It starts off as a subtle, distant, almost cruel sound. (Play – Sound 1) A low growl that begins to set your mind ill at ease. You hear it (Play – Sound 1) and recognize the source, and a sinking feeling in your gut begins to form. Your body grows cold, your heart beats faster, fear begins to grip your every sense, and your mind begins to race as the growl becomes a roar (Play – Sound 2).

Have you ever been there? Has the liar ever roared at you?

This past January, when my third son Corban was stillborn, I heard the Devil roar more loudly in my life than I have heard in a long long time. I guess, Malcolm, you just didn’t pray hard enough (Play – Sound 2). You probably deserved this because of some sin in your life (Play – Sound 2). Why are you leaning on God, for those that God really loves these kinds of things don’t happen. You sure you’re one of his (Play – Sound 2)? The temptation was to give in to despair, to forsake what I believed, to call it quits.

Has the devil ever roared into your life? Your situation may not sound like what I experienced, but I suspect many of you have heard his roar. Don’t you know God knows everything – he’ll never forgive you for what you’ve done (Play – Sound 2). You’re divorced, God won’t use you (Play – Sound 2). You we’re an alcoholic and can’t be depended on remember? You cheated on a test in class once, you can’t ever be trusted. What makes you think God cares about your small, insignificant, trivial life (Play – Sound 2).

My brothers and sisters in Christ, we all need to be reminded that the Devil is nothing more than a lying liar who lies. The Devil has one singular purpose when it comes to believers in Jesus Christ – convince them to deny the God they trust and walk away from the truth of their faith.

As we’ve walked through Peter’s letter we’ve talked about obedient disciples of Jesus Christ living a gospel lifestyle, a lifestyle that practically and tangibly lives out the teachings of Jesus Christ, through the power of Jesus Christ, for the glory of Jesus Christ in everything we do, in all of the relationships and interactions of our lives. In 1 Peter 2:12 we learned that we need to, “Live such good lives among the pagans (among those who do not know the gospel or believe the gospel) that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.”

Peter has been teaching us about the importance of disciples of Jesus Christ remaining faithful and obedient to God, in all things so that we will in no way damage the cause of Christ.

This morning, Peter is again reminding us of the call for individuals to commit themselves to being Christian disciples, by growing in their obedience to God, and making an impact on the world through their lives.

In verse 8, Peter writes, “Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith”.

When the liar roars, when Satan comes out against the disciples of Jesus Christ, we don’t need to succumb to the weight of our anxieties, we don’t need to cower in fear, we do not need to hope we have not been abandoned and left alone. Peter commands us to resist the Devil and stand firm in the faith. So how do we do this, how do we stand up to the devil and not be deceived and beaten into denying our Lord and walking away from our faith?

This morning we are going to look at 3 rules for resisting our enemy the Devil and standing firm in the faith.

Please turn with me to 1 Peter 5:6-11 (page 1203 in the Sanctuary Bible).

Before we begin we need to define what Peter means to be self-controlled and alert in verse 8. Being self-controlled means to pull yourself together. When the liar roars the natural tendency is flight. Peter is calling us to stand our ground. Being alert means to be vigilant, to be prepared, in this case prepared to fight.

So how do we resist our enemy the Devil and stand firm in the faith?

Rule #1: Humbly trust God. Verses 6 and 7 say, “Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him (on God) because he cares for you.”

Biblical humility is all about trust. Are you going to trust God or trust your-self? Humility is always contrasted with pride because pride is about what – self-reliance. And understand this, when the Bible condemns pride it does not condemn being pleased with your self because you have accomplished something, whether that accomplishment be significant or not. The Bible does not condemn someone because they sing beautifully, or paint masterfully, build awe-inspiring structures, or work hard at something. Using your gifts and talents for God is celebrated in the Bible and highly encouraged.

What the Bible condemns with regard to pride is when pride is self-centered, self-reliant, thinking that we can be all-sufficient in ourselves. This is what the Bible condemns and this is what the Bible is contrasting the humble person with.

Being biblically humble means I am going to trust. I am a humble person when I trust that my wife is going to be faithful to me. My wife is a humble person when she trusts that I will do the projects around the house that I said I would do. For me to constantly keep tabs on my wife is not trust, it’s pride. For my wife to constantly nag isn’t “motivation” it’s pride. This is what Peter means when he tells us to cast our anxiety on God, to cast our worry on God. Why are we to do that, because anxiety/worry is just another form of pride, another way for us to become the center of the world and seek to control whatever difficult circumstance we may find ourselves in.

When the liar roars, we need to be willing to hand over our anxiety and worry, our control of the situation to God and trust him.

When Peter tells us to humble ourselves under God’s mighty hand he is reminding us of the Israelites Exodus, their fleeing the fierce, tyrannical rule of the Egyptian Pharaoh.

