A sound mind

Grace to You :: Unleashing God's Truth One Verse at a Time

Fundamental Attitudes for Spiritual Maturity, Part 3

Scripture: 1 Peter 5:8-14

Code: 60-50

Tonight as we come to our sacred time, really, in the Word of God, a time when the Spirit of God

speaks directly through revelation to us, as we learn His Word and as we endeavor to elucidate its

meaning, it's our prayer that the Spirit of God may ennoble us even to more faithful fulfillment of the

task to which we have been called. And I know that was on Peter's heart as he wrote to the dear

saints who were the recipients of his letter.

We're looking then tonight at 1 Peter chapter 5, our last look in this epistle. The section before us

actually began in verse 5 and concludes at the end in verse 14. In this our third study of these verses,

we've used the title, "Fundamental Attitudes for Spiritual Maturity."

As we begin, let me just say to you by way of a general observation that we live in a time when there

is a prevailing mindlessness in the church. We could consider the church as today as having a spirit

of anti-intellectualism, and I don't mean that in an academic way, I mean that in a spiritual way, in a

biblical way. The church has in many ways fallen victim to the New Age Movement. The New Age

Movement is nothing more than a newly clad form of Hindu-mysticism. If you know anything about

Hindus, you know they believe in everything and they believe in nothing. They are characterized as

mystics in the sense that they make no distinction between fantasy and reality. The natural and the

supernatural blend into some kind of blur. That characterizes the New Age Movement which is an

anti-intellectual movement, it's an anti-content movement that wants only to speak about experiences

and mystical experiences at that, that knows little difference between what is real and what is fantasy.

To give you a perspective of how this has found its way into the church today in a broader kind of

consideration, we could look first of all at the Roman Catholic Church. The Roman Catholic Church is

deeply involved in mysticism. If you were to attend a Mass, you would find yourself caught up in a

very mystical kind of ritual, a mechanical kind of anti-intellectual series of movements and motions

and ceremonies and activities. The product of that sort of mystical ceremony is to produce in you

some kind of feeling rather than to impart to you some kind of truth. Mystical ceremony has replaced

intelligent worship. Scripture becomes completely subservient to form and ceremony.

In liberal Protestantism you have much of the same. They have emphasized another kind of antiintellectualism.

They call it sometimes "the leap of faith." They speak about God as if He were some

transcendent being that we through some mystical experience can touch. Another product of their

social orientation or their anti-intellectual perspective is a political kind of anti-intellectualism, when

you no longer know the content of truth, when you no longer know what is right or wrong, when you

no longer believe the Bible as liberals do not, then all your left with is experience and experience finds

its way into social life and social issues and therefore into political concerns. If you are wearied with

trying to agree on a non-authoritative Scripture, if you are weary of trying to find truth without a

standard, you wind up in a sort of mystical kind of religious experience that eventually descends into

social action and little more.

Not only is the Roman Catholic Church involved in mysticism and the liberal Protestant church but

today the Charismatic Movement is probably the most obvious purveyor of subjectivism, the most

obvious seller of mysticism. It promotes, in my judgment, an experiential anti-intellectualism also. It is

the product of a weak theology and the product of an incompetent handling of the Word of God. The

bottom line is you have people looking for experience. That experience knows little or no biblical

definition.

These kinds of things have produced a sort of mindless Christianity that is in fact the antithesis of

everything that God has designed for His church. God never intended that His people would

somehow connect up with Him or worship Him without the use of their minds and without basing that

relationship upon a very clear and precise understanding of truth. In Psalm 32 verse 8 the Scripture

says, "I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go. I will counsel you with My eye

upon you." Then He says this, "Do not be as the horse or as the mule which have no understanding."

There is no virtue in not understanding. There is no virtue in a lack of information. There is no

premium on not knowing. In Psalm 73 and verse 22 the psalmist writes, "When my heart was

embittered I was senseless and ignorant and I was like a beast before You." Senselessness and

ignorance before God is considered to be that which is characteristic of an animal, not a man. In the

prophecy of Isaiah, chapter 1 and verse 18, you remember these familiar words, "Come now and let

us reason together, says the Lord." In Jeremiah chapter 4 and verse 22 we read these words, "Words

of condemnation for My people are foolish, they know Me not, they are stupid children and they have

no understanding." In Hosea the prophet says in chapter 4 what would sum up a very important

truism, "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge." God has never put a premium on

mindlessness, just the opposite...just the opposite.

Turn for a moment to Philippians chapter 1 and let me remind you of some verses there. Verse 9

says, "And this I pray that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all

discernment so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and

blameless until the day of Christ, having been filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes

through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God." Going through that backwards, we are to be

filled with the fruit of righteousness so that we may be sincere and blameless. To do that, we must

approve the things that are excellent and to approve the things that are excellent, we must have real

knowledge and all discernment.

