For those of you that perhaps are listening or watching via the internet with our congregation, turn with me to 1 Peter chapter five. 1 Peter chapter five, we are winding our way, if you please, for the end of Peter's first epistle. And we have, there's quite a bit here in this closing chapter, as you might read and imagine. So in these closing verses, and Peter is drawing this to a close, he talks about Almighty God and he also talks about our adversary. And this is interesting because Peter withstood the Lord Jesus Christ on one occasion and Jesus said, get behind me, Satan. So he wasn't necessarily calling Peter directly Satan, but he was saying that Peter had given place to the devil. And so that's what we're gonna begin to see this morning. And we may finish this if we carry over, obviously we'll finish it next Sunday morning. But again, we talked about anxiety over the past few weeks. I want you to pick up with verse six this morning and read down through verse 11. Therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon him, for he cares for you. Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. May the God of all grace who called us to his eternal glory by Jesus Christ, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you. To him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen. And then he's got just a couple of verses here that's sort of a postlude to what's going on in the general area. Peter's writing from Rome and he talks about Babylon, which is just another euphemism for Rome. But as we focus on the clothes here, we're looking at the character traits of Almighty God, which we talked about last Sunday morning. And also we're looking at some of the character traits of our adversary, who he talks about as the devil. And so we're going to look at that this morning. And he mentions him again in his second epistle as well. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Father, we thank you this morning for your son, the Lord Jesus Christ. May we major on your son today, and may we understand that as we speak of Satan, that he is a defeated foe, has been a defeated foe since the fall. And so prepare our hearts to receive the word of any lost. I pray that you would move them to an understanding and a realization that they need to be born again by Almighty God and be humbled to receive him. In Jesus' name we make this prayer. Amen. First slide, Brother Jeff. Leading into verse eight, when we talk about Almighty God and our adversary, what Peter is writing here in these last verses, or in verses six and seven, that humility is a condition for salvation. And no one, I've mentioned this several times from the pulpit, no one with pride is ever saved. There is a conviction of the spirit, an involuntary conviction, that's what the spirit does, that brings us to a voluntary understanding that we're lost sinners. And that's important. Peter declares here in these verses that we are to humble ourselves under God's mighty hand. How do we do that? And so we spent a couple Sundays looking at casting our anxiety or our cares on him because God cares for you. Now this harkens back to the end of chapter four. Remember again, no chapter or verse divisions in the writing of the epistles, or in fact, in the writing of any of scripture. They were added for clarification. Sometimes they did a great job, sometimes not so much. But in 1 Peter 4, in the last verse of 1 Peter 4, declares that we are to entrust our soul to a faithful creator. Here we are told that we are to humble ourselves unto God's mighty hand. Faithful creator, humility to that faithful creator, because God is the one that brings about the change in our lives. So when we cast our anxieties on God, It means that we are trusting him, we are entrusting our faithful creator, and we are trusting Almighty God that he will indeed continue to care for us, and he will. That God has the power and the wisdom, we spoke of this last Sunday morning, the power and the wisdom to put that care to work in our lives in a most glorious way. Trust is the opposite of pride. Trust and obey, not pride and obey, because pride means we disobey. Pride and disobey. Trust and obey. Trust is the opposite of pride, and the essence of humility. Sinners must humble themselves. This is, whether it's children, whether it's teenagers, whether it's young adults, medium adults, older adults, Sinners must humble themselves under the mighty hand of God. They must understand that the Holy Spirit's conviction is not over you to crush you. It is over us to teach us that God cares for the salvation of our soul. The opposite of the caring for our soul is our adversary. who hates us. Period, stop, end of story. Satan has no love for mankind. Satan loves only himself. So, in order that we preface this, I want us to begin by looking at our devoted God. Now 1 Peter was written to believers that were in great danger. We know that. We spent a great deal of time talking about this. And their lives were, had great risk. So Peter's counsel is to live a faithful life more than a long life. Now that has changed since Peter wrote this. Today we look for the long life, not so much the faithful life. But a long