BIG IDEA:
CAREFUL RESISTANCE AGAINST THE ENEMY HELPS THE PERSECUTED
CHURCH TO STAND STRONG IN THE GRACE OF GOD
ARE YOU READY TO FIGHT THE ENEMY?
INTRODUCTION:
“Eternal vigilance is the price of freedom” — a familiar saying in our country. We remember from Pearl Harbor what it’s like to get caught off guard. The enemy can be so deceptive: Japan’s peace envoys were seated at the negotiating table at the very moment the attack was launched. Our country depends on a strong defense — on being watchful so we are not surprised by a sneak attack and on being powerful so that we are prepared to fight when we have to. The same holds true in the spiritual realm.
Erland Waltner: Peter is writing from within a common tradition of temptation, speaking of it as a “testing” by God (1:7; 4:12). Now he vigorously identifies another strand: evil destructively at work. Where God is active and redemptive, the evil one is also at work. He expresses this image concretely and dramatically.
The phrase steadfast in your faith describes the essential character of resistance to the evil one. Through that same faith in which believers humble themselves before God (5:6) and cast their anxieties on God (5:7), they now firmly resist the destructive power of the evil one.
Peter has called all to humility, mutual deference, deep faith, and firm resistance to the evil one. He has made them aware that the experience of suffering for Christ’s sake is universal rather than only local. Now he blesses them with a promise: And after you have suffered a while. Their experience of suffering is temporary, in contrast to the eternal glory in Christ.
This God of grace and glory will himself restore, support, strengthen, and establish you. These four verbs, all in future indicative, together constitute Peter’s commentary on how God gives grace to the humble (5:5). God will vindicate the faithful followers of Jesus in the end, even as Jesus, the one who suffered innocently (2:22-23) and redemptively (2:24; 3:18) has already been vindicated (3:22) and will be further vindicated (4:13). The vindication of Jesus Christ and his faithful followers has both a present and a future dimension, an “already” and a “not yet” aspect. The emphasis in this passage, however, is future.
Wayne Grudem: A new section begins here with an admonition to spiritual watchfulness. Just as a person walking down a dangerous road might be advised to be alert and careful, so Peter’s readers are warned, Be sober-minded; be watchful.
One great reason for alertness is the genuine danger of attacks by the Enemy: Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. The metaphor is apt, for a prowling lion attacks suddenly, viciously, and often when its unsuspecting victim is engaged in routine activities. Devour means ‘swallow, swallow up something’ (the same term is used of the great fish swallowing Jonah in Jon. 1:17).
Big Idea: CAREFUL RESISTANCE AGAINST THE ENEMY HELPS THE PERSECUTED CHURCH TO STAND STRONG IN THE GRACE OF GOD
I. (:8a) BE ON THE ALERT – BE CAREFUL – MILITARY ALERT
He has just told them to be care-free; now he says be careful;
not “let go and let God”; not passive in this spiritual warfare, but active;
A. Disciplined self-control; clear thinking; good decisions
Be of sober spirit,
John MacArthur: On a physical level, sober (nēphō) refers to self-control in relation to intoxication. Here, as in its other New Testament usages, however, it has a more metaphorical connotation (cf. 1 Tim. 2:15 KJV; 3:2, 11; Titus 2:2). It includes ordering and balancing life’s important issues, which requires the discipline of mind and body that avoids the intoxicating allurements of the world (cf. 2:11; Luke 21:34; Rom. 12:1–2; 13:14; Phil. 4:8; Col. 3:2; 1 Thess. 5:6–8; Titus 2:12; James 1:27; 4:4; 1 John 2:15–16).
B. Wide-awake watchfulness
be on the alert.
20 times in the NT, believers are reminded to be on the alert, to Watch.
Most of the time it is Jesus who commands it.
