DEALING WITH THE DEVIL

INTRODUCTION

We have spent the better part of a year walking through the book of First Peter. There is one more message to go and we will come to the end of this wonderful book. The purpose of this walk was to understand the spiritual reality of what has really been going on since and even before last March. God desires to teach us how to live lives of victory in a world that has lost its mind. It is to give to us an encouraging Word from God as we live through very discouraging days. Yet, as we walk through these days , we do not do so in isolation. It so happens that we have a companion that walks with us. He walks with us to discourage us each step of the way. He is your opponent and the only enemy and adversary you have.

Many years ago there was a young Indian brave who decided to climb to the summit of a nearby, snow-capped peak. He donned his buffalo-hide shirt, wrapped his blanket around himself and set off. Eventually he reached the summit and gazed over the panoramic view below. As the cold whipped against him, he swelled with pride over his accomplishment. Suddenly at his feet there was movement. It was a snake and it began to speak to him. The snake said, “I am about to die. It is too cold for me up here and I am freezing. There is no food at this exalted elevation and I am starving. The young brave responded, “No way! I know your kind. You are a rattlesnake and just as sure as I try to help you, you will bite me and kill me. The snake replied, Oh, no. I will treat you differently. You are special. If you do this for me, I promise that I will not harm you.” This bantering went back and forth for some time. Finally the young Indian gave into the creature’s pleading and tucked the snake under his shirt. After making their way down to the valley below, the young brave removed the snake and laid it on the ground. In gratitude for what this young Indian did for him, the snake immediately coiled, rattled, struck and planted its deadly fangs into the young Indian’s leg. As the young man fell, he felt the deadly venom enter his bloodstream. He wailed in protest, “But you promised!” The serpent replied, “Hey, you knew what I was when you picked me up.” With that, the snake slithered away.

We have an enemy more poisonous and deadly than a rattlesnake. Our enemy is Satan and he is a real snake in the grass. He brings with him many others who were part of that heavenly rebellion and were cast out of heaven along with him. He and they have never gotten over that. Friends, the world of the demonic is real. Their purpose is to confound the work of God, to limit you in that work, and draw you into sin and iniquity in every way. Our text is going to reveal to us two general commands for us to follow that will aid in helping us to deal with the devil.

COMMAND #1: GOD’S CALL TO HUMBLE SUBMISSION (5:5-7)

God deals graciously with those who are humble-minded. This is how God raises you up. In God’s economy, the way up is down. Peter has already encouraged the pastors in the first four verses of chapter five to shepherd the congregation of God rightly. As we come to verse five, these two verses are connected by the word “likewise.” This word indicates “continuing the same subject.” Peter turns his attention to a particular group of people in the congregation.

A. We Are to Subject Ourselves to Worthy Authorities (5:5a).

We have seen this word for “submit” before. Again, it is a military term meaning “to arrange or set under.” The word “elders” here is not a reference to everyone older than you. It is a reference to the pastors. The first group in the congregations that are exhorted to humbly submit themselves to pastoral authority are the young. Reckon why Peter said that? Why not address the entire congregation? The most reasonable answer is that this group would be the one that would need the reminder to submit to church authority the most. If the young was the group within the church most at risk for violating the command, then it only stands to reason everyone else in the congregation should have no problem doing so.

B. We are to Subject Ourselves Because of God’s Divine Purposes (5B-7).

Peter now moves from the relational component of the pastor to the people, to the proper attitude of the people to one another. “Yes, all of you be submissive to one another.” Why? There are three reasons.

God blesses the humble (5b).

We are admonished to “be clothed with humility.” Peter is painting a picture here. Back in the day, a slave would put on the apron of his servitude. Just as that slave would don the garment of his slave-hood to serve his master, so we are to don the garment or apron of humility to serve one another. Why should we do this? Am I not free in Christ? The pastor is no better than I am. You are exactly right. But you are missing the point. It is because you are free in Christ that you should appreciate the expensive price that had to be paid for your spiritual freedom. The reason we are to be clothed with the apron of humility is because God affirms the humble. However, God will uses the resources of heaven to oppose the proud. Peter is quoting Proverbs 3:34 here. The word resists here means “to come against in full battle array.”