In 2 Peter chapter 1 and verse 5, Peter writes, "Now for this very reason also applying all diligence, in

your faith apply moral excellence and in your moral excellence, knowledge...knowledge."

Beloved, I just say this by way of reminder. We are called to know. We are called to use our minds, to

understand the truth of the revelation of God. Not to engage ourselves in experience as that which

determines truth, not to be caught up in mysticism but that is ever becoming the mode of operation of

the church today. That is why you see the blurring together of Catholicism, liberalism, Charismaticism

because it is all predicated on the same kind of mystical approach which wants to bypass the mind to

feel God. Lade Rufus Jones(?) wrote, quote: "Whenever I go to church I feel like unscrewing my head

and placing it under the pew in front of me because I never have any use for anything above my

collar button," end quote.

We're not here to make you feel, we are here to make you think because proper action and proper

response comes with proper understanding. Christianity is a matter of the mind. Do I need to remind

you how the Bible describes the mind of the sinner, the mind of the unregenerate, the mind of the one

without God? In Romans 1:28 it says he has a depraved mind. In 2 Corinthians 4:4 it says he has a

blinded mind. In Ephesians 4:17 he has a futile mind, or an empty mind, or a useless mind. In

Colossians 1:21 he has an alienated mind, that is it is alienated from God.

You might even sum it up in the words of Paul to the Romans in chapter 8 verses 5 and following.

"For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are

according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For the mind set on the flesh is death but the mind set

on the Spirit is life and peace because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God for it does not

subject itself to the law of God for it is not even able to do so."

So the unregenerate man has a depraved mind, a blind mind, a futile mind, an alienated mind that

can be summed up as a mind of the flesh. He can't think properly. He cannot understand the things of

God, they're foolishness to him. But on the other hand, the New Testament tells us about the mind of

the believer. In 1 Corinthians chapter 2 verse 16 it says, "But you have the mind of Christ." A

Christlike mind. In Romans 12:1 and 2 it says we have a renewed mind. In 2 Timothy 1:7 it says God

has given us a sound mind. And so we are able to think on things that are virtuous, things that are

pure, things that are noble, things that are good.

In 2 Corinthians chapter 10 and verse 5 Paul says, "We are destroying speculations and every lofty

thing raised up against the knowledge of God and we are taking every thought captive to the

obedience of Christ." Your thoughts must be captive to obey Christ. And wherein has Christ revealed

His will but in the Scripture. And so as our minds are filled with divine truth, as that filling of the mind

with divine truth becomes woven into the fabric of our lives, then that begins to control our conduct.

William James said, quote, "The greatest discovery of my generation is that human beings can alter

their lives by altering their attitudes," end quote. Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "A man is what he

thinks." And the Scripture says, "As a man thinks in his heart, so is he."

Beloved, the purpose of preaching and the purpose of teaching is to pour truth into your mind, to pour

it in your mind in a persuasive way, to pour it into your mind in a convicting way, to pour it into your

mind in a clear and precise and definitive way. That is its purpose. So that truth continually poured

into your mind somehow becomes part of you as the food which you eat becomes part of the body

and the life and the energy by which you life, so does the truth. It is the goal of the preacher and the

teacher to give you truth which translates into strength, translates into action, translates into beauty,

translates into usefulness. That's why we're here.

And what that truth poured into you does is create attitudes. It finally becomes so mixed with your

thought patterns that it begins to generate attitudes and those attitudes control your behavior. And if

you have a mindless Christianity and if you do not hear precise clear truth from the Word of God

brought to you persuasively, then you will not have a clear mind and you will not have the truth that

translates into action, translates into attitude. And so it's crucial that you expose yourself to truth. And

what I do on Sunday morning and Sunday night and what I do with most of my life is impart truth to

people so that once received in its clarity and in its impact, it begins to cultivate attitudes.

As a footnote to that let me say that is why you must continually be exposed to truth because on the

other hand you are being continually exposed to error...continually. And you must put yourself under

the sound hearing of the Word of God often in order that the fabric of your life might be strengthened

by the truth.

Now, receiving truth cultivates proper attitudes. As Peter closes out this epistle of truth, he reminds all

of us what those proper attitudes are. It's a simple formula, receive truth, as truth begins to take over

your thinking patterns it creates attitudes. Those attitudes become just a part of the expression of

your personality. They become almost involuntarily the way you respond and they dictate how you

act. So Peter here is talking about attitudes and he gives us at the last part of this wonderful little

epistle a list of fundamental attitudes for spiritual maturity. This is what the preacher wants to

produce. This is what the teacher wants to produce. This is what the truth wants to effect in you in

terms of attitudes.

