00:00
00:00
00:01
脚本
1/0
As they go, I'll ask that you take your Bible, turn to 1 Peter chapter 5. 1 Peter chapter 5. As we were singing that song, The Love of God, I couldn't help but think of that verse in the scriptures where it talks about, can a mother forget her nursing child? Mother's Day, and the Bible says, yea, it is possible. But will God ever forget us? No. That the great love of God is measureless and pure. We come to a passage in Scripture that is really a continuation as we go in our exposition through 1 Peter. And I really wanted to get through this book and to have a particular message that's dedicated to mothers. And then thinking about, well, that's going to push me off schedule and those kinds of things. We're here in this passage. And then last Sunday night we had a preparatory message on Satan and the kind of who he is and to really talk to us about Satan. And then this morning that was to set us up for this morning's message found in 1 Peter chapter 5. That gave rise to trying to figure out, okay, how can I tie this into Mother's Day? And as I spent more and more time about it, this evening we're going to be looking at what about those children, babies, before birth, after birth, small children, what happens to them? when they die. That is a reality issue. It's nice to talk about that when we don't have something, you know, hot on the plate right now where someone has just recently lost a child, but that we look at that biblically. Well, that's very much tied to the concept of motherhood. But then this morning, This comes, we're going to be looking at our roaring enemy. I made mention of it in the pastoral prayer. We're going to be looking at verses 8 and 9 of chapter 5 when it says this, Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil walks about as a, or like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him. Steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same suffering are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. Well, this is couched, as we all know, in the context of the persecution of the first church. And I'll explain some of those things. The roaring lion, I think, is no doubt a reference to the fact that Christians in this generation, by Nero, was being thrown to the lions. And so this was a very vivid metaphor to the first generation by way of tying it into motherhood as I was thinking about the fact that, you know, having children is a tremendous blessing. It can be a real pain getting them into the world, and the women said, amen. But childbirth and the labor that is involved in all of that. But generally speaking, once that trial and tribulation has transpired, they see this new little baby, all those things just are relieved. However, I am also reminded of the fact that sometimes those babies are born and they don't live very long. We've had friends that have had SIDS babies. Recently I saw an account. It was a documented thing where a child was conceived and had a terrible, terrible disease and I think, if I'm not mistaken, lived 14 days. so hard and then the mother's love and what a mother goes through that. Hence, that's what we'll be looking at tonight. But then there's a lot of children that do not die, but rather they continue to grow and they grow and they tend to be a challenge in discipline. They tend to be a challenge in what goes on in their lives. And as they get older and older, they really bring another kind of pain into the heart of the mom, where they see rebellion, where they see wrong choices made, where they see the life of this little one that they have raised and starting off and changing diapers and then going through them and helping them to learn algebra, and then growing them up into the thing, and then they become interested in the ways of the world. And then they bring a real broken heart to the mom, to the fact that they do not seem to share any interest at all to the faith of that particular mom, thinking of Christian women in this particular context. And they go on and they bring some tremendous heartache and pain. That's where this passage would come in. What is it and why is it that there are some that are so caught up into the destructive ways of life and caught up into sin? Well, I suppose, first of all, you could say that we are sinners by nature, and that's true, and there's a theological reason for all of that. But there is another reason, because there is one who is called, in this particular passage, a roaring lion. Now, that is an application to the passage. Again, the first application is persecuted Christians in the world. But it also brings about the idea that we need to be reminded of that we have an adversary. that the mothers and the fathers have an adversary, that you personally have an adversary that is seeking to bring you destruction and hurt and pain. As a God image bearer, as a Christian, to hurt the very image of God and in the fact that you have given your life for the soli deo gloria, for God alone to be the glory, and in any way that he can to bring a hurtful painful, suffering, destructive, sinful kind of