1 Peter 5:8–11 | Fighting Confidently
Notes
Transcript
Good morning church! If you have your Bible’s go ahead an flip them on over to 1 Peter 5:8-11. We are going to wrap up the book of 1 Peter next week and then launch into an advent series the following week. it’s crazy that we’re already to Thanksgiving and Christmas. Kids I know you feel like it’s been a whole year since you started school, but for us old people it feels like it was last week.
Speaking of Thanksgiving, I’m super excited for tonight. It’s going to be a great time together. Members of LBC, please make sure you’re going to be there. Don’t forget to bring your pot of soup and your pie.
Who in here has seen The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe? Who in here has read it? It’s a great book/movie that comes from C.S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia series and in this book the four siblings make their way through the wardrobe into the magical world of Narnia. Unbeknownst to them they are the long awaited princes and princesses of Narnia that are to rule over all the lands. However, one of the brothers in the story, Edmund, meets the deceiving Ice Queen at the beginning of the movie and offered turkish delight in exchange for information. The movie progresses and Peter’s desire for treats leads him to be willing to betray his family. He was meant to live in service to the Lion, who really reigns over Narnia, but his arrangement with the Ice Queen betrays that. In order for that betrayal to be atoned for the boy must die, but the Lion dies in his place. The queen now certain of her victory takes her legion of armies to march into the world and conquer every corner that is left to remain. At the climax of the movie where the final battle occurs all hope seems to be lost till Aslan the lion reappears. Having come back from the grave, Aslan destroys the Witch once and for all and restores all those who lived for him to life.
C.S. Lewis beautifully illustrates the whole story line of Scripture with this series. I don’t think he was just thinking of our text today, but this passage really is depicted in that story. You have a roaring lion, except in our text that’s the enemy and not the hero. You have a group of people who are suffering, and you have a conquering King who comes and makes all things right.
In the final battle scene, if Peter & his 3 siblings had known that Aslan was coming back how do you think they would’ve fought? No matter how bleak the battle had gotten and no matter how terrible things seemed to be they could’ve fought with confidence knowing that the true King was coming. There would have been a smile on their face knowing that while the Witch might have froze them for a minute, what ultimately was coming was a life breathing King who would restore all things.
Church, what Peter tells this suffering church in the midst of their weariness, what he calls them to and reminds them of is that the king is coming, so fight with confidence. I believe that’s the main point for us today. Fight Satan confidently. Let’s read this these verses, ask the Lord to help us understand and obey His word, and then dive into it. 1 Peter 5:6-11
Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. 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.
This is the Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Let’s pray.
Remember that Peter is writing to a group of Christians that have been exiled throughout what was then the modern world. They’re living under the Roman Empire who at that point in time viewed Christianity as a rising threat to its existence. As we’ve seen repeatedly, the original readers of this letter were undergoing some really intense and horrific suffering. In the midst of this it would have been really easy for them to believe that the enemy they faced was Rome, but Peter here says no, you face an enemy, but it isn’t Rome. That’s our first observation this morning:
We face a real adversary.
We face a real adversary.
Peter says, “Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion.” He is the adversary or enemy as the NIV says. Another translation calls uses the word accuser there. Throughout Scripture we’ve seen Satan in a number of different ways. Just to name a few, at the very beginning he was a deceptive snake; he’s called a schemer and an angel of light, the god of this present age, eut here we find him as a roaring lion who is prowling around. In other words he is actively working. I think of the book of Job where God asks Satan where he’s come from and Satan says I’ve been walking back and forth across the earth. Or I think of the Lion, the witch, and the wardrobe where the wicked witch rides her sleigh all around Narnia seeking to snuff out any supporters of Aslan.