If we are not careful, Satan can quickly gain an advantage:
- Eph. 4:26-27 keep short accounts regarding sin; be quick to repent
- 2 Cor. 2:10-11 a resentful or unforgiving spirit
- Jude 9 — tread with caution; don’t have a flippant attitude that the devil can’t touch me
II. (:8b) KNOW THE ENEMY AND SENSE THE DANGER – MILITARY INTELLIGENCE
A. His Makeup — Character — Identity
Your adversary, the devil,
- “your adversary” if you are proud, God opposes you; if you are humble and submit to the mighty hand of God, Satan is your adversary = much to be preferred; we get to pick our adversary
- “the devil“
but he is able to masquerade as an angel of light
B. His Mission and Methods –
“prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour“
Lion: great strength; crafty and deceptive — can sneak up on you
some of Satan’s favorite traps: moral temptation; get believers fighting one another; apathy; accusing our consciences
John MacArthur: Peter’s imagery of the roaring lion derives from the Old Testament (Pss. 7:2; 10:9–10; 17:12; 22:13–21; 35:17; 58:6; 104:21; Ezek. 22:25) and pictures the viciousness of this hunter pursuing his prey. Devour has the sense of “to gulp down, ” emphasizing the final objective, not to wound but to destroy. Peter would not have had, as most believers today do, the experience of seeing lions in a zoo. But he might have seen the gory spectacle of lions slaughtering victims for the entertainment of the Romans. Certainly he knew of such events.
Satan’s targets:
- Opposes Jesus Christ directly
- Seeks to destroy the nation of Israel ( 3:1 – 4:3)
- Opposes the holy angels ( 12:7-8; Dan. 10:13, 21; 12:1)
- Targets Believers ( 12:9; 2 Cor. 4:3-4)
Satan’s Methods:
- He likes to focus our attention on God’s supposed limitations
Submit ourselves under the mighty hand of God — He is not limited
- He likes to tempt us to doubt the goodness of God
Cast all of our cares on Him because in His goodness it matters to Him concerning us
- He likes to present to us an attractive counterfeit for God’s will and for true worship –
suffering is not that attractive — that is why Satan tries to use persecutions
Peter says: Be prepared to suffer intensely while staying committed to the will of God
- He focuses our attention on the present instead of on Eternity’s Values – Live for Eternity
Wayne Grudem: A survey of the results of demonic influence in the New Testament will indicate certain characteristics that a sober-minded and watchful Christian may suspect to be caused, at least in part, by the devil or demons: bizarre or violently irrational evil behaviour, especially in opposition to the gospel or to Christians (Mark 1:24; 5:2–5; 9:18; Acts 16:16–18; Rev. 2:10); malicious slander and falsehood in speech (John 8:44; 1 John 4:1–3); increasing bondage to self-destructive behaviour (Mark 5:5; 9:20); stubborn advocacy of false doctrine (1 John 4:1–6); the sudden and unexplained onslaughts of emotions (such as fear, hatred, depression, anxiety, violent anger, etc.) that are both contrary to God’s will and inappropriate in one’s situation (note the ‘flaming darts of the evil one’ in Eph. 6:16); and simply the deep spiritual uneasiness that might be called the ‘discernment’ (cf. 1 Cor. 12:10) of spiritual evil.
III. (:9a) DEFEND YOURSELF – MILITARY RESISTANCE
“But resist him, firm in your faith”
Note that this follows “Submitting to God” = putting ourselves under God’s control and His umbrella of protection — only then are we ready to face and resist Satan;
Here we see the power of humility once again: it is the humble man (not the self-confident and arrogant) who can overcome Satan’s attacks
(James 4:7) if we fail to see the devil fleeing when we try to resist, the first thing to troubleshoot is our submission to God
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Rev. 12:10-11 — 3 Invincible Weapons
A. “the blood of the lamb” — The Weapon of Calvary — the Victory of Christ
it was on the cross that Satan bruised Christ on the heel while Christ was utterly crushing Satan’s head — breaking the power of sin and of Satan for all time
Heb. 2:14-15 “Since then the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that, the devel”
E.M. Bounds: “Satan cannot stand an exposition of the blood of Christ. He turns pale at every view of Calvary. The flowing wounds are the signal of his retreat. A heart besprinkled with the blood is the holy ground, on which he not only dares not tread, but He dreads and trembles and cowers in the presence of the blood-besprinkled warrior.