The first one we noted in verse 5 was an attitude of submission. "You younger men likewise be

subject to your elders." The second one we noted was an attitude of humility. He says in verse 5, "We

are to be clothed with humility." Verse 6, "Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of

God." The attitude, of course, of submission attacks self-promoting pride which is what the world

would like you to have as an attitude. The attitude of humility attacks self-love which is what the world

is selling and even the church today. The third attitude is in verse 7, an attitude of trust where you

cast all your anxiety upon God because He cares for you and you trust that care, an attitude of trust.

That attacks doubt, that attacks self-independence. So call to trust God is the one who cares and has

the power to do something about it.

Fourthly, we noted an attitude of self-control in verse 8. Be of sober mind or be of sober spirit really

means be self- controlled. This calls for a well disciplined life, self- restraint, discipline of the heart and

the mind against the intoxicating allurements of the world. Self-control is really mind control. So, the

attitude of submission, humility, trust and self-control.

Fifthly, and this is where we left off, Peter says you must develop an attitude of vigilance or vigilant

defense. Verse 8, "Your adversary," well first of all, "Be on the alert, your adversary, the devil, prowls

about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour." You have to have an attitude of vigilant

defense.

Now how do you get that attitude? By learning about Satan, by learning about your weakness, by

learning about spiritual truth, by learning about the armor of God, by learning principles of Scripture to

apply against temptation. All of those things equip you with an attitude of vigilant defense. That's why

I say, as the truth is poured into you, as it's poured into you it becomes that which generates your

attitudes.

Now the enemy is powerful and the enemy is subtle. The enemy seeks to devastate those who claim

to belong to Jesus Christ. He goes around seeking whom he may devour. And just because you can

cast your care on him in verse 7, doesn't mean you're careless in your own life and it doesn't mean

you are indulgent. However, I believe, and I want to stop at this point and digress as I've been doing

on this particular point for at least a few minutes, I believe the church has entered into a

mindlessness at this point that is very very threatening.

When it comes to our adversary, the devil, and his strategy, there is so much fantasy now in the

church and so much ridiculous superstition and so much mindlessness that the church has become

very very vulnerable to Satan. A recent article in the L.A. Times pointed it out. Dateline, Pasadena,

California, "Under the militant banner of spiritual warfare, a growing number of evangelical and

Charismatic Christian leaders are preparing broad assaults on what they call the cosmic powers of

darkness. Fascinated with the notion that Satan commands a hierarchy of territorial demons, some

mission agencies and big church pastors are devising strategies for breaking the strongholds of those

evil spirits alleged to be controlling cities and countries."

My I just slip in as a footnote, if this is not the greatest exercise of a twisted Christian ego, it's close to

it, to imagine that a group of men can meet in Pasadena and plan a strategy to assault the powers of

darkness, is a slight over statement of their capability.

The article goes on to say, "Some fledglings in the movement already claim focused prayer meetings

ended the curse of the Bermuda Triangle. Some of these prayer meetings led to the 1985 downfall of

the Guru Bogwain Shree Rogenese(???). And other focused prayer meetings produced a two week

drop in crime and freeway traffic in Los Angeles." The writer says, "This is not the story line for a

second sequel to Ghostbusters, but the developing scenario does have a fictional influence. Interest

in spiritual warfare has been heightened by two novels that have become best sellers in Christian

bookstores, This Present Darkness, by Frank Paredy(?) which describes the religious fight against

territorial spirits mobilized to dominate a small town and a second Paredy novel has a similar

premise. Fuller Seminary professor, C. Peter Wagner, has written extensively on the subject, led a

so-called summit meeting on cosmic level spiritual warfare earlier this month in Pasadena. Two

dozen men and women took part, including a Texas couple who head a group called `Generals of

Intercession' and an Oregon man who conducts spiritual warfare bootcamps. In his opening remarks,

Wagner said, `The Holy Spirit is saying something to churches through these Paredy books even

though they are fiction. People are reading these books that would never read our books.' Then he

says, `If you do not know what you are doing and few have the necessary expertise, Satan will eat

you for breakfast.'"

What he is saying is that if you don't learn the techniques of spiritual warfare being taught, Satan is

going to eat you for breakfast. You know, you want to back up and say to these people, "Do you really

think that you have any capability to deal with Satan at all? And if you would say, no, really we don't,

then you're left with a very simple solution, and that is to trust God to deal with him."

I'm very concerned about this because I think it is communicating a very very misleading message.

