Thank you for directing your internet connection to this sermon audio page for Christ Orthodox Presbyterian Church. You can learn more about ChristOPC by visiting our website at www.christopcatl.org. ChristOPC meets for worship each Sunday at 11am and 5.30pm. This evening, we'll be reading 1 Peter 5, and we'll look at verses 6 through 11 in our reading, and our sermon will be focused on specifically verses 8 and 9. So we're in part two of a three-part work through verses 6 through 11. So hear now the wholly inspired and inerrant word of our God, 1 Peter 5, verses 6 through 11. Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all of your anxieties upon him because he cares for you. Be sober-minded. Be watchful. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. And after you have suffered for 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. To him be dominion forever and ever. Amen. The grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of the Lord endures forever. Spiritual complacency. is perhaps, or maybe even not perhaps, but may simply be, one of the greatest issues facing the church here in America today. If you could take one word to describe how many Christians consider their life before Christ, I think lethargy would be a good word. They simply kind of go through the motions. They don't really ponder the things of the Lord. They don't think deeply about theology. pray on a regular basis, they forego the gathering together of the saints. And I think part of the reason for this is we've become so remarkably comfortable in things in this world. If you go outside this evening, you might find that it's a little bit warm and all you've got to do is hop in your car and turn a dial and you have the cool air blowing in your face. If you're hungry and want a particular delicacy, all you've got to do is go to the Kroger down the street and you're able to find just about anything you need. And if you need a lot of it, you can just make your way to Costco. We've become so accustomed to comfort and availability and prosperity, that that's translated over into our spiritual lives where we have this sort of lethargy regarding things in this word. It's even spoiled over, I think, into what we expect in the gathering together of the church and the preaching of God's word. Many Christians in many churches gather together to hear simple moralisms or perhaps some sort of pithy platitude to help them through their day-to-day life. They don't consider the gathering of the saints as integral to the magnifying of the name of God and being brought up into the heavenly places through the power of the Spirit to exalt Him rather than to exalt yourself. And the great danger of this spiritual complacency, brothers and sisters, is that we seem to have forgotten that we live in an age where there is an adversary that is roaring like a lion seeking to devour you. We are living in an age where the church is called, as theologians would call it, the church militants. Now that's not to say you're supposed to go grab your guns or swords or things of that nature to gather together for worship, but to deal with the reality that we live in a time where we must fight a spiritual battle against the reality of sin and wickedness in our lives and in those who are around us. A time when the world will seek to attack and persecute and even tempt Christians to fall away from the faith. In fact, if we translate the phrase church militant into a Peter-ism, if you will, the church is as a pilgrim, walking through the wilderness, still waiting to enter into its eternal home and resting place. A sojourner, an alien in this world. And so long as we are sojourners and aliens, pilgrims, so long as we are the church militant, We need to be ready and we need to be on our guard against the attacks of the evil one. We cannot let ourselves slip into spiritual complacency or lethargy. This age, this entire life is one where we must make ourselves ready to withstand the taunts, the temptations, the slanders of even the devil himself. And it's passages like 1 Peter chapter 5 verses 8 and 9 that shock us out of our lethargy, that take us to consider the reality of the spiritual battle that we are in and calls us to take seriously the spiritual nature of our lives, to seek to live as those who every day set ourselves before the throne of God in heaven and seek to live wholly righteous lies before him, to be like him as obedient children, holy as he is holy. You see in these verses, part of the humility before the mighty hand of God means that we are meant to maintain a ready state of alertness, a ready state of alertness and awareness concerning the spiritual battles. such that when temptations arise, you may resist the devil by standing firm in your faith as part of the brotherhood of Christ. So we see here in these verses that humility before the mighty hand of God means maintaining a ready state of alertness that way you may resist the devil by standing firm in the faith as part of the church of the living God. See this in two parts here this evening. First, the first two commands in verse