to the law and to the testimony. That's where we're about to go this evening. The Lord has given us a word in season for all his people, and there is, for those who carry it, a great weight of responsibility. I had the privilege this past week of speaking at an industry event, about 70 to 80 certified public accountants gathered, to hear what they thought was some words of wisdom from my mouth. And I was nervous. But there's nothing compared to the burden of the Word of the Lord. The weight of responsibility where God has a message for you, dear brethren. And He's given His Word that we might be edified and built up. And where He's revealed and uncovered the schemes of the wicked one. And it's my desire tonight that I might be faithful to his word. So let's pray and bow our hearts together and seek his help. Lord, we thank you that you have not left us to discover the enemy's schemes, but you have uncovered them. You have revealed them in our sight. And Lord, while we praise you on the one hand, yet we feel the great weight of responsibility because there's no excuse for us not to be sensible, not to be aware, not to be waiting and ready, not to be sober and watching for them. So we pray that this weight of responsibility would be impressed upon us this evening, that as we draw near to your most holy word, that your spirit would convince us of these truths, and that you would enable us to leave this place better equipped for victorious spiritual warfare. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen. If you remember, A couple months ago at this point, where we started our study of 1 Peter 5, verse 8, I had a lengthy introduction. I started with a story told by a man named Peter Hathaway Capstick. This was a man who lived in New Jersey, actually lived in Montville. He worked on Wall Street and came to the point in his life when that just wasn't providing enough thrills. And he became a big game hunter in Africa, maybe other places as well. And then his book, Death in the Long Grass, he recounts what he calls one of his most hairiest experiences. And I quote, he says, one of the hairiest experiences I have had was with the Chabonkwa lion, a man eater with nine kills when my gun bearer and I began to hunt him. And I'm not going to recapitulate that story, but you remember how he recounted the stalking of the lion, but then how quickly he realized he himself was being stalked. How he, being a professional hunter, realized that the enemy that he was after was an even more professional hunter. How he realized that even though, in a sense, the lion was in danger, yet he himself was in grave danger. There was a time when he saw a corpse lying in the path. When the lion sprung at him. When his life as it were flashed before his eyes. And when by God's providence, in grace really to him, he was delivered from the jaws of that horrible beast. Well, I read a portion of that story because I wanted to transport us back into a world inhabited by lions. And I'm going to recount again, especially since it was about two months ago, and for the benefit of those who might not have been there, and lastly, for those who, like myself, the memories don't always serve us very well, a portion of that introduction. I told you that when I was preparing to preach on this passage, I quickly realized that to understand this verse, I had to try to put myself into the shoes of those who were in first century Asia and Israel. Shoes which may have actually at one time fled from lions. And if you remember, I recounted the fact that though it might be an unconventional way to prepare for a sermon, in order to obtain a better understanding of lions, I watched about an hour of YouTube videos. I saw their swift and deadly attacks, gruesome feasting on and merciless destruction of their prey. They knew no pity. Seeing a lion in a zoo does not do it justice. You won't see it hurtle over objects 11 feet high or cover 35 feet in a single bound. You can't appreciate its almost 3-inch long teeth, which are designed not to chew, but to rip and tear. You won't witness its razor-sharp claws dig into and completely shred the back of its enemies. We can't appreciate in our day and age the terror that the presence of a lion could conjure in a community. We can't comprehend the fear and the dread that would come upon a population when they realized a lion is in the street. In Old Testament times and through the time of Christ, the people in Israel and Asia Minor the subjects were Peter's writing, they lived in a land that was inhabited by these deadly beasts. And without guns and tranquilizers, the appearance of a lion could completely shut down the activity in such an area, with no one daring to venture out of doors. They would all have known the roar of a lion, since it can be heard about five miles away. And it's very possible that they knew of someone who had been torn to shreds. and consumed by this professional killer, that they knew personally someone. It's possible, very possible. The word lion or lions appears almost 150 times in the Bible, making it the most frequently mentioned of all wild animals. And it indicates just how familiar these people were with this beast. And when you look at some of these references, you find out just how well aware the people were of the power, the might, and the destructive force of a lion. Jeremiah chapter 2 verse 30, the prophet speaks of the destroying lion. And Proverbs chapter 30 verses 29 and 30, The author writes, There are