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It is my great joy to be able to lead you in worship as we look at the word of God this morning, and I would encourage you to take your Bibles and turn to First Peter chapter one; and this morning we conclude our verse by verse study of First Peter by looking at verses five through 14, beginning in verse five,

"You younger men, likewise, be subject to your elders; and all of you clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.

"Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time,

"casting all your anxiety upon Him, because He cares for you.

"Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

"But resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world.

"And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.

"To Him be dominion forever and ever. Amen.

"Through Silvanus, our faithful brother (for so I regard him), I have written to you briefly, exhorting and testifying that this is the true grace of God. Stand firm in it!

"She who is in Babylon, chosen together with you, sends your group sends you greetings, and so does my son, Mark.

"Greet one another with a kiss of love. Peace be to you all who are in Christ."

It's amazing when you think about it. Peter is facing imminent death by crucifixion himself. Likewise, his wife, perhaps other people in his family, certainly those in his church family, many of them are already in prison, some of them are dead, and yet you would think that because of this Peter would now be pensively reflecting upon his own life, writing to people scattered abroad about the things that he has done, all the things that Christ has done in him and through him. You would think that at this point he would be contemplative about his own spiritual journey, that somehow, he would be reminiscing about his life as an apostle, being the one that walked most closely with the Lord Jesus. You would perhaps think that he would be thinking about things quite frankly very different than how he has now concluded this epistle, but instead he remains focused on the needs of those whom he would soon leave behind; and here we see again, dear friends, the unfailing love of God, the unfailing love of God that is manifested in His apostle, an unwavering passion to minister to the needs of those that he loves, to those spiritual aliens that are scattered abroad.

In this last section of Peter's first epistle, we see him exhorting the elders to shepherd the flock of God among you, exercising oversight, in chapter five verse two. In other words, he's telling them, don't fear, don't be afraid, don't abandon the flock, they can't survive without you. And now he turns his attention away from the shepherd and focuses once again on the flock and admonishes us with seven essential admonitions of godly living, and thus I have entitled my discourse to you this morning.

But before we examine them, reflect with me, just for a moment. Can you imagine where we would be as believers if we did not have the word of God, if we did not have the Bible, if God had not revealed himself to us in his word. I know that a number of you in this room, and certainly many within the sound of my voice, are going through some very difficult trials. Where would you be if you didn't have the word? Our country today is in political and spiritual chaos. Satan is indeed in control of so many things. In fact, First John 5:19 tells us that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one, and we see that. Where would we be if we didn't have the light of the word? What would I have to say to you this morning if I came before you?

But friends if you think about it, we would never be reconciled to God, by faith, if it weren't for the word, because faith comes by hearing, and hearing by what? Hearing by the word of God. We would never be able to understand the glorious character of God, we would never be able to marvel at his majesty. We would never have any hope of the eternal promises that he has given us. Indeed, we would not have a lamp unto our feet, nor a light unto our path. We would be left in utter darkness - in the darkness of our depravity - floundering around, following all of the philosophies of man, trying to figure out how to make our way through this world, and like the majority of the world today, we would believe whatever the culture would teach us. If you've noticed lately, it continues to evolve. Satan's diabolical deceptions are so ingenious, they are perfectly adapted to appeal to our sinful flesh, because quite frankly, apart from Christ, the unregenerate person loves to worship themselves, and Satan provides all kinds of opportunities for that. In fact, Paul said in Second Corinthians 4:4, "The god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving," referring to Satan, "so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ."

 Routinely, I encounter people who call themselves Christians that hold, for example, to theological positions that are so utterly bizarre, and even immoral, that their beliefs can only be explained by some kind of demonic deception. To think that these beliefs are becoming increasingly popular; and as I look around, I see a dark cloud of apostasy continuing to envelop the world. Indeed, the tares far, far, far outnumber the wheat, and we see it everywhere we look. You turn it on the television, you'll see it. Most radio stations, you will hear it. Many churches you go to, you will hear it, you will see it, but friends, we can rejoice that God has not left us in the dark. He has filled us with his Spirit, the Spirit of God that dwells within all who have placed their faith in Him, and he has revealed himself to us in his word. We have objective divine truth that lights our paths. Indeed, the psalmist has said in Psalm 119:160, "The entirety of your word is truth, and every one of your righteous judgments endures forever."