life. I would remind you that Jesus did not live a long life, and Jesus did not die in bed. So Peter's writing to these folks 2,000 years ago, He is admonishing them to live faithfully, and he talks about that quite a bit. In fact, in the latter part of verse 10, he talks about four verbs. God is gonna perfect you, he's going to establish you, he's going to strengthen you, and he's gonna settle you. Now, how does he do this? Through faith. So, Peter closes here with a doxology. Even though the devil is mentioned in verses eight and nine, that is part of his doxology. It's a prayer of praise to our devoted God. That's found in verses five through seven. It's also found in verses 10 through, actually it should be 10 and 11 rather than 10 through 12. But in any event, well, verse 12 says that this is the true grace of God in which you stand. So yes, a doxology that's found. Grace and humility is the closing theme of first people. So you need to write that in order. Grace and humility is the closing theme to first people. Next slide. Peter closes his epistle, his first epistle, the same way he opened it. with the theological foundation. We're only as strong, we talked about this last Sunday morning, we're only as strong as our theology. And every born-again believer is a theologian. You may not think it, but we are. So he's closing now with a theological foundation. In other words, he frames a caution of our adversary. Be sober. Be vigilant. I'm cautioning you that if you're not, your faith is going to waver. He says, the caution of our adversary within God's grace, here verse 12, and the power, verse six, of Almighty God. That's the frame. That's the parenthesis, if you please. God's favor. Another word for that is his devotion to us depends on both of these attributes of his. Grace and power. The devil has no grace. He does have power, although it's limited. So Peter reminds that God's favor is based on his grace and his power, and he reminds his readers that God is mighty, almighty, mighty. In verse six, because he cares for us, and in verse seven, he is gracious, and then in the latter part of what we've just read in verse 10, he's going to perfect us, he's going to establish us, he's going to strengthen us. and he's going to settle his beloved children. Now why would God do this? He doesn't owe us anything, so why would he do this? Because he is devoted. Peter closes with a focus on God's immutability, his unchanging nature, and his holy character. So in verses eight and nine, we have a portrait, and we'll look at this in just a moment. We have a portrait of a person within the universe, and Satan is a person, within the universe that is not devoted to anyone but himself. This is what sin does. Satan is the most selfish being in the universe. He does not care for your soul. He never has cared for your soul. He never will care for your soul. That's his nature. And so this is the foundation of faithfulness. And it's also the foundation of our confidence in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, you will notice in verse 11, he says, to him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. So he deserves, because of God's unfailing devotion, he deserves glory, and he deserves dominion, and he deserves it. We don't. He deserves it forever and ever. He deserves the glory because he does care for us, He does care for our anxiety, our burden, and he cared for our sin at Calvary so that we might be forgiven and restored back to our relationship with the triune God. And then he talks about dominion and that's interesting because he's mentioned the devil who is part of the principalities and powers that have one aim and that is to destroy this world. It is God's creation and Satan's aim is to destroy God's creation. He deserves dominion. because he has exalted Christ as Lord. And he expects that all of the world follow in fact that he is mighty and that he has this powerful dominion. Next slide. Two passages of scripture, one very familiar to you, Philippians two, verses nine through 11. That great hymn that's found there in the middle of Philippians chapter two that Paul wrote, therefore God also has highly exalted him, and given him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, of those on earth, and those under the earth. That's Paul's way of saying across the universe. Those that dwell in God's heaven, those that dwell on God's earth, and those that dwell under God's earth. Every created being. and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is what? What's the word? Lord. That he is Lord. He is not a Caesar. He is not a president. He is not a king, or at least not a king from an earthly standpoint. He is the Lord of everyone. to the glory of God the Father. In Revelation, we are told in chapter 11, in verse 15, one of the angels descends from heaven, one of the archangels, and declares, the kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ. And he shall reign forever and ever. Very similar to what Peter wrote here in verse 11, as we're closing out, beginning to close out this particular epistle. Now this devotion of God is biblical. We've been studying the book of Exodus on Sunday evening. And