Resisting Evil
Download MP3Tonight's scripture reading begins in Luke 22 verses 24 through 34. 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 as one who serves. For who is the greater, one who reclines at table or one who serves?
Speaker 1:Is it not the one who reclines at table? But I am among you as the one who serves. You are those who have stayed with me in my trials, and I assigned to you, as 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.
Speaker 1:Jesus said, I tell you, Peter, the rooster will not crow this day until you deny 3 times that you know me.
Speaker 2:And now, Luke 2254 to 62. Then they seized him and led him away, bringing him into the high priest's house. And Peter was following at a distance. And when they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and sat down together, Peter sat down among them. Then a servant girl, seeing him as he sat in the light, and looking closely at him, said, this man also was with him.
Speaker 2:But he denied it, saying, woman, I do not know him. And a little later someone else saw him and said, you also are one of them. But Peter said, man, I am not. And after an interval of about an hour, still another insisted, saying, certainly this man also was with him, for he too is a Galilean. But Peter said, man, I do not know what you're talking about.
Speaker 2:And immediately, while he was still speaking, the rooster crowed. And the lord turned and looked at Peter, and Peter remembered the saying of the lord, how he had said to him, before the rooster crows today, you will deny me 3 times. And he went out and wept bitterly. This is the word of the lord.
Joel Brooks:Thanks be to god. If you would pray with me. Lord, we ask that you would honor the reading of your word, through the power of your spirit, you would write that on our hearts. And now through your spirit, we ask that you would teach us. Teach us about ourselves.
Joel Brooks:Teach us about you. Teach us about the gospel that unites us with you. God, I pray that my words would fall to the ground and blow away, and not be remembered anymore. But Lord, let your words remain, and may they change us. I pray this in the strong name of Jesus.
Joel Brooks:Amen. There are very few classes that I remember well at seminary. But there was a certain class that that I remember with such detail. I I can remember who was sitting on both sides of me. I remember what aisle I was on, the the the classroom I was in.
Joel Brooks:I remember everything about that. The Lord just just kinda pressed that in on me. My professor got up to introduce somebody to speak. We were having a guest speaker come in, which was unusual for us. And, and she gave him the most glowing introduction I've ever heard, about anybody.
Joel Brooks:She talked about how this was a person who is a a student of the word that, when he was actually a student under her, which which he was at one point, that she was so impressed with him. A matter of fact, he turned in a paper on the philosophy of ministry that she said that she still holds up as the standard for any paper she'd ever received, which make made me feel pretty bad as I turned in many papers to her. But she was like, this was this was the star pupil. And I was able to finally get him to come in and to talk to you guys. And, so he came in and, stood up and, you know, said hello and a little bit about himself.
Joel Brooks:He talked about how when he was done with seminary, he went to go work at a a normal church, stayed there for a few years, and then he felt god's call for him to go and plant a church, which he did. And and he said he kinda really wrestled with whether he should plan or not. It wasn't really his gifting. But God said, go. I'll gift you for this.
Joel Brooks:And God did. I mean, he went, and God just obviously gifted him, gifted his preaching and his teaching. And within just a a few short years, they went from about 5 or 6 people to over a1000. And finally, they were they were approaching the 15,021,000 people mark. And he said, you know, all this time I'd preach.
Joel Brooks:You know, I'd I'd see the fruit of that. I'd see fruit everywhere in the church. And when he was getting to this point, honestly, I kinda checked out. Because I've heard so many of those, you know, kind of just huge success stories in seminary. You kinda just get used to it, and you kinda zone out.
Joel Brooks:And I was starting to zone out at this point as he's talking about this, this huge success story he's had. And then after he said, you know, after being able to see all of this fruit in the ministry, god blessing my teachings, that all of this was happening as I was sleeping with another man's wife. It just got really quiet. And and you could hear a pin drop in there, and and he began to explain things. And he said, I want you to turn to Luke 22.
Joel Brooks:And we're gonna look at Luke 22, we're gonna look at Mark 14, we're gonna look at the life of Peter. And I I will always remember that lesson. Last week, we looked at the last supper of Jesus. And at this meal, and Jesus said, one of you is going to betray me. Verse 23 here says that they all began to question one another as to who this person could be.
Joel Brooks:I like Mark's account of the story, because Mark says they they were sorrowful. And they said, Jesus isn't me. Jesus isn't me. And and 1 by 1 they're going, Jesus isn't me? Am I gonna betray you?
