Published: August 23, 2026 | Speaker: Mark Freitag | Series: 1 Peter - Part 48 | Scripture: 1 Peter 5:8-9
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We're once again for the penultimate time I guess you would say in 1 Peter 5
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going to read from 5 through uh 1 Peter 5 through 11 but our focus will be on 8 and 9 this
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Peter writes you Likewise, be subject to your elders. In all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another. For God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.
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Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety upon him, because he cares for
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you. Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour, but resist him firm
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in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world. And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all
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grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself perfect, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To him be dominion forever and ever.
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Amen. Let us pray. Again, Father, we do ask that by your Holy Spirit, you would speak your words, your truth, your wisdom to our hearts.
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And as I take your word upon my lips this morning, that you would be pleased to teach, but also pleased to bring
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peace, bring understanding, bring a joy at the things that you have brought to us in Christ. And so I ask, Father, that
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you would be glorified, you would be honored, you would build your church. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.
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There are a few things that I find puzzling in these two verses 8 and nine. Uh not puzzling in how 8A might fit with 8b and and nine. As I said last week,
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there's there's um in the early Greek manuscripts, there was no connective. There was no because and some of your versions may have that where he says be
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of sober spirit. Be on the alert because your adversary the devil prowls about like a roaring lion. The later manuscripts include that. And I don't
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think they're wrong in doing that. There is this logical sense that flows from his imperatives. Be of sober spirit. be on the alert that because your adversary
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is a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. That's not what's so puzzling to me, but perhaps the word is a little baffling.
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Um perhaps it's just me. But the first of these four things that I think are puzzling are is the concept
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of a roaring lion seeking his prey. It it seems to be a nonsequator to me or maybe the word is oxymoron. A roaring
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lion does not usually alert his prey that he's coming. The lions generally do not roar when they're actively hunting.
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They rely on stealth. They rely on ambush. They especially the males, they they camouflage themselves in tall grass
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and they try to minimize the noise to avoid alerting the prey. The second thing is that
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we get I think two extremes when we think about the devil, Satan. We we either take him too lightly and we make him that cartoon man in the
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red wool suit always with the three forked spear and a got to have got to have the tail with the spiky on the end
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or we take him too seriously as if he was as powerful as God and he as if he were present everywhere at
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once. The third thing that kind of baffles me here is that Peter has not said a word to this point about forces of evil.
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He He's only done one little exception in chapter 2 where he contrast darkness with light. with light. He's unlike Jesus
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who in Luke 22 as the chief priests and elders were coming to arrest him in the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus says, "This hour and the power of darkness are
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yours." or Paul when he talks about in Ephesians 6 the forces the world forces of this darkness and the spiritual forces of
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wickedness or the writer to the Hebrews in his sermon chapter 2 he speaks of him who had the power of death that is the
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most difficult for me to understand is what one writer called a mysterious tension. the tension God
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to this point Peter has said he's using testing testing of us by suffering by persecution by those who treat us as we
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are resident aliens as strangers and are suspicious of us as that is our suffering. Chapter 4:E 16
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says, "If anyone suffers as a Christian, he is not to be ashamed, but is to glorify God in th this name. For it is the time for judgment to begin with the household of God. Therefore, those who
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who suffer according to the will of God shall entrust their souls to a faithful creator in doing what is right." And now the immediate threat is
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the devil. the devil. God is somehow using satanic threats of hostility. Yes. From society and from the
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government, especially in that time to prove his people. These difficult times of persecution and suffering coupled with
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the threats from the devil are all part of God's redemptive work and his will and his judgment on God's
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And the devil has a purpose. This metaphor of a roaring lion is a ancient rhetorical technique I'm given to understand. It's called
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ecphrases. And the idea is to aid the reader's memory and and to to give them this picture in their brain of this object, this roaring lion
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roaming about seeking whom he may devour. and powerfully motivate the readers to heed the warning that this metaphor brings as real danger.
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It is possible that if Peter's readers were immigrants from Rome that they would be familiar with the gladatorial competitions in the coliseum, implying images of games
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and of public executions in which they unleashed the lions.