we have seen in spite of the continual sins of Israel, God's devoted to them. And for believers this morning, in spite of our continual giving to sin, God's devoted to us. And I'm here to tell you this morning as a sinner, Even though God hates your sin, his desire is that you understand he desires to be devoted to you. And that comes from the acknowledgement that Jesus is Savior and Lord. So those who allow themselves to be humbled by God's mighty hand are those that find grace to help in time of need. He deals with the issues of humility in verses five through seven. He talks about anxiety. this past Friday, and we had our celebrated Thanksgiving on Friday at Stephanie's house, and all of our folk were eating, and we were talking, and after we eat, and I know some of you do this as well, we just went around the room sharing what we were thankful for. And I mentioned while we were talking, and I actually started First Peter, preaching through First Peter with this quote from Edmund Clowney. who said that the epistles of Peter are the most pastoral letters in the New Testament. And we see that here. His heart, he talks about shepherd, the elders that are among you, I exhort. I'm a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ. Shepherd the sheep, the flock that is among you. He's got a heart for these people. And you have to have a heart for people. If you call them to the ministry, you must have a heart for people. People you like and people you don't like. We are not at liberty to make choices. Not if Christ is our Savior. Part of the shepherd's responsibility is alerting sheep to the compelling dangers that are found in verses eight and nine. I will not be much of a preacher if I never warn you. Or you might say, well, you know, the preacher's so, he just soothes me and so forth. Well, that's good. But warnings are meant to challenge us that this world is not our home. So, Peter echoes the Good Shepherd's cry in John 10, my sheep, hear my voice, and they follow me. The sheep of Christ know his voice, they follow him. We are to follow him, but Peter says, and even the Lord said, but we are to be vigilant. Our call to Christ is not a haphazard call. It is a call to be sober and to be vigilant. Next slide. In verses eight and nine, he warns that this vigilance must be with a sober mind. And we need a sober mind because we have an adversary. And he's a formidable adversary. No one in this room, even collectively speaking, our intelligence is no match for the devil. Who can frustrate the Lord Almighty? The scripture implies that we've just read that no one in heaven on earth or beneath the earth can, but the devil prowls and slithers, I could say that, slithers about trying to frustrate Almighty God. God's devotion to his children deliver us from the wrath to come. Satan? Not so much. Since his sole purpose in his life is to love himself, his desire, Satan's desire, is to ensure that folk are not exposed to the gospel, that folk are deceived, and that folk don't even believe in. He is an adversary. So we've talked about, we'll come back to this at the close this morning, we've talked about a devouring adversary, I mean, excuse me, a devoted Almighty God. Now we're looking at our devoted Father, a devouring adversary. Let's read these verses again. Peter says, be sober, be vigilant, be smart. It's basically, it's a summary for that. Because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. Peter understands that suffering is one of the circumstances that the devil himself uses, and we see that in the book of Job, to challenge faith. We see that in the Garden of Gethsemane, to challenge faith. We see that in the life of Peter, as he denied Christ, to challenge his faith. So suffering, that Peter's talked at great length about, suffering is one of those elements that Satan himself is allowed to use to test our faith. The reason that she, The reason the shepherds, the reason that servants submit, the reason we trust God to be humbled under his mighty hand is because we have an adversary. And by the way, the word devil is only found in the New Testament. It's found 38 times in the New Testament, but it's not found in the Old Testament. He's referred to as Satan, he's referred to as serpent, a number of different things, You won't find it in, or at least in most, in this particular translation that I'm using, and others know that as well. 38 times he's mentioned in the New Testament. He has a number of other names. You may know him as Satan, also known as Satan. This name's found 56 times in the Bible, found in the New Testament as well, found mostly in the Old Testament. His original name, Lucifer, is found one time in the Old Testament in Isaiah chapter 14. He's called the serpent 53 times in the Bible. He's called the dragon 13 times in the book of Revelation. Never called the dragon outside of the book of Revelation. He's called a wolf one time in the New Testament. He's actually called an angel of light, and we'll see that later on, one time in the New Testament, because Satan is a fallen angel of light. At one time, Satan was an archangel too. He's called the son of the morning in Isaiah 14. He's called the