Now, certainly there are many divine mysteries that we read about in the Word of God that are inscrutable mysteries that we will never be able to understand. They're far beyond our understanding. In fact, we know in Deuteronomy 29:29 that, "...the secret things belong to the Lord." But it goes on to say, "...but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all of the words of this Law." God has graciously articulated his will to us in propositional truth, so that we can understand it, and I rejoice that "He has granted to us all things pertaining to life and godliness through the true knowledge of Him who has called us" Second Peter 1:3. And all believers should pray, and I hope you have prayed that this morning, before you have even come to church, that the Spirit of God will illumine your heart and illumine your mind with the word of his truth, that you would be able to know him more fully and walk with him more faithfully.

And may I remind you that all scripture is given by inspiration of God and "is profitable for doctrine" Paul tells us in Second Timothy 3:16. "Doctrine," by the way, is that comprehensive body of truth that is necessary for us to know and obey the will of God; so God has breathed out his word. It's profitable for doctrine, also for "reproof," which means it's a rebuke for wrong thinking, and some of us in here perhaps have wrong thinking about God, about life, and so on. It's also given to us for "correction."  The original language it means literally to restore someone who has fallen back into a proper position, a proper relationship, therefore with God. It is also profitable for "instruction in righteousness."

In other words, it's for godly training, and he concludes that text by saying that, "the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work." In other words, because of His word, we can be thoroughly outfitted; we can be complete to such a point that we are capable of doing all that he wants us to do in our life. So, the word of God, my friends, is not obscure, it is not some mystical something that we have to reject because we just can't fully understand it, like the new emergent church that would say that nobody really knows what it says, so let's just all kind of love one another. Let's adapt the hermeneutics of humility, because after all, we don't want to be so arrogant as to assume that we know what the Bible says. My friends, it's only the natural man that does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, "for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, for they are spiritually appraised" First Corinthians 2:14.

So we come together once again, as a church family, as a church body, and believers scattered around other parts of the world, we come together to humble ourselves before the objective, authoritative, infallible record that is inspired by the living God, the word of God that he has graciously revealed to us, so that we can do as Paul prayed in Philippians one, beginning in verse nine, "that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve the things that are excellent in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ."

So, with that introduction, we come to seven essential admonitions for godly living that Peter gives us at the close of his first epistle here in First Peter five verses five through 14. The first essential admonition is simply this: be submissive to authority. Notice verse five. "You younger men, likewise, be subject to your elders." Now it's interesting that women are not addressed here, because they've already been admonished to be submissive to their husbands, but here he speaks to young men, because young men tend to be impetuous, they tend to be ambitious, they tend to be imprudent; maybe to give another word that's a little more familiar, pig headed, strong willed, even conceited - I speak by experience. In fact, by the age of 18, I achieved full-blown omniscience, and over the years I began to realize how little I really knew.

So Peter knew this, the Spirit of God is speaking through him, and he says, "Younger men, likewise, be subject to your elders." You see, young men tend to scoff at the wisdom of older men, who are wise old warriors of the faith. So, the virtue of submission is often eclipsed with zeal without knowledge, and again I speak from experience. So I would challenge all of you young men to seek out old warriors of the faith and learn to sit at their feet. And by the way, don't just select someone purely on the basis of age, because there are many times older men that are carnal, who are spiritually immature, they're ignorant of the word. Just because you're older doesn't mean that you are wiser. Many times, there are men who have never really walked faithfully with God. They've never really had a secret devotion to God, but rather you want to seek out men who have a reputation for godliness. It's like our military; the church must have young men in submission to their leaders. Otherwise, there will be chaos, there will be defeat. So he begins by encouraging the younger men with this first essential admonition of being submissive to authority, and then, secondly, he says, "Be humble." Ultimately, here, be humble to one another. This is my second point. Be humble toward one another.

