11-Your Adversary, the Devil - Pursued by a Roaring Lion
1 Peter 5:1-11
The Apostle Peter, as a faithful shepherd, was preparing his sheep for
the kind of life that they would have to live from day to day. It was a
difficult life, for the Gospel was not acceptable in the society in which
they moved. Religiously, men were self-satisfied and looked down on this
which threatened to overthrow the old established religions in which they
had been brought up. Politically, Christianity was not acceptable because
it looked forward to the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ who as King of
kings and Lord of lords would set up a kingdom and would subject all
nations to His own authority. Economically, those who were in the
Christian church were suffering privation and hunger because they had
left the established system.
The Apostle Peter, in view of these problems, wrote his first Epistle to
enable these scattered, suffering believers to survive their persecution.
Having dealt first with what seemed to be the most extreme forms of
persecution, he speaks of the greatest persecution from the greatest
persecutor, that is from Satan himself. He concludes this little epistle
as a faithful shepherd, "Be sober, be vigilant because your adversary the
devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom he may devour" (1
Peter 5:8). The admonition that Peter gives is in four words; Be sober,
be vigilant.
Sobriety, in Scripture, has little, if anything, to do with the use of
alcoholic beverages. Sobriety has to do with a serious attitude of the
mind. It has to do with an outlook on life. Sobriety sees things in their
true light. One who is serious- minded sees things in their true nature,
because he has a scriptural set of values and is living in the light of
those new principles that have been given to him by Jesus Christ. An
individual who takes no cognizance of the nature or character of the
world, one who is unmindful of the purposes and the attacks of our
adversary, the Devil, can afford to live in a lighthearted or flippant
way. But for one who sees life as Jesus Christ sees it, there must be an
entirely new attitude, an entirely new outlook characterized by sobriety.
But in addition to this serious-minded attitude, the believer is to be
vigilant. Vigilant means to watch carefully, to look around. One becomes
vigilant when he recognizes the presence of an enemy or an adversary.
Whereas sobriety deals with his internal attitude, vigilance deals with
the external defense. This new attitude within is necessary because of
the attack from without. So the child of God must recognize that he is
living in the midst of an hostile enemy, that he is surrounded by an
unseen adversary seeking to destroy him. He knows he must make his way
through a morass where there is ample opportunity for the adversary to
hide, where there is abundant opportunity for ambush. It is inconceivable
that our men in Vietnam could make a foray into enemy territory without
exercising vigilance and serious-mindedness. Having seen a buddy
destroyed by the adversary's bullets would produce a serious-mindedness.
The consciousness that behind every bush might lurk an enemy who already
has one in his gunsight would produce vigilance. A man would be an utter
idiot to go into armed combat with any other attitude or outlook. And yet
how many of us as God's children treat life as though it were a Sunday
school picnic at which we make our way to the table to get a drink of
pink lemonade!
Peter, after commanding us to be sober and vigilant, tells us why this is
necessary. "Your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion walketh about
seeking whom he may devour." When Peter uses the pronoun your, he is
addressing believers. Satan is not the adversary of those who are already
in his family. He is the adversary of those who have been born out of any
relationship to him by faith in Jesus Christ. He is speaking of those who
once were subject to Satan as their father, their dictator, their lord,
their god. Now, having come to know the Lord Jesus Christ, they have
recognized that Christ has a greater authority, that His right to be
obeyed supercedes the demands of Satan. They have recognized the lie of
Satan for what it is and they have received the truth that is in Jesus
Christ. Because they have repudiated him and by faith have received Jesus
Christ as Saviour and Lord, they have incensed and antagonized Satan.
Satan does not release his subjects willingly or easily. The very fact
that one is snatched as a brand out of the burning and becomes a child of
God unleashes all of the wrath of hell against him because he is now an
insult to Satan. Because you have received Jesus Christ you have
antagonized Satan and made an adversary out of him. There is no
neutrality in Satan's attitude toward you, and you would be satanically
deceived if you think that Satan does not care what you do now that you
are no longer his. You personally are willing to let someone else's
children alone, for you have enough problems with your own. That is not
the attitude of Satan. He lets his own alone and traffics with God's
children. As soon as you become the child of God then Satan becomes your
adversary.
Satan is not omnipresent. God is omnipresent, and God the Father, Son,
and Holy Spirit can give personal attention to you as though you were the
only creature existing on the face of the earth. The infinite love,
attention, interest, care, and provision of God is directed to you. But
Satan is not omnipresent. How then can he give you so much trouble? Satan
is an organizer and he has things well- organized in his kingdom. He had
a good pattern to follow. Even though God is omnipotent, omnipresent and
omniscient, God administers the affairs of His kingdom through created
beings, angels. God sovereignly assigns to each one who shall be an heir
of salvation a guardian angel. It works well, for God's angels in perfect
obedience fulfill the will of God, so that none whom God has chosen to
salvation are ever lost.