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Peter seems to enjoy the imperatives of ADA. As I say from be of sober spirit, be on the alert. This spiritual sobriety, this watchfulness as necessary because
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of the threat of destruction implied in that imagery of the roaring lion. But I don't think the danger here is
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from martyrdom in the coliseum. It could have been for some, but I don't think that's the thrust of what Peter
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is writing here. And I don't think it's even the threat from suspicious neighbors. What is this religion? Why do you get up so early on Sunday to
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do what you do? or a government wary of people who claim especially in that day claim God who is
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not Caesar.
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Adversary comes from a word that means an opponent before a judge. It's a law term. opponent before a judge which makes sense because
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the definition of the devil diabolos is accuser. He is accusing us before God.
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Accuser before the throne of God's jud just justice. just justice. But our accuser is not after justice is he? He is at enmity with God and with all
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who serve and worship God. He's seeking to discredit God by destroying his people,
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God's works, God's works, by using yes, society, by using government, by using those who would come against us and also using
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what he's already warned us in the previous section previous section because of the intoxication due to our
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anxieties. that we leave ourselves in a place to be deceived. We leave ourselves in a place to be discredited.
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And as I say this word diabolos, devil, it means to throw over or a cross. So he is the accuser. He is the one who wants to divide us from God. He is the one who wants to bring charges
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against us. He is a slanderer. He misrepresents us and his desire is to deceive us.
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This dynamic existed in the garden of Eden. Satan confronted Adam and Eve. Eve with a temptation. You will be like God. Eve was deluded,
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but Adam failed. He failed to be sober. He failed to be watchful when the serpent, the devil, came to him. And he succumbed in such a tragic
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way, choosing in a sense to worship that which was not God.
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choosing to worship and serve the creature, the created being the things of this world rather than the creator. Yes, satan was given permission to prove
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Job to prove that Job was really on God's side
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and he stood firm or in Job's case he sat firm sat firm and that's actually what the word is in verse n verse n steadfast means to sit.
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The goal of the lion is to devour, desiring to annihilate Christians by assimilating them back into the evil ways of the world. Literally, the word is to drink down.
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Peter has already warned them. He's already listed in I think every chapter things that they are to avoid. Listen, chapter two, putting aside all
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malice and deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. Later in chapter 2, he says, abstain from fleshly lust which weighs war against the soul. First or
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chapter three, not returning evil for evil or insult for insult. Chapter four, it is past time for having pursued the course of the Gentiles, all these sensual things, all the idolatry, all
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the things that they represent.
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PJ Act writes this. It's a lengthy quote, but I think he captures the danger that is here. The opposition he says the Christians face from their non-Christian
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contemporaries is not something they can avoid by modifying their behavior or ad adapting their beliefs in such a way as to escape such o opposition
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only by completely abandoning the gospel and the community shaped by it. Only by submitting to satanic forces that stand in total opposition to God can they
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escape the persecutions they otherwise face. See, that's not just letting comments of society roll off
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your back or just saying, "Well, I'll I'll I'll go along to get along, but I really know what I'm about." It's different. The danger is real.
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The devil took Jesus up to the mountain, showed him all the kingdoms of the world. He He tried to get him to to bow down and worship him instead of his God. He He tried to get him to renounce
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God. He tried to get him to to self look at himself instead of God. The the devil is still in that
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occupation. He still takes people as it's as if he takes a man and he takes him on that high mountain. And he shows him the world. And he says, "Look at the wealth you could have. Look at the prestige you
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have. Look at the pleasures that you could have. Look at all this. You would be like God."
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things comes to the realization I am the master of my fate. I am the captain of my soul. And then the devil's minions, his evil
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spirits, his demons say, "Good one, sir. You got him. You devoured him. How did you do it?" And Satan says,
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"I just fed him the lie." And he couldn't resist. But that is not you. That is not you, beloved of the Lord.
