Opening illustration: As we moved to our new home in the Middle-East after the government transferred Maureena and me to a previous location in the mountains, we never expected the place to be hiding scorpions which would show up regularly in our bathrooms and poisonous snakes that would appear in our yard and door step.
The snakes were deceptive and would easily get away without even a scratch but we killed a number of scorpions in our home regularly. Every time we went into the bathroom or a cooler area of the home, we would always have to be alert to these predators. If we were slack, they would get us before we would and the result could be fatal/disastrous.
The Word of God tells us to be alert to the presence of our spiritual enemy, the devil. “Be sober, be vigilant,” 1 Peter 5:8 reminds us, “because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” As we move through each day, we must neither pretend that Satan doesn’t exist, nor should we become paralyzed by fear of his presence. Knowing his destructive potential, we must depend on God’s power to “resist him, steadfast in the faith” (v.9).
Let us turn to 1 Peter 5 in God’s Word and learn how to be careful and alert! That’s a wake-up call we need every morning.
Introduction: Every believer has three enemies - the world system, the flesh, and the Devil. The first has been described as "the external foe" or the spirit of the age; the second has been designated as "the internal foe"; and the third enemy, the Devil, also known as Satan or Lucifer is "the infernal foe". Peter's focus in these verses is on our conflict with the Devil. Vance Havner (1901-1986) writes, "The Adversary is not in the first two chapters of the Bible, nor is he in the last two." You will find him all over the place.
In a vivid image Peter warns the church of deadly danger. Our image of a roaring lion may come from visits to the zoo, or from the zoom lens of a television nature series. Some who received Peter's letter would have a stronger horror. They had seen human blood dripping from the chops of lions in the gory spectacle of a Roman Amphitheatre. The recipients of this letter had already experienced the attacks of the slanderer, and now they would meet "the lion" in their fiery trial. Peter calls Satan the enemy or adversary. No one knew this better than our first century brother, Ignatius, who died a martyr in the Roman Coliseum. The psalmist often pictures his foes as lions, lying in ambush and waiting to pounce, or roaring in their pride. Peter is not speaking of the threat of martyrdom in an Amphitheatre, however.
How to respond to the wake-up call?
1. Attentive to the WARNINGS - Exhortation (v. 8)
There is something very suggestive in the figures employed by the Bible to describe the approaches of the powers of evil and night. The devil has a fairly extensive wardrobe, but his common and more familiar guises are of three types—a serpent, an angel of light, and a roaring lion. It is in one or other of these three shapes that the forces of sin most frequently assail us. They come in the guise of the serpent. They beguile our senses. They pervert our judgment. They enchant our imaginations. The love of money becomes a fascination. It holds a man as under a wizard’s spell. Gambling becomes a bewitchment, a kind of spiritual bondage, in which the poor soul, in mesmerized inclinations, is slowly drawn towards its own destruction. The devil approaches as a serpent, and like fixed and stupefied birds we are in peril of dropping into his devouring jaws. He comes also in the guise of an angel of light. He tells us that we do not think highly enough of God. He loves us too much to be pained by our small neglects. In fact, we best show our confidence in God by disregarding these neglects. Such is the devil as an angel of light. And the devil also comes as a roaring lion. The subtlety of the serpent is laid aside; he discards the sheen of the angel of light; he appears as sheer brutal force, an antagonist of terrific and naked violence, bearing down his victims under the heavy paws of relentless persecution. “When the apostle wrote this letter, the lion was about; Nero was at work; the Christians were being hunted unto death, in the vain attempt at stamping out their faith and devotion to the Man of Nazareth, their Savior and their Lord. He comes as a serpent, as an angel of light, as a roaring lion. He came to the Master as a serpent when he offered Him worldly power. He came as an angel of light when he sought to deepen and enrich His trust. He came to Him as a roaring lion in the blows and blasphemies of the bloodthirsty multitude. This antagonism we have got to meet. How can we meet it in the hope of certain triumph? Let us turn to the apostle’s counsel.