three things which are majestic in pace, yes, four which are stately in walk, a lion which is mighty among beasts and does not turn away from any. Isaiah 5.29, where the prophet is describing the destruction of the nations that God will use to judge them, says this, Their roaring will be like a lion. They will roar like the young lions. Yes, they will roar and lay hold of the prey. They will carry it away safely and no one will deliver. Psalm 7 verse 2, David speaking about his enemies says, lest he tear my soul in pieces, rending it like a lion. Isaiah chapter 38 verse 13, Hezekiah, when he's sick, wrote about God's treatment of him saying, like a lion, so he breaks all my bones in pieces. In Amos chapter three, verse eight, Amos asks this rhetorical question, the lion has roared, who will not fear? Again, there's a reason for this prolonged introduction. We're far removed from such a setting. We are far removed from such a setting. Our lions are seen in Disney movies, have cute names like Simba, and are purchased like stuffed animals, or they can be found sleeping in a cage. But Peter, inspired by the Holy Spirit, thought that the best way to instruct his readers on certain aspects of the devil's work was to use the picture of a lion when he says in 1 Peter 5, verse 8, Be of sober spirit. Be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him. We've started a study on this passage under three headings and three different sermons in a short series that I have entitled Real, Ravenous, and Resistible. The last time we looked at this passage of God's Word, we looked at the first of those sections, the reality of Satan's existence and the need to cultivate a spiritual awareness of his work. And in this sermon, we will see how 1 Peter 5, verse 8 speaks to the ravenous nature of Satan's activity. And what is meant by that is his predatory desires, which are compared to those of a lion. The main point being that Satan has a hunger for souls. deep, unquenchable hunger for souls, and a desire to destroy that drives him and attempts to prey on God's people. Our text says in 1 Peter 5 verse 8, if you're not there already, our text says that he is seeking someone to devour. The fact that he is ravenous is stated right in the text. He wants to devour. Well, why is he seeking to devour? Well, again, think of the picture of a lion. What drives a lion, or really in that sense, any creature, to devour anything? They have an appetite. They have an appetite that's driving them that they want to have satisfied. In Job chapter 38, verse 39, this is God speaking to Job. He says, can you satisfy the appetite of the young lion? In other words, God's indicating just how difficult it is, how great an appetite they have. It's not a simple thing that God asked of Job. And there are few things which can drive a creature greater than an appetite. All you have to do is think of things like survival episodes and how even human beings in an effort to satisfy the hunger they have when they have been removed from food, when they are hungering for food. The great lengths, even barbaric lengths, sometimes people will go to to satisfy hunger. So many people destroy themselves in attempts to satisfy appetites, whether it's sexual appetites, whether it's hunger for food, that sort of appetite, whether it's appetites for power. Appetites can drive people to madness. Satan is out to devour because he has an appetite. He has an appetite to destroy that is crying out to be satisfied. And this is seen in the fact that everywhere you turn, he's engaged in destructive activities. I mean, everywhere. I mean, it's the testimony of Scripture from one end to the other end. Hebrews chapter 2 verse 14 says, Satan has the power of death. Now, in that verse, it says Christ came to destroy him, but it does say that Satan has the power of death. I mean, this is the most destructive force that's come upon mankind. I mean, death was the punishment for our sin. Satan is described as one of the main agents of bringing about death. And turn with me to Mark 9, verse 14. where we will see just how destructive Satan's actions can be. Now, in Mark chapter 9, and this is something I'll bring out now, in 1 Peter chapter 5 verse 8, you might say to yourself, and it might appear that, The author, Peter, is speaking only of Satan as acting alone, as an individual agent, as this lone personal being. But that's not what Peter means. He's using Satan as the head of all the evil forces that Satan also has control of. Now, you'd say, well, how do you know that? Well, because in 1 Peter 5, verse 9, he says, and you don't have to turn there, we'll read this in a couple minutes, resist him, resist the devil, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. So unless you can set... Unless you can say that Satan is everywhere in the world, and that Peter understands that he has this ability to be in multiple places at the same time, what Peter is referring to is Satan as the king of all his hosts, as the prince of all these evil powers, as their ruler. So that's why we can turn to Mark 9, verse 14, and read of an instance in which one of his agents is working, carrying out the will of his master. Mark chapter nine, verse 14. And when he, that is Jesus, came to the disciples, he saw a great multitude around them and scribes disputing with them. Immediately when they saw him, all the people were greatly amazed and running to him greeted him. And he asked the scribes, what are you discussing with