But you know what’s interesting about this lion is that he’s a roaring lion. If a lion were on the hunt would it roar? No. It roars after it’s killed it’s prey to show it’s won. Or it roars to let those around know it’s here and it’s in charge. The roar of a lion then shows dominance and incites fear and anxiety. Every scholar looks at the roar of Satan and draws a straight line to suffering. The roar of Satan here is suffering. With this roar of suffering Satan is seeking to devour. But what is it that Satan is seeking to devour? Is it us? Is Peter saying here that Satan’s just going to swallow us up? I think the answer is really found in Peter’s instruction on how we fight Satan and we’ll look at that further here in a little bit, but look back with me to v9: “Resist him,” how do we resist him? “Firm in your faith.” If it’s a firmness in our faith that enables us to resist Satan, then it’s a failing of our faith that Satan is after. In other words, Satan devours us when our faith fails.
So what Satan is seeking to devour here is your faith. His roaring is his attempt to scare you away from what you believe. It’s to create doubt in your heart and your mind about your standing before God and what God says about you. And when you doubt the mighty hand of God holding you up and exalting you then how do you respond? Your faith begins to falter and your heart becomes anxious because you don’t trust God to be true and sovereign over all things. Suffering then doesn’t serve as the purifying agent God intends it to, but rather as the roar of the devil to convince you that Jesus isn’t sufficient. When you fear the roar of the lion instead of humbling yourself in the fear of God you begin to see Jesus as insufficient in calling you to glory and keeping you through your suffering.
Now that might all make total sense to Peter’s readers and help them recognize that Rome isn’t the enemy, but Satan is and that what Satan intends to use for our destruction God redeems for our purification. But when I look at us I’m pretty sure that there isn’t anyone in here who’s at risk of being sawn in two because they believe in Jesus. I doubt there’s anyone in here who’s worried that they might be kidnapped and drug behind horses or doused in oil and lit on fire. We’re not really hearing Satan roar that way. So then, how might Satan be roaring in our lives that creates anxiety and pride?
We talked about this in small group this week how the word devour means to swallow in one gulp. I think of my dog when I drop meat on the ground. He just vacuums it up in one swallow. Sometimes Satan’s work is fast like that, but sometimes it’s just the opposite. It’s like the frog tossed into the pot of water and the heat slowly turned up till it’s boiling. The frog doesn’t even know what’s happening, he just becomes comfortable in the nice warm water. Sometimes Satan work is like that; it’s not to scare you with a roar, but instead it’s to make you comfortable so that you become apathetic in your sin and of the works of Satan. It’s not that big of a deal, it’s just how life is. It’s the world we live in.
Tim Keller in his sermon on this text talked about how our awareness of facing a real adversary does two things: it prevents both superstition and substition. What’s that mean? Superstition is the group of people who see Satan’s work in everything. Every cough, sickness, struggle, heartache, insecurity, financial woe—all of it is Satan’s hand. But in doing so superstitious people give Satan too much credit.
The inverse of that though is what I think we’re really at risk of and that’s substition. Substition is ignorant of Satan and his schemes. It says that if you believe any wrong in life is a work of Satan then you’re just superstitious and in turn it leads you towards a life apathy. You just get comfortable, like a frog in a boiling pot of water, thinking that life is what it is. Satan really doesn’t have any control over anything. Brokenness is just part of our life.
This is why Peter’s instruction here is to be sober-minded & watchful. Think clearly about Satan and his works, not everything is him. But also be watchful, Satan is prowling around like a roaring lion seeking to devour your faith. So pay attention and don’t grow apathetic towards his works. I really think the great modern philosopher, Michael Scott, has it right. He once said, “I’m not superstitious, just a little stitious.” Don’t give Satan too much credit, but also don’t deny his active work in your life and our world.
So church, where do you find yourself? Are you superstitious thinking that everything is Satan and thus aren’t thinking sober-mindedly? Or do you find yourself in the other camp totally apathetic towards Satan and have become comfortable in your sin and ignorant of his works? We face a real adversary that is trying to devour our faith. While we’ve talked about it briefly, I think Peter presses in on this to answer the question: who is that God that Satan is trying to erode our faith in? That’s our second point:
We trust in the true king.