Satan often is given too much credit and too much publicity because of the naivety of Christians who see Satan behind every bush. In one sense, he is there. The forces which oppose the Christian are the world, the flesh, the devils (demons), and the devil. But my conviction is that Satan seldom engages in a personal attack against a believer. Even a man like Paul is afflicted through a “messenger of Satan” (see 2 Corinthians 12:7). Very often, Satan attacks the believer indirectly through the impulses of the flesh (see Romans 7:7-25) and the world.
Peter gives us two warnings regarding Satan’s attacks. First, we are to be “sober;” second, we are to be “alert.” Twice already Peter has instructed us to be sober (1:13; 4:7). Jesus often exhorted His disciples to be “alert.”
“Be sober” - The culture of sobriety! Peter exhorts us to "be sober" or self-controlled. We can see this was not always the case for Peter as he shares his testimony in 1 Peter 4:3-4: “For we have spent enough of our past lifetime in doing the will of the Gentiles - when we walked in lewdness, lusts, drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries. In regard to these, they think it strange that you do not run with them in the same flood of dissipation, speaking evil of you.” Now, the apostle is writing to men and women who are professedly the followers of Jesus Christ, and I think there are two perils in the religious life, both of which have their issue in moral stupor. We can lose our senses in excitement, and we can lose them in sleep. There are perils in sensationalism, and there are perils in encroaching drowsiness. There is the stupor which accompanies exaggeration, and there is the stupor of indifference. There is an excessive emotionalism which offers no barriers against the incursions of the devil. That is the peril of all revivals. Men may “lose their heads,” and their very excitement fosters a moral drowsiness which gives hospitality to the besetting forces of temptation and sin. It is among the highly emotional races that we find the profoundest moral sleep. If your spirit be fervent, at all pains let it be clear. “The spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets.” And on the other side there is the moral stupor which is the issue of a growing indifference, frequently initiated by small neglects. A man neglects the pointing of his house; damp enters; chills are born; disease is invited; death reigns.
“Be Watchful” - The culture of perceptiveness! Not only be sober, but thoroughly awake, exercising your perceptions to the rarest and most fruitful refinement. We know the large possibilities which allure us in the cultivation of the physical senses; equally large possibilities glow before us in the culture of the soul. Every exercise of watchfulness ensures us stronger sight. In the quest of the Divine we come to self-possession. In this line of culture the progress is from the greater to the less. The moral senses perceive ever finer and finer essences of good and evil. Moral progress is in the direction of the scruple. The finest scholar in the school of Christ is he who has the rarest perception of the moral trifle. “He that doeth the least of these commandments is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” Therefore, exercise thy moral senses, lest the hordes of evil should enter through the gates of unperceived neglects. What did Jesus say to His inner circle disciples as He went to pray in the garden of Gethsemane? “Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” When He returned He found them sleeping and He said, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners. "Rise, let us be going. See, My betrayer is at hand.” If we are not watchful, we will easily loose it all.
Illustration: Traveling through the mountainous terrain of the Arabian Gulf demands alertness. The steep drop or hitting a camel on the road can be disastrous. Therefore being complacent for even a fraction of a second can be fatal. Watchfulness in contrast to spiritual drowsiness in which one sees and responds to situations no differently than unbelievers, and God's perspective on each event is seldom, if ever, considered.
2. Act upon the INSTRUCTIONS - Admonition (v. 9)
Resisting Satan does not mean attacking him. Even Paul was reluctant to take him on (see Acts 16:16-18). Taking Satan and his henchmen on is dangerous business (see Acts 19:13-18). Resisting Satan does not suggest we should mock him or belittle him. Resisting Satan does not mean “rebuking,” “binding,” or “defeating” him. Resisting simply refers to our refusal to submit to him and our standing fast against his onslaughts, by divine enablement. I hear many Christians doing these things, and yet I see no command to do so and no example of the saints having done so. Just as the key to submitting to God is faith, so the key to standing fast against Satan’s attacks is faith. Remember, once again, the words our Lord spoke to Peter just before his denial.
