Our text for this evening in New Testament reading is found in Luke chapter 22. Luke chapter 22. Verses 24 through 34. This morning we focused our attention on a text that is in the final week of Jesus' ministry. Here our text is the night that he was betrayed. Hear the word of the Lord. A dispute also arose among them as to which of them was to be regarded as the greatest. And he said to them, the kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them. And those in authority over them are called benefactors. But not so with you. Rather, let the greatest among you become as the youngest. And the leader is one who serves. For who is the greater? And who is the greatest, the greater? One who reclines at table or one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines at table? But I am among you as one who serves. You are those who have stayed with me in my trials. And assigned to you is my father assigned to me a kingdom that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel. Simon, Simon, behold. Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat. But I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers." Peter said to him, Lord, I am ready to go with you both to prison and to death. Jesus said, I tell you, Peter, Rooster will not crow this day until you deny three times that you know Me." This is the Word of the Lord. Let's pray. Father, again, we thank You for the reading and the hearing of Your Word, every jot and tittle of it. These words that we've just heard, Lord, illumine them in our hearts. And now, Lord, grant strength to your servant who is weak before you and in need of strength that you give, and strength you give in unction, that you might be glorified in the preaching of your word. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Can you remember a sermon that you heard maybe long ago that had such a profound impact upon you, you've never forgotten it. Maybe even a shift in the paradigm, as we often say today, or a shift in your thinking, a clarity that you didn't have before, but it's something that has stuck with you for a long time. Can you remember such a sermon? I do. No, it wasn't preached by a Presbyterian. It was actually preached by a Baptist. It was over 30 years ago. I was given a cassette tape. That's how long ago it was. A cassette tape by a friend of mine, a fellow pastor. At that time, both of us were still in the mainline Presbyterian church. Then he forsook me and left me all by myself and went into the OPC. Some of you may know him, Bill Hobbs. Are you all familiar with Bill Hobbs? He was a long time the pastor of the OPC church in Tallahassee, Florida, in Calvary. He and I met when he was coming for ordination in the PCUSA in the Presbytery, which was called Abingdon Presbytery at the time. And when he came and preached his ordination sermon on reprobation in the PCUSA church, afterwards I went up and introduced myself. I said, we need to talk. And he said, why is that? I said, because we're the only two that are left. We became great friends, dear friends. I actually preached his ordination sermon. Well, in those days, we sort of fed each other. A couple of years later, I followed him into the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. But he gave me this cassette tape. He said, I listened to this sermon. It had a profound impact, and I would encourage you to listen to it. And I did, and it had an impact on me. It was preached by a young Reformed Baptist minister named John Piper. Anybody ever heard his name? That tells you how long ago. He was a young Reformed Baptist minister when he preached the sermon. It was at a missions conference. The title, I can't even remember the title of the sermon. The title of the sermon was Prayer, the Work of Foreign Missions. And he began it, his text was Ephesians 6, the whole armor of God. He began his sermon by saying, life is war, and the enemy is awesome. Life is war and the enemy is awesome. It just is. It's why we call the church here on earth the church militant. It's the church that is at war. This is what the Bible teaches about the church in this age. Yes, there is the church triumphant, where they're not in battle any longer in heaven, but we're talking about us who are here. Life is war. The Christian life is war. The enemy is awesome. The enemy is none other than Satan himself. We wrestle not with flesh and blood, but with principalities and powers, Paul tells us. And we need to take this seriously. I'm talking about the doctrine of the devil, not just a doctrine, but actually the enemy of Christ and of his church that comes against the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. And he is active, and he is working to tear down what Christ is building. And we need to be aware of that. But here's the good news. He can't win because he's already lost. I actually taught this as a Bible study with the people at Shiloh that were interested in being a part of the new work that starts next Sunday, the Zion that is in Raleigh, not the Zion which is in Athens. And I taught this as a Bible study, because these are, I actually preached the text that we had this morning there, and then to the church, and then taught this as a Bible study to those who were preparing to be a part of the new work. I felt like these were messages that they needed to hear. And afterwards, I sat down with Ephraim Hughes, you know, no. Irvine, Irvine Hughes, he's a retired minister in our Presbytery. He's Welsh. And he looked over and he says, yes, Brother Lacey, he is the devil and he is active, but he's the Lord's devil. That sounds, he's the Lord's devil. Did God create him a devil? No, God created him an archangel. Was it a part of God's decree that Lucifer would fall and persecute