And while there may be enjoyable reading in those books and I don't want to fault all that's in them by

any means, there are many things that are fantasy. For example, in those books it seems to make the

holy angels glorified human beings, one even laughs with a quote "spiteful laugh." That wouldn't be

right for a holy angel to do that. They even come in various human races. The books seem to confuse

demons with the flesh and leads people to believe that all their sins are attributable to some demon

that's doing it. These demons have names that reflect the deeds of the flesh. And this information, by

the way, comes not from Scripture but from supposed encounters with demons in demon interviews.

Now are we going to believe the demons? Are we going to have a demon interview and believe what

they tell us? If they're getting their strategies out of a demon interview, that's really frightening...that is

really frightening. Some of them are saying, "Well, we had an interview with a demon and this is what

they said so this is how we're going to deal with them." Furthermore, the view of prayer in the book

seems to make holy angels dependent on Christians' prayers rather than on God's power. The

impression is that God is not in complete control and if we're going to get this thing in control and

defeat Satan and all his demons, we've got to get our warfare strategy down pat. And the heroes in

this whole deal are victorious Christians, not God.

The thing that concerns me is when you mingle this fantasy with reality, you're simply playing into the

mindless kind of Christianity that is typically mystical...rather than biblical clarity. You say, "Well, how

are we to understand this matter of spiritual warfare?" Well, you're going to have to get some of these

past messages ??? I want to go all over it. But we already went into that. We looked already in

Revelation chapter 12, didn't we? And we looked at the matter of who participates in spiritual warfare,

what is the strategy of spiritual warfare, what is the program of spiritual warfare, how does it function,

how does it operate, how does it work. Now we come down to just a few things to tie that together, all

right?

What is the...what is the general approach of the demons? How do they...how do they attack? Well

first of all, Satan and his demons attack us as individuals. You say, "Can you tell when a demon is

attacking you?" Not necessarily, I certainly can't tell, I can't see them, I can't feel them. And the Bible

doesn't say anything about that except that we wrestle against them. In some way they are closely

involved in some combat with us, although they are indistinguishable to us for the most part, there are

occasions when they manifest themselves. But they will attack us primarily through the system,

through the alluring world system. They can't read our minds. Nor is there any indication in Scripture

that there's some means by which they can have access to plant thoughts in our mind. I don't find that

in the Bible. But they can attack us through the system's enticement of our flesh. So they do attack us

as individuals through the system around us.

Now we don't know all of the ways in which they can do that. I do believe that if they are given access

into a believer's life that they then have some means by which they can effect that believer's thinking

process. Else why would Peter have said, "Why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit?"

when he said it to Ananias and Sapphira? But I don't believe in a righteous Christian's life they have

that access. In an obedient Christian's life I don't believe they have that opening. But somehow they

can come and influence us through the system and if we're open to them and living in disobedience,

they have some access to the controlling factors of our conduct.

The second thing that they do is they attack families. They attack families. This is very clear in 1

Corinthians chapter 7. In 1 Corinthians chapter 7 Paul tells us in verse 3, "Let the husband fulfill his

duty to his wife," that's talking about physically, sexually, "and likewise the wife to her husband. The

wife doesn't have authority over her own body but the husband does, likewise also the husband does

not have authority over his own body but his wife does." In other words, you need to give your body to

your partner. Why? Verse 5, "Stop depriving one another unless it's by agreement for a time that you

may devote yourselves to prayer and come together again lest Satan tempt you because of your lack

of self-control." Nothing would make Satan happier than to come against a Christian couple and

because one is holding back the physical relationship against the other, raise the level of temptation

to that one struggling with self- control and destroy that family. And again, he can do that through the

environment, through controlling the environment that person is in so they are unduly exposed to

wicked temptation. And if there's an opening in the life and disobedience, there is reason to think that

he can somehow push the buttons even within us.

Third thing he wants to do is attack leaders, leaders in the church. That is why the Apostle Paul says

in 1 Timothy chapter 3, "You have to have men that are qualified for ministry," because at the end of

verse 7 he says, "so that they may not fall into reproach and the snare of the devil." I think the devil

sets traps for people in spiritual leadership.

And then fourthly, he attacks the church. And his goal is to destroy its unity, its power, to confuse its

purpose. You read the churches of Revelation 2 and 3 and see how Satan moved in, how the

synagogue of Satan invaded and destroyed and devastated a church's testimony. Second

Corinthians chapter 11 reminds us that Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. And what's that

to do? He disguises himself as a Christian. He disguises his emissaries as those who purvey

Christian truth through hypocritical liars that appear to be teachers of the truth.

