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Actively and Firmly Resist Temptation

1 Peter  •  Sermon  •  Submitted
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1 Peter 5:1-11 So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed: 2 shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly; 3 not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock. 4 And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. 5 Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” 6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, 7 casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. 8 Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. 9 Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. 10 And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. 11 To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen.

Opening Prayer

Obedience Brings Reward, But It is Not What Justifies. (God is gracious)

So, I want to read this passage and deal with something that happens a lot in Protestant churches...
Especially, Protestant churches that care about doctrine.
10 And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.
Now, protestants hear that and they get worried that it sounds like reward...
And, if we’re depraved sinners that are justified by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone...
How can there be reward?
And, if there is reward, doesn’t that take away from grace?
And, if it takes away from grace, what does that do with the doctrine of justification by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.
Here we have to remember key biblical terms.
Salvation is an umbrella term that includes:
Justification
Sanctification
Glorification
So salvation is all three.
The problem occurs when we interchange these words...
Especially, when we interchange the words salvation and justification.
Because the term salvation includes sanctification...
And, sanctification includes us:
Obeying God
Resisting temptation
Enduring suffering
And, so we cringe when we hear a passage say that God rewards us...
Because we don’t readily separate justification from sanctification...
And, keep them both under the whole picture of salvation.
Which is why so many people struggle with...
Hebrews 12:14 Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.
This is a verse that is speaking of sanctification.
But, we hear the word strive, holiness...
And, without striving for this…Without pursuing this you won’t see the Lord.
And, we think how can someone do something that will enable them to see the Lord?
Well, its because we’re justified by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone...
And, that true, real FAITH expresses itself in striving for holiness...
Which is another way of saying that justification expresses itself in obedience to the Lord.
Without expressions of obedience you won’t see the Lord...
Because you don’t have real faith…you have dead faith…(James)
Which is false faith.
Additionally, our obedience is because of the gracious gift of God in our new birth.
We’ve been regenerated by the HS.
And, that new creature that we’ve become is now able to pursue obedience and obey.
Additionally, it is the HS working in us both to will and to do according to God’s good pleasure...
So, it’s really all grace.
But, God’s grace enables us to act...
And, God graciously rewards our obedience to the enabling work of the HS.
So, hear me say this...
Grace doesn’t negate reward. It does away with merit.
God’s grace in giving us reward is like wrapping the present and putting a bow on it.
It’s unnecessary, but an added benefit for the recipient of the gift...
And, an additional gracious act by the Giver.
Jerry Bridges said, “Faith is no more than the response to and appropriation of the grace of God.”
And, therefore, faith exercised for sanctification is the same...
A response to and appropriation of the grace of God.
So, we must be careful to guard the doctrine of justification...
And, equally ready to guard the doctrine of sanctification...
As they both fit into the whole picture of salvation.
Now, that’s the introduction...
Let’s look at the text...
1 Peter 5:8-11 Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. 9 Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. 10 And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. 11 To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen.

Action is Required to Endure

Peter tells us here that there is action required in order to endure.
Spiritual Health takes Spiritual Awareness.
Most people go through life without any attention to the spiritual nature of life...
And the spiritual realities of life.
And, today many deny them altogether.
But, the Bible explicitly teaches the reality of the spiritual nature of life...
And, actually gives it priority.
And here, Peter gives us three commands in the form of verbs that require our action.
We are to be actively pursuing to act out these commands.
So, first, I want to look at the first two commands...
Be sober-minded
This is not the first time we’ve seen Peter use this word.
In 1:13 we are commanded to be sober-minded in order to put our hope fully on the grace of God in JC.
In 4:7, we’re commanded to be sober-minded in order for our prayers to be in the will of God and, therefore, effective.
Sober-minded means to be careful about what is influencing your thinking.
It is to be aware and to control sinful emotions and desires.
The second command that call us to action is...
Be watchful means to beware, to stay awake.
So, you put these two commands together and what you have is a Christian who:
makes it their business to be aware of sinful influences
guards their heart and mind from those sinful influences
works hard to stay aware
We cannot fall asleep to the power of sin and temptation...
Nor fall asleep, to our propensity to fall asleep, like the disciples in the garden, to the awesome importance of our spiritual life and well-being.
Why?
8...Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
We have an enemy. And, he hates us.
And he currently sways the world against God and the people of God.
He’s an adversary, which means he is an antagonistic and accusing, hostile enemy.
And, he seeks to devour…literally to swallow whole.
He means to put you down…Make you impotent in the will of God.
He desires to make you ineffective for the kingdom of God.
And, he does it masterfully, effectively, and covertly/secretly.
Like a lion hunting its prey.
The lion hunts and waits for the moment their prey will be most vulnerable...
Most unaware of the lions’ presence...
And, then he pounces.
The apostle Paul warns us by telling us to, Take heed lest you fall.
***Lioness story in Africa Safari Park
They lay disinterested until they turned their back.
The moment you think you’re good…you’re vulnerable...
The moment you think you are strong…you are weak...
The moment you understand your weakness...
You put up your defenses, which is God, prayer & His word...
And, then you are strong.
Peter tells us what we are to use these behaviors/attitudes for:
9 Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.