the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ? It is. God is sovereign, even over the devil himself. He's on a string. He's on a rope. His motivations are malicious to destroy, but Christ has his purposes. even when Satan attacks. By the way, see, remember he is the Lord's devil. I say this because we need to recognize that when the church of Jesus Christ is faithful in its zeal to preach the whole counsel of God, look out, the enemy is going to attack. And you've experienced that. Now, I want to be careful here. I'm not pointing at this person or that person, this person or that person and said, the devil did this, the devil did this, the devil did that. No, the devil uses all of us. As long as we learn we have to die, oftentimes we don't die. We battle with the world. Do we battle with the world that's within us, even as believers? Yes, Satan uses God's people. He does. And they're still God's people. Satan uses us. And we're still God's people. He's going to attack. He's going to seek to divide. It's one of his favorite plans. And too often in our weakness, we let him succeed. because we don't recognize what he's doing and stand against him. We're the church militant. We're the church in battle. We just are. That's what life is like in the church. Now, I've chosen this particular text because I think it's profound about Satan. Remember, this is the night that Jesus was betrayed. He has already administered Passover with his disciples. He's already instituted the Lord's Supper. He's already sent Judas out from their midst. He's already said to them, this is my body. This is my blood. His heart is heavy because he knows the cup he must drink the next day. He is on his way shortly to go to Gethsemane where he prays in anguish because the day has come, the hour has come for him to drink the cup of the wrath of God on our behalf. And in his human nature, it's almost more than he can bear. And he swam like great drops of blood. And the turmoil was real. But what are his disciples doing? It's all just flying right over their heads. Right over the top of their heads. He's been telling them since Caesarea Philippi, I'm going to Jerusalem. I'm going to be delivered over to the authorities. I'm going to be killed. And the third day, I'm going to rise again from the dead. Peter said on that occasion, no, you will not. This won't happen to you. Jesus said to Peter, get thee behind me, Satan. You're sort of stumbling to me. Because Jesus' face was set for Jerusalem and for the cross. And yet it's just flying over their heads. They can't bring themselves to believe it. In one of the other Gospels, we read that they were already, before they ate the Lord's Supper, arguing among themselves. In fact, it was just a few days before, it seems like, when the sons of James and John come to Jesus and say, which one of my sons is going to sit on your left side and which is going to sit on your right side when you come into your kingdom? They're having visions of grandeur. And Jesus sees the cross in front of them. He's just said, this is my body, this is my blood. But look at what the text says, a dispute also arose among them as to which of them was to be regarded as the greatest. Can you see the flash all over the place here? And the disciples? They're disputing among themselves which of us is going to be the greatest. Now, there is the reward, the text even speaks of this, that in the kingdom they will be seated upon thrones. Yes, there is the blessing and the honor that comes from the Lord Jesus Christ for those who remain faithful. But in the here and now, in this place, they're arguing over which of us is going to be the greatest, and Jesus is facing the cross the next day. And then he turns and he speaks to Simon. Now, you have to be careful, and you need to know your Greek here. Most translations, I've got the ESV, they don't know how to translate the second person plural in Southern. It's y'all. So they translated you, and so which you is it? Is it the singular or the plural? Well, you have to know the Greek, or you have to have a Southern translation to understand it and to get it right. He says Simon, Simon, but then immediately he uses the second person plural. He's talking to all of them. He probably says, Simon, Simon, to get Peter's attention and everybody else's attention, because Peter may have just said something really outlandish. Simon, Simon. And then he says to all of them, listen to the words he says, Satan demanded to have you. that he might sift you as wheat. This is what he's saying to his disciples that night. Satan demanded to have you that he might sift you as wheat. And don't you dare for a moment think that he can't. Satan wants to have you to sift you like wheat. And you in your own strength are no match for Him. But He's no match for your champion, the Lord Jesus Christ. He is demanded to have you, to sift you like wheat. Jesus says to His disciples, to all of them that are around the table, the only one that's not there is Judas who's already departed. Satan already has him. And I want you to know something. The Father said, go ahead on this occasion. They were not prepared for what was going to happen later that night when Jesus was arrested. They were not prepared for what was going to happen the next day when he stands before Pilate when he's crowned with the crown of thorns. They fled. They departed. They left. They were not prepared for the cross. John was there with Mary, Jesus' mother. They were not prepared. Peter was not prepared, just as Jesus told him in this text. When he says, I'll go to prison for you, I'll die with you, Peter said, Jesus, no, you won't either. Before the rooster crows, you're gonna die with me three times. You don't know what you're