Be Vigilant And Stand Firm

I Peter 5:8-14

Transcript

Be sober-minded, be watchful. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a
roaring lion seeking someone to devour. Resist him firm in your faith, knowing
that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood
throughout the world. And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all
grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore,
confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To him be the dominion forever and ever.
Amen. Thus, by Sylvanus, a faithful brother as I regard him, I have written
briefly to you, exhorting and declaring that this is the true grace of God.
Stand firm in it. She who is at Babylon, who is likewise chosen, sends you
greetings, and so does Mark my son. Greet one another with the kiss of love.
Peace to all of you who are in Christ. Would you pray with me this morning?
Father, we are so thankful for your word, that your word gives light and life.
And Lord, I pray that as your word goes forward this morning, that your hand of
blessing would be upon him. Lord, that you would work in our lives to mold us
and shape us into the image of your son, Jesus Christ. Lord, I pray that you
would help us to be vigilant and stand firm in your grace as we do battle with a
real enemy. I pray this in Christ's name. Amen. The year was 1864. Union General
John Sedgwick was inspecting his troops at the Battle of Spotsylvania.
Confederate sharpshooters under the leadership of General Ulysses S. Grant were
firing from a distance, and many of Sedgwick's men were nervously ducking for
cover. But Sedgwick, a confident war veteran, laughed at their fear. And he
said, why are you dodging like this? They couldn't hit an elephant at this
distance. And to prove his point, he stepped out into the open, ignoring the
warnings around him. Those would be his final words. Moments later, a bullet
struck him under his left eye and he was killed instantly. An experienced
soldier was careless in the presence of a real enemy. He lost his life
needlessly because he stopped being vigilant in that moment. His carelessness
was costly. Now the reality is, there is a battle that is taking place all
around us. Now we may not see it, but it's just as real as the Battle of
Spotsylvania or any historic battle. It's a spiritual battle that we engage in
on a daily basis with a real enemy who has real power, who's on a mission to
destroy. And so as we open our text this morning, we see that in our battle with
the enemy, God calls us to be vigilant and stand firm in the grace of God. In
our battle, he calls us to be vigilant and stand firm in the grace of God. Now
we'll see this theme being developed through verses 8 through 11 in this command
to be vigilant, to be sober minded, to be careful. And in our vigilance, there's
a reason for that. We have a real enemy. And so our response to this real enemy
is to resist as we stand firm in grace. And the redemptive truth that helps us
to stand firm, we see in verses 10 through 11, God in his grace is at work in
our lives. And so the section begins with this command to be vigilant. And it
concludes with this exhortation to stand firm. So that's kind of an overview of
our passage this morning. So let's dive in with this command in verses 8 through
11 to be vigilant. Verse 8 reads, Be sober minded, be watchful. Now in the
preceding section, as you recall from last week, Peter exhorts us that in the
midst of our sufferings, in the midst of our struggles, in the midst of our
anxieties, to cast our cares upon the Lord, because he cares for us. And as
Christians, that is a liberating truth. We don't have to bear life's burdens
alone. We praise God for that. But to be clear, casting our cares on the Lord
does not mean that we should live a careless life. And so as Peter wraps up his
exhortation to these saints who are suffering, in verse eight, he exhorts us to
be sober minded. Now twice already in this epistle, Peter has exhorted us to
embrace this mindset to be sober minded. And the reason is simple. We can't
afford to be careless in how we think and respond to the trials that come our
way. Once again, Peter is writing to saints who are suffering, who might be
tempted in their struggles to wonder whether following Christ is really worth
it. And so in chapter one, he reminds us that we have a living hope. And yet
despite this hope, we do grieve because of our present sufferings. We wait for
our faith to be made sight. And as we wait, he exhorts us to be sober minded, to
set our hope fully on the grace that will come to us at the revelation of Jesus
Christ. In chapter four, he reminds us that we are those who are oftentimes on
the outside, misunderstood and misrepresented by society. Nevertheless, we are
called to be self controlled and sober minded, because the end of all things is
at hand. You see, the truth is how we think determines how we live. To be sober
minded then is to think and view the circumstances and situations of life from a
biblical perspective, to let the truth of God shape the way we see our
suffering. So he exhorts us to be sober minded, to be watchful. The idea here is
to be on guard, to be alert, to be vigilant. Now Peter, of all people, would
know the devastating effects of being careless or letting our guard down. If you
recall, on the night when Jesus was betrayed, as he entered into the garden to
plead with his father, he warned Peter that very day that Satan desired to sift
him as wheat. He urged Peter and the other apostles to watch and pray so that
you would not enter into temptation. And of course, we remember what happens.
Peter fails to be vigilant, even denying the Lord on that very night. So be
sober, be vigilant. And here's the reason. Verse eight, we have a real enemy.
