for quite some time. But here it becomes formal. Now look at verse 26. So John's question, he had leaned back. Who is it? Verse 26, Jesus then answered, that is the one for whom I shall dip the morsel and give it to him. So when he Had dipped the morsel, he took it and gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. After the morsel, Satan then entered into him. Therefore, Jesus said to him, What you do, do quickly. So here's Jesus, judge of the situation. He had shown Judas much goodness all his life. He had just washed Judas's feet, administered the Passover meal. He had showed him kindness in every way, at every turn. The only thing Jesus had ever done for Judas was good. Even his rebukes were good.

32:05And so, and yet here we see him the traitor. He didn't call attention to him, he doesn't rebuke him publicly. He just gives him a morsel, which in and of itself would be seen as a kind act of brotherly affection. Here, take the morsel. I mean, traitors. I was just learning that in many countries, if you were a traitor, you were killed in a brutal way, and then you were quartered. You were cut in quarters. That's not how Jesus taught this traitor.

32:38But it's though what Jesus is saying is like, he's saying, Look, you have witnessed the epitome of goodness. You have heard the best sermons. You have witnessed the mightiest miracles. You have seen the Father through me, and yet you still prefer spiritual union with another. Therefore, As the one who has all authority, you shall have him. And he hands Judas over in that moment. You want to be wed? Wed you are. Your union is sealed. This just goes to show you John's, what John said in, or what Jesus said in John 3, 3, he said, unless one is born again, he shall not see the kingdom of God. This underscores that sometimes we think that just education is enough or a good example is enough, or if a person can just be loved, then all of a sudden that's enough. No. Unless one is born again, he cannot, shall not see the kingdom of God.

33:54And listen, this ought to shape all of our ministries. Friends, we have got to get the gospel right. Listen, man's need is not primarily humanitarian aid. It is not just education. It's not even a good role model. It's not even being loved. They must be born again. And that is in the hands of Christ and Christ alone. And so all of our ministries must be geared to proclaiming that message. Get the gospel right. Close down every other ministry until you get the gospel right.

34:37Because all the education isn't going to change anything. All the love in the world isn't going to change anything. Person must be born from above. And that's out of our power. But it is in his, right? And that's why we minister in his name. And we trust the means and the message that he has given. Well, after Judas received the morsels, Satan entered him. And just remember, never forget for Judas, satanic possession. And this is possession clearly in Scripture. Satanic possession began with a pattern of violating conscience. First, temptation. Second, a seared conscience. Third, a defiled conscience. Fourth, full occupation.

35:35But before we leave this, notice the end of verse 27. What you do, do quickly. Notice that Jesus isn't flinched. He isn't frightened. It's like he's saying, let's get on with it. What you were doing, do. Accomplish. And not just go and do it. Quickly do it. As soon as possible, we might translate it. Without delay. Here, you want to serve him? You want to go and use your life married to him? Then go. Give full expression to your heart. In fact, let your enemies give full expression to what's in their heart. Let evil run its full course in your life. It will not prevail.

36:35Jesus remains unflinched. Well, we've looked at the wedding official. We've looked at the witness. We've looked at the bride, an unteachable disciple. Now let's look for a moment at the audience. The audience. Look at verse 28. Now no one, John accepted, of course, of those reclining at the table knew for what purpose he had said this to him. For some were supposing, because Judas had all the money, but had the money box, that Jesus was saying to him, Buy the things we have need of the feast, or else that he should give something to the poor. Now just observe a couple things. We know a satanic marriage has happened, right? It's clear, explicitly stated in the text.

37:30A union. Satan has come in. Before the morsel, he was only an outside influence, tempting, alluring. But after the morsel, he becomes inside control. But notice that Judas didn't change colors, did he? He didn't grow horns. He didn't growl. His face didn't contort, or anything that we would typically associate with modern Hollywood depictions of demonic possession. And yet we know he was possessed. Notice that there was no hint that the disciples suspected Judas. In fact, many of them, in other accounts, they suspected themselves.

38:27What did Judas look like? After being wed to Satan, what did he look like? He looked like a man on a mission for a good cause, didn't he? Look back. Maybe he's going out to buy some things needed for the feast. That would be a good thing. Or maybe he went out to give some money to the poor. That'd be a good thing. A man on a mission for a good cause. That's what demonic possession in this context looks like.