By the way, before we move to that, remember that he has talked much about all of us being submissive to the authorities that God placed over us, but especially the spiritual authority, and out of that now flows the second admonition: be humble toward one another. Notice verse five, "...and all of you," He says, "clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble."

Now, obviously, the fruits of submission and humility must blossom on the same tree of godliness. We have known, as we have looked at this text, that a church without shepherds will soon be destroyed by wolves. We've seen that a church without submission to authority will soon disintegrate into chaos, and now a church without saints who will humble themselves toward one another will soon encounter opposition from God himself, "for God is opposed to the proud." So Peter addresses all of us here, the body as a whole, and it's interesting, he says, "Clothe yourself." In the original language, this term was translated to mean one who ties a knot or ties a bow, and this would be indicative of servants or slaves that would tie a bow or tie a knot or fasten something on themselves, namely a work apron, and this is what he's referring to here, in a figurative way. In a figurative way, he is admonishing all of us to tie on the apron of humility, to wrap ourselves with the attitude of meekness, with the attitude of being lowly minded, the attitude of humility; and I would ask you to ask yourself right now, do you think of yourself, even as you may look around this room, or you know other Christians around other places, maybe others in your family, do you think of yourselves as better than them? Do you think of yourselves as more important, more spiritual, more deserving of divine blessing? Do you have a reputation of it's got to be my way or the highway; it's my opinion that counts? My agenda is what really matter, my preferences that are really important, my ideas, and so on. You see, folks, that's the opposite of what Peter is reminding about us here. No doubt, Peter remembered the Lord who wrapped himself with the apron of humility when he took the towel and he took the basin and he washed the filthy feet of the disciples as he stooped to humble himself in such a manner. My friends it's a sign of servitude when we do those kinds of things, it's a sign of humility when we love one another in that way.

And I might add that servitude was a sign of weakness in that pagan culture, because only slaves or cowards would somehow humble themselves and manifest humility, but nothing is more destructive to a Christian or to a church than pride. And as Christians, we more than all people, have reason to be humble, because we are the recipients of undeserved mercy and undeserved grace, and nothing will devastate Christian fellowship quicker than a church member or some group within a church that is convicted, or I should say, convinced with certain convictions that somehow, they are more spiritual than others. It's a devastating thing. Sometimes you see this with some preference, some personal preference, or whatever, that's typically canonized and forced upon other people.

I'm reminded of the apostate church of Laodicea. Remember, it was filled with pride. It was the church that made God want to vomit. He wanted to spew them out of his mouth. And in Revelation 3:17 He said, "Because you say 'I am rich, I have become wealthy and have need of nothing...'" He goes on to say, "...but you do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked." My friends, may God protect us all from ourselves, because we are all so prone to pride, and it will inevitably manifest itself in broken fellowship and divine chastening.

So he says, "...all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another."  In other words, be willing to stoop to serve your fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, regardless of who they are, for he says, "God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble." And here Peter quotes Proverbs 3:34 Now think about this. Can you imagine being opposed by God? I can think of no greater tragedy in life than being opposed by Almighty God, because of my pride. What a dramatic statement.

As we look at the word of God, we know that pride leads to contempt and rejection of God's ministers. We know that it leads to persecution against the poor. We know that it leads to strife and to self-deception; and pride is always followed by shame, by degradation, by debasement, by destruction, and those guilty of pride will eventually be resisted by God himself. They will eventually be brought to dishonor and contempt. They will eventually be ruined and recompense, they will be abased, they will be scattered. The Bible says, and punished. I've seen this so often, people that are arrogant and proud, and before you know it, they've got some agenda, and they try to garner support for their agenda, and they don't get it, so they isolate themselves from a fellowship, and they begin to develop their own little cliquish group. In fact, if you look at the cults, you will see that inevitably that was the root of its beginnings, along with other demonic deception. And then eventually the cancer of pride eats away at those people and at other people, even the people that they have brought with them, and before you know it, the whole thing blows up, and people are left all alone.

But notice, he says that he "gives grace to the humble." You see, friends, certainly we need grace to be humble, do we not? We need grace to be humble, because it doesn't come naturally. It's not our knee-jerk response to submit ourselves to other people, to humble ourselves to other people. Indeed, there will be no harmony in a church or in a family unless there's humility, unless that's there, because it is the wellspring of love. It is the source of all spiritual blessing.