So, Satan comes at individuals, comes at families, he comes at leaders, he comes at churches, apart

from all the rest of the stuff that he's doing in the world. But that's the focus of his attack on us. Now

the question that I want to answer very briefly now is: how do we deal with it? Do we have to go to a

seminar? Do we have to attend the bootcamp? Do we have to go to the Generals of Intercession and

find out how they battle demons? Do we have to plan a cosmic warfare strategy? Or get eaten by the

devil for lunch, or breakfast, or dinner? What do we do? Let's go back to our text and find out.

END OF SIDE ONE

SIDE TWO

What Peter says is so simple and so direct. You've got a very serious situation, you better be on the

alert, he says in verse 8. Your adversary, the devil, prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone

to devour. That is a serious issue, a very serious issue. What are we going to do about it, Lord? How

we going to prevent this? Somebody says, "I know, we have to...we have to bind him." Oh? What do

you mean bind him? "Well we have to tie him up." How you going to do that? "Well you say these

words, they tell us, `Satan, I bind you.'" You hear them say that? And are we to believe that as soon

as somebody says that he goes, "Oop...that did it. Boy, now I'm stuck?"

We might even want to ask how long a binding lasts. We might even want to ask, is he only bound in

regard to me or does that bind him in regard to everybody? And if it could bind him in regard to

everybody, then why doesn't one of us just once and for all say, "Satan, you're bound for everybody

for good?" That would just end it all.

What in the world are we talking about? The people running around binding demons, what does that

mean? In what way can you bind a demon? Listen, sin came into the human race because Satan

deceived whom? Eve. Would you say that we are more susceptible to deception than Eve? Yes.

That's why in 2 Corinthians 11 Paul says, "I am afraid lest as the serpent deceived Eve by his

craftiness, your minds should be led astray from the simplicity and purity in Christ." There is simplicity,

there is purity in Christ and you move away from that and you're in trouble.

Do you realize there are people in Matthew 7 who say, "Lord, Lord, have we not cast out demons in

Your name? And He says to them...what?...I never knew you, who are you?" Now Satan will be

bound but there's only one person who can do that. In Revelation 20 says, "I saw an angel coming

down from heaven having the keys to the abyss and a great chain in his hand, and he laid hold of the

dragon, the serpent of old who is the devil and Satan and bound him for a thousand years and threw

him into the abyss and shut it and sealed it over him that he should not deceive the nations any

longer, till the thousand years were completed after these things he must be released for a short

time." Before that binding and after that binding he is loose. And there is no reason to assume

anything else. Only Jesus Christ can dispatch a holy angel to bind him. He moves about on this earth,

says Peter, as a roaring lion, seeking who he may devour. And I'll promise you, if Peter was into

contemporary spiritual warfare, he would have said, "I bind you, Satan." But he didn't because he

couldn't.

So, if he's moving around and if he's a formidable foe and if he wants to battle us as individuals and

as families and as leaders and as churches, how do we deal with him? First point, verse 8, be alert.

Be alert, watch your surroundings. Keep your eyes open. Be watchful. Satan can be defeated. He has

already been vanquished by Christ. He can be in Christ defeated in the believer's life as well. Be alert.

Watch your surroundings, watch your relationships. Take stock of the potential temptation.

Second thing he says, and here's where we really get to it, verse 9, resist him...resist him. James 4:7

says it this way, "Resist the devil and he will...what?...flee from you." The word resist means to stand

up against, to take your stand against. You say, "How do you do that?" I love this, verse 9, "Firm in

the faith."

How do you deal with the devil? Mystically? Devil, I bind you? Demons, I tie you up? How do you deal

with the devil? Firm in the faith. He is a deceiver, he is a liar and what you have to deal with him is

truth and obedience to that truth. You say, "Is this statement...firm in the faith...objective or

subjective? Is he talking about firm in your trust in God or firm in the faith which is the Christian faith

which is revealed truth?" And the answer is yes, both. Trusting God and living in accord with His truth.

Isn't that so simple? So simple. You've got this formidable enemy prowling around wanting to chew

you up and devour you, how you going to deal with him? Stand against him. How do you stand

against him? Firm in the faith, the revealed Word of God which has told you all about God so that you

can be firm in your faith in God. That's the issue.

Can I help you with that a little bit? Look at 2 Corinthians chapter 10. Second Corinthians chapter 10

verse 3, Paul says, "For though we walk in the flesh, we're human, physical, though we walk in the

flesh we don't war according to the flesh." There's no physical strategy against Satan. There's no

mental strategy against Satan. There's no verbal strategy against Satan. You can't say words and

make him run. We don't war according to the flesh. Verse 4, "For the weapons of our warfare are not

of the flesh but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses." The contrast between the flesh and

the divine, between the human and God. And we don't battle Satan with human plans, human

ingenuity or human words but with a divinely powerful expression of God. What is that? Verse 5, "We

are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God and we are

taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ."

