Illus: Some of the older women in this congregation can remember when years ago they had a “sifter” in their kitchen. This was something they could hold with one hand, and use the other hand to turn a handle that rotated a wire wheel inside the sifter basket. As they prepared a meal for their family, they would pour the flour into the sifter. Once it was there, they would sift the flour through the small mesh wire at the bottom of the sifter. They then would take the fine, sifted flour and use it to bake biscuits for their family.
Notice, in our text the Lord told Peter that Satan desired to sift him as wheat. Perhaps in today’s language we would say, “Satan desires to rough you up!” Let’s look at this passage that talks about Christians being sifted. (Roughed-up)
As we begin, notice that Satan does the sifting. Let’s look at Satan’s desires -
I. SATAN’S INTENT
Look, at verse 31, we read, “And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath DESIRED TO HAVE YOU, that he may sift you as wheat.”
We need to look at THREE words in this verse of scripture to fully appreciate what the Lord is saying.
(1) LOOK AT THE WORD “YOU”
The word “you” in the Greek is plural. That is, Satan not only wanted to sift Simon Peter, but he wants to sift every child of God. I can assure you that if you are a child of God, the Bible teaches that Satan desires to give you a good “shaking!”
(2) LOOK AT THE WORD “DESIRED”
This is the Greek word “exaiteomai” (pronounced as ex-ahee-teh'-om-ahee) which means TO ASK FOR PERMISSION. That is, Satan is begging God for permission to sift Peter as a farmer would sift wheat. Some do not know this, but Satan can only do what God allows him to do.
Illus: Before Job could be “sifted,” the Book of Job reveals that Satan appeared before God asking permission to “sift” him.
Listen, God almighty is supreme ruler of this universe. And He makes the final decision on EVERYTHING! Anything that takes place in this universe is because God:
• ALLOWED IT
• CAUSED IT
We looked at the word “You,” and the word “Desired,” but let’s look at the third word-
(3) LOOK AT THE WORD “SIFT”
The Lord told Peter that Satan desired to “sift” him as wheat.
In order for us to understand what the Lord is talking about in this verse of scripture, we have to know something about the sifting of wheat.
Illus: In Peter’s time, the farmers would often build their barns on the top of mountains so they could take advantage of the up-draft winds. They would take their wheat into their hands and toss it up into the air. The blowing wind would blow away the unwanted chaff on the wheat, and only the wheat kernels (which were heavier) would remain.
WHY DOES GOD ALLOW US TO BE SIFTED? Because there are things in our lives that God is not pleased with. God allows us to be “sifted” so only the good will remain.
Every time we are sifted, God allows it for our good, but Satan sifts us for a different reason.
Illus: Remember when Joseph had to go through that difficult time in the Old Testament with his brothers in Genesis 37. They actually took the clothes off his back and threw him into a pit. Everything they did to him THEY DID FOR A BAD REASON, but the fact is, everything they did was USED BY GOD FOR GOOD!
The word “sift” means to shake. There are times in our life when God allows us to be shaken. And you can rest assured that during those times, Satan always is more than glad to accommodate God in this “sifting” process.
WHY IS IT THAT SATAN IS ALWAYS WILLING TO ACCOMMODATE GOD DURING SUCH TIMES?
• SATAN HATES AND DESPISES GOD
• THERE IS NOTHING ABOUT GOD THAT HE LIKES
• ONCE, IN HEAVEN, HE TRIED TO OVERTHROW GOD
• HE WILL DO ANYTHING HE CAN TO BREAK THE HEART OF GOD
This is where we come into the picture. Satan knows that God loves us so much that He gave His son to die on the cross for our sins.
Satan’s primary purpose in all “temptations” is to break the heart of God. IT ACTUALLY HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH US PERSONALLY. He would not give you a second thought except for the fact that he knows how much God loves you. HE KNOWS THAT BEFORE HE CAN HURT GOD, HE MUST FIRST HURT US! But before he can tempt us and try to make us fall, he must first ask permission from God.
Satan is evil and he knows how to hurt. Notice, he tried to make God think Job really did not serve him because he loved him, but because of what he could get out of him.
Look at Job 1:6-11, we read, “Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them. And the LORD said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it. And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, Doth Job fear God for nought? Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land. But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face.”
