Speaking of the Devil

explaining to do. I didn’t get the memo that we were
still in Christmas mode, so I was thankful to hear John say that
the last song closed out Christmas because I had already purposed
to move forward with really kind of a perspective view of 2016 as we begin to prepare for a
new year. Charles Spurgeon used to do this
on a regular basis. He preached, I believe, exegetically. Charles Spurgeon would dig into
the text of Scripture, but he would start fresh every Monday
morning and begin praying about what the Lord would lay on his
heart and what the Lord would have him to preach. This isn’t a regular feature
for me. I know what the next passage is 99% of the time because
it’s the next one in the passage or in the book through which
we’re working. But on this particular occasion,
I just stepped back and I tried to pray about and think about
what the Lord would have me to address as we begin to look forward
towards this year. As I said, I landed on a passage
that is hardly a Christmas passage. Whenever I do one of these breakout
messages, I sometimes am accused of lying in wait for particular
individuals. And I’ve explained before that
I have such a high view of the pulpit, such a high view of the
privilege of preaching that to use this as what’s called a bully
pulpit, to pick a sermon just to preach at one individual or
a few individuals is an abuse really of the office. It’s an
abuse of this calling. And so I would
just tell you that if this message stings this morning, it should
because it should sting every one of us. because every one
of us is susceptible to the topic at hand. The topic this morning,
the focus, really is the devil himself. I titled the message,
Speaking of the Devil, and you just didn’t realize that I had
been doing so, but I had been praying about this and wondering
what the Lord would have us to hear this morning from His Word.
And I want to take you to 1 Peter chapter 5. 1 Peter chapter 5. And I would just say that when
it comes to the subject, the topic if you will, of the devil,
we basically stand somewhere in this wide continuum of possibilities. There are those who utterly disbelieve
in the devil. They have to. And so they are
quite likely to dress up their children as little devils on
Halloween or they glorify or mock the existence of Satan. And I say they have to disbelieve
also in the devil because if they believe in the devil then
they must also believe in God. So there are those on the far
end of the continuum that disbelieve in even the devil’s existence,
much less of his ability to thwart plans and to wreak havoc. And
then at the opposite end of the spectrum are those that believe
that the devil is so real and so powerful that he controls
and manipulates and alters every possible situation. The truth
is somewhere in between. The devil does have powerful,
does have power, but he’s not all powerful. C.S. Lewis first identified,
or he was the first that I found that identified this continuum,
this range of thinking about the devil, and he said there
are two equal opposite errors into which our race can fall
about devils. One is to disbelieve in their
existence. The other is to believe and to
feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They themselves
are equally pleased by both errors and hail a materialist or a magician
with the same delight.” So he says, wherever you are in that
continuum, if you’re at those polar opposites, the devils are
quite pleased with that, Satan himself. Well, what Peter wants
to do, he doesn’t want to ignore the devil’s existence. He doesn’t
want to overplay his hand and suggest that in any way the devil
is in control. He’s not. And in order to do that, Peter
addresses the devil. and gives us three hopefully
very encouraging reminders for dealing with God’s mortal enemy,
the devil. We pick it up in verse 6, where
Peter is beginning to wrap up his epistle. He has just addressed
one of his final primary topics, that of the leadership of the
church. Throughout his epistle, he has been dealing with suffering
and the saint who is in the midst of suffering and he’s not far
from that here in this closing paragraph. We begin in verse
6 of chapter 5 where Peter admonishes, therefore, humble yourselves
under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you at the
proper time, casting all your anxiety on him because he cares
for you. Be of sober spirit. Be on the
alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls
about like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. But resist
him. Firm in your faith, knowing that
the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your
brethren who are in the world. After you have suffered for a
little while, the God of all grace who called you into His
eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen,
and establish you. To Him be dominion forever and
ever. Amen. As I said, there are many, many
even in the church who become so preoccupied by the devil and
his activities that they find themselves muted and troubled
and disabled by the fear that certainly follows. There are
those that have a complete indifference, however, to spiritual warfare. They turn a blind eye to some
very obvious clues. As I said, at the other extreme
are those that are almost preoccupied. I think this has somewhat died
down now, but years ago there was this regular preoccupation
generated by Peretti’s books about this present darkness.