destruction, that this is part of His modus operandi to bring hurt, not just to you and to your children, but to do so. to the God of the universe whom he hates. And so last Sunday night, we took a look at this one, Satan. And this passage was at least just mentioned that there are metaphors in the Bible that refer to Satan, two particular main names, Satan and the devil. There's other names as well. He's called the father of lies and so forth. That in this day and age, there are people who make fun of the reality of Satan. They just say, well, Satan's not really a being, but rather it's just the evil in the world. in literally tearing out the passages of scripture that clearly show that Satan is a being. He's a spiritual being. We've looked at his origin and so forth in the Old Testament and so forth. We see that he's a being that is full of emotion and the fact that he comes forth with great wrath to bring hateful destruction to God-image bearers and to this world. And so we considered him in that particular way. But I want us now to consider, and we'll make the application by way of our children and how that can be the harm of our mothers, but it's also true of our fathers. And the whole issue is this, as we come to this particular passage, we are given these elements of interest in the passage that we need to consider in the midst of all of this, because brothers and sisters in Christ, we are involved in a war. In the book of Ephesians, chapter 6, we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, against spiritual wickedness in high places. It's interesting that this particular passage, it comes in chapter 5 when it says, therefore, and we considered this last week, therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you in due time. That we've been looking at that this chapter 5 of 1 Peter, is a series of exhortations given to believers to remind them that in the midst of this suffering and persecution, the pain of their life and so forth, remember these kinds of things, that these are fundamentals of the Christian mindset. And we looked at that concept of humility. It continues on in verse 7. And please note how 7 and 8 go together. Notice he says, casting all your care upon Him. That would be upon God, for He cares for you. So there's this idea that we place our burdens upon the Lord, all our anxieties and so forth, that we lay at the Savior's feet and we trust in Him. And that is a good concept. Amidst all the persecution and suffering that that can happen. But it isn't the idea that when we cast all of our cares upon God, that does not mean going into spiritual neutral. There are those who just want to say, well, I'm just trusting Jesus. Or, oh, I'm just going to cast my care upon Him. As if then I can just go, and I can take it easy. That is a wrong concept. Even the people of God, when they come to the perspective, I'm casting my care, I'm going to trust God in the midst of all of this, the very next verse gives us a commandment. Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion. seeking whom he may devour. It continues, verse 9, resist him steadfast in the faith. So we don't go into spiritual neutral even while we're trusting God. That there is a response to the midst of it. I am going to trust God for the circumstances of life. Now that is a good sense, that is a good bit of advice from others. As you raise children, as you have an impact on the children of your life or young ladies that aspire to have children in the future, you want to trust God. That God is the one who puts the DNA all together. Psalm 139 talks about that we are intricately wrought. I think that's a nice way, a non-scientific way, kind of an artistic way of talking about how God takes your DNA and sews you together. That's all. We are, even in our basic makeup, part of the divine plan and purposes of God sovereignly. And while we're trusting God in the midst of that, even if there's glitches and a child is born with Down syndrome, or there's other kinds of issues that come up, that we trust God and we cast all our cares upon Him. But don't forget be sober, be vigilant, because hard times are going to come and Satan is walking around as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. So I want us to consider the four elements of interest in this particular passage. The first element is that we have the element of a command. This word is to be sober, which means it means don't be drunk, but it actually means in the sense, don't be drunk in the sense of having a balanced disposition, thought or action, never flighty, not out of control, not drunk or drugged, not losing control. The idea here is this, that when a person is drunk or under the influence, that's why we call it DUI, driving under the influence, that when you loosen the clarity of your mind, When you are underneath the beginning control of another, that you lose the sense of thought or action. that as under a drug, that this is not a good thing. Probably the closest that I have ever come to this is, it happened, I don't know, it was about a year ago. And I was at home because I had