them? Then one of the crowd answered and said, teacher, I brought you my son who has a mute spirit. And wherever it seizes him, it throws him down. He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth, and becomes rigid. So I spoke to your disciples that they should cast it out, but they could not. He answered him and said, O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him to me. Then they brought him to him. And when he saw him, immediately the spirit convulsed him, and he fell on the ground and wallowed, foaming at the mouth. So he asked his father, how long has this been happening to him? And he said, from childhood. And often he has thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us. We'll stop there for our reading. But here's the point. Don't you see how malevolent, how evil this spirit is? It cares nothing. It wants to destroy. And the father understood it. This spirit, it's not content with just making him not be able to speak. It's called the mute spirit. But it's not as if the father says, you know, that mute spirit, he's kind of restrained himself. He's holding him back. He realizes he's doing bad things to this boy. No, he's out to destroy him. Now God had prevented it in His grace, but don't you see the destructive appetite that the forces of Satan have? And we see this again in John chapter 13, verse 2, when Satan puts betrayal into Judas' heart. What's Satan out to do? It can't simply be limited to derailing God's plans, though that's the case. At the end of the road, what he's out to do is to destroy souls. Because if Jesus' work can be eliminated, can be prevented, everybody goes to hell. So there's a very real sense in which that was his end goal. Yes, it was to thwart God's plans, but he had a hunger to destroy that he wanted to have satisfied. Question. When do you ever, and not necessarily asking for a response right now, but I'd be curious if you could point one out, because I want you to think. When do you ever see him or his forces doing something constructive? I mean, I don't know scripture exhaustively. I would be really curious if you could come up with an example. Anything constructive. But here's the point. I couldn't. Here's the point. I don't think there is. So any interaction that you have with him by definition is going to be for your destruction. Not construction. Destruction. It has been so from the beginning. And after six or seven millennia, however old this world is, that's how long Satan's been at his destructive work. And there's been no lessening to his appetite. Thanksgiving's coming up. We can be really hungry sometimes. Usually Thanksgiving dinner is like two in the afternoon, right? And you're really hungry by that point. And there's a huge feast. And when you're done, it's like, oh, I'm satisfied. Satan knows nothing of that. He knows nothing of enough. I've destroyed enough souls. I've caused enough people to be damned. There is no such thing as his appetite being assuaged. After all this time, his hunger is just as strong as ever. The text, though, says that he's seeking to devour. To devour. In other words, Satan is looking for complete consumption. Complete consumption. Lions don't just take a finger. They don't just go and let me just get that leg. You know, we eat the leg of a chicken, right? We eat the breast of a chicken. When lions are done, there's skeletons. When lines are done, there's skeletons. And the same word used for devour, it's used in Hebrews 11, verse 29. Interesting, you don't have to turn there. This is what Hebrews 11, 29 says. By faith, they passed through the Red Sea as by dry land, whereas the Egyptians, attempting to do so, were drowned. And that word drowned is the same word. And at its root, it has the idea of being swallowed up. So you can imagine the Egyptians going into the midst of the Red Sea, and then the sea swallowing them. And the picture here isn't so much of, you know, I mean, it's using the term devour, but it's this idea of swallowing them, just completely consuming them. How many Egyptians survived the Red Sea encounter? How many soldiers were there left to tell the story from the Egyptian military side of what happened? Not one. Complete consumption. Swallowed up. Satan desires to swallow up. He's aiming at nothing less than spiritual annihilation. That's what devouring is all about. John 8.44, Jesus says, the devil was a murderer from the beginning. Not a crippler. Not a wounder. not someone who injures. He's a murderer that speaks to the desire to snuff out life completely. To devour means to completely snuff out all spiritual life. He's seeking someone to devour. He is also intense and merciless in his ravenous seeking and devouring. And this is probably the main reason he's compared to a lion. Peter is drawing on the reader's understanding of what a lion stands for. Intensity, mercilessness in their activities. And maybe these readers, knowing some of the Old Testament, as Peter quotes the Old Testament in his passage, they would have had some understanding, definitely, of what the Old Testament message was. Maybe they remembered such a passage as this in Daniel 6.24. And the king gave the command, and they brought those men who had accused Daniel, and cast them into the den of lions, them, their children, and their wives. And the lions overpowered them, and broke all their bones in pieces before they ever came to the bottom of the den." And they would have seen in that story just how fierce and merciless how intense a