39:01Total possession and yet flawlessly hidden, even to the disciples. Obviously, there's so many things that this message touches upon, but sufficient to begin wrapping this up. Well, within 24 hours, guess what? Both men are going to be dead. And what a sad and horrifying parting this is. We know how Jesus died, crucifixion. We know how Judas died by suicide. You see, Judas's soulmate betrayed him. He not only led him to sear his conscience, and he not only led him to defile his conscience, but then having done so, he heaped upon him a guilty conscience. Shame on you! Look what you've done!

40:14Matthew 21:3 says this: Then, when Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that he had been condemned, he felt remorse, and he returned the 30 pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, saying, I have sinned by betraying innocent blood. But they said, What is that to us? See that to yourself. And he threw the pieces of silver into the temple sanctuary, departed, and he went away and hanged himself. So that's the progression in conscience from defiled to guilty, from defiled, I mean, from seared to defiled to guilty. And because he had not been teachable, he did not know how to deal with a guilty conscience.

41:00Look back at verse 30. So after receiving the morsel, he went out immediately, and it was night. Sad words. Judas's soulmate had betrayed him. Look what you've done, you wretch. You have betrayed innocent blood. And all the time, and Satan masterminded it. So Jesus, and here's the frightful part: Jesus gave Judas over. And Judas was destined to spend the rest of his life in satanic madness, recklessly pursuing the desires of his soulmate. And this is what I want us to avoid. I want us to stop courting the devil at every juncture.

42:01And this is why I have great concern for our nation and for our churches and for individuals in this room. The progression of the unteachable is frightening. It starts with satanic inspiration. It proceeds to a fleshly resonance and then a willful participation and then satanic dominance. So be teachable. The message? Stop courting the devil in every way. Let me close by reading: How do you deal with a guilty conscience? Because I think if we are honest with ourselves, we see in ourselves the vestiges of hearts that go astray, hearts that are too easily courted by the devil, too easily giving in to temptation, and even practicing and even growing and searing and defiling our conscience. And so, how do we get out of this? What is the way out? Well, Hebrews 9, I'll just read verse 13 and 14. For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling those who have been defiled, sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God. See, so how do you clean your conscience? Well, you start by agreeing with the Truth, receive the words of truth, let sin, let God call sin sin. Agree, believe, own up, turn away. And may I say to you, the most important kind of repentance is the repentance that is followed by restitution. You want to break the power of sin in your life? Repent with restitution.

44:01And if you've done some things that you really don't know how to resolve or make proper restitution, please come talk to me. I'll help walk you through that or talk to any of the elders. But agree with the truth. Let God define sin, own up to it. Then believe God's payment is for you. That the whole purpose for the cross was to cleanse consciences. If you have a shamed conscience and you are guilty for a holy God, the last place on earth you're going to be is in the presence of a holy God. You yourself are going to run away with all of your might. And so what has to take place is something has to change your conscience. Let Scripture inform your conscience. And let Scripture's truth resonate that the way through a guilty conscience is through the blood of Christ. And there is no other way.

45:06And understand that God's payment is for you. His blood cleanses the guilty to such an extent that it becomes sin to hold on to it. That's the position that the Bible puts us in. Either we're going to believe it, or we're going to have to call him a liar. And we don't want to do that. And then the final thing: I can say, agree with the truth that God's word defines sin. Believe that God's payment on the cross is for you.

45:46And fourth, know that you are loved. Know that you are loved with the kind of love that you can wrap your whole identity in. I am a disciple whom Jesus loved. Loves. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, forgive us where we have tied our souls, we have joined our souls with your enemy. Forgive us for all the searing of our consciences, all the defilement. Of our consciences that have gone on deliberately in our own hearts, in our own minds. Father, please cleanse us. Cleanse us. We need your forgiveness. Cleanse us. Wash us anew.

46:49Give us good and clean consciences. May they work right. Inform our consciences with your truth. Father, that we may never go the path of Judas. And I pray for everyone in here. Father, that we would stop courting your enemy by embracing your Son.