2. God exalts the humble (6).

If we cannot relate to each other in humility, how are we ever going to relate with humility to God. Do not worry about trying to “name drop” or force the issue of trying to make recognition happen that you may think you deserve. Just humble yourself under the mighty hand of God and at the right moment in His providential timetable, He will exalt you. When God is ready, He will raise you up. The entire world does it the other way. If you trust God, if you serve God, and if you are faithful in the small things, in God’s timing, He will raise you up. You can absolutely count on that simple fact.

3. God cares for the humble (7).

Contrary to what some people would have us to believe, the Christian life is not all peaks and no valleys. It is not all sunshine and no rain. That is why we are to cast our cares on the Lord. The reason is that He cares for us. Concerning casting our cares versus worrying over our cares, one writer put it this way: “Humility also manifests itself in handing over our worries to God (7a), and hence it follows that worry is a form of pride. Worry constitutes pride since it denies the care of a sovereign God( 7b).” If worry is the problem then the solution is handing our worries over to God. How are we to do that?

We are to cast our cares conclusively.

The word cast means “to throw” something on, at, or toward something else. That is exactly what we are to do with our worries. We are to throw our worries; we are to cast our cares onto the strong back of the Lord Jesus Christ. We are to cast our cares conclusively with Jesus and leave them with Him.

We are to cast our cares completely.

The word care literally means, “there is a care” or “there is a concern.” Literally this phrase says, “cast your whole care.” That is why Psalm 55:22 says, “Cast your burden on the LORD, and He shall sustain you; He shall never permit the righteous to be moved.”

One of the reasons why God allows suffering to come into our lives is to force us to faith and to drive us from doubt.

We are to cast our cares confidently.

We are to cast our cares upon the Lord because He cares for us. The devil will seek to destroy you by trying to convince you that nobody cares about you, not even God. Folks, that is a lie from the deepest pit of hell. From our birth, throughout out our life, and especially in those moments before death, God cares for you. That is why we are to cast our cares upon Him.

The first command in how to deal with the devil is to be submissive under the power of God.

COMMAND #2: GOD’S CALL TO STAND STRONG IN SPIRITUAL CONFLICT (5:8-11)

Instruction #1: Be Sober (8).

The word sober literally means “to be sober-minded” or “self-controlled. We are not to be intoxicated on the foolishness of the world. Rather we are to take the threats of the devil seriously. He is real and he is powerful.

Instruction #2: Be Vigilant (8).

The word vigilant literally means “to be awake” or “to be alert.” It can effectively be translated as watchfulness. Thus, we are commanded to be spiritually alert. In other words, we are to keep our spiritual radar maintained and in good working order. We are cautioned not to let our guard down.

Taken together these two terms can be described as sober-minded watchfulness. The opposite of this would be a spiritual lethargy where God’s perspective is never brought into a situation. Such an attitude on our part would be to behave no differently than the world. The reason we are commanded to possess this sober-minded watchfulness is because we have an enemy. He is the devil, who is our adversary. He is our opponent in a legal lawsuit (slanderer- antidikos). He is hell’s district attorney. He is the one who is always bringing a case against us. He is always trying to dig up dirt on us. He is trying to rattle the skeletons in your closet. He is always trying to bring up past sins long ago confessed and forgiven. He is always trying to rob you of the joy of your salvation. He is roaring at you trying to cause you to abandon your walk with God which he knows will bring disastrous consequences to your soul. He is a roaring lion who is hungry for your destruction.

Just when the British thought they had it all in hand, they decided to build a railway from Kenya to Mombasa. Nobody could resist that British Empire. It was expanding in colonialism all over the world. They began the railway all the way from Uganda, Kenya to the coast at Mombasa. Then it happened. There were two lions. Today they are referred to as the “lions of Tsavo.” These two lions stopped the building of the railroad. They halted the British Empire in its tracks. You see, they had developed a taste for human flesh. Every night those two lions would slip in. The next sound that was heard was a terrifying and agonizing cry and then it would be snuffed out. The indigenous workers soon abandoned the British. They went back to their homes and refused to have anything more to do with the building of the railroad.