lion's attack can be. And when Peter writes that he's seeking someone to devour, they would have recognized this isn't speaking of an attack which is kind of calm and collected necessarily. It's one in which there's rage. And there's hatred. There's not one bone of kindness that Satan has. He's a merciless being. But Peter also says he walks about or he prowls around. And this speaks of his incessant activity. He's an enemy who never sleeps. And there's an intensity to this. And you can see almost a madness in this. He's so driven by a hunger. He's so driven by his appetite. He can't sleep. He's always walking about, consistently following after his desires, causing his heart and his hunger to drive him on to another victim. He's walking about. He's seeking someone to devour. There's an intensity to this, a deep intensity to what he's doing. Revelation 12 verse 9 and 12 verse 12 say this, He was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea, for the devil has come down to you having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time." Have you ever been in a situation where, you know, you're playing a game and, you know, it might be 15-minute quarters or 30-minute halves, and then there's like the two-minute warning. And all of a sudden, the players pick up their intensity, right? There's a short amount of time left, and they're really going to give it all they got. Well, for Satan, he's been on that two-minute drill for his whole career, because he always senses, my time is short. I have a limited amount of time. We're always seeking to impress that upon ourselves, aren't we? That our life is short. We need to be living for God and giving it our all. You don't have to give in Satan of that. And he's walking about to and fro over this earth, and he knows his time is short. And he's looking, intensely looking, for people to devour, for people to spiritually destroy. Brethren, there is a danger we are faced with that must be acknowledged. In a very real way, our spiritual life is at stake. Is it any wonder, then, that we are told to be sober and alert when our lives are on the line? And this is one of those passages where the application is given to us. I mean, you've got to love it when the authors do that, right? The application is given to us. Peter, I don't have to guess into what can I say to the people of God that they would apply these things in the right way. Be sober. Be vigilant, new King James. Be sober, be on the alert. And that just, that's like a rational response. Think about what the Word of God has just revealed to you, right? You have this enemy who's out to completely destroy you. The only, and this is where the commands of the Word of God are so reasonable. I mean, this is just telling us what is our reasonable duty, what's the right response. to be alert, to be watching for him. There is a spiritual intensity to Satan and his work that we need to match. He's not compared to a house cat, right? And we all know those house cats, they kind of lazily saunter around, and every once in a while you can get them to pounce on something. But they're just kind of laying in the sun, and that's not what Satan is. He's compared to a lion on a hunt. All his energies are focused. all his actions have a determined end. There's an intensity, and we ourselves need to match that intensity. Even the commands that Peter gives, this is the spirit of those commands. Be sober, be on the alert, be watching. It is supposed to conjure up in us kind of an intensity of soul, that this is something that we need to be on the guard against, that this is something we need to be watching against. We need to be aware. Now Peter doesn't expect the readers to say, be sober, be vigilant, okay, let me just tuck that in my back pocket, periodically bring it to mind, have it be something that I refer to now and then. This is a frame of spirit that their whole lives are supposed to be built around. If their enemy doesn't sleep, why should they? These don't point to half-hearted endeavors. Let me ask, dear brethren, is there an intensity to our prayers? And I'm gonna pick three directives that I just found in this text. They're not necessarily directed specifically to our response to Satan, but in verse seven of 1 Peter chapter five, we read that we're supposed to be casting our cares upon the Lord. Let me ask you, is there an intensity to you doing this? Specifically when it comes to The cares that you have regarding the spiritual attacks that you could be under. And there's a focused intensity that when I'm coming to the throne of grace, God's going to hear me. I'm going to, in a sense, in a holy way, a righteous way, demand an answer from God. I'm going to make sure that I'm coming to him again and again? Or is it sort of like, you know, let me sit down in my chair, let me lift up the things I have, tell God what's going on in my life? Or does God sense this is somebody who realizes he's being stalked? This is someone who knows this is life and death. Is there an intensity to our prayers when we cast up our cares to God? What about in remaining humble? That seems like an intensity in remaining humble. Verse six talks about God resisting the proud but giving grace to the humble. Tell me, is there ever a situation in which we need more humility than when we're fighting against Satan? Pride will be our downfall like it was for him. So are we intensely focusing on our need for humility? I cannot do this. I can not do this on my own. I must have