There's the key. Everything becomes captive to the truth and obedience to the truth. As I know the

truth, as I obey the truth, Satan is resisted. And whatever enemy comes against me becomes captive

as I stand on the truth, as I obey the truth. First Timothy chapter 1 verse 18, "This command I entrust

to you, Timothy my son, in accordance with the prophecies previously made concerning you...now

listen to this...that by them you may fight the good fight." Here's how. "Keeping the faith and a good

conscience." What does that mean? Holding on to the faith which is the truth, the faith, the Christian

faith, the revealed truth and a good conscience means that you've not only believed the truth,

you've...what?...you've obeyed it and your conscience isn't accusing you, same principle.

How do you fight the good fight? How do you keep from the shipwrecking disaster that delivers you

over to Satan, as he mentions in verse 20, how do you prevent that? Keeping the faith, holding it,

guarding it and having the good conscience that doesn't accuse you because you haven't violated its

truth. Beloved, there's only one way to resist the devil and that is to know the truth, to believe the

truth, to stand on the truth, to obey the truth. And when you do that, you stand against him and

he...what?...he flees. What you say is immaterial. There's no formula for this.

Second Timothy chapter 2, verse 3, "Suffer hardship along with me as a good soldier of Christ

Jesus." We're soldiers in a spiritual warfare. And how are we to fight? Verse 4, "No soldier in active

service entangles himself in the affairs of every day life so that he may please the one who enlisted

him as a soldier." Two things, if you're going to be a good soldier you know what the commander told

you to do and you do it, right? That's how you please him. Same thing, you hold to the faith and you

obey it.

And then that key passage, Ephesians 6, turn there quickly, Ephesians 6, verse 10, "Finally, be

strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might." That's that divinely powerful weaponry. "Be strong

in the Lord and in the strength of His might, put on the full armor of God that you may be able to stand

firm against the schemes of the devil." Here he gives you the details of it, the details. "For our

struggle is not against flesh and blood but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world

forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenlies as they come

against us as individuals, as families, as leaders, as churches."

Now in order to deal with the scheming deception of Satan and in order to stand firm, there's that

same concept, stand firm, it never says attack Satan, it says stand firm. It never says go after and

chase him down on the cosmic level, it says stand firm, resist. How do you do it? Verse 13, take on

the full armor of God that you may be able to resist in the evil day. And what's the evil day? Any day

that evil comes. And having done everything to stand firm, and here's how, "Having your loins girded

with...what...truth." Not only does it imply truth but truthfulness. Not only that I know truth but I'm

committed to truth. Second thing, have on the breastplate of...what?...righteousness, that means I'm

obeying the truth. As soon as I am unrighteous, my breastplate's off, I'm vulnerable. Have your feet

shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. What is that? The confidence that you have made

peace with God. The gospel says you can have peace with God. You stand your ground and say, "I

have peace with God, God's on my side, I'm not fighting you, I'm letting Him do it." Take the shield of

faith which says I believe my God is able. Put on the helmet of salvation, the confidence in eternal

life, the confidence that you're secure in Christ and in your hand the sword of the Spirit which

is...what?...the Word of God. If you want to know all those details, get those tapes, I don't have time

to go into them anymore than that.

And then in verse 18 he adds, "With all prayer and petition, pray at all times in the Spirit. And with this

in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all saints." Here it is, beloved. Truth

around your waist with righteousness, the commitment to obey to cover your vulnerable area, with

confidence in the power of God, believing God is your shield, having eternal hope as your helmet,

wield the sword of truth. That's how you deal with the enemy. And in it all, constant prayer which is

dependence on Him. That's how you resist. No magic, no formulas, the Word, a holy life, confident

trusting hope in God and you stand your ground.

Peter adds this so beautifully. In verse 9, "Knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being

accomplished by your brethren who are in the world." Does that help? What's he saying? Hey, in the

middle of this you're not...what?...you're not alone. You're really not. The whole brotherhood, the

whole Christian community is going through this, suffering is a way of life as God is accomplishing His

holy perfecting work in you. Just look at the goal, he says, and realize everybody's in it.

