OH, WHAT YOU CAN DO WITH THE TESTIMONY OF JESUS!

Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offenses 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)

And the LORD God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat. And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head , and thou shalt bruise his heel.
(Gen 3:13-15)

Paul spoke of false preachers and teachers who caused divisions that were contrary to the doctrine the church was taught.

Imagine Paul starting a church and installing a pastor and some joker coming by and preaching to the people about some nonsense that was un-apostolic.
And then Paul spoke about the people being wise and "up" on these things.
Paul simply taught that we do not accept every little doctrine that floats around.
Watchmen in those days stood atop the town walls and when a stranger came by they marked the visitor and inquired carefully who it might be.
They kept an eye on them, because invaders would often send spies beforetime.
And Paul is using this analogy as a metaphor.
Today's modern church world accepts anything so long as it includes Jesus.
However, that was not the way the Apostles dealt with these issues.
Find out if they were abiding by the principles of the Word.
Mark those who did not, and avoid them.

Without carefulness, false prophets can sow their seeds of division successfully and split the church up.

Proverbs 14:15 The simple believeth every word, but the prudent man looketh well to his going.

The simple are deceived because the simple are not aware of an evil out there.

And they listen to anyone who is kind and uses fair speeches.
And they use scripture.
Even the devil quoted scripture when tempting Jesus.
And they argue from scripture.
But only take what the Apostles distinctly said in plain language.

Peter told us to repent, be baptized in Jesus' name, and receive the Holy Ghost.

And anything less than that is simply not apostolic.
Not what Peter said.
Anything else in the Bible will agree with that.
Paul said believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.
But you have to consider what else the bible says, and not exclude something else because of one statement here.
It all goes together and all agrees together.
Jesus said he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.
And believing in the Bible involved obedience, not just nodding your head and saying you agree and believe.
Believing is having faith, and faith without works is dead.
True faith will DO SOMETHING as the result of heeding the word.

When Peter preached, the listeners were pricked in their hearts and KNEW there was something to do.

What shall we do?

Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do? Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
(Acts 2:37-38)

Their HEARTS were pricked.

When this really gets in your HEART you will know there is something to do.
Not salvation by works, but you will know there is obedience to be fulfilled.

But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.
(Romans 6:17)

There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of the band called the Italian band, A devout man, and one that feared God with all his house, which gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God always. He saw in a vision evidently about the ninth hour of the day an angel of God coming in to him, and saying unto him, Cornelius. And when he looked on him, he was afraid, and said, What is it, Lord? And he said unto him, Thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial before God. And now send men to Joppa, and call for one Simon, whose surname is Peter: He lodgeth with one Simon a tanner, whose house is by the sea side: he shall tell thee what thou oughtest to do.
(Act 10:1-6)

And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost. For they heard them speak with tongues, and magnify God. Then answered Peter, Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we? And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. Then prayed they him to tarry certain days.
(Act 10:45-48)

And Paul then makes a statement about their obedience going abroad to all men.

He implies it would be a shame for this people who were so well-known for the truth and the apostolic ways to abandon it.
But also such a willing obedience might make them willing to obey a false doctrine as well.
So they need to be very wise.
They need to be sharp and able to pick out false doctrines.

And then he says God will bruise Satan under your feet shortly.

That refers far back to Adam and Eve.
He speaks of the Lord bruising Satan under the Roman Christians feet shortly.
God said this to the serpent when he used fair speeches and deceived the woman.

This was fulfilled when Jesus was crucified.

When God told Satan he would bruise the woman's seed's heel, that meant the woman's seed would suffer a bit.
But that heel would bruise because Satan's head would be crushed in the process.
Jesus Christ destroyed him that had the power of death, even the devil.
He broke the devil's power over us when He died, because He was a sacrifice.
And that sacrifice free us from the sins we committed and all the doom that we owe because of those sins.

But Paul is saying this will happen to Christians long after the cross occurred.