A clear-ringing word of testimony to the power of that blood he fears more than the attack of a legion of archangels. It is like the charge of an irresistible phalanx which bears everything down before it. It is the blood applied, and testimony to its application, the martyr witness in life and by tongue of the power of that blood is more a barrier to Satan than a wall of fire.”
We are united with Christ in the victory of His death and resurrection — assured of victory and vindication.
We must regard Satan as defeated and live in union with Christ.
Illustration: Satan was attacking Martin Luther with list after list of all of his sins; Luther quietly admitted that it was true: all of those sins had been committed by him; but then Luther turned to his accuser and said: “Now write across them all, ‘the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin'” — that is the perfect and sufficient answer to our accuser
Satan’s goal is to have us take our eyes off Christ; to divert our attention from the cross — we need to be looking unto Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith who for the joy set before Him endured the cross
B. “the word of our testimony” — The Weapon of Testimony
these are not abstract theological or philosophical concepts–
we give testimony to the reality of the risen, victorious Christ thru our changed lives — as we become more and more like Christ ourselves
Satan’s goal is to silence our testimony; to discourage us, to introduce doubts, to divert us into philosophy and psychology so that the power of the Word of God in our own experience will be snuffed out
C. “they loved not their lives even unto death” — The Weapon of Commitment
Sanders: “This third weapon is not to be directed at the enemy as are the first two. It is a sword which we take with both hands and plunge into our breast. The weapon of testimony of one who has the martyr spirit is mightily effective. To him, life is of secondary importance when compared with the outcome of the battle and the victory of his Lord. His supreme concern is to see Satan defeated and Christ victorious, even if his life is sacrificed in the process. He regards himself as expendable.”
1 Pet. 4 — arm yourselves with this same willingness to suffer even unto death; be committed to the will of God at all costs
Take up your cross daily and follow the Saviour
Present your bodies as living sacrifices
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IV. (:9b) DRAW SUPPORT FROM CHRISTIAN SOLIDARITY – MILITARY SUPPORT
knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world.
1 Cor. 10:13 no temptation has overtaken you, but such as is common to man; and God is faithful who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also that ye may be able to bear it
If you seem to be tempted to an incredible extreme — take comfort —
God’s message is He could lay such suffering on you because you are able
Peter Davids: Peter’s point is that they are aware that the church throughout the world experiences the same type of suffering. This does not mean that a general persecution was taking place, but that the type of rejection and abuse they were suffering was similar to that suffered by other Christians, a fact painfully clear to the well-traveled Christian leaders (as Paul shows in 1 Thess. 2:14) and which surely had reached the ears of the readers along the Christian communication “network” (e.g., Rom. 1:8; Phil. 1:30; 1 Thess. 1:7-8). Like soldiers whose morale is strengthened by knowing that the whole army is engaged in the same battle-hardships they are in, these Christians should be strengthened to resist the devil and not to give in to persecution by the knowledge that they are not alone.
Vs. 10 — Furthermore, our author goes on to indicate that the “general” of their “army” has not abandoned his “troops” and that the battle itself is temporary. Using terminology parallel to that in 1:6 (the only change is in the use of “suffered” here, because that verb is the one he has been using in this section of the epistle), he indicates that suffering is only for “a little while.” The reason for this is not that the persecutors will have a change of heart, but that the “the end of all things is near” (4:7). Even within the present context of suffering they can trust in the character of God.
CONCLUSION:
We have all of the resources we need, so let’s be on the alert; let’s know the enemy and his tactics; let’s exercise our faith in resisting all attacks, and let’s draw support from the Christian community and the God of all grace