suffered, no, I'm sorry, it was two years ago, and I was, when I had my shoulder surgery. And they gave me this terrible drug. Now, some of you have used it, and it's been wonderful for you. For me, it is terrible. It's called oxycodone. And I popped some of those pills because the pain was immense when the block went out. And it was like major, major nasty. It worked for a while for one day. The second day, I took this drug. And it was bad. I told my wife that if she says you need to rest and go to sleep, and I just said I can't. She said, why not? I said, there's a door in front of me, and if I go to sleep, I'll go through that door, and I will never come back, and I will die. And she's looking at me, she said, I don't think you're gonna die. You know, but I said, no, I'm going to. And I could not do it. My son-in-law, Wayne, came over to babysit me during Sunday school, so my wife could come to Sunday school. She got here, she's weeping, and then my daughter takes her class, and she comes back home, and Wayne comes to church. But it just got worse. I mean, the anxiety and I was under the influence of this terrible drug and I would fight it. I was doing everything I could but then, you know, no, I'm going to die and all this. It got bad enough that we texted Stephen McNally in the orchestra. Daniel was preaching that morning, and he had asked Stephen to read scripture, and he was, and I says, I gotta, you know, I need this, because he is a registered nurse, and I says, you know, Stephen, can you come? And so he says, wow, he says, hands his Bible, I think it was to Harold Cummings, and said, you read the scripture, because, you know, it was a terrible thing. I was under the influence. I could not control, you know, I was convinced. I wasn't thinking clearly. Well, the Bible in this particular command, well, I guess I should finish that story. You always tell me, you didn't finish the story. Let me finish the story. I mean, that's the main gist. I was under the influence. That's the purpose for the illustration. But to finish the story, he came over and looked at me, and as only Stephen McNally could do, and he got real close to me, and he said, it's the drugs, man. It's all the drugs. You're OK. Vital signs are fine. You can go to sleep. And I'm going, no. But it was terrible. It was terrible. I wanted to resist, but I was under the influence. Now, I wasn't drunk. We want to make that clear, because I am the pastor. I wasn't drunk, but I was drugged. I was being influenced. I was not sober. And in other words, I was not sober minded. That's probably the best way to put it. I was not sober minded. My brain was not working right. There's this door. There wasn't a door. If I go through it, I'll die. No, you know, that isn't, no, you know. But to me, that my body craved go to sleep. And I said no, and I'm just, because I wasn't thinking correctly. How many days this week and how many things did you go through without a sense of sober-mindedness to know? that there is a lion walking about seeking whom he may devour. There's a new TV show coming on, it's called Zoo. I mean, oh great, because the whole thing is like these animals now are mutating and everyone's gonna be afraid of zoo animals and everything. These animals are, you know, they're all now being reprogrammed for death and all this kind of thing. But we have an enemy. We have an adversary that's not in a cage. that he walks about in this world, that he has an army, as it were, of fallen angels. And how many times do we, well, we know that Satan's real, and we know that demons are real, but we don't actually live like he's out to do anything against me, that we'll believe the lie, that we will be involved in the deception. And that can happen to moms and dads, that can happen to children, and to teenagers, we fail to understand, with a sober mind, there is someone greater than us. He's not greater than our God, but he's greater than us, and that we kind of just remove that sense from our minds. and Peter telling these Christians, you need to keep it straight. And this was in the midst of their being carted off into great persecutions. Remember, he's talking about being delivered from the fiery trials and all of this thing that's going on. That when persecution comes and when these things come, we can tend to focus on circumstances, we can tend to focus on our own inconvenience, but we tend to forget We have an adversary. And that we need to think soberly and righteously about him and what's really going on. And so that's the first thing. The second thing, the second element of a command that he gives us right after that, be sober, be vigilant. Now the term vigilant is the idea to exercise watchfulness, to be wide awake. to be aroused to paying attention. Now, that's kind of what I was doing underneath oxycodone, which, by the way, I did not use very... I don't think I took any after that. I said, you know, forget this. Pain is better than this. But it was the idea of wanting to be awake, the idea that I will, and this is what he's going to say later on, that I will resist, that I will