anointed cherub in Exodus, excuse me, not Exodus, but Ezekiel 28. He's called the accuser in Revelation 12. He's called the tempter in Matthew 14. That's what Jesus referred to him as. He's called the father of lies in John chapter eight. He's also called the murderer. In John chapter eight, very same verse. He's the father of lies. He was a murderer from the beginning. He's called the prince of the power of the air, Ephesians chapter two. He's called Beelzebub. That name means the lord of the flies, the lord of dung. It was pretty graphic. In Mark chapter three. He's called Belial in 2 Corinthians chapter six. He's called the evil one by Jesus in Matthew 13. He's called the ruler of the world that Jesus mentioned in John 14. He's called the god of this age by Paul in 2 Corinthians chapter four. He is the angel of the abyss, the angel of Apollyon and Abaddon in Revelation chapter 11, no, chapter nine. So he has a myriad of names, but his character is the same. He is not a delightful guy, never has been a delightful guy, and hates you. Next slide. Couple things you need to focus on, and I'll spend more time on this when we get to 2 Peter chapter two. But Peter writes again, In 2 Peter, he says, God did not spare the angels who sinned, but he cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness to be reserved for judgment. Jude, half-brother of our Lord in verse six says, and the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode, he has reserved an everlasting change under darkness for judgment of the great day." Now, some of this is literal, some of this is figurative. It is doubtful that God has angels in chains, but what he's saying is because of their nature, they are held in a place because they left their initial creative of being, their initial creative bodies. Verse Peter chapter three, we spent some time looking at that in verses 18 through 22. We are alerted to, there Peter talks about the realm of domains and the powers and the fact that the domains of these fallen angels and the powers of these fallen angels are at the disposal of the risen Christ. Resurrection eliminated any power. in eternal power that the devil may have. Fallen angels are also called demons in scripture, and they were angels. So you can imagine they were in the presence of God whenever that occurred. We're not told when it occurred, but whenever that occurred. They're spiritual beings. They were created by the Trinity with moral judgments, extremely high intelligence, but since they're spiritual beings, they don't have physical bodies. And so Satan takes the body of a serpent. He takes the body of a lion. He takes the body of all other invasive characteristics in order that he can tempt people, but he's spiritual. So we can define fallen angels as demons or evil angels who sinned against God and since that time continually work evil in the world. They never stop. Now if we believe what the Bible says about Jesus Christ, we must believe what the Bible says about Lucifer. So let's look at some of this background here. Why are we to avoid or to be aware of the adversary of the devil? This hearkens all the way back again to the Garden of Eden. The Garden of Eden never goes away, folks. When rebellion takes place, God continually reminds us all the way through scripture of this rebellion. He's warning us. Genesis 131 says that God saw that everything that he had made and it was what? It was very good. Which at that time meant there were no fallen angels. He saw everything that he had made and he declared it to be very good. So it begs the question, what occurred in God's heaven that changed such a declaration, because it did change. In very short order, it changed. 2 Peter and Jude, we've just read from that, they declared that a company of angels was deluded by Lucifer. Now we don't know how many, but the psalmist said that a third of the stars in heaven fell, and the thought is that there's some, there's some thoughts that a third of the angels fell. So his delusional capabilities are masterful. If you can imagine a third of the angels that existed before the throne of God being deceived by one. I am no match for him. You are no match for him. They were tempted to display their pride, so what did he do? Something occurred within Lucifer, and we don't know. God did not create the devil. He created Lucifer. And something occurred, we're not exactly sure what, and really it's immaterial. We're told, and you can, how many angels can dance on the head of a pin? You can't answer that question, neither can I. What? quelled up in the life of Lucifer that caused him to rebel against God. I can't answer that question, neither can you. What we're told is his pride. So something occurred. Perhaps it was the creation of Adam and Eve. Perhaps it was the giving of the law of God, which he hates. But we're not told that. He's tempted to display, they were tempted to display their pride because they left, as Jude says, their proper domain, their created state. God made them for this, they didn't want this. And they forfeited their created position, which is always the result of the son of pride. Does that sound familiar to you today? It should. When you