 You know we're going to be looking at 1 Peter chapter 5. We're going to look at verses 8 through 14 and as mentioned a moment ago I Wanted to divide this into two studies, which I'm unable to do For the reasons already mentioned so we're going to be taking verse 8 to the conclusion And I obviously will be spending more time in the introduction and at the part of verses 8 and 9 Though I will touch on and attempt to bring some clarity to the last verses of the chapter But I will be spending some time looking at the God of all grace as is Demonstrated to us through the verses that we're about to look at so let's let's read verse 8 and 9 here in 1 Peter chapter 5 And we'll get into our study 1 Peter chapter 5 verses 8 and 9 The Apostle Peter writes be sober Be vigilant Because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour Resist him steadfast in the faith Knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world So as we begin I want you to notice how he he gives an exhortation For the believer to be sober and to be vigilant and then he gives the reason why because The adversary our adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour If there's anyone in scripture Who could share on being vigilant concerning the devil it would have to be the Apostle Peter We know that by studying through the gospel accounts of his life The Apostle Peter at one time considered himself to be the most faithful of the Apostles On the night that Jesus was betrayed Jesus had made it clear that his disciples would all abandon him Matthew 26 31 says Jesus said to them all of you will be made to stumble because of me this night For it is written. I will strike the shepherd and the sheep of the flock will be scattered Well when Jesus said that that comment caused Peter to respond with passion Matthew tells us in chapter 26 verses 33 through 35 that Peter answered and said to him Even if all are made to stumble because of you I will never be made to stumble Jesus said to him shut up Peter. No, he didn't Jesus said to him assuredly I say to you that this night before the rooster crows you will deny me three times Peter said to him even if I have to die with you I will not deny you and so said all the disciples Peter was absolutely convinced that he of all the Apostles would remain faithful to Jesus Christ to the very very end And yet later that same night he not only denied the Lord Jesus Christ But he did so even as Jesus said three times Peter and the rest of the men had to learn something. They needed to learn that they're not as strong in their faith as they think Though they desired to be faithful to the end The true weakness was about to be exposed We remember the events of that night how that Jesus went to a garden called Gethsemane and he agonized there in prayer He left aid of his disciples in one portion of the garden He took Peter James and John and when a stone's throw away and began to agonize in prayer and While Jesus was praying Peter James and John all fell asleep And when Jesus came and found them sleeping he gave them a stern rebuke and he gave them an exhortation Matthew 26 40 through 41 says he came to the disciples found them asleep and said to Peter What could you not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray lest you enter into temptation the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak And Jesus when he was taken While his words were actually demonstrated to be true because they did exactly as he said they would do Mark tells us in chapter 14 verse 50. They all forsook him and fled It is from this vantage point that Peter begins to write an exhortation The exhortation is very basic Be sober and be vigilant It's been said that experience is the best teacher and though that's probably not completely true There is some truth to it and the Apostle Peter did experience something that would cause him To encourage the the followers of Christ to be sober to be vigilant Because he had personal experience with the enemy who came after him Peter had just been stating to them and we saw it in verse 7 that God cares for us and That would include the fact that he carefully watches over us and though God may be carefully watching over us It doesn't mean that the devil doesn't attempt to destroy us. It doesn't mean that he doesn't come to attack us in fact, it seems to be More of the case that when somebody is following the Lord that the enemy is is much more after him than that person who only Professes faith in Christ, but really doesn't follow him Remember that on that night in Luke chapter 22 verses 31 and 32 it records that that the Lord had said to Simon Peter he had said Simon Simon indeed Satan has asked for you that he may sift you as wheat But I've prayed for you that your faith should not fail But and when you have returned to me strengthen your brethren Simon I want you to know that The enemy has approached the throne of God and requested that he might sift you that he might do everything He can to destroy you Sifting is when you went out there and you harvest the grain and you put it in the sieve And you began to shake it and then you throw it up in the air So the chaff would blow away and the seed would remain and fall through the grid through the grating there He's saying Satan has requested and it's and has obtained permission to sift you and sifting is violent And what the enemy is going to do is he's going to violently do something to you But what he's going to do in his sifting is actually going to cause your faith to be refined Because I prayed for you and and when you have been converted when you have turned back to me Then you're going to have the ability to strengthen your brethren, which is what he's doing here You see his failure gave him empathy. It gave him humility It gave him compassion and it made him a source of encouragement He understood the weakness of man because he himself suffers with that weakness So his desire as we look at this passage is for believers to be sober-minded and to be vigilant Now when he speaks here in verse 8 and says be sober that word obviously has a connotation of being free from Intoxication don't be drunk and so we use that word sober in that in that context, of course be sober But there's another context and