remain steadfast. I will not bow to the influence of wickedness. That it adds a sense of get your roots down and to be deep. That means to exercise this watchfulness, to be wide awake, to be aroused. It's the same word that is used in Matthew chapter 24 and verse 42 when we are told to watch for Christ and His coming. To be ready. So this idea here is to be sober. Think rightly and with clarity. Be watchful with a sense of vigilance, exercising a sense, this can happen at any time. I mean, we can be tempted by the roaring lion in watching television, or in watching just a sitcom, or watching Star Trek. That one hits close, doesn't it? Watching Star Wars. Oh, that one hits even worse. You know, I mean, we have to be careful to be vigilant to the fact that we not come underneath the influence of the one who is out for our destruction. When we moved to Florida from Ohio in 1988, that it's different than being in the Midwest. I know many of you lived in the Midwest and the others of you just have lived down here your entire lives. Well, down here we have what are called hurricanes. Now we have tornadoes too, but they tend to be smaller. The Midwest has bad ones. Whoa, poor Texas. We should just stop right now and pray for those poor people. They're just like constantly having all these tornadoes. But anyways, when you live here and I know some of you are waiting for a hurricane. I had someone tell me this week that they just can't wait till another one comes. Well, my grass needs watering too, but I don't want a hurricane to have to do that. But anyway, and they wanted to know what it was like. And I said, well, there's a difference. Because they can kind of figure out, and they keep announcing it. I mean, for like a week ahead, it's coming here, well, it could go here. And what happens is, and for those of us that have gone here, they talk about it so much, you stop listening. Now you kind of get ready and everything, but you almost get lulled to sleep. That's not being sober-minded and clear, and that's definitely not being vigilant. And so then, you know, then as it comes on, and you tend to kind of just back off and not think it's all that important. However, in the Midwest, we know the difference between tornado watch and tornado warning. You hear warning, you start walking to the basement. And I know in Florida, basements are called swimming pools, but it's the idea. You go looking for cover, because if it's a warning, it's now. It's no joking around, no second thoughts. You do it, you do it now. Now that's being vigilant. Knowing the difference, watch, warning, being careful, listening for that sound, the train sound and all of that. That's what we are to be doing, realizing we have an adversary. So there's the element of a command that we need to be vigilant, we need to be sober. Secondly, there's the element of the enemy that's found in these passages. And there's really three things that are mentioned. your adversary, secondly, the devil, thirdly, the lion. Now let's take a look at each one of those. The first one there is this. Notice he says, be sober, be vigilant because your adversary. You do realize you have an adversary. This isn't just to the church and a vague thing. You personally, Have an adversary. Satan has interests into your destruction. Now he can't take away your salvation, but he can render you useless and impotent as a Christian. And that there is, you have an adversary that is out for you. You need to understand that you have an enemy. In the time of a war, I remember that there were men of different kind of nations and they were all on a particular area, I think this was during World War II, when they were all listening and so forth and they got this message. And they said, we are at war. And that was all the message came, because they were wanting to monitor how much was said. Well, I think it was like a German, a Frenchman, and maybe an American or someone else, but anyway, some three different nations. And they just said, please advise, who's the enemy? You know, it's one thing to know you're in just a war, but you need to know that you have an enemy, and you really want to know who it is. And we have one, this is your adversary. The term therefore adversary is a personal enemy. That this is, it was a word that is used as the person who is your opponent in a court of law. One who is gonna argue the case against you. One who is out to get you. Now, we could take and learn some things in applying that concept of a prosecuting attorney that's coming up against you from commercials of lawyers in Tampa. For example, if you have been involved in a car accident, you need to have a lawyer. And we can be your lawyer because we are serious. We are aggressive, and we are hostile. Oh, yeah, they don't say the word hostile, but you can imagine what they're like in a courtroom. It's like, yeah, that's a pit bull of a lawyer, and I want him on my side. And you know the reason they're not, you know, and the whole thing about being a lawyer for you, for the people, whatever. Oops, that was a Freudian slip. You know, to go that route