eight, overarching command here to be alert, and then secondly, the call to resist the devil. And the second half of verse 8 and into verse 9. Well, since it's been a few weeks, maybe a little remembering, our memory work for verses six and seven is in order. In those verses, Peter charges Christians to humble yourself before the mighty hand of God. And that humbling yourself before the mighty hand of God leads to exaltation at the proper time. And that exaltation is an exaltation to the heavenly places when Christ comes again. Peter then gave an example of that humility in casting all of your anxieties upon God because He cares for you. In humility, Christians are to rest in the work of God for their salvation. They are to acknowledge that God is God and they are not. And in so doing, you, Christian, are free to rest in the tenderhearted love and care that God has for you as His sheep. to find rest for your weary souls in the reality, as Peter just told us, that God cares for you. And because he cares for you, he will keep you through this time of humiliation and suffering. That you are secure in the mighty hand of God and nothing could ever take you out of his mighty hand. And so Peter begins this section highlighting how you can and should entrust yourself to your faithful creator. how you are secure in the mighty hands of God such that nothing and no one can snatch you away. But immediately upon emphasizing how you are safe and secure in the mighty hands of God who redeems you, who saves you, and who preserves you through this age, Peter also wants you to be aware, beloved, that while you are safe and secure, while God does love you and care for you, You still live in a time where you are a sojourner and alien who will suffer all kinds of persecution and humiliation at the hands of wicked men. that the anxieties of the world do continue to press in upon you and to wage war against you. And so in verses eight and nine, Peter continues to give us instructions here on how you humble yourself before the mighty hand of God and making yourself alert to be sober minded and watchful concerning the reality of what it means to live in this life. And you could see how this ties in to the command of humility at the start of our passage, doesn't it? You see, a proud person might simply live their lives and not take into account any hardships and danger. Might think too much of themselves and that no matter what comes their way, they can stand on their own two feet and be able to handle it. That they don't need to prepare themselves for spiritual battles that are to come. They don't need to be watchful or alert, but that is not the way of humility. The way of humility includes a constant watchfulness and awareness of the situation of our lives with a view toward always being faithful before our God in heaven. It is a purposeful life that orients itself around constant fidelity no matter what happens and no matter what comes your way, even if the devil himself would stand against you. The very opposite of spiritual complacency is what Peter calls us to here. And so in the first parts of verse eight, he gives us two commands that I think work together to call us to constant alertness in our spiritual lives. But they do have their own sort of emphases. The first command here Peter gives is to be sober minded. It's one of Peter's favorite terms. In fact, half of the occurrences of this term in the New Testament occur in first Peter. He uses it three times. And all three of them, I think, are meant to work together. The first one comes back in chapter one, verse 13, where Peter gives actually the very first command in the entirety of the book of first Peter, where he says, therefore, prepare your minds for action and be sober minded. There's the command. Set your hope fully on the grace that would be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Then the second time he says it is a little bit later. It's in chapter four and verse seven. where Peter commands us again saying, the end of all things is at hand, therefore, be self-controlled and sober minded for the sake of your prayers. I want you to notice how both of these uses focus on a certain way of thinking, where you are to cast your mental gaze toward the end of all things, chapter four, verse seven, at the revelation of Jesus Christ, chapter one, verse 13. Sober-mindedness in 1 Peter is heavenly-mindedness. It is a way of thinking and considering everything in this world with a view toward the reality of your heavenly inheritance. And we can juxtapose this state of mind, can't we, with the way Peter described the worldly mind in chapter four. Or if you remember back in those verses in verses one through six of 1 Peter chapter four, he described the worldly mind of the Gentiles as one of drunken debauchery. And so if the worldly mindedness is described as drunkenness, it's heavenly mindedness that is described as sobriety. For one to be sober minded is for one to be so geared toward the promised inheritance of heaven that the things in this world grow dim. That you are not intoxicated by the things of this life, the pursuit