that would be speaking about your mindset your attitude of life be sober-minded Be serious-minded be serious-minded in your affection for the Lord and be serious-minded in your aim for life When you go through your sifting and you go through your suffering and you go through your persecution It's that that which God can use to refine your faith strengthen you and make you an encourager to somebody else So in order to survive these things there are going to be certain things that you need to have and one is sobriety of mind sober-mindedness You need to make sure that your mind is set on the things that matter like like we reading Colossians 3 to where it says Think about the things of heaven not the things of the earth Set your mind your affections on things above and not on things below in other words Or like what Paul said in Philippians 4-8 where he said finally brothers and sisters whatever is true whatever is noble Whatever is right whatever is pure Whatever is lovely whatever is admirable if anything is excellent or praiseworthy Think about such things be sober-minded set your affection on things above thinking the things here on the earth that actually Develop and edify and build you up be sober-minded Be aware of the times that you're living in and be aware of your enemy Not only be sober-minded, but also be vigilant what simply means be awake stay awake be on the alert be watchful You see the devices Satan uses are very often just subtle and he can take you by surprise You see Peter did not deny the Lord when the officers came to take him the Apostle Peter actually fought to protect the Lord And we know in scripture that he he took out a sword in and he took a Swing it at somebody hit Malchus on the side of the head and cut off his ear It wasn't in the frontal attack that he showed himself to be one who could deny Because what he did actually had a ring of courage to it it was When he was seated by a campfire Blending in with the others who had no relationship with Christ It was when he was there warming himself at the fire That he denied him He had a deep confidence that he wouldn't deny the Lord, but he overestimated his own strength Paul says in 1st Corinthians 10 12 let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall It's this overconfidence this pride that gets you in the position of being taken being overcome Proverbs 29 23 says a man's pride brings him low, but a man of lowly spirit gains honor So he's saying be humble and be watchful never be off your guard because your enemy is on the prowl Notice what he says here. He says Your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour He walks about he's on the prowl He's your adversary and he's called the devil the word devil there in the Greek language means that he is a slanderer and Being referred to as an adversary gives us some insight into what how he works now Peter says that he's walking about in other words. He's on the prowl It gives us the insight that he never sleeps and he's a relentless predator You see this not just here in 1st Peter, but if you look at the book of Job in chapter 1 It shows the same kind of thing We're all familiar with Job and in Job chapter 1 verses 7 and 8 It tells us how that that the angels of God assembled before God and Satan was amongst them and So as Satan was there God begins to speak to Satan and it says the Lord said to Satan Where have you come from in other words given account of yourself? Satan answered the Lord from roaming through the earth going back and forth in it The Lord said to Satan have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him He's blameless and upright a man who fears God and shuns evil God speaks to Satan and this is what God does He says given account of yourself Tell me what you've been up to and he does he says I've been on the prowl. I'm never ceasing. I'm never resting I'm seeking someone to destroy So as you've been on the prowl seeking to destroy and do harm have you considered have you looked at at Job? Carefully have you set your heart on him because he's a genuinely righteous man? There's no one like him. You are looking for defects. Have you found any in him? And that's what the Lord God is saying to Satan and and Satan acknowledges Job's goodness But he says of course I've noticed him, but you've put a hedge about him and and you won't allow me to touch him What that gives me insight into is the fact that that the enemy is on the prowl and the enemy is observing and the enemy is Looking for weaknesses that he can exploit in your life That's what he does. He looks for weaknesses He studies you in order to discover the weaknesses that you may have in order to take advantage of those things To bring you to ruin. That's his desire. He wants to devour you Bible refers to him and this is what the apostle peters speaking of here as an adversary an adversary Is an opponent in a lawsuit Revelation 12 10 speaking of the enemy calls him the accuser of our brothers who accuses them before our god day and night He's an adversary. He makes accusation against you He slanders you and wants to destroy you and he actually accuses you before the throne of god And it doesn't take him much time to find something in us as he's observing or one of his little imps is observing our life It doesn't take long for him to discover some weakness in us that he can exploit or at least accuse god about Because he comes before the throne of god according to revelation 12 and he accuses the brethren He he makes statements against those who follow the lord and he says oh that one there claims to be your servant But look how upset they just got in traffic or look what they just did they looked at that person In a lustful way and and he brings accusation. How can you Say that this one belongs to you when this one is so obviously still so evil and he brings accusation You may not realize it, but he does against you If you're a believer in the lord jesus christ and you get up in the morning and you say lord, i'm going to follow you today It's going to be one of those days where the enemy is going to work overtime to try and destroy you undermine you He wants to make accusation against you. He's our adversary And he's relentless and he accuses us But we also have not