God's help. I need to or I perish. As it were, when Rachel cried out, give me children or I die, we're saying, Lord, give me help or I die. And we're just demonstrating to God this attitude of, there's no way I can do it on my own. Is there an intensity to our desire for humility? What about in looking to God for help? In verse 10, we read, 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. And this will be focused really on our last sermon. But clearly God's revealing to his people, he helps them. So are we going to God saying, Lord, help me? You promised assistance. Please come to my aid in my difficulties, in my trials, when I'm being attacked. Fly to my rescue. And all this is to say, is there an intensity to what we're doing? Because our enemy's really intense. Brethren, Christianity can't be our hobby. I mean, that's the point. We can't be putzing around spiritually, lackadaisically, when we have an enemy who's on our heels coming at us at full speed. That's just a recipe for disaster. You know, it's an interesting stat, might not be the right word, but for those of you who play sports, you know that, you've probably heard this, that you're more likely to be injured when you're going at half speed. I don't know if any of you have heard that, but there's some people who say, oh, there's somebody there. If I really give it all I got, I'm going to get hurt. And the stats show, no. No, the people who go half speed, they're the ones who put themselves in difficult and dangerous situations. They're the ones who are more likely to get hurt. And it's the same way spiritually. If you're going at half speed, Like, I don't really want to be too intense about my spiritual life. I mean, I'll pray, but I'm certainly not going to lay hold of the horns of the altar, as it were. I'm not going to be kind of super spiritual. You're setting yourself up for disaster. Going at half speed makes you more vulnerable to defeat. Well, now we come to a question. Who is Satan looking to devour? In other words, he has an appetite, and if you're like me when it comes to food, you don't have an appetite for everything. Satan has peculiar appetites, and Peter indicates what one of those things he has an appetite for is in this passage. There are plenty of animals that are capable of harming humans. And we've just read in The Devil of someone who has great power, great abilities, merciless. But if he didn't have an appetite for you or me, it wouldn't really matter, would it? Every year, I take my boys on a hike on the Appalachian Trail. And the closest thing we have to lions in this part of the world is the black bear. People have said they've seen mountain lions. I don't believe it. the black bear. One of the things that's most comforting when it comes to a black bear is that they don't eat human beings. I mean, there's rare, rare attacks where they will attack somebody. But they're not like grizzly bears. This isn't grizzly country. It's like one out of every 1,000 bear attacks is a black bear. That brings great comfort. Because when you see a black bear in the wild, and you see how big it is, and what it could do to you if it wanted to, you get a little bit scared. And you're always a little bit nervous around it. But it brings great comfort to know it's not after me. It really, at the end of the day, doesn't want me. Not so with Satan. Not so with Satan. He has an appetite for Christians. And it's not saying that other parts of the Bible don't speak about his desire to destroy any soul, but Peter's focus in this passage is he wants to destroy Christians. He speaks of Satan as your adversary. He's speaking in the plural. The adversary of the people of God. Those are the ones that he specifically has a desire for. And all throughout scripture, Satan is described as the peculiar enemy of God's servants. You start from the beginning, Adam and Eve. From the very beginning, when there was first a servant created, Satan wanted to go attack them. I mean, and he didn't waste any time. So strong was his appetite, he didn't waste a second. And we don't know how it worked, how God enabled him, gave him permission to go, but you can bet that as soon as Satan was permitted to enter that world, he did. As soon as he was. In 1 Chronicles 21, verse 1, we read that Satan stood up against Israel and moved David to number the people. He's out for the people of God. Job. He's out to destroy Job. He would have killed Job if God had given him permission. He would have. But God said, don't kill him. You can harm his body, make him as sick as you want, take all these things away. Satan would have killed him if he could have. Then we have even any servant. It doesn't even have to be a human servant. You think of how Satan fought with Michael over the body of Moses, right? They disputed over the body of Moses. Even in that seeming exchange, Satan is always opposed to God's people. Always opposed to God's servant fighting against them. And this comes to a climax, as it were, in the Lord Jesus Christ. Whether he's influencing Peter to oppose and fight against Christ as a servant of God, the anointed servant, to keep him from the cross. Whether it's filling Judas to betray Jesus so that Jesus might be destroyed. Or whether it's in a full frontal charge, an attack on Christ in the temptation. Satan is out to destroy God's servants. And there's every indication from these passages that this is the norm. That these are typical. and that Satan is always attacking God's people. And