69. Final Exhortations ot the Church Pt 7_Spiritual Warfare 3

Final Exhortations to the Church Pt 7: Spiritual Warfare cont

1Pe 5:1-11 Therefore, I exhort the elders among you, as your fellow elder and witness of the sufferings of Christ, and a partaker also of the glory that is to be revealed, (2) shepherd the flock of God among you, exercising oversight not under compulsion, but voluntarily, according to the will of God; and not for sordid gain, but with eagerness; (3) nor yet as lording it over those allotted to your charge, but proving to be examples to the flock. (4) And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. (5) You younger men, likewise, be subject to your elders; and all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE. (6) Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, (7) casting all your anxiety upon Him, because He cares for you. (8) Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. (9) 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. (10) And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. (11) To Him be dominion forever and ever. Amen.

There are 4 Main Points in verses 8-10

I. Our Attitude v8

II. Our Adversary v8

III. Our Action v9

A. We resist him by standing together.

B. We resist him by standing firm in the faith.

C. We resist him by standing in the fellowship of suffering.

IV. Our Award v10

Introduction: In May 2009 the Barna group conducted a survey of American adults who identified themselves as Christian on their views of spiritual beings. This is what they found when asked about their views on Satan. “Four out of ten Christians (40%) strongly agreed that Satan “is not a living being but is a symbol of evil.” An additional two out of ten Christians (19%) said they “agree somewhat” with that perspective. A minority of Christians indicated that they believe Satan is real by disagreeing with the statement: one-quarter (26%) disagreed strongly and about one-tenth (9%) disagreed somewhat. The remaining 8% were not sure what they believe about the existence of Satan.” Now I understand this is an old survey and views may have changed since then for better or worse. But if the numbers still hold true how indicative is it of how far evangelical Christianity has fallen from sound doctrine. How in the world can you stand against something you don’t believe exists and how again can you glorify God when you don’t believe His word?

The Scripture is quite clear on the personhood of the devil. The Scripture is also clear on his personality, his character, and his hatred for the people of God. Rev 12:7-17  And there was war in heaven, Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon. And the dragon and his angels waged war,  (8)  and they were not strong enough, and there was no longer a place found for them in heaven.  (9)  And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.  (10)  And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, "Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, who accuses them before our God day and night.  (11)  "And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even to death.  (12)  "For this reason, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them. Woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, knowing that he has only a short time."  (13)  And when the dragon saw that he was thrown down to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child.  (14)  And the two wings of the great eagle were given to the woman, in order that she might fly into the wilderness to her place, where she *was nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent.  (15)  And the serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman, so that he might cause her to be swept away with the flood.  (16)  And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and drank up the river which the dragon poured out of his mouth.  (17)  And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and went off to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus.

To make war, seeking someone to devour, our enemy, our accuser, the great dragon, the serpent of old. Not a symbol of evil but the embodiment of it, the one who is able to disguise himself as an angel of light, our enemy.

Last time we began looking at verse 9. First we made general observations concerning the text and then address Peter’s command to resist him, the devil. Those observations were 1) The vital importance of the local church as a covenant community of believers. This was made clear by using the 2nd person plural form of the verb to resist. It was also made clear that it is a covenant community of believers because the devil is no adversary to those who are not united by faith to Christ. Though the devil is personal we resist together. 2) The vital importance of the universal brotherhood of all believers.

5:9 Literally reads: resist him, firm in THE faith, having known the same sufferings to your brotherhood in the world to be accomplished.

III. Our Action

B. We resist him by standing firm in the faith

Firm means to be steadfast, solid, entrenched, fixed, immovable. Think of the offensive line of a football team. As they get set you see them digging their cleats into the ground for a firm grip on the turf. They are preparing to meet the defense as their goal is to prevent the defense from breaking through their line. In rugby as the scrum comes together each side is digging their feet in for the preparation of preventing the other side from pushing them back. According Wuerst’s book ‘The study of New Testament words, the Greek work for ‘Firm’ is a military term regarding the maintaining of the ranks or formation. When we look at the Greek phalanx it is a tight formation many rows deep. The men in back were a brace for the men at the front so that the line would not be broken.