Resist Temptations to Disobedience

Peter is telling us here:
that we are to resist the Devil
what kind of resistance we are to have
Our awareness & guardedness is because the Devil seeks to devour us.
We must be aware of his schemes.
He seeks to tempt us with alternatives to the will of God...
And, he seeks to make them look more pleasurable and fulfilling.
The Devil’s rewards are never fulfilling.
They always leave us empty.
They always leave us guilt-ridden and desperate.
So, we are to resist his temptations to disobey God.
We resist with a specific kind of resistance.

A Firm in your Faith kind of Resistance

9 Resist him, firm in your faith,
We have an example of this kind of resistance.
When Jesus was tempted by the Devil in the Desert.
Jesus resisted the Devil’s alternatives to the will of God with Scripture.
Scripture is the conduit to God.
Scripture correctly informs us of God.
Scripture correctly informs us of ourselves.
Scripture correctly informs us of our needs.
Scripture correctly informs us of the solution to all our problems.
Scripture is the conduit that takes us to God.
And, therefore our faith is grounded in the Word of God.
And, so resisting the Devil should always be paired with the Word of God.
And, our resistance should always be informed with the Word of God.
Our resistance should be saturated with the knowledge that God always commands what is best for us...
And, the outcome of our obedience is always the most satisfying and pleasurable.
The aim of our life is to glorify God and enjoy Him fully, forever.
And, the aim of God for our life is for us to enjoy life to the fullest...
By finding our greatest joy and satisfaction in Him...
And that being expressed through obedience...
And, obedience to God always fills us with inner peace and happiness.
Biblical counseling is for this very purpose:
Helping each other resist disobeying the will of God.
Informing each other with the Word of God to resist, firmly.
Every Sunday, we enter this room as the Church.
And, we are announcing that we are in need of counsel.
We are in need of being informed, reminded, encouraged in the FAITH...
So, that we can resist by being FIRM in the FAITH.
Peter not only tells us what kind of resistance we are to have...
But, he also tells us what helps us in our resistance...

Specific Knowledge Helps Us in Our Resistance

9 Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.
Is it good to know that other people suffer as we do?
Peter says, “Yes.”
The OT & NT say, “Yes.”
Moses suffered, Daniel suffered, David suffered, Paul suffered, Peter suffered.
Does it help us to know that other saints of God suffered for their faith?
Yes, because it helps us to not see suffering as strange.
Knowing that others suffer as we do, helps us in another wonderful way:
It helps us from feeling isolated in our suffering.
It helps us feel that we are not alone.
The thought of being isolated in suffering, the only one suffering in this way...
Creates in us a desire to isolate ourself from others.
When we don’t think others suffer as we do, we fear:
We will be judged.
We will not be understood.
We will be rejected.
And this is why what I’m about to say is so important.
The church should resemble a hospital, patients needing attention.
Not a museum, filled with finished pieces of art.
When a church can look like a hospital, act like a hospital...
People will start fleeing to it...
Rather than flee from it.

A Plea to God

Oh, that God will move in our midst to motivate us to fill our minds with the Word of God...
To be eager to feast on the Word, corporately & weekly as the Church.
To resist temptation…firm in the faith.
And, to resemble a hospital rather than a museum.
God have mercy on our souls.

Closing prayer

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