forfeit your proper domain, that is a result of pride swelling, like Nebuchadnezzar. Look at great Babylon that I have built. Next slide. Now, Satan is mentioned in the oldest book in the Bible. Job is believed to be the oldest book in the Bible. And in verses six and seven, we're told, there was a day when the sons of God, the Bnei Elohim, This is not the Son of God, this is not the monogenies. These are B'nai Elohim, the angels. The sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord and Satan also came among them. And the Lord said to Satan, from where do you come? This will come back and begin to ring with you in just a moment. Where do you come? So Satan answered the Lord and said, from going to and fro on the earth. and from walking back and forth on the earth. Peripateo is a Greek word. What does that mean? It means that from Job's account and from Peter's. Look at what Peter says. Because your adversary the devil walks about, he prowls about, he peripateos about. What does that mean? It means that the devil is never still. Jesus, when he wanted to be alone with his father, would go to the Garden of Gethsemane and kneel down and pray. He would find a place where he quieted his spirit. The devil never quiets his spirit. There is always distraction. There's always motion. There's always a rejection of being still and knowing that I am God. Constantly moving. And one of the reasons he constantly moves is because he's not omnipresent. We understand from what Job writes and what Peter writes here, the word peripeteo means to tread about, to make a path. And remember, our adversary is never still. It teaches us something about our lives. There are times that we need to be still and know that God is God. There is this insatiable guilt that the devil has. He knows he's the devil. And so he is forever at war within himself. Let's look at a few things here this morning. Satan is the originator of sin. Not God. God cannot sin. And God does not tempt anyone to sin. But Satan is the originator of sin. Inasmuch as he gave place to an idol himself, he became infuriated and maddened with pride. And our pride, which is our responsibility, not the devil's, But our pride is the embodiment of that of Satan. It's no different. Satan is the originator of sin. Satan opposes God's goodness. We've just looked at the devotion of the Father. Satan opposes that devotion. And he attempts to destroy and to devour every work of God. You and I that know the Lord Jesus as Savior, we are works of God. He has his laser point, if you please, on believers. On believers, not so much. They reside in the realm of the principalities and powers, but believers, just like Job, just like Peter, just like Jesus, And so what we learn, he was emboldened by the sway that he had over the fallen angels. He was emboldened by the sway he had over Adam and Eve. He was emboldened by a sway that he had over Israel. So much so that he even tempted God the Son. so that the Creator's purposes of redemption would be thwarted and all God's good creation fall as evil. We're told in the book of Revelation and elsewhere that when the Lord comes and after all of the eschatological things, all the I's are dotted and the T's are crossed, that one of the things that God is going to do is destroy this world. So don't fall in love with it. destroy this world, create a new heaven and a new earth. And a part of that is because God is going to eliminate a fallen creation. Peter understands that God is using the threat that Satan presents through the hostility of society. And the hostility of the Roman government as a test He understands that. Just a few short months, Peter's going to give his life. He understands that. And he knows that Satan's allowed to bring these testings, these sufferings to those that are scattered abroad, and the trying of those early believers and their sufferings. He says that in the latter part of verse nine, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. Your adversary, it's permitted to bring suffering. Next slide. Satan's opposition to the believers in the early church and today. Make no mistake. It's not lessened. Make no mistake. It's really a continuation of the dynamics that were started in the Garden of Eden. Resisting Satan, we are told, is only accomplished with the word of God. We are to resist him in verse nine. We stand up against him is what that word means. God gifted Adam and Eve with his word in the garden. The devoted father allowed them to eat everything they wanted. any of the fruit from a myriad of trees, and he made one command, but you must abstain from this one. And then the serpent shows up. He's personified as the serpent because he has no corporeal body. He doesn't have a visible body. And he tempts them both. with you don't understand, you'll be like God. Because that's what Satan wants. Satan wants to be like God. Deep in our heart of hearts until we're born again, that's what we want. We want to be like God. And so Adam and Eve were at that particular point in time as intelligent as Satan, but there was a problem with their intelligence. They were guilty of succumbing to his prideful invitation in their pride. And we follow