It was fiction, but it was received as a fact. And it made deep in-routes
into the church. We can’t deny the existence of
a real devil. We can’t deny the existence of
his henchmen, the demons. But we need to know how to deal
with him. He’s real. He’s there. Some have suggested that we merely
bind him by calling out and binding him verbally. which practice I have never engaged
nor do I recommend. I don’t even find it good practice
to speak directly to those beings and neither did Paul. We have a tendency to work our way into this position
that because we don’t know how to deal with the devil, We should just ignore him altogether
and that’s not helpful either. One pastor said the Christian
conflict is not only real, it is difficult and dangerous. It
is one in which true believers are often grievously wounded
and multitudes of reputed believers entirely succumb. It is one also
in which great mistakes are often committed. Serious loss incurred
from the ignorance of its nature and of the appropriate means
of carrying it on. Men are apt to regard spiritual
warfare as a mere moral conflict between reason and conscience
on the one side and evil passions on the other. They therefore
rely on their own strength and upon the resources of nature
for success. The source of strength is not
in nature, As we have superhuman enemies with which to contend,
we need not only superhuman strength, but divine armor and arms. The weapons of our warfare are
not natural, but divine. Many of you know John Bunyan
from his book Pilgrim’s Progress. He wrote a number of other allegories
of the Christian faith. And he wrote another one called
The Holy War. interesting title given our current
day. Here’s what John Bunyan said about the devil in his book
The Holy War. In this gallant country of universe
there lies a pleasant and peaceful municipality called Mansoul. The picturesque architecture
of this town, its convenient locations, and its superior advantages
cannot be equaled under heaven. Once upon a time, a mighty giant
named Diabolus made an assault upon this famous town of Mansoul. He tried to take it and make
it his own habitation. This giant was the terrible Prince
of Darkness. He was originally one of the
servants of King Shaddai who had placed him in a very high
and mighty position. Knowing that they had lost their
positions and the king’s favor forever, Diabolus and his rebels
turned their pride into hatred against Shaddai and his son.
They roamed about in fury from place to place in search of something
that belonged to the king in which to take their revenge.
At last, they happened to find this spacious country of universe
and they steered their course straight towards the town of
Mansoul. considering it to be one of the
chief works and delight of King Shaddai, they decided to make
an assault upon the town. So they called a council of war
and considered what methods they should use to win this famous
town of Mansoul for themselves. John Bunyan knew that the devil
was real. John Bunyan didn’t downplay it.
He didn’t downplay the fact that there is spiritual warfare taking
place even as we sit here this morning. Peter likewise acknowledges the
devil’s existence. Peter likewise tells us that
there is a war taking place in the spiritual realm and that
we must take action. We must be ready. We must be
not only aware but we must be ready and prepared for battle.
As I said he gives us three encouraging reminders in dealing with the
devil. Most of us didn’t have any plans this morning to do
that. Peter says it’s absolutely crucial. First of all Peter tells
us that we need to be watchful knowing that the enemy is out
there. Many of us would acknowledge
the devil’s existence, but by our actions, by the way that
we live, by even some of our practices and habits, we would
say that the devil isn’t real. He’s not really in the mix. 1 Peter 5.8 says, Be of sober spirit. Be on the alert. He calls us
to a watchfulness. He’s already told us in the outset
of that paragraph that we are not to be caught up. We’re not
to be overly anxious. We’re not to be overwhelmed by
the world. But in addition to being calm,
we are supposed to be watchful. Just because we can cast all
of our cares on God doesn’t mean that there aren’t great challenges
in front of us. As one said, faith and effort
go hand in hand. One pastor put it here that everyone
that would be a good soldier in this holy war against Satan
must labor for a sober frame of spirit. And I think that’s
where most people are caught off guard. They live a life as
if the devil didn’t exist. They live just this carefree
existence and in a sense are readying themselves as his victims. He continues and says, whereby
Christians esteem lowly their abilities and meddle sparingly
even with lawful delights because the excess becomes fuel to Satan’s
temptations. What he says is, that you can
live a careless enough life to essentially put yourself in harm’s
way. We are to be mentally prepared,
mentally self-controlled, alert, and watchful, awake. It’s an
oft-repeated command in Scripture, but it’s never more important
than here with regards to dealing with the devil himself. We need
to watch for his trickery. We need to watch for his arguments. We need to watch for the use,
the employment of his methods. We need to watch our surroundings.