of the things of this life, but rather you are caught up wholly with the hope of the glorious inheritance that is yours in Christ. It is a call for you to not let the sensuality or the cares of the world dominate your mind. One commentator, I think, catches the idea well, where he says, speaking of this command, that there is a way of living that becomes dull to the reality of God, that is, anathetized by the attractions of the world. And when people are lulled into such drowsiness, they lose sight of Christ's future revelation of himself and concentrate only on fulfilling their earthly desires. See, when your mind and your passions and sensualities are caught up exclusively with the things of the world, when they dominate everything that you are in your mind and in your soul, it is actually, as Voss says in one of his sermons in Grace and Glory, a symptom of doubt and unbelief, of unbelief in regard to the world to come. See, this call to sober-mindedness, is a call to avoid the drunken allureness of the world and to find great satisfaction for your souls in the hope of your heavenly inheritance. To cast all anxieties from this world upon God who cares for you and look forward and hope to the resurrection life that you have in Christ. And so when temptation comes, temptation to love above the way you are called to love them the things of this world. The humble are to seek the things that are above for Christ is seated at the right hand of God. They are to as obedient children not to seek to be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance but instead to be conformed to God and to be holy as he is holy. Humble, sober-minded thinking has a proper measure of the things of the world, whether it's the sufferings or the temptations, the hardships or the passions, and it seeks to live for the sake of Christ with a view to the glory of heaven in every aspect of their lives. There are many things in this world that God has created for your joy, but they are not to be your ultimate joy. There are things you can be passionate about, but they are not to be your ultimate passion. And it is the hope of heaven that satisfies your deepest desires and orients you in faithfulness to the things of God. The call to be sober minded. orients all of your affections and your loves to the reality of who God is, of what he has done for you in Christ, and how he will bring you into the kingdom of his marvelous glory. But Peter calls you not only to be sober-minded, but also to be watchful. The call to watchfulness here is the idea of someone on a guard tower at night's call to stay awake and to keep an eye out and to protect the city. In fact, the verb actually means stay awake. Stay awake, be alert, and be ready. And there's two things a watchman can be a work and ready for in the New Testament. One positive, the other negative. Positively, if a king were away on a journey, the watchman who guards the city would watch out and expected readiness for the coming of his king. If one is watching with expectation for their sovereign to return, that's the task of the watchman to order their lives and to order the city and make every preparation for his coming so that when he comes, he can serve him with readiness and delight. The watchman's job in this sense is to be ready, to be ready for the coming of the king. This is the sense that the command has in Mark chapter 13 where the doorkeeper is called to stay awake because you do not know the hour of the master's coming. Same verb used there. Or again in Luke chapter 12 verse 37 where Jesus says, blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes. See there's a charge here, isn't there? To be a people waiting in sober-minded, eager expectation for the coming of your master. And to order your lives in such a way that if Christ returned at this very moment, he would see a servant engaged in the pursuit of righteousness and holiness, walking in the manner in which he calls you to walk, to the glory of the God of heaven. To order your life in every facet of it as one who lives before the very throne of God. So it's that when your Savior returns, he would say, well done, my good and faithful servant. That's not the only aspect of a watchman's work, is it? Not only would they watch and expect in readiness for the return of their sovereign, but they would also watch in case an enemy might come against the city. And this is the way Jesus, I think, uses it in the Garden of Gethsemane when he tells his disciples with him there to watch with me. to watch and pray specifically that you may not enter into temptation. And what are they really watching for and what are they praying about but the coming of one who associates himself with the devil who will betray Christ and hand him over into wicked men and the temptation that in the face of persecution they might compromise on their faithfulness to Christ. as Peter himself did that very night when he failed to stay awake. He failed to keep watch. See, this type of watchfulness keeps up one's guard against the attacks of the evil one. It is maintaining a ready state of alertness such that