We trust in the true king.
Peter says in 1 Pet. 5:10
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.
He is the God of all grace or as we saw back at the end of verse 5 He is the God who give grace. All grace belongs to Him, and He is the God who gives grace freely and completely and extravagantly. Charles Spurgeon talks about how when we have this understanding of God how it affects our prayers. “If he be the God, not of one grace, or of two graces, but of all graces; if in him there is stored up infinite, boundless, limitless supply, how can we ask too much? Believer, when you are on your knees, remember you are going to a king. Let your petitions be large.”
While he is the God who gives grace freely he doesn’t give freely to all. We looked at just last week in verse 5 “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. at the end of 3:12 Peter cites Psalms 34 and says, “But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.” So in other words while everyone is given common grace, that is grace for another day, grace to create and serve one another, grace to live in healthy relationships, not everyone receives the specific, saving grace of God. And here’s the thing about receiving God’s grace now: while you might suffer for a little while, you won’t suffer eternally. However, when you reject God’s grace now and find what seems like a life of comfort, you’ll end up with an eternity of suffering. (Chronicles of Narnia illustration?)
So this true King is the God of all grace who as we saw last week gives grace to the humble and as we saw last week he exalts and cares for the humble. And here he’s the God of all grace who calls you to his eternal glory. Peter is contrasting eternal glory with a little suffering. Now I don’t know about you, but I think I can withstand a little suffering if eternal glory is what waits. A little suffering doesn’t sound that bad, does it? But naturally the question is what does “a little suffering” mean? You see what Peter is doing here is he’s actually recalling language that he started with. Look back to 1 Peter 1:6-7
In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
So how long is suffering going to last? It’s going to last until Christ returns because Satan is still prowling around the earth. Now I get it, that might sound disappointing that we might suffer for 80 years or so, but shouldn’t that be expected? As Karen Jobes says, “Where a Christian community takes seriously its commitment to God resistance to some degree is to be expected because the Christian church is the emergence of God’s victory over the powers of darkness.” So suffering should be the norm if we’re taking seriously our commitment to Christ. Yet in the midst of that suffering we can know that what awaits us is eternal glory that God has called us to in Christ. Like the siblings on the Chronicles of Narnia the King will return and while the battle may seem bleak in the moment, he will conquer the enemy. Not only does he conquer the enemy though, “The God of all grace, who has called you to eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.”
God himself conquers and then he does four things here that are all really closely related but have nuanced differences. First he restores or as the KJV says he perfects. Anyone in here ever restored a piece of furniture or an old car. The goal isn’t just to get it back to a nice condition, it’s to make it perfect. Make it new. God himself will restore you he will perfect you in every way.
He will confirm you. This means that he will strengthen and deepen your faith in him. Spurgeon uses the illustration of writing in the sand. You can write something in the sand and after the waves crash upon it it’s gone. However, if you carve it in stone then when the waves crash upon it it still remains. The deep carving, the permanence of the material enables it to withstand whatever comes against it. That’s what it means to confirm
Then he will strengthen you. He will firm up your resolution. After a soldier has gone through battle even if he’s won his ability to even hold up his sword is weak. His ability to carry the weight of his armor and withstand the arrows of the enemy begins to fail. But when God himself comes to strengthen you then not only are you able to hold your sword and withstand the arrows, but your able to walk into war with confidence.
Finally he will establish you. The word for establish has to do with a foundation being poured and settled. So when God establishes you the foundation will be complete and firm. Peter is actually calling us back to 1 Pet. 2:5
you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
In the midst of these trials and persecutions the church is being built into a spiritual house, one in which God dwells with us and fill us with himself. And when he returns the house will be complete and it will be acceptable to him. Not because of the stones that make up the church, but because of the one that bought the church with His blood. Because of the one who has come to restore it and confirm it and strengthen and establish it. Yet Peter isn’t done. He is the God of all grace who exalts and cares and calls and restores, confirms, strengthens and establishes, but ultimately, to Him belongs dominion.