In these verses, we see God and Satan having a conversation. Satan shows up and God said, “Satan, Whence comest thou?”
Satan replied in verse 7, “Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going “to and fro” in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.”
• Notice, he did not say he had been going “to and fro” trying to find someone he could take advantage of
• He did not say, he had been strolling “to and fro” upon the earth to hurt people
But the Lord knew WHERE HE HAD BEEN AND WHAT HE HAD BEEN DOING before the question was asked. The Lord is Omniscient, which means he knows everything.
The Lord lets him know that in verse 8, “And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?”
But once the Lord let him know what he had been doing, the devil immediately tried to convince God that the only reason that Job served him was for what he could get out of him.
Look at some of the questions he immediately directs to the Lord concerning Job.
• Look at verse 10, we read, “Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side…?
• Again in Verses 10-11 we read, “…Thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land. But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face.”
WHAT IS SATAN SAYING TO GOD? He is saying, “Job, does not love you, and the only reason he is serving you is to get what he can from you.” This is true for a lot of folks that profess to love the Lord. They are not serving the Lord because they love him, but for what they can get out of him. You see, much of what we do, we do because of what we get out of it.
Illus: On a national television program, a Psychologist stood before a large audience to respond to problems that some of the folks had.
One lady stood, and said she did not have a personal problem that she wanted to ask about, but she would like to ask him about a problem a friend of hers had. He told her that would be fine, go ahead and ask her question. She went on to state that she has a friend that is always late for everything. No matter where she goes, she is late, and she said, “I do not understand why she does that, she does not get anything out of it.” He immediately told her she was wrong, that the friend was getting something out of it or else she would not be doing it. The psychologist asked the audience if they knew what she was getting out of it, and many of them said in unison, “Attention”.
He said, “That is exactly right!” He then went on to say, “If she goes into a building with everyone else, she will not be noticed, but if she comes in late she knows that everyone will look at her.”
• This is why some folks go from church to church. WHY ARE THEY DOING THAT? They know that all churches are glad to see first time visitors. Once the newness wears off, they begin to become like everyone else, and they are ready to start looking for another place to get “attention” as a visitor.
• This is why some folks go from one marriage to the next. WHY ARE THEY DOING THAT? They do this because when they first meet someone they get all this attention. During the dating stages and the honeymoon period of their marriage they received a lot of attention. But once the attention wears off they are ready to do it all over again.
Everything we do, we do for the purpose of what we can get out of it. Satan knows that, and Satan said that the only reason that Job served God was for what he got from serving Him.
BUT SATAN WAS WRONG ABOUT JOB. JOB SERVED THE LORD BECAUSE HE LOVED THE LORD, and God blessed him because he loved the Lord. How proud God the Father must have been when this outstanding servant proved he really loved the Lord.
Every child of God is sifted. But the only reason that Satan can lay a hand on any of us is because GOD ALLOWS IT!
Satan hates and despises God, and he knows that you and I are the only ones who can break the heart of God. When the Lord told Simon that Satan wanted to sift him, he was saying, “Do not let him use you to break my heart. “
Listen, when it comes:
• To CHURCH TIME, and you profess to be saved and you sit home and watch television, you can mark it down that Satan is laughing in the face of God, saying, “They love John Wayne more than they love you.”
• To WITNESSING, and we talk about everything but the Lord, you can mark it down that Satan is in the face of God saying, “They will talk about race cars, movies, music, politics, and anything else before they will talk about you.”
• To GIVING, and we take the tithes that belong to God and spend them on ourselves, we can rest assured that Satan is in the face of God saying, “They do not love you, they love cars, boats, clothes, and campers more than they love you.”
• To putting God FIRST IN OUR LIFE, and we put our jobs, family and friends first instead of coming to church, we can rest assured that Satan is in the face of God saying, “They do not love you, and the only time they come is when it is convenient and they don’t have anything to do.”
God is saying to Peter, do not let Satan use you to break my heart. This is something that Satan desires daily. We have looked at SATAN’S INTENT, but also let’s look at-
II. SATAN’S INVOLVEMENT
WHAT DID THE LORD MEAN WHEN HE TOLD PETER THAT SATAN DESIRED TO SIFT HIM AS WHEAT?