I know, sometimes you feel like you're out there alone, sometimes I feel the battlements of hell

coming after me. Sometimes it's so subtle I don't even notice it, sometimes I can see it coming. I don't

run for a formula. I don't run to some mystical dimension. It's a very simple thing and very concrete

and very exacting and very precise. I meet temptation with truth, with what the Word of God says. I

meet temptation with confidence in the power of my God, I meet temptation with prayer. I meet the

onslaughts of the demons and the devil with the breastplate of righteousness so that there's no

vulnerability there. And when you resist him in the armor of God and take your stand, he flees. So

Peter says you're not alone, everybody's going through it, all your brethren in the world are

experiencing the suffering of the roaring lion who seeks whom he may devour. And again I remind

you, he comes at us through the system. All of a sudden you find yourself in a situation you don't

want to be in, being tempted in a way that you didn't really think was going to happen, you find

yourself vulnerable in a way you never thought could happen. Satan comes at you through the ugly

system that he's concocted, he wears down your resistance, or he surprises you.

Wherever he comes from and in whatever form and manner, the solution is the same, spiritual

weapons, stand in the truth and trust God. And in my trust in God I go to prayer and I let the

commander fight the battle. If I know the truth and obey the truth and commit my life to God, I stand

strong.

So, fundamental attitudes, submission, humility, trust, self-control, vigilant defense. Listen very

carefully, the next are going to be rapid fire. Number six, an attitude of hope, an attitude of hope.

Verse 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." Here's another

attitude, beloved, this is the promise added to the exhortation of verse 9. This too is a very essential

fundamental attitude. We're to live with the understanding that God's purpose realized in the future

requires some pain in the present. And we've gone through this principle so many times in 1 Peter, I

don't need to take a lot of time now to do it. I'll say that one line again, God's purpose realized in the

future involves some pain in the present. One writer says, "God Himself in the wealth of His grace is

the one who has called them to share in His own glory can be counted on according to His purpose to

use their brief earthly sufferings to make them strong and steadfast. And when they become strong

and steadfast, they are then to be the recipients of a greater eternal reward." So says Peter, "And

after you have suffered for a little while." It may seem intense and it may seem long but it's really very

brief, just a little while.

He used that same statement in chapter 1 verse 6, just a little while. But if you have suffered a little

while, know this, the God of all grace...what a title, 2 Corinthians 1:3 He's called the God of all

comfort, here He's the God of all grace...the God of all grace, undeserved favor, who called you to His

eternal glory in Christ, an effectual saving call, will Himself perfect, confirm, strength and establish

you.

If you could only understand what the spiritual warfare is doing for you, you would appreciate it

instead of resenting it. After all, nothing can separate you from the love of Christ. Nothing can change

that. So all the suffering that comes here is just to strengthen you, to establish you, to confirm you, to

perfect you, to make you more the man and woman of God that you should be.

This isn't so much talking about grace for eternity. God's already promised that. This is grace for time.

This is while we're alive making us what we ought to be.

Just a couple of notes about this verse, beautiful. God who called you, again an effectual saving call

as it always is in the New Testament epistles, and you can check 1 Peter 1:15, 2:9, 21 and 3:9, but

the God who called you to His eternal glory in Christ will Himself...I love this, now listen to me...while

you are being personally attacked by the enemy, you are being personally perfected by God. It's

personal, Himself He's doing it. Marvelous thought. He is intimately involved in the suffering of our

lives.

So what about those four words? Well, they're almost synonyms, to perfect means to bring you to

wholeness, to confirm means to set you fast, to strengthen means to make you strong, to establish

you means to lay you as a foundation. They all speak of strength, resoluteness. And that's what God

wants to do in your life through the spiritual battle.

They ought to encourage you, those four words, in the spiritual battle. God Himself is there battling

and through the battle you become perfect, confirmed, strong and established. Submission, humility,

trust, self-control, vigilant defense and hope. You say, "Why hope?" Because in the midst of my

suffering I have hope in what I am becoming. And because of what I am becoming, what I will be in

eternal glory, that's hope.

Number seven, an attitude of worship. Do I need to say much? Verse 11, Peter just bursts forth in a

doxology, "To Him be dominion forever and ever, amen." Just a doxology. He said it in chapter 4

verse 11 that God may be glorified through Jesus Christ to whom belongs the glory and the dominion

forever and ever amen. Peter's just overwhelmed by this and this too introduces us in an indirect way

to another right attitude and that's an attitude of worship. Throughout this whole series of verses

we've been getting the deep things of God put into place, that we are to humble ourselves before God

and He'll exalt us, that we're to cast our care upon God for He cares for us, He's powerful, He's

compassionate. We are to fight in His strength for He alone can defeat the enemy and in the process

perfect us. No wonder he says, "Give Him all the praise, give Him all the dominion forever and ever,

amen." And so we say that the heart of the Christian must always be filled with praise, must always

be filled with glory given to God. He has the dominion, He has the power, He has the authority, He

has the sovereignty, He is worthy of all of our praise. That's the worshiping heart.