All of these things prove that He is the true king. Think about this from the original readers perspective. Beat down, discouraged, exiled, belittled, humiliated, worn out, oppressed and who is coming for them? The God who truly reigns. Rome might be oppressing them now, but even Rome doesn’t last forever. You think of all the incredible things the Roman Empire did in its time and truly it is amazing, but it didn’t last.
The suffering that these Christians have endured now didn’t last. Yes it might kill them, but it won’t end them. Not Rome, not suffering, not horrible bosses or bad spouses endures to the end because the conquering King is coming and his kingdom will be an eternal one in which all wrong things are made right.
Now we hear all of this and go, yes, I want that. I want to serve that king. But the question that comes out of it is, do you? Do you really trust the true king? The answer to that question isn’t seen only in our words, but really in our actions. That brings us to our third point:
We fight in faith from victory
We fight in faith from victory
If you really believe the true king will come back and conquer our very real adversary, then you know victory is yours. But this doesn’t create in you a sense of fatalism that just says, God will win so who cares what I do. No this creates in you a sense of fighting for your King now so that his rule is established now. When you recognize the reality of the enemy, but also the certainty of the battle, you don’t just stand aside and let sin and Satan reign. You move forward in action seeking to preserve what God intended and let your light shine in the darkness. We are the salt of the earth and the light of the world. How then do we do it?
Peter gives us 3 imperatives here on how we are to fight from victory. First, he says to be sober-minded. This is now the 3rd time he’s instructed this. Once back in 1 Pet. 1:13
Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
In this verse remember that it literally means to gird up the loins of your mind. To mentally prepare yourself for what is to come and you that by setting your hope on the grace of Jesus. Not on your ability, not on your wit, on Jesus. Then we see it again in 1 Peter 4:7
The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers.
Remember from this we saw that the end is coming and if we lived like tomorrow was our last day and that Christ was returning we wouldn’t lose our minds in fear, but would have a sense of earnestness to our prayers for Him to do His redemptive work now.
Now this isn’t the same word, but I don’t think it’s too much of a jump for us to look at 1 Pet. 3:8
Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind.
When we are prepared for action, recognizing the end is at hand and are praying accordingly we won’t be thinking about all that we’ve done, but rather will have a humble mind that is unified with our brothers and sisters that we’ll spend eternity with. You take all of that and apply it here to this last instruction to be sober-minded and you find a Christian who thinks rightly by having his hope set on Christ is fighting forward in unity with his brothers and sisters and praying that God’s kingdom would come and His will be done.
Now, do you know what you don’t find? When I hear the word sober-minded I think of being sober. So what’s the opposite of that? It’s to be intoxicated and based off of what we’ve looked at so far I think there’s 3 different ways we’re in danger of being intoxicated. The first is through superstition and substition like we talked about earlier. The superstitious person is intoxicated by fear & anxiety that Satan is lurking around every corner and every thing that goes wrong in our life is Satanic work. However, the opposite of that is the person who’s intoxicated by substition. They are marked by pride and think Satan is below them or won’t affect them or just doesn’t really have anything to do with anything, at least not where we live. Those two things that we talked about earlier give Satan too much credit or are apathetic towards sin and I believe flow out of the previous verses of this passage regarding anxiety and pride.
The second way we can become intoxicated and not think sober-mindedly is to be literally intoxicated. It’s to be controlled by substances that affect our ability to think clearly. Drugs, alcohol, tobacco. Church we live in a community where those things are very real and they might be very real in this room. If that’s you I want you to know that you’re in exactly the right place with exactly the right people. Part of being a believer is being led by the Holy Spirit not the spirits. He is who influences your minds and ability not the things that wear off.
The third way we can be intoxicated is just by sin. Pride swells up inside our hearts and minds and all of the sudden we’re the one with the right perspective and everyone else is wrong and beneath me.
Anxiety boils in our minds because we don’t know what’s going to happen or what they might think of me or that I might be found out.