We need to consider two things, such as:
(1) SIFTING MEANS GREAT TRIALS
I am going to say something that some of you might not expect me to say, that is, Satan gets blamed for a lot of things he should not be blamed for.
Suppose you go buy some good tires for your car, and the tire company says you should get 50,000 miles of use out of the tires. But you go outside one day after you have driven on them for 10,000 miles, and you notice you have a flat tire.
The normal difficulties of life can come, and immediately some will say, “I am being sifted.” Maybe you are and maybe you are not. Most likely that flat tire has nothing to do with you being “sifted.”
We have to recognize that in this life we buy new homes, cars, clothes, washing machines, refrigerators, and lawnmowers made by man, AND NO MAN YET HAS BEEN ABLE TO MAKE ANYTHING LAST FOREVER.
There are people who see life as one big SIFTING, and that is not the case! Every time something happens, they claim they are being “sifted,” but the fact is, life has a certain amount of difficulty that does not have anything to do with Satan. Listen, when Satan “sifts” you, YOU WILL KNOW IT!
Again, look at the life of Job, Satan turned him every way but loose!
When God grants Satan permission to “sift” us, he is not talking about a flat tire, or a washing machine that you have been using for the last twenty years finally going on the blink!
The “sifting” that the Lord warned Peter of was that Satan wanted to see if he could SHAKE HIS FAITH!
SIFTING MEANS GREAT TRIALS, but also-
2. SIFTING CAN BE RECURRING
The sifting in those days was done by taking the grain and tossing it in the air. And the wind would blow the “chaff” from the grain and separate them. But this was not just done once, it was done repeatedly until all the chaff was gone.
We may feel that we are in the midst of that sifting process today. We are being thrown around by Satan, and it doesn’t feel good! This is why in the Psalms, as he was being “sifted,” David kept crying out, “How much longer Lord is this going to go on?”
Sometimes it seems like it never will stop.
We have looked at SATAN’S INTENT and SATAN’S INVOLVEMENT, but now let’s look at the -
III. SAVIOUR’S INTERCESSION
Look at verse 32, we read, “But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.”
Notice this, JESUS INTERCEDES FOR THE DISCIPLES. Aren’t you glad we do not have to go through the “sifting” of life alone?
As Jesus prayed for the believers, notice that He does not pray for removal from the problem, but for ultimate victory in our lives.
But also notice how he prayed in John 17:15, “I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.”
In this particular prayer for Peter, he prayed that Peter’s faith would not fail. The Lord saw some things in the life of Peter that concerned him, and he allowed him to be “sifted!”
• Satan appeared before God and got permission to “Sift” Job, and he was sifted as hard as any man has ever been sifted, but he came through victoriously.
• Satan appeared before God and got permission to “sift” Peter and he was sifted, but did not come out victoriously as Job did.
WHAT WAS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THESE TWO MEN?
A. PETER DID NOT REALIZE THE SERIOUSNESS OF THE SITUATION
Look at verse 33, we read, “And he said unto him, Lord, I am ready to go with thee, both into prison, and to death.”
Some Christians are living their lives as if life is just a big party. They go about doing the things they like to do, and do not realize that they are in a very SERIOUS SITUATION.
1 Pet. 5:8 “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:”
B. PETER DID NOT REALIZE HIS OWN WEAKNESS
Look at verse 33, we read, “And he said unto him, Lord, I am ready to go with thee, both into prison, and to death.”
C. PETER DID NOT ACCEPT THE WARNING HE RECEIVED
He was warned by Jesus of his denial three times. But he knew it all and you could not tell him anything.
V. 34, “And he said, I tell thee, Peter, the cock shall not crow this day, before that thou shalt thrice deny that thou knowest me.”
Are you being sifted today? Take comfort in knowing that the Lord Jesus knows exactly what you are going through, and He is on the right hand of the Father making intercession for you.
Your sifting will prove one of two things:
• Satan is right, you are not serving God because you love him
• Satan is wrong, you are serving God because you love him
Conclusion:
When it comes to the “sifting” of the Christians, we have seen:
I. SATAN’S INTENT
II. SATAN’S INVOLVEMENT
III. SAVIOUR’S INTERCESSION