this is exactly what Peter assumes. Because he says to the people in verse 9 that he's writing to, that he knows that these same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. As if, listen, what I'm speaking to you about, this way that you are being peculiarly attacked by Satan, this is the same thing that's happening all over the place. And Peter's saying, listen, I can be confident that Satan is doing the same thing, attacking the same people everywhere in the same ways, or attempting at least to do so. In other words, wherever there's God's servants, Peter knows they're going to be attacked in one way or another. And we should note, though, that while he has an appetite for Christians, and he views, as it were, the whole Christian population as being potential prey, Yet he hunts individuals. He says in this passage, he seeks someone to devour. And it reminded me of this past Saturday, my boys were watching Planet Earth. And there's a passage there, my wife can't watch it, where a wolf is hunting caribou. And at first you see a great herd of caribou. And the wolf doesn't care which one. It's stalking around them, and it has an appetite for any one of them. But then at the end of the day, it singles out one, and it goes after it. And that's sort of like how Satan is. Satan is his host. They're hovering around the people of God, and they'll take anybody. But then, periodically, they set their sights on individuals, and then they attack them. Now, this might be a whole bunch of individuals at one point in time, but still, he sets his sight on individual Christians. This means, of course, and the sobering reality is, he may be hunting you. He may be hunting you. I don't know. He may be hunting you. Ever think about that possibility? I mean, we know this in theory, but Satan singles out people. He says, I'm going after that one right there. Well, what makes you more vulnerable? You know, why might Satan say, I'm gonna go after you, or you, or you? What would make you more vulnerable than somebody else? Well, what makes prey more vulnerable to a lion? He will go after those who are separated from the group. Is being united to a group of Christians important? Is being united to a group of Christians important? Let me ask you this. If you, and let me tell you this I should say, if you think that, you know, I can be kind of this lone ranger Christian, right? Just do my own thing and periodically kind of mingle with the people of God and not really join a group of Christians, you're easy prey. You're easy prey. I mean, the commentator on that world, Planet Earth, I should say, that Planet Earth video yesterday said, that's what these beasts of prey do. They single somebody out from the group. And if there is somebody out there by themselves, they're done. Done. I mean, it's like, why do you just fall over and die? Now, this isn't meant to say that God doesn't give grace. But this is meant to speak of reality. He will go after those who are unaware. And this is sort of what we spoke about in the hymn. Is understanding what God's word has to say about engaging in victorious spiritual warfare important? In other words, imagine a Christian who has no clue about Satan's schemes, no clue about the danger he's in, doesn't have any idea about what the Christian life is all about, what faithful service to God means, what it means to resist temptation, stand firm in trials, and all the other teachings of the Word of God. They're just unaware spiritually. They're easy prey. Satan is just, look at that person, they have no clue, they are about to fall into my grip. He goes after those who are weak. Is spiritual immaturity just a matter of progress? And what I mean by that is this, well, you know, listen, there's a whole spectrum of people, right? Some are spiritually immature, some are more mature, and that's just the way it is. You know, it is what it is. It's just one of the realities. There's a lot of truth in that. But that's not good. It's not good to be weak. And maybe you look at yourself tonight and you say, well, yeah, you know, I'm not really super mature yet. I'm working on it. And you don't really view it as the need of the hour. You just view it as, it'll come with time and, you know, eventually I'll get there and I'll be like some of the other Christians maybe I interact with. And you view it as sort of just a matter of progress. And you don't view it as a necessity, an urgent need. So you're not striving to grow in grace. Is spiritual immaturity just a matter of progress or is it a matter of survival? Dear friends, this is why we are to be sober. What we are up against is no joke. Three times the word sober in 1 Peter chapter 5 verse 8 is used in connection with our attitude towards the coming day of the Lord. I found that very interesting. It's only used a couple times, but it's used specifically in connection with the approaching day of the Lord. You can see that in 1 Peter 4, verse 7, even in the same book, where we read as follows, So just think about this. In the same way that Christ's Second Coming, the imminent approach of Christ's Second Coming, is so serious and demands serious demeanor, so it is with Satan's activity. That we're supposed to have a very similar attitude. That this is no joke. When Christ comes back, we'll realize how serious spirituality is. How serious it is to serve Him. It's a big deal whether you're a Christian or not, whether you're on the straight and narrow or not. You will realize it then. And