May I give you a practical key to developing humility. Let me digress for just a moment. The real key for developing humility is you maintain a high view of God. Maintain a high view of God. I think of Isaiah 66 verse one, it says, "Thus says the Lord, 'Heaven is My throne, and the earth is My footstool. Where then is a house you could build for Me?'" In fact, what he's saying is, what on earth could you possibly do that would impress me? He goes on to say, "and where is a place that I may rest? For My hand made all these things, thus all these things came into being." Amazing thought, he spoke everything into being. So, how do we get God's attention? He goes on to say, "but to this one I will look." In other words, this is the person that I will focus my attention upon. This is the person that I will lavish my affections upon, "to the one who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My word." You see, friends, you maintain a high view of God, and you will inevitably, therefore, maintain a low view of yourself, you will be more amazed by his grace when you're first amazed at your sin.

So Peter tells us here, first be submissive to authority, secondly be humble toward one another, and then thirdly, the third admonition is be receptive to God's purposes. Be receptive to God's purposes. Notice what he says in verse six, "Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time." Now you must remember the context here. This would have been very, very hard for those people that were suffering in such immense ways, and this is contrary to our flesh, because you see, our flesh will inevitably demand an audience with God when we are suffering, as Job wanted. You owe me an explanation, God. I don't understand why this is happening. This is unfair, but he says here, I want you to "humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time."

Now, may I explain something to you? The mighty hand of God is a figure of speech that is used in the Bible to describe his sovereign rule in our life. And sometimes the mighty hand of God is a mighty hand of testing - of divine testing - when God allows things into our lives, and yea, even ordains them for his glorious purposes, for reasons far beyond our understanding, times of testing. And you will remember, for example, the gnawing pain of relentless suffering that Job experienced when he mistakenly thought that God had abandoned him in the midst of his great trials, and he said in Job 30 verse 20, "I cry out to Thee for help, but Thou dost not answer me, I stand up and Thou dost turn Thy attention against me, Thou hast become cruel to me with the might of Thy hand. Thou dost persecute me." But that was the mighty hand of God of testing in his life, as he later understood better. So, sometimes we will have the mighty hand of testing in our lives, and I know many of us are experiencing that even now.

But sometimes the mighty hand of God is the divine hand of chastening, and we will typically know that because of our sin, for we reap what we have sown. You will see this, for example, in God's promise to cause Israel to repent, to restore her, and eventually rule over her in the millennial kingdom. In Ezekiel 20, beginning in verse 33 says, "As I live," declares the Lord God, "surely with a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm and with wrath poured out, I will be King over you." And later on, in verse 37 he says, "And I shall make you pass under the rod, and I shall bring you into the bond of the covenant." So, sometimes the mighty hand of God is not testing, but it's the hand of divine chastening.

And then sometimes, and we've all experienced this, the mighty hand of God is the hand of deliverance. We see this in Exodus three, beginning in verse 19, "but I know that the King of Egypt," God says, "will not permit you to go except under compulsion. So I will stretch out My hand and strike Egypt with all My miracles, which I shall do in the midst of it, and after that he will let you go." Now you must understand that here in Peter's text this is the mighty hand of divine testing of which he speaks, and beloved, regardless of the purpose of the outstretched hand of divine testing in our life, we must learn to humble ourselves under it rather than shaking our puny little fist in God's face and demanding an explanation. In fact, Jesus said in Luke 14 verse 11, "Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted." You've heard me say this before, but I think it bears repeating. When you come to a time of testing, when you find yourself in the furnace of affliction, when you find yourself in the crucible of grace, you should never ask why, because God does not owe us an explanation, nor could we understand it if he were to give it to us, but rather we should ask, "What, God, what do you want me to do that will give you glory in the midst of this pain? Yes, Lord, the pain is severe, and I plead with you for relief, but yet I will trust you, come what may, knowing full well that you are up to something in my life, that what you have brought into my life has been ordained for my good and for your glory. So, God, I will not ask for an explanation, for that would be the height of arrogance, but rather I will humble myself before you, and I will say, God, what can I do to glorify you in the midst of my pain, and I can rejoice, Lord, because I know, as you've promised in your word, for example, in First Peter five six, that you will exalt me at the proper time, and Lord, that exaltation may not take place till glory, but be that as it may, I will trust you, come what may."