Anger. I just get so mad that my kids did that or spoke that way or disrespected me so I lashed out at them. That person across the room said something or didn’t take me seriously or took over the event I was put in charge of or said something in an off-putting way, so I let rage take over my heart.
Lust. It burns within our bones and it feels so good physically and it doesn’t seem to hurt anyone else so what’s wrong with a little look. Or it’s consensual so why can’t I? I mean if it feels good then I should go for it, right?
Envy. That house that they have, that car they drive, that land they own, that bank account that’s so flush. I wish I had that. I want it. It’s really not fair that they have that because I’ve worked so hard and look at where I’m at.
I could keep going but I think you get the picture. When sin exists inside our hearts and minds it intoxicates us. It deceives us to think that we are missing out, we don’t have what we need or deserve. Ultimately, what’s it doing? It’s causing us to doubt the goodness and the provision of our savior. It’s the roar of the lion devouring our faith. So fight it by thinking clearly. Remember where your hope is. Remember that he is coming back. Pray. Fight alongside your brother’s and sister’s in Christ in humility. Be sober-minded.
And be watchful. Again, this isn’t a paranoid watchfulness. Not superstitious, just a little stitious. This is a watchfulness that acknowledges the reality of our adversary and his work, but not one that cowers in fear or anxiety. No, it’s the watch on the watchtower who keeps his eyes toward the horizon watching and waiting for the first sign of the enemy. And what does he do when he sees the enemy? What do we do when we see sin rising up?
I’m reminded of the old John Owen quote: “Be killing sin or it will be killing you.” Rom. 8:13 says,
For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
When we see sin rising on up we kill it through the power of the Spirit. We don’t walk by sight or by what our flesh wants. We walk in obedience to the Word. It’s not easy and it won’t always feel good. But remember what Satan does and what the true King calls you to. So kill sin when you see it rising up.
Then in James 4:7 we’re told to flee it:
Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
What I find interesting is that this is in the context of quarrels and fights among the church. When we allow sin to fester in our hearts and in our relationships what begins to rise up is quarrels and fights. “You desire and do not have, so you murder.” The ultimate end in our relationships is murder when we allow sin and Satan to remain. So in humility—James 4:6—we don’t allow sin and Satan to exist and when those wicked desires arise in our hearts we flee them. Kill sin. Flee sin. Then finally, when you see sin arise you expose it. 1 John 1:9
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Mold usually grows in dark places, but when you expose it to the light it’s burned up. When you hide your sin, it will fester, but when you expose your sin, the light will stop it. When you bring the light of God’s word and the gospel to bear on your sin it will begin to burn it up. I’ve heard it said, when you expose your sin in humility God will cover it with grace, but when you hide your sin in your pride God will expose it in His wrath.
Church, be watchful. When you see sin kill it, flee from it, and expose it. What sin is there in your heart and mind right now that the Holy Spirit is bringing up to you that you need to be watchful of? Are you going to let it fester? Are you going to let the roar of Satan drown out the firmness of your faith?
That leads me to Peter’s final instruction. Be sober-minded; be watchful. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing. The final imperative is to resist him and the way we resist him is by knowing. The word knowing is a participle. It participates with the verb of resisting him. What is it that we need to know in order to resist?
Resist
Knowing
Know your faith
Remember the gospel
Know we’re not alone
Know that he is the King who reigns and will return to restore, confirm, strengthen and establish you.
So church, are you fighting Satan and sin? or have you just grown calloused to the devil and his works? Do you really believe that we serve the true King who will return and complete his victory? Are you cognizant of the real adversary that we face? We are to Fight Satan confidently because our King is coming and because of who he’s made us.
Maybe there are some this morning who have never truly submitted to the dominion of Jesus. Maybe there are some in here who like parts of what he has to say but really would rather rule over their own lives. If that’s you, my friend what awaits you is eternal suffering. Repent and believe today. Turn and look to him and he will save you.