Can you imagine the attitude of humility, the trust that was necessary as Israel stood with Pharaoh and his seemingly unstoppable army at their backs, and the vast Red Sea in front of them. And then God says, “OK, check it out. I’m gonna split the sea in front of you in half and your gonna walk through it to safety on the other side. OK, ready?” I mean can you imagine the trust God is asking for. But he is only asking for that kind of trust because only he can deliver on it.

What Peter wants you and I to see is that the God who watched over Israel and protected them from Pharaoh’s wrath, leading them safely through the Red Sea, is the same God, when the Devil roars in your life, will watch over and protect you. The question is never can we trust God when the Devil roars in our lives, but rather WILL we trust God, when the Devil roars, to guide us through the difficulties, challenges, and sufferings we might face?

Rule #1 for resisting the Devil, and standing firm in your faith – Humbly trust God.

Rule #2 is this: Identify the Devil’s lies.

Rule #2 is not implicit in our verses here in first Peter, but the bible speaks to the necessity of identifying the Devil’s lies if we want to be able to resist him and stand firm in our faith. So how do we do this?

Peter tells us earlier in his letter that we are to walk in the steps of Jesus, to not only walk near him, but to walk in his very steps, mimicking his actions so as to be come like him. If disciples want to be like their master, is there anything we can learn from Jesus that will help us to identify the Devil’s lies.

Turn in your bibles to Matthew 4 (page 957 in sanctuary bible).

Verse 1, “Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. 2 After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” Is the Devil roaring at Jesus? Sure he is.

“Jesus, you’re hungry aren’t you? You say you are God’s son, come on now, show me, make these stones bread, oh Creator of the Universe.”

Jesus identifies the Devil’s lie in verse 4 saying, “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”

So the Devil tries again, verse 5, “Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. 6 “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written: “‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’” Again, is the Devil roaring? You bet.

“Jesus, your daddy says that he will take care of you no matter what.”

And again, Jesus identifies the Devil’s lie by saying in verse 7, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”

The Devil repeats his pattern and Jesus again identifies the lie and resists him and we read in Mt. 4:11, “The Devil left him, and angels came and attended him.” Jesus successfully resisted the Devil and stood firm in the faith. Why? What’s the common denominator here? How is it that Jesus was able to resist the Devil and identify his lies? Jesus knew God’s word.

You and I will be able to identify the Devil’s lies when we know the Word of God – reading it, memorizing it, meditating upon it, studying it. When Jesus hears the liar roar, Jesus draws upon a life that was fully immersed in God’s word to remind the Devil, and to remind himself, of the truth that is found in God’s word.

Likewise, when the Devil roars in your life, when the Devil roars in mine, it is God’s word that will help us to identify the lies, resist the Devil, and stand firm in our faith.

So, Rule #1: Humbly trust God.

Rule #2: Identify the Devil’s lies.

And finally, Rule #3 for resisting the Devil and standing firm in the faith: Don’t fight alone.

Look again at 1 Peter 5 verse 9, “Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.”

Do you know who the most successful hunters are in the animal kingdom? Those who hunt together. Do you know why they are successful in catching their prey? They isolate.

The Devil as the roaring lion works much the same way. He is well aware that all of us are stronger than one of us. Therefore, when the liar roars in our lives, his tactic is to convince us that we are all alone, that no one else understands, that no one else has ever gone through what you are going through, that no one cares. The Devil tempts us to isolation, to turning into ourselves, to fighting off his roar all alone. Why? Because it is in isolation that his relentless roaring can cause us to forget and finally abandon rules 1 and 2.

When I am isolated it becomes harder and harder to identify the Devil’s lies and focus myself on God’s word. When I loose focus of God’s word I give over to my worry and anxiety, and trust in myself rather than humbly trust God.

The Devil knows this, and as he roars into your life, he will roar with the goal of isolating you for the kill.

Peter cries out in reminder to resist the Devil, to stand firm in your faith you need others, your need your community of believers. You need your church, you need your fellow brothers and sisters in Christ to point your trust back towards God when you want to trust your self. You need your brothers and sisters in Christ to speak the truths of God’s word to you, when it seems you can no longer believe them.

Just last week, on speaking about the commitments a disciple makes, Pastor Sam spoke about the commitment a disciple makes to a local church. We are not designed to be reclusive but are designed for relationship. We need each other. I can’t possibly make it through this life by myself with the Devil roaring. And neither can you.

Instead of trying to fight alone and isolated, Peter says you are not alone. The Devil roars at believers throughout the world, take some comfort in knowing that you are not the only one. But more importantly, find comfort in being a part of a local church, a community of disciples of Jesus Christ that can remind you to trust God, and speak God’s truths to you from God’s word when you can’t find them yourself.

When the liar roars we are to resist him, standing firm in the faith. How?

Rule #1: Humbly trust God.

Rule #2: Identify the Devil’s lies.

Rule #3: Don’t fight alone.

“Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith”.

Let’s pray.