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The roaring line. Yes, as I'm given to understand by reading some of the scientists or maybe I should have asked my resident wildlife biologists. But but lions may use sudden loud roars,
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particularly older lions who cannot chase as effectively. They create confusion. They they startle their prey. They cause them to freeze or to hesitate
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or to act unpredictably. And that momentary shock of hearing that voice of hearing that roar destroys or
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disrupts the praise natural escape responses increasing the chances of a successful capture. I think
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the devil is that old lion. He is not as effective, but he's still powerful in that way. He seeks to get us
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to be distracted. He distorts reality. And if Peter is still thinking of the shephering motif as he has in the beginning of chapter five, imagine the
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sheep in the pasture and the shepherd hearing that roar in the dead of night. It will be a sleepless night, will it not? It will be a restlessness. It will
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be a wondering. It will be
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because the devil's aim is to devour. His aim is to deceive. But that's why Peter can say be of sober spirit so that you will not be deceived.
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That you will see reality. He says be on the alert because the devil seeks to devour. be on the alert so that you will not be
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caught off guard. Resistance means an active engagement against a foe. And as one writer says,
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we are not called upon to do herculean acts on God's behalf. We're called to stand firm in faith and in the hope of God's care and his
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sustaining us until the end. It it may surp it surprise me. It may surprise you that there are some of the scholars who take verse 9 as a parenthesis, a parenthetical statement. And you know
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what parenthetical statements are? Is that you could take it out of the text and you can read seamlessly from verse 8 to verse 10 in this case.
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Your adversary, Your adversary, your accuser, the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. And he says, "And after you've suffered a little while,
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the God of all grace, the God of all grace himself will perfect, confirm, strengthen, and establish you." See, in in Peter's
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mind, and by the way, Peter failed to be on the be sober and on the alert his first time, didn't he? He let his
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himself be deceived. This battle will continue until Christ's return. But believers have regained
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power to stand to stand firm as he says against the accuser. He he he is that opponent in that court
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of law. And what does John the Apostle say? But we have an advocate with the father, Jesus Christ the righteous. We have a
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defense attorney against this demonic prosecuting attorney and his name is Jesus Christ our Lord.
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But even and again I think I told my wife I I'm talking about the devil. I'm talking about Satan. talking about something that is a power
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and I feel out of my depth and yet I think what Peter is doing is an encouragement. an encouragement. It's not a fear. We don't cower from this devil because even the deceiver,
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the devil, Satan himself, no longer is able to accuse the elect in the presence of God. of God. He's confined to the earth and he is not
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omnisient. He doesn't know everything. He's not omnipresent. He has to walk around and he's not
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omni omnipotent. His power is limited. And I think in the words of one of the commentators, I agree, he is a tethered
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lion. In 1 Corinthians 10, Paul writes this, "Therefore, let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall. No temptation has overtaken you, but
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such is common to man. God is faithful who will not allow you to be tempted beyond beyond what you are able but with the temptation will provide the way of
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escape also so that you will be able to endure it. Remember a roaring lion a creature
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bound to earth limited this tethered lion. Who did he meet? He met the lion of the tribe of Judah.
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Satan had this claim in Matthew chapter 4 when he when he met Jesus and it shows you how how arrogant he is and how he thinks of himself that he can has
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control of the kingdoms of the world. Listen what Matthew wrote. The devil took Jesus to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to Jesus,
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"All these things I will give you if you fall down and worship me." But we know the end of the story, do don't we not?
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Because Jesus has a counter claim in Matthew 28. Matthew 28. When the disciples saw him after his resurrection, they worshiped him. But
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some were doubtful. Matthew says, "And Jesus came up to them and spoke to them, saying, All authority has been given to me
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in heaven and on earth.
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Peter has given us our purpose in life in chapter 2:9. You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession. It It's an echo
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from Exodus chapter 19. After God brought the people out of Egypt with his mighty arm, mighty arm, he said to them, "You shall be to me a
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kingdom of priests." And T Wright says that kingdom of priests has those two parts together. He
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says priests are the summing up of the praises of creation before the creator. That's our worship of him. But that royalty part, that royalty part, he says
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you are like angled mirrors. And that royalty part is you are reflecting God's wisdom and God's glory and God's justice to the world
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because you are servants and children of the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.