that too. Instead of a clear-headed resistance to the slithering serpent, they succumbed to his poison. They were not sober, they were not vigilant. They ignored and disobeyed the word of God. And in consequence, they yielded to his seething venom and suffered a spiritual death, death to sin's bondage. Sin is far, far, far more serious than we could ever imagine. And yet Jesus is far, far, a far greater savior than we could ever hope or pray for. The work of the devil and his minions will continue until the Lord returns. Satan's envy of the Trinity personifies jealousy. And jealousy is the end result of pride. He continues prowling about, Peter says, attempting to destroy and to devour. Next slide. Satan uses tactics, and lying is the primary tactic he uses. You'll be like God. Now, when you stop and think about that, When you talk about intelligence, you also understand that there was no wisdom involved. Intelligence is not a precursor for wisdom. So, if the devil in his intelligence was sneaky enough to call about a third of the angels into his dominion, And then to poison Adam and Eve with his lie, what do you think he's gonna do with us? Revelation 12, a war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought with the dragon. The dragon and his angels fought, but they did not prevail. It's one of the great truths of scripture. Nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. So the great dragon was cast out, the serpent of all called the devil and Satan who deceives the whole world. He was cast to the earth and his angels were cast out with him. Satan lies and he lies continually. He walks about devouring. He slithers about poisoning all the time. Satan's a murderer. Jesus said, you are of your father the devil. He was talking to highly religious people. You are of your father the devil. Little wonder Jesus was crucified. And the desires of your father you want to do, you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning. Now, Adam and Eve did not die physically as soon as they ate of the fruit, but they certainly died spiritually. He was a murderer from the beginning. And he does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources. Well, he is a liar and he's the father of it. What's one of the first things that usually toddlers learn to do? That's an outward manifestation of lying. Excuse me, outward manifestation of sin. Generally, it's lying. I did it. You did it. Your kids did it. Grandkids did it. Great-grandkids will do it. It's the outward manifestation of the sin nature that's within us. And it becomes the prominent one throughout life because it is the tactic, main tactic that Satan uses. He's also a murderer. And unless people are born again, come to the saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, they will, as Jesus also said in John chapter eight, you will die in your sins unless you believe that I'm the Son of God. Psalm 106. There the psalmist said, but they mingled with the Gentiles, and they learned their works. They served their idols, which became a snare to them, speaking of Israel. They even sacrificed their sons and their daughters to demons, and they shed innocent blood, the blood of their sons and their daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan. And the land was polluted with blood, because the devil is a murderer. How does that speak to our country today? The devil is a murderer. Satan's purpose is destruction. He attempts to turn folk from God's mercy and grace, and he wants to offer a counterfeit for God, which ultimately ends with death and destruction. Next slide, we'll bring this to a close. Satan blinds people to the gospel. The only remedy that lost sinners have is the good news of Jesus Christ. And so Satan's tactics are the blinding of folk to the gospel. Paul wrote to the church at Corinth, but even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds God of this age is blinded. Who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them. And again, myriad of things that he does to blind people to the gospel. He keeps people in bondage to things which hinder them from turning to Jesus. The Book of Galatians, Paul said, but then indeed, when you did not know God, you serve those which by nature are not God's. People continue to do that today. They serve things or persons or circumstances which are not God's. And they relish them. This bondage includes temptation. These are some of the methods that he uses. Temptation. Obviously, temptation itself is not sin, and Adam and Eve not yielded to the temptation. Perhaps, God's purposes, and of course that's just a speculation, we don't know. You and I would still, would not be sinners today, but they did. Christ did not. Temptation. Doubt. I doubt that God's gonna do this for me. You know, he may have done it for somebody else, but he's not gonna do it for me. Woe is me. Guilt. I have sinned so greatly that I could never be born again. Fear. Oh, if I confess my sins and come to Jesus Christ, I'm going to lose everything. That's what Jesus said in the parable of the soul. Confusion. Well, preacher, you know, I don't know if I can, I'm not sure I even believe in the devil. Confusion. Which, again, is