We need to watch our relationships. We have to watch those things
that are potential temptations for us. We are, as believers,
to be sober-minded, serious. And remember that we’re not on
a playground. We’re in a battlefield. And we’re
supposed to be watchful because the enemy is always out there,
as we’ll see in a moment. We need to take the whole subject
of the devil very seriously. We have to be alert and sober-minded. We have to be spiritually ready
and watchful for any occasion of the devil to take a foothold
in our life. in our relationships. Verse 8
says, Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary
the devil prowls about like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour.
That word adversary is an interesting one. It refers to an opponent
in a court of law. This is the one that hauls you
in by way of a lawsuit. And that’s what Satan’s job is,
isn’t it? Satan is completely against God,
is completely against the church. You get people in this day and
age that almost believe, they almost want to suggest that Satan
is convertible. That if we were only nice back
to Satan, that maybe we could win him and restore him. He’s lost for eternity. God has
already judged Satan. The very fact that Satan is against
God and against this church, against Christ’s church, makes
us to sit up and take notice because that means he’s against
us personally. When you name the name of Christ,
you identify yourself as an enemy. He is our adversary. And Satan
loves to go to God with reports about us and slander us to God
and He loves to come to us and slander God to us. Interesting thing is that in
our day and age, people seem to almost be willing to live
with the devil. But Peter, first and foremost
here, says that by way of reminder, he is your adversary. He’s not
your friend. He’s not winnable. He’s not somebody
that can be negotiated with. He’s not somebody that can be
trifled with. Satan isn’t only the adversary
of God Almighty and His holy angels, he is the enemy of all
Christians. But Peter, not wanting not wanting
to mince any words, not wanting to leave any doubt. He says,
your adversary, the devil. And he points clearly and unequivocally
to the devil himself. The word there is diabolos, mentioned
about 130 times in the New Testament. It’s the Greek word from which
we get our word, diabolical. And that’s where Bunyan drew
his term, diabolos. The word literally meant to throw
over. And that is the devil’s great
plan. He wants to throw over everything
to do with God. He’s not necessarily against
you personally, but he’s against everything about God, everything
to do with God, everything to do with God’s plan of redemption,
everything to do with Christ. And because of your association
with Him, He’s against you too. He is a slanderer. He is an accuser. He is a malicious, false accuser. As I said before, He accuses
men to God. He accuses God to men. His ultimate
goal is to get one to distrust the other. That’s all He needs. Speaking of this devil, he is
called in Scripture by many different terms. He’s called the devil.