When Lucifer rebelled against God he took with him an innumerable host of
angels who gave to him the authority that rightly belonged to God. They
acknowledged him as god and submitted to him. Satan imitates God's plan
of administration, and carries out his diabolical plans through these
fallen angels, the demons. Although Satan cannot be personally present
with you, yet through his demons, he can exercise authority over you, and
he can order the demons in subjection to him to do what he wants to
accomplish in your life. Satan will not let his demons relax their attack
against you day or night. In unseen but constant warfare, the adversary
openly attacks the believer to divert him from the path of obedience to
the Word of God.
This attack of Satan is emphasized when the Apostle says, "Your adversary
walketh about." This word is in the present tense and you wouldn't be
amiss in reading, "Your adversary, the Devil, constantly walks about, or
constantly stalks." Satan never relaxes. You sleep. He doesn't; he is
planning for the next day's attack. You sit in church. So does Satan. He
doesn't leave you alone. He doesn't stay outside; he is there to attack
and to divert and to snatch away the Word that is being sown.
The Apostle uses a graphic picture to try to convey to us Satan's
ceaseless and destructive activity, the figure of a lion. The lion, who
stalks the prey driven by hunger, is not stalking it to admire the
beautiful coat, the grace with which the animal moves; the lion stalks
because it is bent upon the destruction of that which it has chosen as
its prey. Satan is pictured here as a roaring lion that stalks. "Roaring"
lion suggests that Satan considers he has already conquered his prey. No
lion stalking its prey announces the fact by roaring. The lion does not
emerge from sleep, go out into the plain driven by hunger where animals
are grazing and announce to them that he is on the prowl. It moves with
swiftness and silence; it strikes and destroys the prey and then roars.
That roar does two things. First of all it is a note of triumph in which
the lion trumpets out his conquest. Because the lion is cowardly, it is
also a warning to any other animals to stay away while he enjoys the
fruits of the kill.
It is important for us to relate these things to Satan. We think that
Satan will roar like a gentleman to announce that he is in the area and
that, after he tells us what he is up to, then we can look for cover. We
have been deceived into thinking we can take time to get on our armament
and prepare to meet him. How Satan has deceived us about his method of
operation! Satan is not going to reveal his presence to you until he can
roar in triumph. When Satan roars he is not roaring to announce to you
that he has destroyed you. You already know that. After he has destroyed
or overthrown the child of God, he roars in defiance against Almighty
God, to challenge Him to do something about the devastation that he has
wrought. When Lucifer first rebelled he said, "I will exalt my throne
above the stars of God. I will be like the most High." When Satan leads
some of God's children into sin he roars to defy God because he thinks
that he has brought himself one step closer to his goal to remove God
from His throne and to rule over God's universe.
Scripture gives a number of illustrations of how Satan as a roaring lion
does go about seeking whom he may devour. Look first of all into 2 Samuel
11, the record of David's sin. Notice how Satan operated here to observe
the principle, how he stealthily, quietly, destroyed. Verse 1 tells us
that this incident took place at the time when kings went forth to
battle. God had given David singular victories in battle. Under David's
reign the boundaries of Israel were extended to their widest sphere in
history. These were God's victories, and this obviously was a time of
God's blessing on David. Because David sensed God's blessing and was
conscious of God's presence with him, he did not watch with sobriety. In
the second verse we are told, "And it came to pass at evening time that
David arose from off his bed, and walked upon the roof of the king's
house." It would seem to suggest that David had retired for the night. He
had received reports of the victories in battle. He had gone to bed
satisfied that God's hand was still upon him in blessing. For some reason
or another David was sleepless. Perhaps it was because of the heat, for
when David arose he went to the housetop. If any breeze were stirring at
all it would be up there. He went alone to be cooled by the breeze.
It seemed such a natural thing to do, a time when a man could relax. He
was not anticipating sin. But as he walked on the roof he saw a beautiful
woman washing her self. He sent for her and fell into sin. Did David plan
this? No. Did he anticipate it? No. Was there something that David had
done wrong that led up to this? No. But Satan was there as an adversary
stealthily stalking the child of God, and David fell before the
temptation and committed a sin that brought reproach upon himself and
upon his God. When David least expected it, an opportunity was afforded
Satan to pounce, and he did so because David was not sober and watchful.
Consider another incident. In Luke 22:31, our Lord said, "Simon, Simon,
behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat:
But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not. ." These words
follow almost immediately upon one of the most precious experiences that
the disciples had had with their Lord.
Christ had had the disciples prepare the Passover, that memorial that
looked back to deliverance out of Egypt and looked ahead to the remission
of sins as it would be provided by the Messiah who would give Himself as
the sacrificial Lamb. After the Passover supper, as we read in John
chapters 14, 15 and 16, our Lord had bared His heart and shared His
feelings with the disciples. He had instructed them of the new intimacy
into which they would be brought with Him following His death and
resurrection. Our Lord had reached out and had drawn these men intimately
into His own heart. They were occupied with Him. His words filled their
minds and His love filled their hearts. Yet, our Lord said, "Peter, Satan
is right here and he desires to sift you as wheat." Our Lord made His way
out to the garden; thrice He bowed before the Father and prayed, "Not my
will, but thine be done." But His time of intimacy with the Father was
terminated by the band of soldiers who took Christ before the presence of
the High Priest. Everyone's attention was focused upon these two figures,
the High Priest in his beautiful garments, and the Lord Jesus Christ who
stood there to be tried by the priest. Everyone was listening to the
dialog between Christ and the priest.