is, it's really not about you, it's about what? money and how much they can get. They said, we will get the most. Well, of course they will because they're going to take it most mostly. And, you know, because they're hostile, because they're well, some of them say that, you know, you need someone who is aggressive. I get there with their nice suits on and they look cool. And then that one that even talks about and we got swagger, you know, a little swagger. That's good to hear. Amen. You know, again, what is that? It is because they're good at what they do and they're going to win at all costs. And it's the idea there of you don't really want them to be your adversary. That's the front. They are an adversary. Well, we have an adversary and it's a personal one and he is hostile. He is going to be aggressive and serious in the demise. Don't play around thinking Satan's not that big of a deal. Well, so he's our adversary. Secondly, he is the devil. The word devil means a slanderer. That he is one that is out to slander. He will slander you, he will slander God. Think of Jesus at the temptation in Matthew chapter 4 and verse 1. When I recently went to that seminar on a college campus and I made a comment that there's a particular lobby of a godless lifestyle in the United States and they were trying to seek biblical justification and they even used words of Jesus from the cross. And I made the comment and it's just really hit my heart several times. Nothing is sacred to these people. as a concept, nothing. I mean, you're gonna actually say that Jesus was supporting a godless lifestyle while he was dying on the cross? While he was shedding his blood, making atonement for sinners? Is nothing sacred to you? Well, Satan said, geez, why don't you jump off? God has said, certainly, hasn't he? The angels will bury you up. Hey, Jesus, you're hungry, aren't ya? Well, God's never gonna see his own forsaken. You have power, don't you? Just go ahead and change the stones. And you wanna look at Satan in the face, although I would not advise that, and just to say, is nothing sacred to you? Well, get a good biblical vision of what Jesus upon the cross, beaten beyond recognition, beard plucked off, marred more than any man, and then you'll have a picture of who your adversary is, this devil. And then he has the crowd around the cross, and what are they saying? If you be the Son of God, come down off that cross. And from our perspective, What is it? It's nothing sacred to you people. I almost hear that in the words of Jesus when Jesus tells Judas, Betrayest thou the son of man with a kiss? You can hear the hiss of Satan in those words. When Judas is basically saying, you know, he's the one, the one that I go up and kiss, that's the one you want to nab. He's the one. And we're told in scripture that Satan had entered into Judas to accomplish the evil deed. He's an adversary. He is one that is aggressive and hostile and serious. He is a slanderer. Not only that, he is like a lion. Now, it says a roaring lion, and there's so much that I could go over in the midst of that, but I'm going to avoid that here for a few moments. But the term lion there is probably used because of the Neronean persecutions there, that they were casting Christians to them in the arena for sport, and everybody knew that, and that's probably why I used the sense of a roaring lion. That brings me to the third element. So we've had the element of a command, the element of our enemy. Thirdly is the element of attack. And this one's kind of interesting because it starts off with that he's roaring, then he's walking, then he's seeking, and he's devouring. And there's some step there. When a lion's roaring, He's not, that's an intimidation issue, that's an announcement issue. Being one who works with exotic animals, we have an inside joke. Whether it be with monkeys, or with snakes, or it be with crocodiles and alligators, that the inside is that If they are screaming or yelling or bellowing, or in the case of those that have the big cats, I don't, but my friends have lions and tigers and stuff like that. The idea there is when they're roaring, at least they aren't biting. You know, most people go, oh, I'm so scared. And when you work with these animals, if they're screaming at you, that's a good sign. It's when they stop and their teeth are in your arm or something like that, you know. And so that's when it gets really bad. So the first thing is, you know, the roar, it's an announcement. It's an issue of, It is an issue of intimidation. It is an issue of boasting. It's an issue of saying I'm hungry. It's an issue of fear. It can be frustration. It's the roaring afterwards. This idea of roaring. Satan has roared throughout the pages of Scripture from Genesis to Revelation. He roars throughout Scripture with angels in Revelation chapter 12. He roared with respect of angels in Daniel and in 2 Peter. Or I'm sorry, yes, in 2 Peter. He roared with respect to Israel, Revelation chapter 12 and verse 4. The baby boys when Jesus was born. Remember what happened there? And Herod sent out the thing, and