He’s called the dragon. He’s referred to as Satan, the
evil one, the serpent, the prince of this world. And his whole
goal is to attack everything to do with God. As one pastor said, according
to the Bible, there are legions of fallen angels who, under the
malevolent rule of Satan, are bent on opposing God’s rule and
doing people harm. They comprise a great and terrifying
force, but they are described for us not to induce terror. Do you get that? We’re not supposed
to be cowering in fear. We’re not supposed to hear our
knees knocking at the mere mention of the devil’s name. They are described to us not
to induce terror, but to warn us of danger so that we might
draw near to God as the One who alone can protect us. Satan is not only presented as
the originator of sin, the prince of this world, but
the bottom line, Satan is, he’s superhuman. He’s above the strength
of mankind. He’s a fallen angel, but he’s
not divine. He has power, as I said, but
he’s not omnipotent. He’s not omniscient. He’s not
omnipresent. One Puritan warned that by undermining
our belief in God, God’s love and goodness, Satan induces us
to seek our happiness in ways which are not of God’s appointing. That’s what we need to be watchful
for. Your adversary, your adversary,
the devil, is seeking opportunity. Your adversary, the devil, prowls
about like a roaring lion. The devil here is likened to
a lion, but he’s different. I have a friend who had opportunity
to go on a safari. If there’s a lion out there, You’ll never see him before he
sees you. You won’t hear him before he
hears you. There’s no doubt as to why they
are called the king of the jungle. They are stealthy hunters. They have gifts and abilities
far beyond a human’s ability. But this likeness here to the
devil as a lion, we need to see what Peter means here. A lion
is an earthly creature, but he points to Satan as a spiritual
being, and the spiritual being that’s lurking out about there. The lion typically hunts at night
and at night alone, whereas The devil hunts all the time. The interesting thing about a
lion is his appetite can be satiated. It can be satisfied. That he
can eat and he eats an entire gazelle and he’s happy for a
couple of days. The devil is never satisfied. A lion is visible. The devil is invisible. The lion
takes his prey by violence, great force. The devil operates with
incredible secrecy and slowly and by degrees. The devil attacks
not only flesh as does the lion, but he attacks flesh and soul. So you have this image partly
taken from Psalm 22, 13 of the devil as a lion, but also partly
here in this passage prowling about as a lion taken from the
book of Job. Whereas the book of Job opens
up, it pictures the devil roaming about on the earth and then making
entrance into heaven to accuse believers before God. Well, we
know the devil is real. We know that he prowls about.
We know his nature. John 10.10 says that the devil,
a thief, comes only to steal and kill and destroy, and this
he does with incredible effectiveness. And I want you to think of it.
Every broken friendship can be traced back to the devil and
his activity. Every divorce, every battle,
Every division in society, whether it’s racial or economic or religious
or sexism or politics, all can be traced directly to the devil
and his activities. Nothing. No moment, however delicate
or special, is off limits for the devil. No relationship is
so dear that the devil wouldn’t love to destroy it. No event
is so sacred that the devil doesn’t find himself squarely in the
midst of it. No union is so precious. No cause is so great. No purpose, no matter how noble,
none of those things are immune to the devil’s meddling. And
once he’s meddled, they’re not immune to the disintegration
that he brings. They’re not immune ultimately
to the destruction that he brings. Here are some infamous attacks
by the devil. We all immediately would think
of Adam and Eve. And we might even brush our hands
and say, if I could only be watchful of a serpent, I’ll see him when
he comes. Saul’s hatred of David was inspired
by the devil. Peter’s rebuke of God’s plan,
Jesus pointed out, as being directly related to Satan’s influence. Get thee behind me, Satan, was
Jesus’ reply. Judas’ betrayal of the Lord Jesus
Christ was directly attributed to the devil and his activity,
the devil having already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot
to betray him. Ananias and Sapphira They came
up with this scheme that was directly influenced by the devil
himself. And when Peter rebuked them,
he said, why has Satan filled your heart to lie? The Corinthians
and their impurity and doctrinal error, the Jews and their treatment
of Christ, those who linger in anger, Ephesians 4.25, Be angry
and do not sin. Do not let the sun go down on
your anger. Do not give the devil an opportunity.