about to face. And difficulties and hardship comes our way. When I tell our mission works, I said, as soon as we put our hand in the plow, okay, we believe God's planting a church here. We want it to be faithful to the Word of God. You come into the crosshairs of the enemy. And he doesn't take the crosshairs off after you're an organized congregation, even one for many years. But look at the comfort in the text. Simon, Simon, but he's speaking to all of them. Satan demanded to have you that he might sift you like wheat. Look at the next verse. You probably should underline it. Put a circle around it. But I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. Satan has demanded to have you to sift you like wheat. but I've interceded on your behalf." Jesus has prayed for you. He's prayed for you. We often think of the session of our Lord Jesus Christ at the right hand of the Father as King, and rightfully so. He's seated upon a throne in the invisible heavens. We catch glimpses of in Isaiah and in John, John's revelation. But He's also there as priest. You're high priest after the order of Melchizedek and He is interceding for you. Satan comes after you, but Jesus is praying for you. He's no match for your Savior. Do you see? I pray for you that your faith may not fail. Of course, he tells Peter, when he returns to Peter, look at what he says here, because it goes back to the second person singular. When he says, after he says, I pray for you that your faith may not fail, he says, and when you have turned, talking to Peter, when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers. Peter, you're going to be a shepherd to your brothers. You're going to shepherd your brothers. You're going to strengthen your brothers. Jesus is looking past this failure. When Peter falls short, when Peter, when questioned, and we know even by a servant girl, did you know him? I never knew him. Jesus is looking past that because he knows his prayers for Peter. Though Peter falls, he doesn't fall away. Satan entered Judas' heart. Judas fell away as a son of perdition. Peter is elect of God. Peter is going to be an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ. He falls, but he doesn't fall away. Why? Because Jesus is praying for him. He says, when you return, that is, when you return to me in repentance, strengthen your brothers. Strengthen your brothers. Do you believe that life is war? One of the things that Piper said in that sermon that struck me was an illustration. His sermon was about prayer. And if you work your way through the whole armor of God, you get to the end, and he drops the metaphor. He speaks of the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. He defines the sword of the Spirit, the metaphor, as the Word of God. But then he says, pray! That comes next. There's no metaphor. He's directly saying, praying. This is what you do. You pray. And so the title of the sermon was Prayer, the Work of Foreign Missions, the Power of Prayer. Of course, I plagiarized his, but I gave him credit, so I don't guess it's plagiarism. I stole his title when I preached Ephesians 6, and I entitled it Prayer, the Work of Home Missions. You see, I changed the word from just missions. I added a word. Home missions is the regional home missionary. But one of the things he said is the reason why prayer doesn't work in the evangelical church today. Of course, this was in the age of naming claimant, you know, and the prosperity gospel and all of this and broad evangelicalism. He said, the reason why prayer doesn't work is because we don't recognize this is a wartime mechanism. Prayer is like a walkie-talkie that you have in the midst of the battle. We are calling down from heaven his power to attack here as we go on the advance. He said, no, we view it as peacetime. The illustration that he used, he said, it's like we're on a luxury yacht and prayer is the intercom system whereby we ring up the maid to ask for another pillow. That sounds provocative. That sounds... That's true. Life is war. It just is. The church here is the church that's at war with Satan, with the world, and with ourselves, as we saw this morning, and our need to die. to ourselves and to live for Christ. This is not the first time Satan has come after the church. And I'm making no accusations. I'm pointing no fingers whatsoever. You just know that Satan has worked. It's not the first time Satan's come against this church. It won't be the last time that Satan comes against this church. We are in the church militant. But we can't lose, because Jesus is praying for you. We can't lose, because He's already won. And he has his purposes. Remember what Ervon said, he's the Lord's devil. Yes, even in the devil's attacks, God has his purposes. The devil means it for evil. God intends it for good. He's doing a work. It's hard, it's painful, it hurts, but he's doing a work. Open your eyes and look to Jesus and let's see what God is going to do. Satan has not won. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your word. Father, we know that we have an enemy, but a defeated foe because of the Lord Jesus Christ's death, burial, and resurrection. That we cannot stand alone, that we stand in you. You are invincible. You are our shield. You are her fortress. Nothing surprises you. You have purpose in everything you do, even in what we see as frowning providences. Even if it is to bring us to repentance. to flee to you. We pray in the name of our Lord and Savior, our champion, the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Let's take the Trinity Hymnal and let's sing one of the great war hymns, A Mighty Fortress Is Our God, by Martin Luther, hymn number 81. Hymn number 81, A Mighty Fortress Is Our God. Let's stand together to sing.