Now, my friends, that's the attitude of a mature saint, to know that in his perfect timing, according to his perfect plan, his hand of testing will become the hand of deliverance, and therein is the blessed hope of all of the redeemed, the confident hope that he will never leave us nor forsake us, and he will exalt us at the proper time. And because of these eternal truths, we can learn to be receptive to God's purposes, but also, fourthly, be confident in God's purposes. They overlap a bit, but there's a little bit of a distinction here. Notice what he says in verse seven, "...casting all your anxiety upon him." Why? "Because he cares for you." This is the idea of being confident in God's purposes. It is believed by most that Peter is here reflecting upon the psalmist David's words in Psalm 55:22 where David said, "Cast your burden upon the Lord, and He will sustain you. He will never allow the righteous to be shaken." A passage that I have learned to rest upon much in my life. You see, friends, you must learn, we must all learn, that in the furnace of affliction we really have two choices, we can either rely on ourselves, or we can rely on God. And when you rely upon yourself, you will find very quickly that your resources are profoundly insufficient and God's are infinitely sufficient. We must therefore convince ourselves on the basis of the word that indeed he cares for me, and therefore what's coming into my life is something that God has ordained. The suffering that I'm experiencing is again for my good and for his glory. Child of God, it is so easy to forget the goodness of God, especially when we're hurting, when we're hurting deeply, when we're afraid, when we're confused. We tend to think at times that only the good things that we experience are from God. We fail to realize that at times God even brings great difficulty into our life, things that are painful, things that are agonizing. We tend to forget that we have a heavenly Father that is intimately acquainted with all of our ways, right? Remember what the psalm has said, we tend to forget that He "puts our tears in the bottle of remembrance,' Psalm 56 I believe, verse eight. We tend to forget what we are told in Hebrews 41:5, "We do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin, and because of that," he goes on to say, "let us therefore draw near with confidence to the throne of grace." Why? "That we may receive grace and may find grace to help in time of need."

You see, friends, this is Peter's passion for those suffering saints, as well as for himself and his dear wife, who would also soon be crucified for her love for Christ, and this must be the passion for all of us as we face a trial in our life to be confident in God's purposes in the trial, be confident that God is up to something for my life, that he's doing something in and through me, that he is up to things that exceed my ability to even imagine. That's why I remember in First Peter four verse 19. He said, "Therefore, let those who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls to Him in doing good as to a faithful creator." And Paul said in Second Corinthians 1:3, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation." Then he goes on to say that, "we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounds through Christ." My friends, saints who are confident in God's purposes will be comforted by God's presence. You must remember that when you're confident in God's purposes in the midst of a trial, you will be comforted by His presence. The psalmist has said that, "He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty." And the psalmist went on to say, in Psalm 91:2, "I will say to the Lord, my refuge, my fortress, my God, in whom I trust." 

So Peter reminds us and admonishes us to be submissive to authority, to humble ourselves toward one another, to be receptive to God's purposes, and be confident in God's purposes, and then fifthly to be watchful in spiritual warfare, watchful in spiritual warfare. Notice verse eight, "Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour." Our adversary, the devil. I find it interesting that the devil receives little press in Peter's epistle, and rightfully so. I believe that there is far too much emphasis on Satan and his minions in these days of apostasy, and I believe Satan would have that, so people are more concerned about Satan and about demons than they are about the Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit and our loving heavenly Father. There's far too little emphasis on the sinfulness of man and the enabling power of the indwelling Holy Spirit of God to restrain the flesh, because we know, "Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world."