Those who are without armor, Ephesians 6.11. Pride of unwary
elders who just do what they do flippantly, 1 Timothy 3. Those who are doctrinally ignorant. Those who are unfamiliar with
what they even are supposed to believe. And certainly false
teachers, many different attacks are identified in many different
ways. But every believer, every relationship that a believer
has, one pastor said, that’s because
Satan, our adversary, wants to capture us in sin. In his attempt
to make us fall, he preys on us like a lion. That graphic figure of speech
symbolizes the cruelty and the craft, the relentless activity
and the terrible threats which characterize the evil tempter,
the enemy of our souls. He is a mighty individual, but
he’s not almighty. These are some of the tricks
that the devil will use And you’ll know them because you probably
have already experienced some of them. Doubt. Doubt God. Doubt God’s ability. Doubt God’s
power. Doubt God’s Word. That’s a devil’s
trick. Temptation. Persecution. Discouragement. Satan sows discord. In the midst of believers, as
I already said, he accuses God to men, men to God, and men to
men. People come up with the wildest
notions of what other people are doing against them. It’s
from the devil. Persecution, false teaching,
self-sufficiency, political attitudes, social mores, weaknesses, strengths,
Christian liberties, sinful tendencies. You know what? Peter knew all
of those kinds of temptation. Peter, no doubt, had in his own
mind the very evening where he denied his Lord. J.C. Ryle said, True Christianity
admits no breathing time, no armistice, no truce, on weekdays
as well as Sundays, in private as well as public, at home by
the family fireside as well as in public, in little things,
in great things, in management of the tongue and temper, as
well as great things like government of kingdoms. The Christian warfare
must unceasingly go on. The foe with which we have to
do keeps no holidays. He never slumbers, never sleeps. So long as we have breath in
our bodies, we must keep our armor and remember that we are
on the enemy’s ground. He prowls about. And he looks
for all kinds of different ways to trip you up. And he has an
almost unlimited arsenal of tricks at his disposal. Thomas Brooks,
the Puritan, said that Satan has snares for the wise, snares
for the simple, snares for hypocrites, snares for the upright, snares
for generous souls. It’s snares for fearful souls,
snares for the rich, snares for the poor, snares for the aged
and the youth. Happy are those souls who are
not taken and held in the snares that He has laid. The devil is
real and he has real tricks. And look at this. It’s not like
we can make a pet of this lion. It’s not like we can cuddle up
and cozy up to this lion. Your adversary, the devil, prowls
about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. And in case
you missed the imagery, it literally means to swallow or gulp down
whole. He wants to destroy you. And in the particular context
that Peter is talking about, he’s talking about suffering,
he’s talking about persecution, he’s talking about all those
difficulties. Satan wants nothing more than
to trip you up in your testimony, make your testimony null and
void, ineffective before people. Well, this is what led one Puritan
to summarize this entire first verse. Verse 8. Be of sober spirit,
be on the alert. Your adversary the devil prowls
about like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. He said, we
have been forewarned. God told you. We have been forewarned
that an enemy relentlessly threatens us, an enemy who is at the very
embodiment of rash boldness, military prowess, crafty wiles,
untiring zeal of haste, every conceivable weapon and skill
in the science of warfare. We must then bend our every effort
to this goal. that we should not let ourselves
be overwhelmed by carelessness or faintheartedness, but on the
contrary, with courage rekindled, stand our ground in combat. It says the devil’s real and
he’s powerful and he’s mighty. And that would turn many of us
to run and flee and attempt to hide. And Peter says, look, that’s
not how you’re gonna do it. That’s not how you beat the devil. I told you there were three encouraging
reminders for dealing with the devil. The first one is knowing
that he exists. And because we know that he exists, we’re watchful.
We’re watchful for the ways, the attitudes, the verbal patterns,
the ways of dealing with conflict. We know the devil’s ways. Be watchful. But secondly, he
says, be steadfast, knowing that you’re not alone. be of sober
spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls
about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour, but resist
him. That’s it. You don’t have any better battle
plan than that, Peter? Resist him, firm in your faith,
knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished
by your brethren who are in the world. Stand up to him, you said. And that’s essentially what the
word means. To take a military position,
to stand upright, interact, to stick out our chest and lift
up our chin and be ready and to be watchful and to resist
his influences, to resist his methods. It’s a military term. One pastor said the Christian
would do well to remember that if he cannot fight the devil,
he still retains much of the power and wisdom as a glance
down the pages of history and one look about us today will
easily show. Well, a Christian cannot take
the offensive attack of Satan, yet he can stand his ground in
the face of his attacks. That’s what Peter says. Resist
him. We resist him by not giving in.
to temptations. We resist him by utilizing our
spiritual armor against his methods. We resist him by holding fast
to the faith, by persevering in the faith. Satan would like
nothing better than to have you skip church, to do away with
prayer, to leave off your Bible reading. Resist him. Without those things, we stand
on very fragile, very tenuous ground. We are waiting to be victims.