the women cried out, Aramah, and the fact that these baby boys, all two years old and younger, were being killed. That was the roar of Satan. The idea of the temptation, Jewish leaders, Judas, Peter in the denial, wanting to deny Christ. Satan asking God to sift him as wheat. With respect to believers and persecution, rebellious children like in Absalom, with Nadab and Abihu, with Samson. He roars to intimidate and to bring others along his way. With leaders such as King Saul and David in sin, Nebuchadnezzar. Those are the roars of Satan. Whether it be in persecution, temptation, blasphemies, inability, inactivity, fear, gossip, sin. Satan roars, but not only that. Notice it says that he is roaring. He walks about as a roaring lion. This idea of activity, Satan is not omnipresent. This whole concept of Satan and God, yin and yang, and there's two equal forces in this world, that would be definitely if you try and get your theology from Star Wars and the force and the dark side of the force. And oh no, and if we kill all of the Padawans and kill all of the Jedi Knights, then all of a sudden the dark side's going to overdo the good side. You know, that's good science fiction, but don't forget what it is. It's not science, and it is fiction. And, you know, you gotta keep it straight. And there are people who actually try to get their theology from all that stuff. You cannot do that. That is a dead giveaway of the roaring lion. But this idea of the, he walks around. Satan is not omnipresent. But it does give the idea that he's constantly walking around. strategically looking. He is one who has been here since the beginning of time and he understands human nature. He understands a mother's heart. He understands the father's heart. He understands the rebelliousness of a two-year-old or of a teenager. And he can capitalize on those things because he walks about setting up his strategy so that we're told we are not ignorant of his evil or wicked strategies. that he has cohorts and demons and fallen angels to do his bidding. And so in all of that, we need to be mindful of the fact that there is this constant activity. And it's for intimidation, but it's also looking for the opportunity to pounce. That's why lions walk around. We were at a private zoo up in Dade City, and my friend that has several animals there had a lioness. And we were looking at a jaguar on one way, but behind us there was this lioness. And she was stalking Susan, my wife, very quietly. And she was walking, and you know how they get real low to the ground, the shoulder blades sticking up, going, creep, creep. Now obviously, you know, the slyness is in a cage, but it was in a long cage on the other side of where the jaguars were. And so we're looking at the jaguars and everything, and I feel Susan's arm grab mine. It starts getting tighter and tighter, you know, the blood, my hands turn blue. And you know, just kind of like, I said, what's going on? She says, I don't like this, let's keep walking, let's go somewhere else, because this is, look over there, and I looked, and it's very intimidating, very quiet. But she's walking along with us. And it wasn't because she wanted to be petted, because she was a nice little lioness. Susan was being stalked, and she was walking. That's the picture, the mental picture. of this roaring lion who walks about, ready to pounce, having a strategy. We need to be mindful, we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers. His spiritual wickedness in high places. He walks about, not only that, but it says here, he walks about seeking whom he may devour. So he's seeking the idea of strategy there, 2 Corinthians 2, and verse 11, that Satan comes as an angel of light, And the idea of seeking, he seeks to do our destruction that way. But then it has this idea, fourthly, of whom he may devour. that he wants to destroy you. He wants to, in a real sense, swallow. This was a word that was used in the Greek language to deal with drinking of blood. It was the idea of a ruin, to bring the ruin unto the victim who was being sought after. Persecution, strong temptation to cause believers to speak blasphemy against their God, deny Christ or die. It's this idea, destroy them, seek and destroy. When a lion wants to go out and to be involved in the hunt, one night we took a safari and we were out after dark and these lions just all of a sudden got up and they're walking out. And they walked right by the car. Car has no sides, no top. And you reach out and touch one. Of course, that's not a good idea. And so we watched them. And then they got a drink. And then they just walked. They just walked. And you keep thinking, what's going on? And they keep walking, walking, walking. Well, eventually, we decided that it would be harassing them to stay with them all night. But we never heard them roar. But they were walking. And they got them very much in the seeking, the strategy of what they were going to do. The next morning, we found them. and they were devouring a water buffalo. And the devouring of this water buffalo was is that they had killed it in the way that