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And so the powers of darkness that had stolen the worshshiping hearts of the world and Israel gave in to that basic sin of idolatry. Worshiping and serving anything in the
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place of the one true God. But we we are made in the image of God. We are made to reflect God's wise
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authority in the world. We are made to sing the glad praises of the creator back to him.
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And you see that's that's the gospel. Yes, the gospel is Jesus has taken away the sin of the world,
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but it's not the sum of the gospel. And the gospel says that when I die, when what are we saying? When that time come, my eyes shall close in death. I
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will be with him wherever he is. But that's not the sum of the gospel. We have a lot of the gospel to live here
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before we get with him. And so Peter when he tells us, sorry, this is this is God's word is powerful.
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When he says, "You are a chosen race. You are a pro royal priesthood. You are a holy nation. You are a people for God's own possession." He adds, "That you may proclaim the
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excellencies of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light." That's who we are. We are to be that
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royal priesthood. royal priesthood. priesthood, showing and worshiping and drawing people to God's presence, but at the same time reflecting his
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glory and his power and his might to the world. And so Peter says,
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"Resist him firm have firm in your faith knowing that the same experience of sufferings are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world." The
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idea is steadfast, firm, unbending as regards the faith, solid like a foundation.
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Paul writes in 2 Timothy 2, "Nevertheless, the firm foundation of God's God stands having this seal. The Lord knows those who are his, and
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everyone who names the name of the Lord is to abstain from wickedness." See, it's not in our own power even to resist, but we have this seal. We stand
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on the foundation. Are we saying this morning, no storm can shake my inmost calm when I'm doing what? I'm to that rock I'm
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clinging. That's the solid foundation on which we stand. And he says, "Stand firm. It is a solid foundation. As long as you're standing on there, you're
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standing on firm ground." And and literally this phrase, this kind of confusing phrase, what does he mean? Knowing how to pay the same tax of
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suffering as the brotherhood in the world is paying. See, that's the idea behind these words is that knowing how to. It's not saying knowing that. And we
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can kind of stand here and say, "Yeah, I know that our brethren around the world, they got it a lot more than me." And he's saying, "Be prepared. Be sober. Be alert. Know how to
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stand firm. Know how to pay that same tax of suffering. It is it's the same kind of suffering. It's
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the same act of suffering. It may not be the same suffering, but it's of that kind. And here is the motivation for standing
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firm. It's as if he is saying you're not singled out, singled out, but you're not isolated and scattered as individuals either. You stand with a
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brotherhood. I like brotherhood better than brethren there. I it it's an idea of solidarity. of solidarity. These people have like hearts with you.
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there there is just that that kindred spirit if you will. You experience the same kind of opposition as they do. The threats you
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perceive, the persecution you may experience caused by what? By caused by your Christianity your Christianity is suffered by Christians throughout the
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world. It may look different, but it's of the same kind. And sufferings are signs, are they not?
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When we suffer, it's a sign that faith power is standing against evil. And it's a sign that our faith is not
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sustained by us, but by God's grace.
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brethren. It is that shared experience that seems to be and means so much more because we are truly understanding we are a family.
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Perhaps it's the image that the writer to the Hebrews has in chapter 12. Since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us run with
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endurance the race that is set before us. This is encouragement. This is strength for us. This Peter is lifting us up, not telling us
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to quake in fear at the roaring lion. And finally, first in first John, the apostle writes,
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apostle writes, "We know that no one who is begotten of God sins, but Jesus, who was begotten of God keeps him, and the evil one does not
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touch him." Let us pray. Our heavenly father, heavenly father, I ask
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I ask that we would walk in this encouragement, that we would walk and not faint, not fear, not fear, not let
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not let that roar distract us from the job that you have called us to do to represent you as a royal priesthood.
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We ask that you would build us up into that that we may be truly worthy of that calling. In Christ's name I pray. Amen.
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Would you please rise for the
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This is Paul in Romans chapter 8. Don't you just love chapter 8 of Romans? Who will bring a charge against God's elect? God is the one who justifies.
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Who is the one who condemns? Christ is he who died. Yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. And that is good
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news. Amen.