whenever the hour of temptation comes, you are armed with the necessary spiritual armament to endure. And I actually think it's important that Paul joins together these same two commands in 1 Thessalonians 5 and again in Ephesians 6, his two armor of God passages, the longer of which we read just a short while ago. And in that armor of God passage in Ephesians 6, Paul makes explicit how the putting on of the armor of God has the purpose that you may watch. that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil, and that you can fight against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. This call to watchfulness is a call to a state of readiness. Yes, for the return of your king. Yes, to be a faithful servant as you await his return, but also to guard against the schemes of the devil. to be ready to wage spiritual warfare against the temptations that do spring up in this life and to ready yourself with the armor of God that is yours in union with Christ. That is how you are to withstand the attacks of the evil one. See, it's interesting if we look at Ephesians chapter six and read it in its proper background, which is the Old Testament, then the armor that Paul talks about there is armor that God himself puts on in the book of Isaiah. Such that whenever you clothe yourself with the breastplate or the helmet or you take up the shield, what you are donning upon yourself is Christ. You are clothing yourself with what Isaiah calls the garments of salvation. Covering yourself with what Isaiah calls the robe of righteousness as you come as the bride of Christ. See, putting on the armor of God with which you may withstand the schemes of the evil one is you resting wholly and exclusively upon your king. Be watchful, Paul says in 1 Corinthians 16, 13. Stand firm in the faith. The way you maintain this ready state of alertness is to always gear yourself to faithfulness to Christ. And what is a way that you can garb yourself with Christ in a way to maintain the state of readiness? Well, Paul answers in Ephesians 6, doesn't he? Saying that the way you are to maintain the readiness of armament in the armor of God is by praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, then he uses the same verb from 1 Peter, keep alert. Keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints. Or as he says in Colossians chapter 4 verse 2, continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with all thanksgiving. Or do you remember what Jesus himself said in the Garden of Gethsemane? He didn't just say watch, he said watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. So you see the way that you are to maintain a steady state of readiness in the face of temptation and suffering and persecution is through prayer. Prayer is a means of grace that God uses in your life to keep you ready to fight against the schemes of the devil, to arm you with Christ that you may withstand the assaults of the evil one and to endure all temptation and to present yourself ready. upon his return. But you remember what we read earlier in chapter four verse seven where Peter uses the command to be sober minded. You remember what it was to. He said Be self-controlled and sober minded for the sake of your prayers. So beloved if you ever find yourself sluggish in your spiritual life tempted towards spiritual lethargy or complacency. If you're tempted to give in to various temptations when they arise, if you're being choked out by anxieties or hardship or pain or all the things and the directions that this life tends to pull you into, find rest with God in prayer. Through prayer, cast all of your anxieties upon him and be made ready by the power and the mighty hand of God to find the refreshment, the nourishment, and the endurance you need to live a life of faith today. It is through prayer that you make yourself ready. It is through prayer that you maintain the state of sober-minded alertness in an age of being a sojourner and an alien. And this is especially important due to our second point here this evening, that Peter has chief in his focus, the second sense of watchfulness and keeping alert from attacks from our spiritual enemies. Because notice how he continues, he doesn't just talk about how you are to watch for the return of Christ, but specifically to be alert, why? Because your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. There's two errors that I think are important to avoid when we're thinking about the devil being your adversary. The first one is that we tend in modern Western culture to be very naturalistic in the view of our world and even in the view of our spiritual lives, where we tend to live as though everything is just in the power of our own hands and things that we can see and touch and taste and smell. And so we functionally at least deny the reality of a spiritual enemy. See, this error would deny that there are spiritual forces at play. Or at least this error would minimize the spiritual dangers going in our lives. It would be to live as though there were no enemies to Christ or to Christ's church. There's also a second error, the opposite of the