Your adversary, the devil, Scripture says, prowls around like a roaring lion
seeking someone to devour. Now the image here is a powerful one. In the ancient
world, lions were a very real and present threat. I'm not going to go outside
today and worry about a lion. But in those days, lions were a reality that
people had to be aware of. And the image here of a lion going about, ready to
pounce, looking for the weak, the vulnerable, the isolated. As the lion roars,
it asserts its dominance. It intimidates, it paralyzes its prey with fear and
trembling. The lion seeks to overwhelm its victims into a state of hopelessness
and despair. For who can resist such a powerful foe? Peter uses this image of a
roaring lion going about seeking to devour to help us to understand our
adversary, the devil and how he works. Because in the same way, Satan is active.
He's ready. He's eager to devour and to destroy the witness, the vitality, the
strength, the hope of God's people. Now, before going forward, I think it's
important for us to understand some biblical truth about Satan. There's a lot of
confusion today about who Satan is and what he does. We need to think soberly
and biblically about the adversary. So let me just answer four key questions.
Who is Satan? What is Satan actually capable of? How does he devour? And how can
we discern his attacks? Now, when we think of Satan, what's the first thing that
typically comes to our mind? Typically, I think of like the little, you know,
little dude on the shoulder who's like whispering, like, do this or do that.
He's got the pitchfork and the little, you know, horns and he's dressed in red.
We have very interesting notions about Satan due to our culture. But when we
look at the Bible, we see that Satan was the highest angelic being, a beautiful
angel who in pride and discontent rebelled against God. And in rebelling against
God, now, the Scripture describes him as the adversary, the enemy, the deceiver,
the serpent, the dragon, whose all consuming mission now is to oppose God and
his kingdom, to destroy God's works, and to lead humanity into rebellion against
God's rule. We have a real enemy. So this is who Satan is. Now, what does he do?
What is he actually capable of? We think of the little shoulder demon or
shoulder devil. And perhaps we see that image and think, well, that's obviously
not who Satan is. And that's not really what he does. And so then we can go to
the other pendulum and think that Satan is almost godlike. And we attribute to
Satan far more than he's actually capable of doing. So the Bible tells us that
Satan is powerful, but he is not like God. So for example, he's not omniscient.
He doesn't know everything. He can't read our minds. He's not omnipresent. Okay,
Satan is limited by space and time. He's also not omnipotent. He's not able to
do whatever he wants to do. We see that so clearly in the book of Job. Now Satan
does rule over the present darkness, the world with its philosophies and values
and ideologies that oppose God. In Second Corinthians, we read that he seeks to
blind the minds of unbelievers, keeping them from the light of Christ. So he's
not godlike, but he is powerful. But for the Christian, we know that because of
what Christ has accomplished in his death and resurrection, he is a defeated
foe. So he has no authority over God's people. He cannot force you to sin. He
can't override your will. He can't control your mind. And praise God, he cannot
separate us from the love of God in Christ. What he can do, however, is tempt.
He can lie. He can distort the truth. He can manipulate. On a societal level, he
can incite persecution or opposition. We see that in Second Thessalonians
chapter two, where Paul said, I desired to be with you, but Satan has hindered
me through persecution and opposition. He can seek to distract and oppose us
from faithfully engaging in God's mission, seeking to influence us into thinking
wrongly about the goodness and wisdom of God's character, his plan, and his
purposes. And Satan will use any and all means, taking advantage of any and
every opportunity to deceive people and keep them from the truth. So who is
Satan? He's our adversary. What is he capable of? He's powerful, but his power
is limited. So how does he go about this work of devouring? Now, when we look at
the passage, we see that he seeks specifically here to use suffering as a means
of persuading us to believe lies about God, about ourselves, about sin, about
scriptures, lies that can destroy our vitality and our joy, lies that would lead
us to doubt, to despair, to despondency or hopelessness. Now for the Christian,
how can we discern his attacks? How can we discern when he is seeking to devour?