The key to Peter’s survival under Satan’s attack was his faith, just as our Lord had prayed for him that his faith would not fail. Faith is likewise the key to our resisting Satan’s attacks. But why faith? Why is faith so essential? Because Satan’s attacks against the believer are an attack on faith itself. When Satan tempted Adam and Eve, he tried to induce them to act independently (disobediently) of God. They were urged to act independently of God by Satan, raising doubts in their hearts about the trustworthiness of God. They could not understand why God would “hold back” the fruit of the forbidden tree and what it offered. They trusted in themselves (and Satan) by doubting God. When we are successful, Satan tempts us with pride, seeking to turn us from God because we think we no longer need Him. When we suffer, Satan tempts us with doubt and unbelief, trying to make us believe God has abandoned us so we will act independently of God to bring about what is in our best interest—or so we think. When we trust some other word or thing above God’s Word, displays our lack of faith and unwillingness to stand firm on the foundationally strong, Solid Rock – Christ alone!
The culture of faith! Our faith has to be “steadfast,” firm; solid, impenetrable like a wall. Our faith has to be “steadfast,” a rampart of assurance, close, compact, and invulnerable.
Illustration: Satan also tempts men on the basis of their success. When they are successful, Satan seeks to puff up their pride, convincing them they do not need God (see 1 Chronicles 21:1; 1 Timothy 3:6). But for those who suffer, Satan tries to convince them God cannot be with them that He cannot care for them because godly people should not suffer.
3. Abide in God’s BLESSINGS - Acceptance (vs. 10-11)
Now, let me carry your minds forward a moment to the contemplation of the all-sufficient dynamic, which may be ours in this inevitable conflict with the powers of evil and night. The culture of sobriety, the culture of perceptiveness, the culture of faith will open out our lives to Him whom the apostle calls “the God of all grace,” and by His presence we shall be energized. It is a beautiful and wealthy phrase, suggestive of varied endowment for varied and changing need. My need is manifold; the grace of God is also “manifold.” It will fit itself to my need as light or heat, as water or bread. My God is “the God of all grace,” now like sweet sunshine, now like burning flame, now like refreshing dew, now like the falling, softening rain. “The God of all grace,” a tower and a sword, my refuge and my shield. “My grace is sufficient for thee”; sufficient amid the beguilements and fascinations of the serpents; sufficient amid the plausible refinements of the angel of light; sufficient amid the apparently destructive forces of the lion of violence and persecution. The whole personality, in every faculty and power, shall be pervaded with Divine forces, and in thy God thou shalt find an exuberant fountain of mercy, goodness, and compassion. “My God shall make all grace to abound towards you.”
And what is to be the ultimate glory? “The God of all grace . . . shall Himself perfect, establish, strengthen you.” Perfected! Established! Strengthened! Settled! They are all architectural metaphors, and are massed together to suggest the fine wholeness, consistency, finish and security of the grace-blessed character as it will appear upon the glorious fields of light! “Established,” every layer firmly and securely based! “Strengthened,” splendidly seasoned, with no danger of splitting or of warping! “Settled,” the entire structure resting evenly, comfortably, upon the best and surest foundation! These are the metaphors, and they unveil before me future attainments of blessedness, when the grace-filled character shall appear before God like a firm, well-finished, and gloriously proportioned building; all the manifold faculties co-operating in rare association; every power firm, decisive, and sanctified, and the entire life settled in holy calm and comfort on “the one foundation, Jesus Christ our Lord.”
We may think we are alone in our suffering, but we should be comforted and encouraged when we realize saints around the world are also suffering—some much more than us—and they too are standing fast, firm in their faith. We can pray for one another that we will stand firm as we suffer, looking to the cross where our Savior suffered and died for us. Our faith silences Satan’s temptation for us to doubt God.
Illustration: An Old Chinese Philosopher said this, if you know yourself and your enemy, you need not fear 100 battles. If you know yourself but not your enemy, for every victory you’ll suffer defeat. If you know neither your enemy nor yourself, you’ll succumb in battle every time.
Application: God's truth is the best protection against Satan's lies.