In fact, if we look at scripture, we will see that very seldom do you find Satan personally attacking believers, like he did Job. We know, for example, even in Second Corinthians 12:7, the apostle Paul was tormented by a messenger of Satan, not even by Satan himself, but indeed the enemy is dangerous. I do not want to mitigate that, and he attacks us primarily through secondary causes. We read about this, for example, in First Timothy 4:1 through deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, deceitful spirits that fill the world with false prophets that seduce people and empower false teachers with teachings that appeal to the flesh; and people flock to those types of teachers. Often, Satan and his minions empower wicked men and women, even to persecute the saints. But primarily, and you must remember this, Satan orchestrates the systems of the world to seduce sinful man, even to seduce believers. We have to be so very, very careful, and that's why we have the warning here, and often he will seduce us with ear-tickling doctrines, things that sound so good to us. He makes the fleeting pleasures of this world appear to be simply irresistible, and he creates a smorgasbord of false teaching that is mouth watering to all of our sinful predispositions.

So repeatedly in scripture we are warned to be on guard, to be vigilant, to be watchful, lest we become victims of some diabolical scheme. In fact, three times in the New Testament, Jesus warned that Satan is the ruler of this world. So Peter warns us here to be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Notice he says "your adversary." Keep in mind we each have a personal enemy. We each have a personal enemy. The devil prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour, and while Satan may not be the one that is actually attacking us. He will have his minions to do that from time to time, and he will certainly orchestrate world systems with all of the false ideologies to somehow trip us up, to somehow seduce us to believe things that are deceptive. And here Peter draws from the Old Testament imagery of the lion, that master carnivore that stalks and attacks and devours its helpless victims, its helpless prey. There's many examples of this.

I was thinking about some of them, and these are some that I have had to deal with, and I put a note on this in the last two weeks: evangelical feminism, the wide gate theology of revivalism and pragmatism - that's the whole seeker-sensitive movement; the utter abandonment of divine truth in the emergent church, deceptions in the charismatic movements, for example, the word faith/prosperity gospel, that quasi evangelical shamanism that you see so often, where people are called to come to Jesus, so that they can become healthy, wealthy, and wise, and claim some personal miracle, and all of that type of thing. The signs and wonders movement, the latter rain movement, the third wave movement; never-ending scandals flow out of these deceptions, financial fraud, gross immorality, and they continue to spawn. Beloved, the content of much of my preaching, much of my teaching, and certainly much of my prayer life is that God will protect each of you from these ingenious deceptions. They are so clever that when I read them, sometimes I literally shudder to think, oh man, is that a clever deception. Somebody had to stay up nights to figure out how to twist that verse to get it to say that, and I can see why so many people could fall into that trap, because they don't understand what that verse really means, along with all of these other texts, and therein is the great burden of a pastor, the great burden of a shepherd to somehow protect his sheep from being deceived by people that many times know no error far better than you know truth. Satan is far more ingenious with his deceptions than we give him credit, but fortunately the indwelling Spirit of God is infinitely more powerful than Satan, and as we walk obediently with Him, the Holy Spirit of God illumines our minds through his word, so that we are able to take up the full armor of God, as Paul said in Ephesians 6:13 and resist in the evil day, and having done everything to stand firm.

This is the burden of my heart, and I might digress again for a moment. I fear for some of you that appear to love the world more than you love the Lord. It's a troubling thing. Some of you seem to have no appetite for the word of God. You're ignorant of many doctrinal truths, and you're comfortable with that. You seem to be indifferent towards all of the opportunities that you have, even in this church to learn the glorious truths of the word, and to somehow apply them to your life. And as a result of that, dear friends, you are making yourself vulnerable to the enemy. You are a sucker for satanic deceptions. Someday you're going to be devoured, some of you are already being devoured. I see it in your marriages, I see it in your families, I see it in your own lives. You're gradually slipping into an abyss of deception. Your life is becoming a religious sham, you're filled with hypocrisy, all because you have not been watchful in spiritual warfare. You have not been obedient to what Peter is saying right here, that you need to be of sober spirit, be on the alert; and all I can do is pray for you and warn you every time I come before you - warn you, and warn you, and warn you - but I can't live your life for you. So I pray, and I plead, as do many others, that you will get serious about your condition before something tragic happens. This was the apostles' warning: be watchful in spiritual warfare.

