The last eight verses of Peter’s first letter contain a warning, an encouragement and a promise. The whole letter was written to encourage Christians who were going through hard times, especially from the brutal persecution of the Roman Empire under Emperor Nero. Peter began by reminding his readers of the wonderful salvation they have received in Jesus, born again into a living hope and with a glorious and imperishable inheritance waiting in heaven for us all.
The apostle has reminded his readers that all Christians are called to follow in the footsteps of Christ who himself suffered so that we can be saved, the spotless lamb of God who redeems us by his death on the cross. So together Christians are being built up into God’s new temple which has Christ himself as the cornerstone. We are a chosen people, royal priests, a holy nation and God’s special possession. So God calls us to live holy lives, to be holy as God himself is holy, to turn our backs on sin and to love and serve each other. Which brought us to the wonderful verses we thought about last time.
1 Peter 5:5 … ‘God opposes the proud but shows favour to the humble.’
6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. 7 Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.
What marvellous verses! God will lift us up in due time. He does care for us. So we can cast all our anxiety on him. Wonderful promises which have been so precious to Christians throughout the centuries in times of trouble. Promises I am sure our brothers and sisters in Afghanistan will be clinging to in these terrible days, and I know we will be wanting to hold them up in prayer too. And these promises are also for us whatever difficulties we may be facing. 7 Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.
But this brings Peter to a solemn warning
1 Peter 5 8 Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.
Twice before Peter has instructed his readers to remain alert. Vigilant. On watch. On guard. And also fully sober, always in control. Some versions say, “be disciplined”. But why do we need to be alert and of sober mind? Because
Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.
Here is a warning we cannot afford to ignore. We must never underestimate how dangerous an enemy the devil is to Christians. As dangerous as any ferocious lion. The devil is always looking for opportunities to lead Christians into temptation and drag us away from God. Peter has already listed a number of the kinds of sins which we must be on guard against.
1 Peter 2:1 Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind.
1 Peter 2 11 Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul.
All of us are in a continual battle against the sinful desires which used to control our lives. We need to be on our guard against drifting back into our old evil ways.
1 Peter 4 3 For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do—living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry.
There are so many forms of sin which the world around don’t even recognize are wrong nowadays. Those are just a very few of the temptations that the devil tries to use to lure Christians away from God. We need to watch out that we don’t get led astray.
1 Peter 5 8 Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.
At the same time, I think we miss the major point of this warning if we generalize it to refer to all kinds of temptation. Remember the context of the preceding verses.
1 Peter 5:5 … ‘God opposes the proud but shows favour to the humble.’
6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.
Peter thinks it is important to urge Christians to be humble and so it is reasonable to suppose that one of the great sins he is warning them against is pride. It was his pride which led the devil to be thrown out of heaven. Pride will lead Christians to trust in themselves instead of in God. Pride takes many forms – what A.W.Tozer so memorably calls “the fine threads of the self life, the hyphenated sins of the human spirit … the self sins: self-sufficiency, self-pity, self-absorption,… self-deception, self-exaltation, self-indulgence.”
It is pride of self-reliance which lets us think we can manage in our own strength and without God’s help. It is pride which stops us from humbling ourselves under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift (us) up in due time. So when Peter warns Christians about their enemy the devil on the prowl looking to devour them I think one sin he wants us particularly to watch out for is pride
But then we should also remember the broader context of the whole letter, encouraging Christians to stand firm in times of trouble. So I think that the other great danger Peter is warning against here is that Christians might give up under pressure and abandon their faith.
1 Peter 5:8 … Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 9 Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings.
The encouragement here is simply to stand firm! To stay strong and steadfast in your faith when difficulties come along. Not to be discouraged and downhearted and just give up. Peter is reminding his readers that they are not the only ones suffering persecution. Every Christian goes through hard times and the devil loves to use those times of trouble to drag believers away from God. We just need to stand firm and hang on in there. And once we have recognized the danger which our enemy presents as he prowls around like a lion, the secret of dealing with the devil is simple.
9 Resist him, standing firm in the faith,
Resist the devil. Stand up to him. Refuse to give in to him.
The Letter of James chapter 4 verse 7 says exactly the same thing. Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
When suffering and discouragement and doubt comes we just have to resist the devil, to stand firm in our faith. There will be battles but if we just trust God and stand up to the devil we will be able to keep on going. And that is all that God expects us to do. Just keep on standing.
We saw the same thing when we looked at Paul’s letter to the Ephesians last year.
Ephesians 6 10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armour of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore put on the full armour of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.
All the hard times we go through as Christians are just a tiny part of a cosmic battle against the devil and all the powers of evil. Sometimes it can be very hard. We may feel that we are barely holding on. But that is all that God asks of us. All that God asks is that we take our stand, and stand our ground. Spurgeon once said, “by perseverance the snail reached the ark.” God simply calls on Christians to persevere. Never stop trying and never try stopping. To keep on standing.
The Message translates 1 Peter 5:9 like this.
Message Keep your guard up. You’re not the only ones plunged into these hard times. It’s the same with Christians all over the world. So keep a firm grip on the faith. The suffering won’t last forever.
Resist the devil. There are a number of things we can do to help us stand up against the devil. The first is to immerse ourselves in the Word of God, the Bible. In the wilderness the devil put Jesus to the test by misquoting scripture to him. The devil tried to tempt Jesus to turn stones to bread, or to jump from the pinnacle of the temple and rely on angels to save him. Jesus responded to those temptations by quoting the Bible. “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God. So knowing our Bibles will help us stand up to the devil and not to be deceived by all his lies. We can also rely on the power of the Holy Spirit to help us resist the devil and prayer will help us draw on God’s strength. 1 Peter 4:7 says …. be alert and of sober mind so that you may pray. And Paul says in Ephesians 6 11 Put on the full armour of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. As well as the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God, we should put on the belt of truth and the breastplate of righteousness, gospel shoes and the shield of faith, and the helmet of salvation
Resist the devil, standing firm in your faith. And here is God’s wonderful promise when we do that.
10 And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. 11 To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen.
We don’t need to win the battles ourselves. We never could do. Peter describes God as “the God of all grace”. John Stott defined grace as God’s “love which cares and stoops and rescues” us. God’s grace is sufficient for all our weakness. We can rely on the God of all grace, the God who will supply all our needs and give us the strength to cope with anything the world or the devil can throw at us.
God has called us to share in his eternal glory in Christ. That is our destiny and our inheritance! And so he will make absolutely certain that we reach that glory. So God himself will restore us. He will make us strong, firm and steadfast. His love will never let us go. As the New Revised Standard Version puts it,
the God of all grace … will himself restore, support, strengthen, and establish you.
We have God’s promise of that!
11 To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen.
God’s eternal and almighty power is more than enough to help us through whatever difficulties or challenges we may be facing.
If you need him to help you resist the devil and stand firm in your faith, you only need to ask him.
6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. 7 Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.
If you need the God of all grace to restore and support and strengthen and establish you this morning, just put your trust in him and ask.
Message Keep a cool head. Stay alert. The Devil is poised to pounce, and would like nothing better than to catch you napping. Keep your guard up. You’re not the only ones plunged into these hard times. It’s the same with Christians all over the world. So keep a firm grip on the faith. The suffering won’t last forever. It won’t be long before this generous God who has great plans for us in Christ—eternal and glorious plans they are!—will have you put together and on your feet for good.

May the God of all grace help us all to resist the devil and to stand firm in our faith!