just a prosecuting attorney our adversary, but we have an advocate We have a defense attorney First john two one says my dear children i write this to you so that you will not sin But if anybody does sin we have one who speaks to the father in our defense Jesus christ the righteous one Jesus is our advocate So you have an adversary in the court of law and you have an advocate the adversary stands up and says Thus and so about you And the defense attorney stands up and says this one belongs to me My blood has been poured out and covered their sin They have confessed and forsaken and have turned to me And they are completely washed clean by my blood and then mighty gavel of god hits that docket and says Not guilty not guilty He's not guilty That's how it works, but you have an adversary Who is after you He will condemn you But not only does the enemy condemn you Your own heart can condemn you in first john three twentieth says if our heart condemns us And indeed my heart can condemn me my own conscience can accuse me or excuse me But if my heart condemns me god is greater than my heart and god knows all things Only god knows more about you and can do more for you So you must take cast your cares on him is what he's saying Because he is actively seeking whom he may devour that word devour means to ruin or swallow up As a roaring lion he desires to destroy us by violent opposition by persecution and yes even by death Be sober be vigilant because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour It's not that people believe too much in the devil. That's the problem today. It's that people don't believe in him at all And they don't think he's after them I guess the medieval art that came out with him with a pitchfork and tail and Red long johns and all of that The vicious teeth and all Has done more to make a comical figure out of satan And make him an imaginary figure Problem is is that's not biblical because the bible says that he is He comes as an angel of light And there is a beauty to evil. There's a beautiful side of it If it were ugly you wouldn't go after it It's beautiful. There's a beautiful side to evil that draws you There's always a false promise That's given that if you give in to this everything will be fine The united states and every every country like us that has advertising actually uses Means to convince us of our Lack of satisfaction for the things that we possess and our need for things that we don't have at the moment That's what advertising is so everybody in this room has already been bombarded with messages through commercials and ads of every sort That would cause us to think that my life is not going to be complete until I drive that car Or I eat some of that al pollo local Or drink that beer you see these commercials with all these very handsome wealth Built people drinking beer at bars all the time, don't you? But you ever see somebody who's really been drinking beer for a long time The t-shirt right here in their belly below there. Yeah, you know, that's the real commercial They ought to have a bunch of big fat guys with bears. You're gonna be like me. I don't think very many people would buy their beer And now it's gotten less calories and more taste So we we want the things and and the enemy knows how to exploit those things in our life And and the fact of the matter is is when you look at scripture is it relates to him He was a covering chair of he was a worship leader in heaven He there was a beauty about him and his glory is even described as being unbelievably beautiful And that's how he approaches you and very often he uses the subtlety of a temptation to cause you dissatisfaction and desire something You ought not to have and you you fall prey to that and in doing so you end up Reaping the consequences. There are a lot of young women Who thought that love was ending up in bed with their boyfriend who ended up with a child and no boyfriend There are a lot of young men who think that they're cool because they smoke those cigarettes and how cool and how Obviously sophisticated they really are because they know how to blow smoke rings out of the side of their mouth I mean, they're just really so cool who end up with throat cancer You know, I remember the enemy lying to me as a young man saying to me that the way to To experience life to the fullest is to enjoy drugs and things and I ended up Wasting much of my life doing that and discovering that That it wasn't as pleasant as all he had promised. That's what he does He tries to destroy us that way How are we going to resist him? How can you resist him? Well, he gives us he gives us an idea here. He tells us how to do it. Resist him steadfast in the faith When he says steadfast in the faith, he's not saying resist him by just standing there and clenching your fists and saying I believe I believe I believe When he says resist him steadfast that word steadfast means to be solid and firm And he said you to be solid and firm in what he calls the faith The faith speaks of the gospel. It speaks of the word of grace Which builds us up and gives us confidence in god It's like what paul said in philippians 127 when he refers to the faith of the gospel It's what jude is referring to in verse 3 of his book when he says beloved while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to content earnestly for the faith Which was once for all delivered to the saints When he's speaking of the the faith he's speaking of the word of god And what the word of god contains that gives to us the ability to resist the enemy steadfast by holding fast to the word of god Scripture is god's revelation of truth and that's what we remain solidly in It is the foundation of biblical truth that we war against the enemy by we use god's word as a weapon Here on my on my pulpit I have a shield and I have a sword and and those are symbols for us as a church The shield of faith and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of god Jesus used the sword when the enemy came against him in that great temptation And after jesus had been fasting for 40 days and was famished The enemy came to tempt him the scripture says and the first thing he says is make these stones into bread You're hungry you can feed yourself use the miracle power