If we don’t draw on God and His grace, on His methods for dealing
with the devil, to think that we can manage the devil on our
own and rebuke or bind or correct him or dialogue with him is foolishness. Resistance is the key. Go with
me in the point that we’ve already established. If every broken
relationship, every divorce, every church split, every skirmish,
every war can be traced up to the devil and his activities,
this watchfulness must be about a watchfulness of every thought,
every method, every argument, every action that falls short
of God’s standards. So when you get into a disagreement,
a skirmish, a argument of some sort, all you need to begin to
do is evaluate, am I functioning? Am I relating as God would have
me? Because if it isn’t of God, guess
whose method you’re employing. That’s what Peter says, resist
him firm in your faith. It just means solid, rock solid. Scripture uses that word of a
solid foundation, solid food, strong wall. And in the present
passage, it just points to being solid and strong, impenetrable,
like a wall. In doctrinal purity, in godliness,
we’re to be strong. We’re to stand up. We’re to resist
the devil. Resist him firm in your faith,
knowing See, this is one of the devil’s tricks to make you think
and get you to really believe, poor me, I’m the first one, I’m
the only one that’s ever experienced this challenge, this trial. I’m the only one. I’m alone in
this deal. Jesus never even faced this.
That’s a lie. Resist him firm in your faith
knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished
by your brethren who are in the world. When he says being accomplished,
they’re not only experiencing the same trials, they’re winning,
they’re succeeding, they are victorious in the midst of those
trials. We’re encouraged to this strength of faith, perseverance
in the faith, resisting the devil in the midst of this faith because
our trials, whatever it is we’re going through, are common to
the entire world of Christians throughout history. They’re not
peculiar to us. We’re no different. So the first
point there is that, in a sense, we have a united front that he’s
against all of us. He’s not just against me. He’s
not just against you. He’s against all believers because
all believers know and love God. So Peter, in a sense, is encouraging
us to stand up and stand together in Christ, that we’re not alone,
that our sufferings aren’t unique, but they’re shared by the entire
realm of Christianity. But on the other hand, it’s an
encouragement that you’re one element of that fortress, and
that if you weaken and buckle and fall, guess what? You just
weakened the entire wall. You just weakened your brothers
who stand adjacent to you.” He says, don’t let the devil win. There are others who are watching
you. There are others who have expectations
of your own faithfulness. But I said there were three encouragements
here. Not only be watchful knowing
that the enemy is out there, be steadfast knowing that you’re
not alone, but third, be hopeful knowing that God will use this.
This isn’t an accident. Whenever we go through trials
of any kind, whenever the devil gets himself involved in the
mix, God has a purpose for it. And God wants to strengthen you.