Who was paying any attention to Peter out there in the dark alongside the
fire? Satan was not paying the least bit of attention to what the priest
was saying or what Christ was saying. Satan's attention was focused upon
Peter. We read in Luke 22:54, "Peter followed afar off. And when they had
kindled a fire in the midst of the hall, and were set down together,
Peter sat down among them. But a certain maid beheld him as he sat by the
fire, and earnestly looked upon him, and said, This man was also with
him. And he denied him, saying, Woman, I know him not." Almost
immediately after the time of Peter's richest blessing with Christ in the
Upper Room comes this denial. Why? Because Peter was not sober and
vigilant. Satan was looking for opportunity, and, finding that
opportunity, he pounced.
We find the principle again in. Acts chapter 5. In Acts 4:32-37 a band of
believers who had been excommunicated from the temple met together. They
put all their possessions into a common treasury, and each man's needs
were met out of that treasury. They were enjoying an intimacy of
fellowship, for they were driven together for mutual support because of
the persecution from the unbelieving religious and political world, It
would seem that if ever there were a group that would be sober and
vigilant it would be that little group. Yet we read that Ananias sold a
possession and "kept back part of the price, his wife also being privy to
it, and brought a certain part, and laid it at the apostles' feet. But
Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy
Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land?" Judgment fell
upon Ananias and a little while later upon his wife, Sapphira. Why?
Because Satan had been watching for an opportunity, and when he found it
he pounced and then roared his defiance in the face of God.
Sin is not necessarily the result of a premeditated plan. Sin often comes
to a believer because the believer was not serious minded, recognizing
the nature of the conflict, and vigilant. He gave Satan an opportunity
and Satan took the opportunity and used it to defeat the child of God in
his Christian life.
The Apostle recognizes this danger in Ephesians 4:27 when he gives the
command, "Neither give place to the devil." In 2 Corinthians 2:10, 11
Paul says, "To whom ye forgive any thing, I forgive also: for if I
forgave anything, to whom I forgave it, for your sakes forgave I it in
the person of Christ; Lest Satan should get an advantage of us. ." The
word advantage means a toe hold. One scaling a mountain does not need a
road to get to the top. A skilled mountain climber can make his way on
the ice fields and up sheer granite walls if he can get or make as much
as a toe hold. He doesn't take a bulldozer and bulldoze a road to the
top. Give him a toehold and he can ascend the highest mountain. We
somehow have felt that unless we provide Satan a four-lane paved
super-highway he can't attack us or overcome us or defeat us. Peter
didn't believe that; nor did Paul. Paul was afraid that Satan would get
an advantage by getting a toe hold. In a military maneuver all that is
needed is a beachhead. From that beachhead the army can launch a
successful attack.
Satan is looking for a beachhead and if he can establish a toehold or a
beachhead in your life, he can destroy you. Satan can establish a
beachhead by causing you to doubt. If you begin to doubt the authority of
the Word of God, you have given Satan a beachhead upon which he can
launch a campaign that will overthrow your faith. You don't have to throw
the Bible away; just harbor a single doubt about the truth that is
revealed in the book and you have given Satan a beachhead to destroy your
faith. He doesn't have to get you to deny the holiness and the
righteousness of God to pervert your conduct. All he has to do is get you
to turn the least bit from the path of perfect obedience to God and he,
from that beachhead, can destroy a life.
The apostles recognized this danger; they recognized there is never a
moment, day or night, day in and day out, when your footsteps are not
being pursued by an adversary who is watching every move that you make.
The first time you provide him with a beachhead he will establish himself
on that beachhead and he will begin his work from it. But he cannot do it
unless you provide him the opportunity. He cannot overpower the defenses
of the Holy Spirit nor can Satan penetrate the armor that has been
provided through the Word of God as the Apostle outlines it in Ephesians.
You must give him the beachhead; you must give him the opportunity.
Peter was concerned that those who are facing persecution from the world,
from the government, from the established religion of the day, should
realize that those were not their real danger, nor were those systems the
real adversary. The real adversary was Satan who dogged every step, who
pursued them every moment of every day without fail, and who was watching
for the smallest opportunity in order that he might seize it. David gave
him an opportunity by taking a second look. Peter provided him a toehold
by being afraid. Ananias gave him a beachhead by harboring greed and
fostering a lie. Those who provided him the opportunity found out that he
was ready to occupy the territory.
If you would stand against your adversary, you must be serious minded,
that is recognizing the nature of the conflict in which you are engaged.
You must be watchful, recognizing that Satan is dogging your steps every
moment you live. You must maintain an unbroken dependence upon the Spirit
of God. You must use the armor that God has provided that you might be
able to stand against the fiery darts of the wicked one. Therefore,
because of the nature of our adversary, be sober, be vigilant.
Pentecost, J. D. (1997). Your adversary, the Devil. Originally published:
Grand Rapids, MI : Zondervan, 1969. (93). Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel.
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