And here's how, and this leads us to the sixth essential admonition for godly living. He says, be steadfast in the faith. Notice in verse nine, "But resist him," and I would give you the sixth point of be steadfast in the faith. "Resist him" - it's a fascinating term; it's a military term in the original language, and it means to literally stand firm or take your stand against an enemy, to refuse to give ground. I want you to be careful. Resist does not mean attack Satan. It does not mean try to bind Satan. What a silly thing that is, and that whole movement continues to flourish. It's amazing to me to think that we honestly believe that we can bind Satan. We don't see that anywhere in scripture, and I know some people take passages out of context to somehow support that view, but we see here says resist him doesn't mean attack him, it doesn't mean bind him, you don't rebuke Satan, you don't mock him, or belittle him, or try to exercise him, or try to use some mystical incantations to get him out of your life, and all of this type of stuff. It says to resist him. How do you do that? It says, well, "firm in your faith."

Before I explain that, let me remind you, in James 4:7 we have another verse, which is really the key to victory and spiritual warfare. He says, "Submit, therefore, to God, resist the devil, and he will"...what? He will flee from you again. He doesn't say, "Bind him, rebuke him, write letters to him, write prayers to him, exercise him..." It says resist him, but he begins by saying submit therefore to God, resist the devil, and he will flee from you, and likewise Peter says here, "But resist him, firm in your faith." Firm, by the way, is "stereos" in the original language, we get our English word stereo from that, and it means to be balanced on both ends. You've got to be balanced if you're going to fight to stand firm in the faith, and that word gradually became a word to define something that is steadfast, something that is solid, something that is strong. In fact, we see it used in Second Timothy 2:19 where we read, "Nevertheless, the firm foundation of God stands," referring to the church. This is how we must be against the enemy that stalks us, that seeks to devour us. We must stand firm in our faith. In other words, friends, we must know the truth, and we must live the truth. It's as simple as that. I think of what Paul said in First Corinthians 15:58 to "be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord."

So, when we stand firm in the faith, we see that this is a reference to the faith that we have in the Word of God, in the trustworthiness of God, and so we should not doubt God as Eve did in the garden, nor allow Satan to appeal to our pride or  to our flesh, and so on, but rather we must always go back to our faith that is founded upon the faith which is the word of God. And we read about that, for example, in Jude three, where we're told to "contend earnestly for the faith, the word of God, which was once for all delivered to the saints."

Now I would ask you, dear friends, do you find yourselves doing this when you come to a trial? Think of the last time where you had some great difficulty in your life. What was the first thing you turned to? A pill, a bottle, a television set, a video store, some form of entertainment, some form of escape? Or do you say, "God, in the midst of my great pain, I long to hear your voice, I long to know your truth, and I long to open up your word and immerse myself in it." And that's what he's saying here, that's how you resist the devil, that's how you stand firm in your faith.

Notice again in verse nine, "Resist him, firm in your faith," and then he offers this word of encouragement, "knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world." In other words, he's saying, friend, you're not alone in your trial, in your difficulty, whatever the suffering may be, especially in this great persecution of the first century church. There's many others that are battling to protect and proclaim the truth, just like you, suffering for the cause of Christ at the hand of the enemy; but we war, my friends, against a defeated foe.

The victory has already been won, and this is the theme, therefore, of his seventh and final admonition. And I would put it this way: number seven, be excited about the victory celebration. Be excited about the victory celebration, verses 10 and 11. He says, "After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ." Let me stop there for a second. Here, Peter refers back to the very beginning of his epistle. Remember when he encouraged them to live triumphant lives in the face of adversity because they have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father - that glorious doctrine of election, the glorious truths of predestination - that God and his infinite love, loved us even before we were created. Obviously, the decrees of a sovereign God will never be thwarted.

So he takes the dear saints back to that bedrock fundamental truth. His will will be accomplished, by his grace he will overcome, and he will be glorified. Similar words, by the way, are found in Romans 8:28 through 30. Great words of victory. You remember them when Paul said, "And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God," and he goes on with these great encouraging words, "to those who are called according to His purpose, for whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren, and whom He predestined, these He also called, and whom He called, these He also justified, and whom He justified, these He also glorified." And you might say, my, we haven't been glorified yet, that's in the past tense. What does that mean? Well, they do that in the original language to stress the certainty of the event. It is so certain, it is as though it has already occurred.