first. Not that someone would deny or diminish the reality of spiritual forces, but rather that they attribute far too much power and authority to spiritual forces and to Satan in particular. There are so many movies and songs and various things out there about exorcisms and demons and spiritual realities that people tend to think that the forces of good and evil are equal. And these movies even tend to attribute almost God-like powers to Satan. But it's not true, is it? Satan's power is limited. His knowledge is partial. He's only a creature. He's not the creator. And even as we confessed a short while ago in Heidelberg Catechism, Lord's Day 1, he can't even touch a hair on your head, but that the providence of God would allow these things to happen. The devil is not an equal force of evil in the world that good must then battle against with the chance of losing. The devil is a creature confined by nature who acts only in accord with God's providence and who has been defeated by Christ on the cross as he crushed his head through his death and will be cast into the eternal flames on the last day. See in the battle between God and the devil, the devil doesn't stand a chance, does he? He may be powerful, But compared to the mighty hand of God, he is nothing. While compared to God, he is nothing, he is still an adversary. He stands against the Lord, and because he stands against the Lord, he stands against the Lord's people. He roars out and mighty roars against you, and he even seeks, as Peter says here, to devour you. I think Peter's language here as a roaring lion is quite an appropriate description because Satan is a predator who seeks to devour the church as his prey. And so this roaring and this devouring of the lion is primarily, I think, for Peter, Satan's attempt to use suffering and persecution to, if at all possible, to cause a Christian to deny their faith. and give up the hope that Peter has been so clear about through his letter. See, what Satan seeks to do is to use suffering to snuff out your hope. This is really how Satan works, I think. You see, too often people see him as one who places the temptation in you. As if any sort of temptation that you have, maybe it's lust or greed or pride or something like that, there's actually a spiritual demon that's coming at you throughout those things. But I don't think that's the reality of the case. And I don't think that because he doesn't actually need to put those things in you at all. By nature of being a fallen sinner, even fighting against indwelling sin, those things are already there. Also don't think this is the case because it actually diminishes the role of sanctification in the Christian life, doesn't it? Where sanctification becomes the equivalent of exorcism rather than something you are fighting in the reality of your own heart. So what therefore does Satan do? How does Satan function? Well, the men of this church have been reading a book by Thomas Brooks, Precious Remedies for Satan's Devices. And Brooks, he's a Puritan reforms pastor, and he uses a very good illustration that I think summarizes the way Satan works. And he uses an illustration of a sailboat. Whereas the sail is placed up, what Satan does is he doesn't place the rigging there. What he tries to do is to blow the wind into the sails of sin and misery. He can't place the temptation in your heart. What he tries to do is to fan into flames a temptation that is in you by nature. If that temptation is lust, he tries to blow wind into that lust and sail you into the sea of debauchery. And if the attack of Satan is suffering and persecution, as it primarily is here in 1 Peter, then what Satan tries to do in the midst of your suffering, in the midst of persecution, in the midst of that hour of need, is he tries to blow wind into those sails into an ocean of despair. Just this morning we read 2 Corinthians chapter 4, didn't we? And how we have the precious hope of heaven in jars of clay. And Paul has a remarkable refrain there, how we're afflicted but not crushed, perplexed but not driven to despair, persecuted but not forsaken, struck down but not destroyed. Well, the way Satan works is whenever you are afflicted, he tries to lead you to believing that you are crushed. That whenever you are perplexed, he tries to lead you to despair. That whenever you are persecuted, he wants you to believe that you are forsaken by God. That if you ever feel struck down, he wants you to believe that you are destroyed. See, the work of the devil is to use suffering, persecution, and temptation to try to choke out your hope. In fact, that's really what the term devil refers to. The devil is a noun that actually means one who engages in slander. The devil is the one who uses slanderous words of accusation, who seeks to render you hopeless in times of hardship and suffering. But what has Peter's instructions been throughout his letter to you, Christian, who's a sojourner, an alien in this world, who suffers all types of persecution? It is to arm yourselves with the hope of resurrection life. To know that while we suffer for a little while by various