And specifically, how do we discern not just the circumstantial attacks, but
really some of these internal battles? For example, dark thoughts or sin
struggles. I think it's important to understand that there are a variety of
reasons why Christians have internal struggles and battles. For example, there
are dark thoughts related to long-standing sinful choices. So a person who has
continually, habitually given themselves, for example, to pornography, ought not
be surprised when they do battle with sexual temptation. They have made choices
that have led to real consequences. We will reap what we sow and we will wrestle
internally with the choices that we make. So oftentimes, there are dark thoughts
related to sinful choices. There's also dark thoughts, intrusive thoughts that
can be related to health issues. Friends, we are embodied souls. Some of you
have dealt with some real trauma and have struggled internally with that. I
think of different folks that I've known throughout the years who, for many
years prior to their conversion, were drug abusers and they've wrestled and
struggled with dark thoughts because of that. We think of injuries or even
chemical imbalances. So there are real health issues that can affect how we
think. There's also dark thoughts that are shaped by worldly philosophies and
ideas. As we were learning in our equipped class this morning, we have a culture
that is always acting, always working, always seeking to shape us according to
its image. Now, who is behind all of that? We know that Satan is. So Satan can
use any one of those real issues, sinful choices, health issues, worldly
philosophies, to influence us. But sometimes there are just dark intrusive
thoughts that are due directly to satanic temptations and influences. How fully
this works, we don't completely understand, but that does happen. We have a real
enemy and we need to be sober about this reality. So we have an adversary who is
real. So what do we do? Well, scripture gives us direction. The response to our
adversary in verse nine is to resist by standing firm. Verse nine, resist him
firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of sufferings are being
experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. Now, notice what Peter
tells us to do in verse nine. He does not say directly rebuke Satan or bind
Satan, but rather to resist Satan. And this is the consistent counsel of
scripture. We see this in James chapter four, seven through eight. We see this
from Paul in Ephesians chapter six. So we resist Satan as we stand firm in our
faith. Now, notice he doesn't simply say stand firm in the faith. In other
words, true doctrine. That's, of course, true. But he says stand firm in your
faith. The idea here is your resilient trust and submission and confidence in
the character and work of God. So when we experience temptation, when we
experience the attacks of the enemy, we are called to stand firm, resolute,
confident in God's character, his provisions and his promises. Now, one of the
ways and one of the keys to remaining resilient in our faith is to know that
when we suffer, that it is not something unique to us. We do not suffer alone.
In fact, in verse nine, we see that the same kinds of sufferings that we are
experiencing are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.
Now, when we think about the image of Satan as a roaring lion seeking to devour,
what does he want to do? Well, when a roaring lion is looking to devour, they
try to find the weak. They find the outlier, the person who is kind of detached
or isolated from the strength of the pack. And that's exactly how Satan works.
He looks for those who are isolated from the strength of the body of Christ, who
are tempted to wallow in their own self-pity, believing that their struggles are
somehow different, somehow unique, that nobody really understands, that nobody
can really understand. And by believing that lie, essentially, they begin to
think that their situation is somehow above the hope-giving power of grace. Now,
friends, I've met many Christians, sadly, who have gotten into this frame of
mind, this kind of woe-is-me mentality, marked by despair and hopelessness. And
when we allow those thoughts to dominate how we begin to think about God and His
grace and our suffering, we open the door to the enemy. And believe me, he will
pounce. Sadly, I've met many joyful, vibrant, mission-minded believers who have
become spiritually numb. They're just kind of jaded. They begin to get on the
sidelines. They become bitter. Why? Because somehow they forgot that their
sufferings are not unique and that God's grace is sufficient for them, just as
it is for their brothers and sisters in Christ, who also suffer as well. You
know, it's a joy and such an encouragement when you're speaking with a brother
or sister in Christ and you're sharing your burdens and your struggles, and you
see that, you know what? They've been through that. And God has brought them
through that. Doesn't that encourage you? Think about a time when you've sat
down with another believer. You've shared something and you know what? They've
gone through the same thing. It might not be the exact same thing, but something
similar. And you see the grace of God and how that grace has changed them and
made them more into the image of Christ. And that encourages you to press on. So
be careful. Resist the enemy by being resilient in your faith, knowing that
God's grace is sufficient for you because God's grace is sufficient for his
people. So we come to verse 10 and 11. We've seen this command to be sober
minded, to be vigilant. Why? We have a real adversary. We're called in response
to resist him by standing firm. But friends, here is the redemptive truth that
undergirds all of this. The God of grace is at work. What's going to enable
firm, resilient joy and trust and confidence in God in the midst of our trials
and sufferings? It's this redemptive truth in verses 10 through 11. God, who is
the God of all grace, is at work in your life and in my life for our good and
for his glory. Look at verse 10 with me. I love when God gives his commands. He
also gives us gospel truth that compels us and motivates us and empowers us to
fulfill these commands. Now, there perhaps have been times you have heard me say
something to the effect that the gospel reveals the goodness of who God is and
all that he has done and is doing and will do for us in Christ. This passage is
a beautiful example of how the gospel works. So in this passage, we see the
glory and the goodness of who God is. He is the God of all grace. He is the God