Did not Jesus already do this?
Why does it need to be done again?
Did not Christ accomplish a finished work on the cross?
And if the devil's head was bruised on the cross and the cross was a finished work, then why does Paul say the Lord will bruise Satan under the Romans' feet shortly?

This brings out a great truth.

Yes, Jesus finished the work on the cross.
But that means He provided everything we will ever need to deal with anything.
He made all the tools and provided all the power.
Now we have to use them.

Its very important that we see that the very thing Christ did to the devil on the cross is something we have to do ourselves.

We died with Him and were buried with Him and risen with Him.

So we experienced the cross ourselves.
And we are also finding out that the destruction Jesus accomplished against the devil is something we also accomplish in our own personal lives.

You're got it all wrong if you've been thinking you should never have a problem with the devil once Christ bruised his head.

We must take the power God gave to us and use it.

We can take the power of God and use it.

God said the seed of the woman would do that.

But here we see Christians doing it.
How?
The seed of the woman was planted and when it arose it arose with many more like Him.
That seed would have remained the only one able to do that to the devil if it had not died and fallen into the ground.
But when a seed has certain characteristics and is planted, it is going to come back up with many more like it with all its characteristics in them all.

Adam laid down his life and God took from him a rib and made the woman.

You could say that God took out the whole human race that exists all over the world today from Adam's side that day, for we all came from him.
Well, Jesus laid down his life, too, when He died on the cross.
And we all came from his side.

We are part of Jesus.

So we can do what He did.

Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.
(John 20:17)

In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
(John 14:2)

Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.
(John 14:12)

He had to die and resurrect and then go to the Father in order for us to do the things He did.

Don't believe anyone who speaks about doing things for God without having anything to do with Jesus' death, burial and resurrection and going to the Father.

We could not do what He did unless He went to the Father.

And He could not go to the Father until He first died and resurrected again.

And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born. And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.
(Revelation 12:4-5)

THe devil tried to devour the Lord Jesus when He was born.

Recall that Herod tried to kill all the children beneath two years of age when Jesus was two.
Like Pharaoh drowned all the male babies in the Nile that were born at the time of Moses' birth.
Herod and Pharaoh were used by Satan to destroy the deliverer.

But the child was caught up to the throne.

This goes ahead to the resurrection.

And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.
(Luke 10:18-19)

He had to confer power on the disciples to tread down the devil before the cross.

But after the cross, everyone who is born again and made part of Jesus, already has the power.

Jesus saw the devil fall, and He then said they can see the devil fall.

When the devil is over your head, he needs to fall.
Fall so low that he gets beneath your feet.

After Jesus gets to the throne and has power, we read of the devil involved in a war.

And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.
(Revelation 12:7-11)

When the devil falls here, this is long after the resurrection.

And after the devil falls, we read that the reason for it was that the saints overcame the devil.
They got him out of the heaven over the heads, and threw him down to the earth so they could walk on his head.
Their faith caused angels to pull him down.
Their faith caused angels to war.

Angels go to war when you use the power God gave you.

And verse 11 says the whole key to their overcoming of the devil was Jesus' blood and the word of their testimony.

Why did the saints hear Paul say God would bruise Satan under their feet, when God originally told the serpent it would be done under Jesus' feet?
It was because the saints were PART OF JESUS.
THEY HAD HIS CHARACTERISTICS BECAUSE THEY WERE BORN AGAIN.
And Rev 12 says they have His testimony!

I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ.
(Revelation 1:9)

And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held:
(Revelation 6:9)

And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.
(Revelation 12:17)

They had Jesus' testimony.

If you interrogated Him on the witness stand He would give the testimony that He died, was buried and rose again.
That is His testimony.
That is the experience He had that the whole world needs to hear.
And John had His testimony.
Saints had His testimony.
That is why they had the power Jesus had.
The devil tried to make war with the ones who had His testimony.
He hopes he can devour them as he tried with Jesus.
But if they know who they are, he is finished, as he was with Jesus!
He's going to be under their feet.