trials, we will be raised to an imperishable, undefiled, and unfading inheritance in heaven. He calls you to set your hope fully on the grace that is yours when Christ returns. He calls you to realize that you have been born again by the living and abiding word of God and the gospel that has been preached to you, which saves you and sustains you. He calls you to rest upon Christ as your cornerstone and to be built up into the household of God, to be ready and prepared to make a defense for the hope that is in you, and even to rejoice in the midst of the suffering because you have been counted worthy to suffer as your Savior has suffered. Beloved in Christ, in the midst of suffering, persecution and temptation. Whenever Satan seeks to put wind into the sails of sin and misery, cling to Christ and hope. Find rest in him, cast your anxieties upon him. And I can't help but see a remarkable contrast between the character of Satan and the character of God in these verses. See, Satan roars like a lion and he seeks to devour. But do you hear how God is described here? Going back to chapter 4 verse 9, he's a faithful creator to whom you can entrust your souls. In chapter 5 verse 5, he's one who gives grace to a humble people. In the immediately preceding verse in verse 7, he's one who cares for you. In the following verse, he's the God of all grace who at the proper time will restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. See, beloved, while the devil may seek to devour you, And he may roar his mighty roar. The omnipotent God of all grace is the one who is your faithful creator who cares for you and who will strengthen you in your hour of need. Satan may roar like a lion and his roar may strike fear into the heart of the saints of God. But God is the one who loves you and cares for you. And so through the cacophony of Satan's roars, find rest in the reality of God's word and the promises that you find that he is for you. Listen not to the sounds of Satan, but to the very word of God that gives hope to weary souls, that feeds you and sustains you in the hour of need. And so whenever you are confronted with spiritual warfare, with the temptation of sin, or to the loss of hope due to the suffering and the slander of your adversary, the devil, Peter calls you in your sober minded watchfulness to resist him, to resist the devil. And James in a parallel passage in chapter four, verse seven says, resist the devil and he will flee from you. People give the devil way too much power. See, the promise of God is if you resist him, he cannot, but not only cannot, he will not prevail. While he may roar, notice what the text says, he only seeks to devour you. It does not say that he will devour you. See, the promise of God is that Satan will flee. Still poses a final question here as we close. How is it that you can resist the devil. Peter gives us two ways to resist the devil here. If you want more you can go read Thomas Brooks's work. But the first way to resist the devil Peter gives us is to stand firm in your faith. Resisting the devil, does that mean that you gather might to fight for yourself? It doesn't mean that you're to view yourself as the hero against the satanic forces as it might be depicted in Hollywood movies. The way you resist the devil is through faith, through trusting and resting in God alone for both your salvation and your preservation. The way to triumph over the devil is not believing that you are strong enough to endure, but entrusting yourself to the mighty hand of God who causes you to endure, who preserves you through the time of satanic opposition. You're entrusting your souls even to your faithful creator while doing good. Resisting the devil means that you trust that God is the one who sustains you and preserves you through this age and brings you safe to heaven's shores. The way to resist the devil is to stand firm upon Christ as a solid foundation and cornerstone of the very house of God that you are being built up as part of by the power of the Spirit. I think our closing hymn catches this idea well where it says, when Satan tempts me to despair and tells me of the guilt within and it gives us the remedy. Upward I look and see him there who made an end to all my sin. Because my sinless Savior died, my sinful soul is counted free. For God the just is satisfied to look on him and pardon me. You know those flaming darts of the evil one that Paul talked about in Ephesians 6, 10 through 18? I actually think those are the accusations of Satan where he approaches you and condemns you with your own guilt before God. And the hard thing is that it's true. It's true that we are guilty. But what Satan will never proclaim to you is the truth of the gospel, that those flaming darts are extinguished by the blood of Christ who is pierced for our transgressions, and that communion with God has been opened up through him by the power of the Spirit and through faith. And so by taking up the shield of faith, that is faith in Christ, Those darts do not find their mark in you. Find rest in Christ. Stand firm in Christ. There's an image in Pilgrim's Progress that