who according to the riches and the bounty of his goodness and power and wisdom,
delights to give us freely everything that we need for life and godliness. He
doesn't hold back. He doesn't give reluctantly. He says to us, I have and I am
all that you need in this suffering, in this struggle, in the trial. 2
Corinthians reminds us that God is able to make all grace abound to you so that
having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good
work. He's the God of all grace. This is our God. This is the God that we call
our Father. And when we come to him, we come to the God whose throne is a throne
of grace, who is ready and eager to provide grace and help in the midst of our
struggle. Now his grace gives power. His grace gives enablement. He's the God of
all grace. So this is who he is. But notice in this passage what he has done. He
has called us to eternal glory in Christ. Eternal glory. Now contrast that
eternal glory with our present suffering. In verse 10 he says, after you have
suffered a little while. It may not feel like a little while. But when we think
about our eternal glory, what a perspective that provides. That's why Paul could
say in Romans 8 that the sufferings of this present life cannot compare to the
glory that awaits us. In 2 Corinthians, Paul says we do not lose heart in our
suffering. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being
renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an
eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison. As we look not to the things that
are seen, but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are
transient. They're here today. They're gone tomorrow. But the things that are
unseen. These gospel truths that we hold dear, they are eternal. So we see who
God is. He's a God of grace. All grace. We see what he's done. He has called us
to eternal glory. That is our hope. That is what awaits us. But notice what he
is doing and what he will do for us in Christ. He will himself. He's committed
to this. Restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. He is currently
working for our good, preparing us for this eternal glory. And in the end, he
will restore us. He'll confirm. He'll strengthen. He'll establish. Peter here is
piling up these words that emphasize that he will make us whole. He will make us
complete. He will make us ready and prepared for the day when we stand before
Jesus, when our faith turns into sight. This is our hope. This is what motivates
us. This is what compels us. This gives us reason to resist. And when we ponder
this, and we really think about it, we say with Peter, to him not only belongs
to glory, certainly, but the dominion. He is the one who has all power over all
of this. And his kingdom is forever and ever. Amen. And so for the Christian,
that's our hope. But if you're here today, and you're not believing, you're not
trusting, you're not relying on Christ, you don't have this hope. In suffering,
in sorrow, there's no real purpose or stability or foundation to stand upon.
This past week, I was talking to an ex-military vet who has endured some
unbelievable, traumatic things. And before he came to know Christ, he would
often counsel other military folks who were enduring suffering. And he would
give them life hacks. You should try this. You should try that. This will work.
This will help. And in the conversation, we were saying, looking back, how
superficial and shallow that counsel was. Because none of those things could
provide real answers. None of those things could provide real strength. There
was no substantive, transcendent purpose in the suffering that existed outside
of that individual. And so if you're here without Christ, you don't have this
hope. But the good news is that the creator God who made you has provided a way
for you to be rescued. Not simply from suffering, but from your greatest
problem, sin. We've rebelled against our creator, but God in his mercy and grace
sent his son to live the perfect life that you and I could not live. To die in
our place as the effective substitute for our sin. To rise again to defeat the
power of sin, Satan, and hell. So that all who look to Jesus, who trust in
Jesus, who rely upon Jesus, who submit to Jesus as Lord, will never perish but
have eternal life. Eternal hope. Will you turn to him this day? And so Peter
concludes his letter in verses 12 through 14. Be vigilant, verses 12 through 14.
Stand firm. Final greetings, verse 12. By Silvanus, or Silas, a faithful brother
as I regard him, I have written briefly to you, exhorting and declaring that
this is the true grace of God. Stand firm in it. She who was at Babylon, who is
likewise chosen, sends you greetings. So does Mark, my son. Greet one another
with the kiss of love. Peace to all of you who are in Christ Jesus. So he says
here, in the final conclusion, I have written to you briefly exhorting and
declaring to you the true grace of God. So the truths of this book that we've
studied over the past few months, they were meant to encourage and exhort us
that in our suffering, we have strength, we have hope, we have joy, we have life
in Christ. And friend, that is a grace. That is a blessing that God has given to
us through Jesus. We don't deserve it. We couldn't earn it. But what a grace it
is. And he says, Listen, this grace that we've seen this grace that I've
exhorted you in stand firm in it. Now, a few moments before he said stand firm
in your trust. And now he says stand firm in grace. You see, grace is what
enables trust. And so, in the battle that is going on around us, the real
battle, where we have a real enemy who seeks to destroy, who seeks to incite
persecution or suffering, who seeks to tempt us to believe lies about God and
Christ. We are called in the midst of all of this to be vigilant and stand firm
in the grace of God. So by God's grace, and for his glory, let us be vigilant as
we stand firm. Let's pray. Father, as we come into your presence, we thank you
for your gospel. We thank you that in the gospel we see that you are the God of
all grace. That you have called us to eternal glory. That yes, we suffer, yes,
we struggle, and yes, we endure real opposition from a real enemy. But Lord, I
thank you that you yourself are working. And you will bring us to completion.
Our faith will be made sight. So Lord, I pray that in the midst of this world
that we live in, where we suffer and struggle, that you would give us the grace
to be vigilant and stand firm. Knowing who you are and all that you have done
and are doing and will do for us in Christ. We pray this for our good and for
your glory. Through your son Jesus. Amen.