The success of failure of standing firm depends on the foundation on which it takes place. The NASB and ESV insert the possessive pronoun ‘your’ here where it is not present in the Greek. Why do they do this? When we look at the context of spiritual warfare, what is the devil’s primary goal? He does not care that you are rich or poor, healthy or sick, or any number of status’s you may have. What he does care about is that you are in right relation to God and his goal is to cause us to deny Christ. So it is not a bad translation. Our faith is personal. It is my faith, it is our faith, it is your faith. It is our common faith. But faith is used in different ways. There are two. One is in the sense of saving faith which has as it’s object the Lord Jesus Christ. The other use of ‘the faith’ is in God’s revelation of doctrine and practice. Just a few verses below Peter writes

1Pe 5:12  Through Silvanus, our faithful brother (for so I regard him), I have written to you briefly, exhorting and testifying that this is the true grace of God. Stand firm in it! Our natural tendency when think of grace is to focus on God’s salvation by grace through faith. But Peter’s letter covers so many subjects besides salvation.

Jud 1:3  Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.

But I also want to be clear in this age of relativism and subjectivism. The faith which Peter speaks of here is not the ‘your faith’ as people speak of ‘your truth’ or ‘my truth’ as in the truth is whatever I think it is to me. Neither is the faith, based on whatever whimsy of feeling or perception I am inclined to at a moment in time. Rather the faith is that which has been given to men through the power and inspiration of the Holy Spirit in the Old and New Testaments for our instruction and encouragement and equipping us for the spiritual warfare which we face every day. It is God’s truth.

2Ti 3:16-17  All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;  (17)  that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.

How then do we apply this? When Satan attacks and tempts, as he did, Jesus, using Scripture. Jesus responds each time ‘It is written…” Satan will often remind of Romans 7, of the good that we did not do, of the evil that we did and even for us to say o wretched man that I am but leave off the answer of the burning question of who will save us from this body of sin and of death. But we can say, ‘It is written, thanks be to God through our Lord Jesus Christ. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

When the accuser comes with doubts of our salvation and the reality of it. We can say, “It is written, 1Pe 1:1-5  Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who reside as aliens, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, who are chosen  (2)  according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, that you may obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood: May grace and peace be yours in fullest measure.  (3)  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,  (4)  to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you,  (5)  who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

When we see or hear the news and how our country is wracked by division between race and gender and economics and either other way those governing attempt to divide us and even we ourselves are tempted to take a side, we can say it is written, Eph 2:14-16  For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one, and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall,  (15)  by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace,  (16)  and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity.

So that we are Christian first and we stand for the truth of God first.

When we are tempted to think ill of the people of God, we can say it is written, 1Pe 2:1-5  Therefore, putting aside all malice and all guile and hypocrisy and envy and all slander,  (2)  like newborn babes, long for the pure milk of the word, that by it you may grow in respect to salvation,  (3)  if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord.  (4)  And coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected by men, but choice and precious in the sight of God,  (5)  you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

Satan attacks come from all avenues. He attacks God’s order in nature and His order in the household of God. Consider all the doctrine and instruction of 1 Peter. Don’t worry I am not about to start from verse one and preach through it again. But read the letter over and over again. I will close with a story of a dear brother and sister whose 34 year old daughter was killed in a motorcycle accident Wednesday night. Marie was a recovering drug addict who had been sober for 4 years and had given her life to Christ. It was the toughest time in Carl and Pam’s life going through the trials of that with her and then to receive her back washed in the blood of Jesus, a new creature only to lose her this way. The waves of emotion wash over them, deep, deep sorrow, anger at the senselessness of the accident, unspeakable joy that she is with Christ no longer plagued by the constant hunger that addiction brings. The fear and anxiety of possibly having their grandson taken away by Marie’s ex-husband who is not a Christian. By his own account weak, fearful, pitiful but finds his peace and strength in ‘it is written’ (10) And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.

Are you so established in the faith that you can together stand firm in the faith? God grant us grace and strength through Your eternal Spirit to resist him together firm in the faith. Amen