Beloved, let all of that sink in. The God of all grace has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, and yes, we continue to suffer persecution, and we suffer all manner of trials during this journey on earth, but don't be discouraged. You've got to be excited about the victory celebration. You have to somehow do, as I've heard many runners do, have a vision in your mind of what it's going to be like to cross the finish line, that great time of celebration, and for us it's when we see the glory of God, when we see Him face to face, when we're ultimately conformed into the image of Christ, because we know that, according to what John tells us in First John three, that when He appears, we will be what? We will be like Him. Boy, focus on that the next time you're struggling; you're going to be like him. It goes on to say, "because we will see Him just as He is, and everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself just as He is pure. The God of all grace," he says, "has called you to His eternal glory in Christ." Friends, can't you hear somehow, and stay with me just for a minute here, can't you hear the excitement in the apostles' voice when he says this? When he writes this to the people? Can't you even see tears of joy streaming down his cheeks? Can't you somehow see his hand quivering with exhilaration as the Holy Spirit of God guides him to write these words that he knows to be true, that the God of all grace has called you to His eternal glory? And as she hears the inspired words of comfort from her husband's voice, can't you see Peter's dear wife begin to sob sobs of heart of her heart that that longs to somehow feel the relief from the stress that she is facing while in prison, as the adrenaline of anticipated glory runs through her veins, as she focuses on the celebration that will be hers, and likewise all the saints who would hear these glorious words. Oh, child of God, don't leave yourself defenseless in the day of suffering. Learn to know these great and glorious promises that God has given you and and to know that the God of all grace has called you to his eternal glory in Christ.

In verses 10 and 11, and, "After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen, and establish you." All of these are terms describing his supernatural empowerment, his enablement to help you stand firm in the battle and give no ground to the enemy. Then he says, "To Him be dominion and forever and ever. Amen." Indeed, our God is the creator, the sustainer, the consummator of all things, and he is therefore the unassailable sovereign who rules in righteousness and reigns in glory, and the inevitable and undeserved glory that awaits all who were trophies of his grace should constantly be the hope that sustains us in every trial, and should be the theme of all of our songs.

And then finally Peter closes his letter with some personal reflections. He says, "Through Sylvanus, our faithful brother (for so I regard him), I have written to you briefly, exhorting and testifying that this is the true grace of God. Stand firm in it!" Sylvanus was with Silas, who also traveled with Paul, he was a New Testament prophet. He was also Peter's amanuensis, as they, as it's called amanuensis, which was another word for, I guess you would say, a secretary, one that took the dictation, who received the inspired dictation from Peter, and probably also assisted in editing the epistle that Peter wrote here into classical Greek. And because of the enormous importance of the epistle, he admonishes us all to stand firm in it. You see, this is what Peter had learned to do, right? The one who had rejected the Lord, now he knows what it means to stand firm.

And then in his final words we are reminded of the immense love the early saints had for one another. In verse 13 he says, "She who is in Babylon..." She, by the way, referring to the church at Rome, and Babylon, a code name for Rome, because he was trying to protect other believers in Rome in case the source of this document would be found out and discovered, and therefore that church be persecuted. "She, who is in Babylon, chosen together with you, sends you greetings, and so does my son, Mark." This, of course, is John Mark, his spiritual son, the author of the gospel that bears his name.

And then he says, "Greet one another with the kiss of love. Peace be to all of you in Christ." Oh, my friends, may I challenge you, challenge each of you to stand firm in the truth, and remember well these seven admonitions of godly living. Learn what it means to be submissive to the spiritual authority God's placed over you. Be humble toward one another, be receptive as well as confident in God's purposes. Be watchful in spiritual warfare. Be steadfast in the faith and be excited about the victory celebration that we will all experience, all of us that know and love the Lord Jesus Christ.

Let's pray together,

Father, thank you for these eternal truths. May they bear much fruit in our hearts. We ask in Jesus' name, and for His sake. Amen.