just another lie of the devil. Sickness. Yes, sometimes. See that in the life of Job? Sickness is used to cause us to doubt, to cause us to fear. Envy. Obviously pride. Slander. Satan means slander or any means possible to hinder our witness and our sanctification. He is a formidable adversary. Paul wrote in Ephesians 4, be angry and do not sin. Do not let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place, give position, give submission to the devil. Next Sunday, we'll learn what we can do, because God has not left us. If God saved us, he's not left us without his authority through the spirit of God, through the word of God, through the son of God. What's a believer to do against such an adversary? And so what we learn here is that resisting the adversary is linked to humility. We're not to stand and present ourselves as boxers to resist. We're to humble ourselves under the grace of God. and allow God and His word to carry us through these things. He's clearly linked here to humility and trusting God with our care. So one of the things that the devil is a master at is causing our anxiety and our care sometimes to be far, far, for us to think they're far worse than they actually are. And so to understand resistance, verses five and seven are crucial to the arsenal in our resistance. We have some clues here. We're told to be sober, clear-headed. We're told to watch. We're also told to trust Christ Jesus, who's going to perfect us, to establish us, to strengthen us, and to settle us. And those are the characteristics that God has given to us to overcome old sleuthhood. He is, as we are told, he can transform, we'll see this next Sunday, himself into an angel of light. So again, This warfare that began in the Garden of Eden, actually began before that, but primarily in the Garden of Eden and then is carried forth to today, never ends in this life. But thanks be to God for His unspeakable gift. He is the God of all grace. He provides the true grace of God in which you stand to resist the devil. Let's pray. Father, we thank you this morning for your son, the Lord Jesus Christ. We thank you for your word. And so, Father, as we have proclaimed the word this morning, we would be reminded that as believers, Satan is a defeated foe. And although he is alive and well on planet Earth, we must always remember that he is at the domineering command of our omnipotent God. And so our prayer, Father, is that if there are those here this morning that have caved into the lies of the devil, that they have believed a lie, that you would reveal to them that they can be forgiven of that belief in a lie and they can turn that belief into faith, call out to Jesus to save them. He will come and save them from their sins and with grace make them a child of God. This morning as believers, It's easy for us to get sidetracked. We commit two sins, Father. We sin in that we think that Satan is more powerful than he is, and we sin because we don't think that he's quite as powerful as he is. And forgive us of these, Father. And help us to understand that when Jesus died on the cross, that what sealed that victory over spiritual death was his grand and glorious resurrection. Jesus, we love you this morning because death could not hold you. In your precious name we pray, amen. We will sing a closing hymn here in just a moment. There's no better time if you're here today and you have doubts about your salvation, you need to remedy that today. Paul wrote to the Church of Corinth, 2 Corinthians chapter 13, he said you need to examine your faith, test your faith, examine your faith, see whether or not you're in the faith. So I trust that you do that. That's why preaching the gospel to ourselves is vitally important. If you're here today and you do not know the Lord Jesus as Savior, we can't save you, but Jesus can. And Jesus can save you in spite of all of the devils in hell and all of the dominions and principalities that exist, and they do. His desire is to change you and make you like him. As we sing, the Lord's spoken to your heart. If you'd be kind enough to step out of your queue, we'll take you to a private prayer room, lead you to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. God has presented the gospel in the spirit of God. You are responsible now to respond to that gospel. If you're here today as a child of God, The Lord perhaps is leading you into the fellowship of this church by a statement of faith, or perhaps you know the Lord as Savior, you need to follow Him in believer's baptism. We encourage you to do that this day as well. Or maybe a statement of faith, or a transfer of a letter from a church of like faith. We encourage you to come. As believers, very easy to get sidetracked. and we'll close this out next Sunday morning, perhaps we'll close the entire epistle out next Sunday morning, but in any event, we'll look at this and we'll learn that all of this, all of these scriptures that relate to the devil are there to warn us. And all of these scriptures that are there teaching us about Almighty God are there to comfort us. So I trust that you're comforted this morning. What number, Brother Mike? 121. 121. If the Lord's...