I think catches this well. You've probably read this scene before, so I can summarize it a little briefly. Christian is walking down the pathway of faith, and he reaches a part where on both sides of the path of faith, there are two roaring lions that look like they are ready to devour him. And he's so shocked and afraid that he's ready to turn back and to go the other way. Then there's a porter standing by the path. And the porter standing by the path is named Watchful. And Watchful reveals to Christian the reality of the matter. And it's that those lions who are fear-inducing and mightily roaring are but chained by the side. And because they are chained, if he but walks on the path of faith, not turning aside from it to the right or to the left, then those lions have no chance to devour, dear Christian. And so upon hearing the words of Watchful, Christian looks back. He sees the chains. And he is able to walk through the Valley of the Roaring Lions safe to the other side. Beloved, so also for you. Satan may roar like a lion, but that lion is changed. He may seek to devour, but for those who rest in Christ by faith, he cannot devour you ultimately. He is changed to the wayside. Walking on the path of faith will lead you safe to the gateway of the new Jerusalem in heaven. You resist the devil by standing firm in the faith. But second, you also resist the devil by being part of the body of Christ on earth. Notice how Peter ends our passage here this evening. You resist the devil by knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. On first blush, that seems a little bit odd, doesn't it? For reading on a surface level, it's almost the equivalent of saying misery loves company, and that doesn't give you much comfort. But actually, I think it's quite profound. Because what this does is it instructs us as Christians today in an essential truth, that while we do suffer, While we are persecuted and tempted, we are not left to suffer in the wilderness and to fend for ourselves alone. There are many in the body of Christ who have suffered as we have suffered. There are many in the body of Christ who have been tempted as we have been tempted. And so you can stand together, whereas individually you may fall. This Lone Ranger Christian that we've fashioned up in our minds here in America needs to be done away with, and we need to take back again a love of the fellowship of the saints that we have together here as part of this brotherhood, even this local church at Christ OPC. And so those of you who are younger in the faith can look to those who are older in the faith and find guidance through the dark valleys of life. Those who are hurting can find solace and encouragement from fellow believers that care for them and love them. Those who are fighting some sort of sin can find advice and help for those who seek their good and long for them to pursue righteousness and holiness. See the devil would have you believe that you were alone in all of these things. But the truth of the matter is that you are united to Christ in heaven, and because you are united to him, you are united to the church here on earth, which is given by Christ to encourage you and to strengthen you in your hour of need. And so, beloved, whatever hardship you find yourself in, whether you're suffering from the taunts and revilings of wicked men, enduring the hardship of what it looks like to live in a fallen world, weeping and mourning the reality of death and disease, whether you are fighting against your indwelling sin as you seek to live holy and righteous lives before God, entrust yourself to Christ by faith, and know that the people of God are given to help you walk upon the pathway that you should go. You are not alone. God himself has not abandoned you. And God has given his church to help you. In faith, God is with you. And through faith, you are joined to the body of Christ now. And so you, Christian, truly can, by faith, be strengthened to withstand the devil. And know, and know with all assurance that he will flee from you. So in humility, be sober minded, be watchful, be ready to resist the devil in faith, cast your gaze forward to the hope of heaven and be a part of the body of Christ today. Let's pray together. Father, we thank you that Your word does sound through all the roarings of Satan and the devil and all the things in our lives and gives us the hope and the sustenance that we need to live a faithful life before you. Lord, I pray that you would not let us slip into spiritual complacency. but cause us to be sober minded and awake, alert, ready to resist the devil, standing firm in Christ and standing firm together as the body of Christ here on earth. Lord, grant us help against our foe, because while the salvation of men is vain with you, we know that as the Psalm says, we will do valiantly, for it is you who tread down the foe. Lord, in Christ, you have tread down the foe. In Christ, you will cast him into the eternal flames. And so through Christ, we have hope to endure as well. Lord, cast us upon him. Cause us to rest in him by faith. So in the name of Christ, we pray. Amen.