And when you have a worshiping heart, beloved, it keeps you from questioning the difficulties of life,

does it not? When you have a worshiping heart you don't question God, you just worship Him. By the

way, the word "dominion," kratos, means strength. It's only used here in the whole New Testament.

And it speaks of God's ability to dominate. He is the dominate one. Nothing is beyond His control...not

our suffering and not Satan and his demons and the whole system. Nothing is beyond His control, we

worship Him for that.

Then Peter comes to a conclusion. And in this little conclusion as he draws this epistle to an end, he

mentions two other attitudes, at least we can draw them out of his final words. And I think he picks up

the pen here, probably been writing through a secretary and now he takes the pen in his own hand

and he mentions an attitude of faithfulness indirectly. Verse 12, "Through Silvanus, our faithful

brother, for so I regard him, I've written to you briefly exhorting and testifying that this is the true grace

of God, stand firm in it." There's no reason, by the way, to assume this is any other than Silas,

although that was somewhat a common name, but very likely the same Silas who traveled with Paul

and is often mentioned in Paul's epistles. He was a prophet, according to Acts 15:32, he was a

Roman citizen, according to Acts 16:37. We know about Silas. Silas may well have been the one who

wrote down Peter's words and the one who perhaps would even bear them to these folks. But Peter

calls him a faithful brother, for so I regard him, highly respected, faithful.

It just reminds us, doesn't it, of another virtue, being faithful. And he says, "I've written to you briefly,"

just five short chapters, but O how rich. It is brief, really, short, condensed. And he says in it I've been

exhorting and testifying that this is the true grace of God. He's saying, "I've been telling you about

God's grace, His saving grace, His sanctifying grace, His grace through trials, His grace through

sufferings, I want you to stand firm in His grace. Be faithful to it, that's what he's saying. Silas was

faithful, will you be faithful? Stand in this grace. It's like Romans 5:2, "In grace you stand," Paul says

and Peter says, "and please stand there, will you?" Be faithful...be faithful.

And then he adds one final virtue that we can call the attitude of affection. Verse 13, "She who is in

Babylon, chosen together with you, sends you greetings, so does my son Mark. Greet one another

with a kiss of love, peace be to all who are in Christ." The word "affection" doesn't appear there but by

way of example we can see that he demonstrated affection, didn't he? A final word that speaks of

love, she who is in Babylon must refer to a church. Female terms for the church are common, you

can check 2 John 1 and 13. And Babylon most likely refers to Rome. It does in Revelation 17 and 18.

That seems proper here. One writer says it's a cryptic name for Rome. In times of persecution, writers

exercised unusual care not to endanger Christians to whom they wrote letters. For instance, when

John was banished to Patmos during the persecution instigated by the Emperor Domician, he called

Rome Babylon. Peter who mentions persecution in nearly every chapter of his epistle died a martyrs

death near Rome, according to tradition he was crucified upside down. In short, Peter wrote this

epistle near the end of his life when he probably stayed in the imperial city, and didn't want the letter

to be found and the church to be persecuted, so maybe he kind of hid it under the word Babylon.

But well could be saying the saints of Rome, the church, together with you also elect, sends you

greetings. Christian affection. So does my son Mark, Peter's spiritual son not his physical son. Mark

called John Mark is mentioned in Acts 12:12, he accompanied Paul, stayed with Paul during the

Apostles time in prison in Rome. Tradition indicates that Peter helped him write the gospel of

Mark...that when Mark wrote his gospel, Peter was there to assist him. But here you have a little

collection of affection. The church, to your church, me to you, Mark to you and in 14 he says, "Just

kiss everybody, will you?" An outward sign of affection often mentioned in the New Testament. By the

way, it was men to men, and women to women in ancient times, a customary part of early church

affection.

And he closes, "Peace be to you all who are in Christ." It's back to the basics then as he ends, isn't it?

Back to basic attitudes. Submission, humility, trust, self-denial, vigilant defense, hope, worship,

faithfulness and affection. Beloved, let me tell you something and I close with this, there's no way to

produce those in your life through any mystical experience. They come from the truth. And as the

truth is poured into your life week in and week out, day in, day out, it begins to change your character

and create these kinds of attitudes. That's why we do what we do. We thank God for the privilege.

Father, we do thank You for tonight. We've covered so many things. Thank You for the patience, the

attentiveness of these precious people to this hour in Your Word. Thank You for the fellowship we've

enjoyed and that its been enriched as we have learned even more how to be the people You want us

to be. May these attitudes be characteristic of our lives, in Jesus' name. Amen.

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