that you have the ability to perform to take care of yourself But the lord jesus said man does not live by bread alone, but every word that proceeds from the mouth of god He takes him to the pinnacle of the temple and says cast yourself down for his written He shall give his angels charge concerning thee and they shall lift the up lest you dash thy foot against a stone And the lord jesus christ speaking back says thou shall not tempt the lord thy god answering with scripture Then he shows them all the kingdoms of the world in a moment And he says all of these have been delivered unto me and I give them to whomsoever I want All you need to do is worship me and I will give them to you You've come to win the world. I'll give you the world But just worship me But jesus knowing that what you worship you will serve said to him Get thee behind me satan thou art an offense to me He says to him get thee behind me because it is written you shall worship and serve the lord thy god alone The word of god the word of god the word of god that is how you deal with temptation Resist him steadfast in the faith. That's why I'm encouraging you so often Read your word Get into bible studies. We are living in the last days. The enemy is pursuing us He's trying to destroy. We need to be armed and dangerous In spiritual warfare the enemy attempts to undermine your trust in the word of god He tries to disarm you by calling into question the truth of god's word the bible He did it to eve He went there into the garden with eve and he said has god said and what he was doing is casting doubt on her mind concerning God's word Has god said this? And he's still saying that to us to this day. Has god said this? You need to know the word well enough to be able to say indeed he has And I trust him put on the whole armor of god Whole fast of the word of truth And like james said in chapter four verse seven submit yourself to god Resist the devil. He will flee from you And to me that's a great word. Isn't it to you? He flees from you He'll flee from you because you say thus sayeth the lord. No, I'm gonna hold fast. Is it easy? No It's a lot easier to give in to your flesh and it is to die to it But it is worth the effort and the faith and the discipline And that's why he says resist him. That's why we're to be steadfast whole fast Because again, he's whispered in your ear that if you only do what he's saying he can give you the world When in reality all he brings is death Hold fast to the lord Now you're not alone. I want you to notice something in verse nine He says knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brother brotherhood in the world. You're not alone See, one of the things the enemy does is the enemy isolates you if you ever watch any of these nature shows You know, I used to watch him with my dad when I was a little boy And you hear the commentator and the old film and he's kind of whispering as if he's right there in the midst of all of the action And he says and the and the lioness is there and she's in the the tall grass and She moves in such a way so that the wind will pick up her scent And the scent is now drifting into the herd of of wildebeest and Notice how the wildebeest Picking up her scent and you do see the you'll see the sentry as he he smells the lion And you'll see him looking around because he knows something's there But he doesn't know exactly where it is But he smells the scent because she has strategically placed herself in a position to cause panic And there she is in the in the tall grass, but the wind is wafting her scent towards the sentry and he smells He begins look and then she begins to creep a little closer a little closer and as he begins to become agitated The herd becomes agitated And she comes a little closer and then she lets out a low growl and when she lets out that low growl They they can hear that causes panic And as she causes panic then the herd begins to to move and now now it's running And what is the lioness doing and those with her they cut off the weakest of the pack And they take them down and they destroy him and that's the image that he's giving here You need to remember you're not alone One of the ways that the enemy is most effective in undermining you is isolating you When you don't have fellowship and you don't have relationship with other brothers and sisters When you don't have anybody to call on the phone and say you need to pray for me And I'm going through something right now. I don't want to give you all the details But I have to tell you I need prayer right now When you don't have somebody like that in your life you're left basically to yourself and many times what happens is in that isolation We disregard what god's word has said and so these sufferings are not just yours They're things that we have all gone through and that's why the apostle peter can say listen. I understand I was the one who said to jesus. I will never forsake you. I will never betray you. I will die for you I understand weakness And I was isolated myself And I got to the point there in front of a young woman as I was seated amongst these people warming myself by the fire Thinking for sure. I could never ever deny the lord. I denied the lord. You need to remember we're all weak and we need one another develop relationships Men take the opportunity to go to retreats Take the opportunity to be in bible studies Take the opportunity to be in couple studies or different studies There's so many opportunities to develop relationships in so you'll be strong in That's what's going to keep you strong. I can tell you That in my walk with the lord when I've been isolated when I thought I'm on my own is when I have failed most miserably But when I've had friends who I can speak to and say listen keep me in prayer I'm going through something don't want to share all the details, but it's pretty serious. I need your prayer Then I can be made strong And why did I mention to you that I have to go through surgeries so that you'd worry about me? No I did so so you'd send me gifts. No, that's not why either I did it because we're family Because we're the church the body of christ. We pray for one another I don't have to stand up and say this is going on. I don't have to share my heart with