they want because that was the purpose and the goal. They wanted its destruction so it would fill their bellies. And they were all covered in blood and everything. And I know I'm probably getting a little bit more gross, but I will stop with that. But just to the idea of they wanted the destruction and death. of that water buffalo for their own personal glory. We have an adversary, the devil. He is personal for us. He walks about, strategizes to the pounce to bring destruction. And we dare not let down our guard, that we are told to be sober, to be vigilant, because we have an adversary, the devil, who's like a lion, who wants to attack. He does it in ideas of roaring, walking, seeking, and devouring. And our defense is found in verse nine. Resist him. Steadfast in the faith. Now that sounds kind of funny. Resist this one like that. I don't know if you know it or not, but they say, I don't know that it's always true, although I've seen it done pretty much in captivity, that a lot of the big cats, lions in particular, and tigers for real, and that is that never run. You can't outrun them. It's not gonna happen. Stare them down. They don't know what to do with that, because everybody else runs. And I just find it interesting. I'm not gonna say that that's why he wrote this, but rather, I just can't find it interesting. This is what the Holy Spirit wants us to do when Satan's attacking, but it does work with wild animals. Stare him down. You just, you know, as it were, don't let him see you sweat with the big cats that way. This term to resist means to have a firm, hard, unbending, I will not give. Stand your ground. Okay. And again, it confuses, resist him. And then it says steadfast. Now you don't do this in your own strength because notice it says steadfast in the faith. Without cowardice, without intimidation. We have songs like that, do we not? Remember the song that says, will your anchor hold in the storms of life? And then the wind blow, oh Gail, and it's all this. But my anchor will hold. Why? Because it's not you. The anchor is Christ Jesus. And the same thing's true that I have seen where Christians have been almost blown away, but they make a firm resolve. State upon Jehovah, hearts are fully blessed. I will not deny. Job was that way, was he not? Yea, though he slay me, yet I will trust him. I have seen Christians go through the death of children, murder of their children, and they remain firm. And then I hear other Christians say, oh, I hope that doesn't destroy their faith. What do you mean destroy it? It'll make it stronger. Because they aren't trusting in themselves, they're trusting in God. So we resist steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. That brings us to the third thing, and that is this, identify with the brethren. You rest in God, you resist in faith, and you identify with brethren. Christians that are being attacked in persecution and in suffering should never go into solitude. This brings me to a real important thing and that is that you know the importance of the local church, the importance of Christian brethren. Somehow we get this idea that I am more spiritual if I can handle it myself. And we almost shut the door in the face of the brethren. And that is just so dead wrong. But rather the Bible is quite clear, as it says here, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. And then he goes on, but may the God of all grace who called us into his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, and strengthen and settle you. To him be the glory and dominion forever, amen. This is something that we are in together because we are united together in Christ. So while Satan can come in and bring all kinds of havoc into your own particular life, we are given in this particular passage, whether it be in the persecution of this world, or it be in the heartbreak of a mother or father over children, or children over parents, we need to understand, first of all, know your enemy. You need to know your enemy. And you need to have a strategy against him. with your feet planted firm upon the sure word of God. That you can say in the words of Martin Luther during the time of the Reformation, when everybody wanted him dead, he was legally declared a criminal and people wanted to come and to kill him. He said, a mighty fortress is my God. I will not bow the knee. I will not allow Satan to come and to harm me and to intimidate me and bring me destruction. I will remain steadfast in the faith, knowing there can be suffering, but then there's death and then eternity with Christ. Now, as a Christian, is that the kind of faith and the kind of reality of faith that you have? Or is it that you don't even view this idea that the importance of having Jesus as your savior is all that important? You know what? The devil, who is a deceiver, has got your eyes closed. And you are already being devoured. And your destruction is certain. You need to come to Christ, and he will give you light. Let's pray. Our Father in heaven, how we thank you that whether it be mothers or fathers, but all of us in our Christian faith.