Since Satan has the tendency to roar at us for the purpose of destroying our faith in Christ, we must be sober-minded and spiritually watchful. However, let me tell you something else about our accusing enemy. He does stalk us and he roars like a lion, and he sure can roar. Yet, when Jesus Christ, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, died on the cross, He staked Him out. Folks, Satan cannot get to you unless you go to him with some sort of peculiar fascianation. As long as you stay behind the cross, you will hear him roar and you will hear him stalking about. However, he cannot get to you as long as you stay close to Jesus Christ.

Instruction #3: Be Strong in Your Resistance (9)

Just as it is foolish to deny the existence of the devil, it is also foolish to take the extreme opposite position by looking for a demon under every pew. We are not to cower before the devil as believers. Rather we are to resist him steadfast in the faith. The phrase, “steadfast in the faith” indicates that at some point God will intervene and give the victory. Resist him.

There was a night in Wartburg Castle when Martin Luther became very depressed. He had been captured by his own people to keep him from being killed. He was imprisoned where he did not want to be imprisoned. He was trying to work on his German translation of the Bible. Yet, he was so depressed. He sensed that the devil himself appeared in that moment of depression in his room. So, Martin Luther picked up the inkwell and threw it at the devil. Silly thing to do, Martin. Luther, don’t you know that the inkwell cannot hurt the devil. Of course Martin Luther knew that the inkwell could not hurt the devil. He did not throw the inkwell at the devil to hurt the devil. He threw the inkwell at the devil to help himself.

There comes a moment when you need to try the inkwell treatment. There comes a time when you need to say, “O devil, I know what you are doing and I have a message for you. Then break out into song and begin singing, “Jesus paid it all. All to Him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain. He washed it white as snow!”

It want to tell you that the devil hates to hear that. The devil hates the name of Jesus. He despises it because it represents his sure defeat. It represents his ultimate demise. It represents the breaking of his power. He knows he has no power against it. In the moment of temptation, take the stance of sober-minded watchfulness and understand that you are not alone in this.

Instruction #4: Be Sincere in Your Worship (10-11)

The word “sincere” is the combination of two Latin words (sine cere) meaning “without wax.” Back in the day there were those who made vessels for carrying liquids. To cut costs and maximize profits, certain merchants would take shortcuts. The result would be that cracks would form in the vessels and they would leak. To stop this they would fill the cracks with wax. This fixed the problem for a short period of time. The competition would put a sign out on their merchandise reading “Sine Cere,” without wax. They were stating that their products did not have wax. No matter how bad things get, there is always a place for the “sine cere” worship of Jesus Christ. In the midst of suffering, remember these things:

We have God’s grace when we suffer.

We are one day going to experience his dominion (absolute rule- “kratos).

Our present suffering lasts only for a little while, even if that suffering is a lifelong situation.

Our suffering is building our Christian character.

That is what the word perfect means. It means “to equip” or “to build up.” [ to restore] In the building up of our character we are given three words to describe how He will do it. First, God is going to establish us. The word literally means “to fix firmly, to set fast.” Second, God promises to strengthen us. What does that mean? It means just what it says. God will appropriate His strength to us when we need it, especially in the context of suffering. Third, God promises to settle us. The word literally means, “to lay a foundation.” This means that God will put us in the right place when suffering has tried to remove us from that solid foundation. These three terms taken together mean that any loss that we have endured in this life for Christ will be made right, and it will made right for all eternity. We will move from present suffering to future and eternal glory.

CONCLUSION

Christ gives us two general commands in dealing with the devil. First, there is the command to remember God’s calling to humble submission. This is accomplished by being willing to subject ourselves to worthy authorities and submitting ourselves to God’s divine purposes. Second, there is the command to recognize the need to stand strong in the midst of spiritual conflict. This is done through the application of four biblical principles: sober-mindedness, watchfulness, resistance to Satan, and sincere worship.

The Lone Cypress is a lone Monterey cypress tree located in Pebble Beach, California. It has been one of the most photographed trees in North America. It has been standing there for over 250 years alone. The Pebble Beach Golf Club has made it the trademark of their company. How has this one tree survived there alone positioned on that granite hillside. It has survived because it has deep roots. Folks, the same God who created that tree and kept it there for 250 years is the same God who will cause you to be victorious over the devil. Yet, we must have deep roots in God and His Word. That is how you deal with the devil.