you I do because you're my family So that you can pray for me Because I need your prayer Because I'm a member of the same church you are And so we need each other And remember that you're not going through things by yourself These are things others have gone through when my father went home to be with the lord I had a meeting nobody knew my dad had died my dad died on the thursday I had a meeting on saturday nobody in the church knew I didn't broadcast it I had a meeting on saturday with a few hundred of our of our servants here And I asked the question how many of you have ever had someone you lose in your life? Somebody you love in your life, how many of you have lost them? How many of you have had them Go home to be with the lord die How many of you have been to a funeral of somebody that you love a mother or father? And so all these hands went up and I said I just joined your fraternity because my father died on thursday I came to church I came to church the night my dad died and introduced the guest speaker that was there that night I came on saturday I did my sunday morning service my sunday night service my wednesday I continued ministry because I need you We need each other That's what keeps me strong Isolation will destroy you And these sufferings are going on With brothers and sisters throughout this room you may be thinking right now I'm the only one who is a victim of this I'm the only one who's ever been hurt in this way And if I were to call out your pain and say how many here have had that experience You will be surprised at the amount of hands that will go up saying I understand what you're talking about Be aware of that Don't be isolated Stay tight with your brothers and sisters And finally You can see why I wanted to do two weeks Finally verse 10 But may the god of all grace who called us to his eternal glory by christ jesus after you have suffered a while Perfect establish strengthen and settle you May god's grace working in you in spite of the the enemy's attempts to destroy may god's grace ensure that good occurs in your life May you receive Perfection that means maturity May you be established That speaks of being strengthened and made firm May you have strength That speaks of an internal spiritual strength And may you be settled May you be sat on a firm foundation through all of this and to him verse 11 Be the glory and the dominion forever and ever amen And finally by sylvanus also known as sylas our faithful brother as I consider him I've written to you briefly exhorting and testifying that this is the true grace of god in which you stand She who is in Babylon when he speaks of Babylon. That's another name for the church in rome She who is in Babylon elect together with you greets you and so does mark my son Greet one another with a kiss of love peace to you All who are in christ jesus amen Couple of things and we'll close Notice how he mentions names here sylas and mark And notice how he says in verse 14 greet one another with a kiss of love Now when I was a new believer I liked that Greet one another with a kiss of love Because there are some beautiful little christian girls there that I wanted to greet Over and over again I obviously was wrong in that what they're speaking about is Having relationships knowing one another being courteous encouraging It just speaking about the kiss that we have received in in my family You know and many families like mine when you come to see an aunt an uncle parent or whatever You walk into the house and what is the first thing they'll do in my family? Is they'll give you a kiss if you ever see my family around somewhere and we haven't seen each other Or we're just encountering each other It doesn't matter if I saw you a couple hours ago in my family If I see it we'll walk up and the first thing we do is we kiss each other on the face. What is that? It's just a greeting. It's just an act of love. It's a family. We just love one another That's how we are the minute I see if I haven't seen you for a day or two Whatever you're in my family first thing I'll do is I'll hug you and I'll give you a kiss That's what I do on the side of the face. I kiss my sisters in law I kiss my my wife my children. It's just a kiss of greeting. That's what he's speaking about But it gives me some insight and let me close with this He speaks of Silas or Sylvainus. He speaks of Mark Traveling companions and Mark was his son in the Lord who wrote the gospel of Mark But these people obviously knew who Sylvainus and knew who Mark was So that tells me that the church is not to be a group of strangers But the group is supposed to really be a family And there are people on my left side over here who don't know the people on the right side over here When in reality what the body of Christ is to be is to be a group of people that understand that this person over here Is related to that person over there and everything in between And the only way that that's going to take place is when we make the effort to get to know each other Avoid the temptation if I may say it this way of isolation Avoid the temptation of hiding in a crowd so that you are not known for who you are Because if you have that tendency When you are hurting you will be alone You will be alone It's not because people want to leave you alone. It's because you have chosen to be alone For me, I need people to hold my hands up I need prayer I need encouragement because I'm weak in the flesh and I need help and I need you I need that as a pastor as a man as a husband as a father as a grandfather as a brother I need that So do you Take the opportunities when given To develop close relationships as close as you can become Because a day is going to come when the enemy is trying to devour you And you will have someone you can call and you can say keep me in prayer. I'm going through it Do that and watch your life get better Don't do that and continue being buffeted. It's up to you But for me, I have chosen to be open so that I might have support Because I know my enemy is after me to devour me. I know that so I need support And I need the love of christ and the love that's in the body of christ That's what keeps me strong with his word and by his spirit That's what we all know and that's what we all need