what the authors tell us about his approaching day is realize it now. And that same word is used for Satan's attack. You don't want to realize too late. That's not a time for games. You want to be serious now. When you hear the warning, Isn't this an obvious command for Christians? But this is also why we are to be on the alert. In the introductory story about that man who was hunting lions in Africa, he describes how basically all his senses were at 110%. It sounds almost silly, but his mind wasn't not wandering. It wasn't like he said, oh, was that a butterfly over there? I mean, he's like 110% focused on what's going on and the fact that there is a killer beast within feet of where he is. Peter says we are to have all attention, all focus. Again, isn't this an obvious command? What will happen if you were a distracted Christian? Right? If you have this mortal enemy bearing down upon you, you're just like kind of clueless, lost. What will happen is that you will not see spiritual battles when they exist. You won't see spiritual battles when they exist. You'll be in the midst of a situation where you're tempted to compromise, where Satan is putting the screws down on you by various means and measures, and you won't really be aware that you're about to deny your Lord in one way or another. Because you're just not really, you're caught unawares, like the hymn said. Or maybe you'll be in a situation where there's people in your life that are looking to convince you to go in a certain direction. And Satan's really working in them to lead you astray. And you're just not really paying attention. And next thing you know, you've sinned. Or you're acting in an unrighteous way. What happens if you're not watching, if you're not aware, is that you won't see spiritual battles when they exist. Satan will orchestrate a situation to deceive you or to pressure you into sin and unfaithfulness and you won't recognize it. And maybe you'll look back and be like, what was I thinking back then? I just wasn't on the alert. My mind was with work. My mind was with family. My mind was with pleasures. Wherever it was, it wasn't with the fact that I was a hunted creature. And I fell right into his schemes. I'm reading, as I mentioned in Sunday School, I'm reading through Sherlock Holmes complete works. Reading using Audible. And there's one story where Sherlock Holmes talks about someone who gave him the slip. Sherlock, it didn't happen many times to Sherlock Holmes, but he was following somebody. And a person gave him the slip. And the person later said the reason he was able to do it is because he sensed he was being followed. In other words, if he didn't know he was being followed, he never would have been able to do anything. But because he was watching, because he was aware, because he was sensing a foe, he was able to react appropriately in that case. Brethren, we want to be like this. We want to recognize that's an attack from Satan right now. That's a scheme of the devil right now. That person is influencing me by in the way of evil. I recognize it as such. I will resist that influence. Well, lastly, Satan is referred to as a roaring lion. This is where it's interesting, because this is one of those passages where, one of those phrases where when I first came to the passage, I said, you know, what does this mean? You know, my mind first went to how a lion attacks and rips and treads its prey, but Peter could have just said, he's a lion seeking to devour. But he says a roaring lion. And I looked up why lions roar. And this actually gets very close to what Todd mentioned in his prayer. Lions roar to assert their territory. That's basically the main reason they roar. They roar because they want to intimidate. They roar because they want to frighten and over-awe, as it were. That's why Amos says in verse 3, verse 8, the inspired Amos, the lion has roared, who will not fear? In other words, I really have not ever been in a situation where I have heard a real roar, like a wild lion's roar. But presumably, either due to its nature or what it indicates about the lion, it's something that just stirs up fear in people, like it scares them, it frightens them. It's not like, you know, we hear birds chirping, oh yeah, what was that? That was the blue jay. This was, okay, what are we doing? I just heard a lion. Where do I go? I need to make sure I'm safe. That type of response, it's fear, it's intimidation. And what it means is that Satan's attempting to intimidate God's people. He wants to scare people into being unfaithful to Christ. And why is it easy for Satan to intimidate? Well, he's a prince of this world. It is his territory in many ways. And we know this, don't we? We look around and we see a world given over to Satan and his desires. And we sense its hostility. And we know that he is probably the most powerful created being. And he has many allies. I mean, think about it. That's a reason to be frightened in a sense. And we know, most experientially, how weak we are. And we don't see ourselves, in and of ourselves, as being a match in any way for the devil. So how does Satan intimidate? Well, according to 1 Peter, the main way he does it is by bringing suffering on God's people. bringing suffering because of persecution. This is a main theme in 1 Peter. Turn with me back to 1 Peter 3.14. Just going to look at three short passages. 1 Peter 3.14 we read, Chapter 4.12. 13. Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happening to you. But rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ's sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy. Jump down to verse 16. Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this matter. 1 Peter chapter 5 verses 9 and 10. In other words, the same sufferings you're going through, the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. But may the God of all grace, who has called us to his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you. So probably the specific application that Peter would give to this passage is this. Satan's roaring. Satan's seeking to devour is found in the way he influences unbelievers to persecute God's people. To cause them to suffer with the desire that they will turn away from Christ. That they will deny the faith. That they'll be unfaithful to him. That they'll crumple underneath the pressure. That they'll cave in, as it were. Again, if you remember in Proverbs 30, in the introduction, it says, the lion is mighty among beasts and does not turn away from any. And you can just see Satan there kind of walking through the earth and saying, I want to the Christians, I want to see you turn away. I want to see you blink. I'm coming right at you. I'm the lion. You turn away. I dare you to stand in my path. Because he has a proud attitude of, I don't turn away from anybody. He wants the Christians to cave in. He wants the Christians to give in. He wants the Christians to deny the faith. He wants them to change their course. He wants them to deny their master. He wants to keep walking right through them. Persecution, suffering. He's trying to intimidate them. He's roaring. In Revelation 2, verse 10, Christ's letter to the church in Smyrna says, Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested. And for ten days you will have tribulation. You're going to be tested. The suffering. Satan wants you to fail the test. He wants you to crumple. He wants you to deny, to be unfaithful. Chapter 2, verse 13 in Revelation, this time to the church in Pergamum. I know where you dwell, where Satan's throne is. Yet you hold fast my name, and you did not deny my faith, even in the days of Antipas, my faithful witness, who was killed among you where Satan dwells. Christ says there was pressure to deny my faith. There was strong influences and motivations given to you, externally, to deny my faith. Because you were where Satan dwells. You were where Satan's throne is. And Christ is saying, you held fast. You held fast to my name. But again, the point is Satan is out there. He's roaring among the churches. In one way or another, to one extent or another, trying to intimidate people into denying the Lord Jesus Christ, to turning away from the faith. Brethren, any time the forces of evil seem overpowering in their viciousness and their hate, any time the tide of wickedness seems too great to prevent, any time the malicious schemes of evil people appear unstoppable, Anytime you are made to feel like you are alone in your ridiculous support of righteousness. Anytime you are threatened by Satan's loyalists. Anytime you feel pressured by those outside to abandon biblical truth. Anytime there is the prospect of being marginalized on the job, at home, or in society because of your faithful obedience. Anytime you are mocked and scorned for a firm adherence to the person of Christ. This is Satan roaring. trying to intimidate you into unfaithfulness. And I know that Satan's roars in this land are very faint, usually. We hear them far away. We hear them in lands like Iraq. His roar echoes more than five miles from us. But, brethren, I sense the roar getting closer. It's approaching. And we don't want to be caught unawares when it comes. Well, the emphasis of a sermon like this, of course, is to put us all in a very serious and alert mentality. So that as it were, we leave these doors, and in a spiritual sense, kind of like looking around. Not in a frightened way, but in an alert way. Not because we fear that we are completely helpless, but because we know there's a real danger. And yet I do want to leave you with some real encouragement. That's just found in our text in verse 10. Because Peter, after declaring to the people their real danger, real intense danger, real imminent danger, he does say to them, 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. In other words, what Peter's saying is, we've just been looking at the fierceness of the conflict. Let's step back for a second. What do we have? We have people chosen by God. Pastor Don preached on that last week. From all eternity, no matter how vicious Satan's schemes are, no matter how ravenous he is, at the end of the day, for all the true people of God, There's endurance, there's resistance, there's steadfastness, there's grace given to them to persevere in the midst of those sufferings. And may we not look at that as a reason then to let down our guard. That's not what Peter would say. But to go forth in confidence. God will preserve us, a great foe. And I hope in one sense we have a healthy fear, respect for the devil. but at the same time knowing that our God is able to deliver us, able to preserve us. He has grace sufficient for anything. May we all be found sober and alert to the activity of Satan, and through our God who will restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish us, may we escape the ravenous jaws of this lion. Amen. Let's pray. Our Father, in heaven. Deliver us from the evil one. Pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.