Look at verse 10. And after you have suffered for
a little while, The God of all grace who called you into His
eternal glory in Christ will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen,
and establish you. And then He closes with that
marvelous doxology, to Him be dominion forever and ever. It
may be Satan’s realm in the here and now, but it’s God’s dominion. God’s in charge of it all. That
means Satan is just allowed to do his little thing for a little
while. I love that little phrase, after
you have suffered for a little while, you might say, you don’t
even know. Pastor, I’ve been living this
life of challenge. The devil never loses my phone
number. He’s always on my heels. He’s
always on the attack. It has been an entire lifetime
of knowing the devil and his tricks. It’s just a little while. That’s not me saying that. That’s
scripture. It’s just a little while. because
it’s contrasting this earthly existence. Even if it was an
entire lifetime of being under attack by the devil himself,
that’s just a little while in comparison with eternal glory
forever. Paul referred to the earthly
suffering that he was engaged in as momentary light affliction
compared to the glories that were his by God’s grace. After you have suffered for a
while, the God of all grace. What a beautiful way to refer
to our Father, isn’t it? The God of all grace. He is the
God of all grace. And much of this entire epistle
has to do with salvation. But the interesting thing here
is He goes back to that first seminal moment of salvation itself. It’s God’s grace. It’s God’s
grace that saved you. Isn’t that what’s going to sustain
you? Peter says that it’s the God
of all grace. He’s not only the grace of salvation,
but He’s the grace of sanctification as well. And now we’re focused
on sanctification. God has done the work of saving
us, and now God wants to purify us and ready us and glorify us. And He will do so. See, we too often are tempted
to doubt God’s favor towards us. It’s the very thing that
we begin to doubt. Yeah, God’s helped a lot of Christians
in the past, but this is a challenge that even God seems to be unable
to meet. God is the orientation point
of all grace. He owns all grace. He has measures
of grace that will never be exhausted. for the believer. And He gives
it. And He gives it willingly. That
we’re bidden to come before the throne of grace to ask for whatever
we need. And He’ll give it. Look again
at verse 10. After you’ve suffered for a little
while, the God of all grace who called you into His eternal glory
in Christ. That’s talking about the moment
of salvation. It’s the divine summons. God called you to Himself. God called you to salvation.
God called you to an eternal glory. Is He going to forget
that you’re on the battlefield? Is He going to forget that you’re
in a time of trial? Never, ever. And you can almost hear the trumpet
begin to blow, can’t you? Help is on the way. And you hear
it, and you sense it, But look who he sends. After you have
suffered for a little while, the God of all grace who called
you into his eternal glory in Christ will himself, God shows
up. We knew we needed help. We knew
that we were hopeless and helpless in ourselves. We knew that we’re
up against a powerful, a mighty enemy. Peter says God himself shows
up. And He begins to do a work in
our life, perfecting us, correcting us. The word is used of setting
broken bones. He begins to fix us. He begins
to make us whole again. and confirm us, used of making
something stable that doesn’t topple or tip over, and strengthen
us, referring to moral strengthening here. If you’ve fallen and stumbled,
if you’ve blown it, God’s there to help fix it and shore up and
strengthen what was weakened and establish you. That establishment
speaks of a solid, firm foundation that is absolutely immovable. God does this and He’s ready
to do it for you and I. We don’t have to doubt the devil’s
existence. We don’t have to stoop to charismatic
methods of binding Satan as if we had the ability to do that.
We don’t have to stoop to any of that. We focus our attention
on Almighty God Himself because it’s Him. It’s Him who’s there
with the grace. It’s Him who called us in His
grace. And it’s Him who is going to do the work of sanctification
for us until we are perfect, glorified. You say, that’ll take
some time. You bet it will. It’ll take an
eternity. It’ll take a lifetime. But God promises that it will
be done. And He’s already begun that work. Be of sober spirit. Be on the
alert. Your adversary prowls about like
a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour, but resist him firm
in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering
are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world
and after you have suffered for a little while. The God of all
grace, who called you into his eternal glory in Christ, will
himself perfect to confirm, strengthen, and establish you. What a great
hope! To Him be the dominion forever
and ever. Amen. Our merciful God, we rejoice
at the richness of Your Word. We rejoice at the clarity of
it. that for those who have placed their faith in Christ, we can
and we are called to stand up, as it were, to the devil, to
resist him, to watch for his methods, to watch for his trickery,
to watch for his wiles, to keep our eyes open and alert to every
possible means where the devil would gain a foothold. Lord,
we know He has done great destruction in this world, and the destruction
continues even down to this very moment. Lord, help us. We don’t want to work for Him.
We don’t want to serve Him. Lord God, by Your grace, we would
serve our Almighty King. We would be so conformed to His
image that the devil himself knows exactly who we serve. Because of that would flee. Lord
God grant us the grace to resist him who has for a little while
this territory which to ply his methods and exercise what little
power he has. Grant us the grace Grant us the
grace to resist Him and draw near to Christ. It’s in Jesus’
name that we pray. Amen.