Joel Brooks:They knew they were all capable of of doing it. That even though it was the most heinous deed, they were all capable of it. But in Luke's account here, he kind of skips over that. And we see how quickly that notion of could it be me was dismissed by the disciples. Because we get to verse 24, which says, a dispute arose among themselves as to which of them was to be regarded as the greatest.
Joel Brooks:And so Jesus says, hey, one of you is gonna betray me, and they go from, is it me, to, hey, I'm the greatest. And it and it probably went something like this. It's like, oh my gosh. I can't believe Jesus is going to be betrayed. Could could it be me?
Joel Brooks:No. I'm Andrew over there. I mean, I'm better than Andrew. I mean, I've known the Lord longer than that. I I I've I've got more of a devotional life than Andrew.
Joel Brooks:And, gosh, Peter. I mean, Peter's messed up so many times. It wouldn't surprise me if Peter messed up again. And and yeah, there's John. He does love the lord, but he's so young.
Joel Brooks:He's he's bound to make mistakes. And and there's Bartholomew. I mean, who who knows what Bartholomew's gonna do? And nobody ever hears anything about him. And gosh, of all the people here, I I really think I love the Lord the most.
Joel Brooks:I'm I'm kind of his chosen disciple. He picked me because I'm greater than all these people here. That's why he picked me. I'm the greatest. And what this disciple doesn't know is that all the other disciples are thinking the same thing.
Joel Brooks:And then becomes public, and they start arguing with one another. No. I'm the greatest. And so, Jesus rebukes them. He says, you're thinking about leadership like the world thinks about leadership.
Joel Brooks:You're thinking about greatness as the world thinks about greatness, but the kingdom of God is not of this world. You gotta change your thinking. So in order to be great, you have to become the youngest or you have to become the least. You have to become unimportant. In order to be a leader, you have to become a servant.
Joel Brooks:And we know from John's account of this meal, he gives them a visual. It says that he actually gets up from the table and he models this for them, in which he girds himself with a towel and he washes their dirty feet only representing their dirtier hearts. And he w he modeled this humility for us. And when I when I see that, when I hear Jesus, makes me wonder, how in the world do you actually achieve humility? I mean, how how does it happen?
Joel Brooks:Most of the Christian leaders or the Christians that I know who try to become servant leaders do it all wrong. Servant leaders kind of hip, you know, phrase that we use in Christian circles. We all want to be servant leaders. The problem is we want the recognition and the glory that comes with being a servant leader. And this is why I've had, and I'm not kidding, I've had people give me a check and say, this check is an anonymous gift.
Joel Brooks:I'm thinking it's an anonymous gift that you're giving me. So you, so you want the credit, but you want to be the humble servant. And I, I am no different. I want our church here, to be very generous to the poor with our time and with our finances. I want that.
Joel Brooks:But I also, if I'm honest with myself, I want the recognition for that. I want other churches to notice that and say, wow, they're really doing a good job. I want the glory with it. And so when I when I do that, am I promoting servanthood in order to glorify Jesus, Or am I like the disciples, jockeying for power, jockeying for recognition over the other churches? Which is it?
Joel Brooks:And so how do you become humble? For for starters, you got to quit looking sideways. You have to quit looking at all the others around the table. You have to quit comparing yourselves to others both positively and negatively. And we're going to see Peter make this mistake in just a bit.
Joel Brooks:But first, let's, let's read verse 31 and 32. So right after Jesus tells them to be humble, and that they're to serve. He says this, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat. Can you imagine how terrifying those words would be coming from Jesus? Joel, Joel, Satan has demanded to have you and to throw your life on its upside down, and I'm gonna let them do it for a season.
Joel Brooks:It's it's gotta be terrifying. A few things you have to understand about this verse. 1 one, the you there in verse 31, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that you is plural. It's y'all is what it is. So it's not just Peter.
Joel Brooks:Jesus is saying, hey, Satan has demanded to have all of you disciples to sift you. And then he, specifically, he looks at Peter, and he says, but I'm praying for you, Singular. You, Peter. That you may be strengthened after you faltered for a bit, after you may be strengthened. And so Jesus prays for Peter, who in turn is going to strengthen the rest of his brothers when they falter.
Joel Brooks:This is very similar here to the book of Job, where you see Satan as one of the angels. He has access to god, and he goes before god in in Job chapter 1. It says, now there was a day when the sons of god came to present themselves before the lord, and Satan also came among them. The lord said to Satan, from where have you come? Satan answered, from from where it becomes, Satan answered, from going to and fro on the earth and from walking up and down on it.
Joel Brooks:And the Lord said to Satan, have you considered my servant Job that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man who fears God and turns away from evil? Then Satan answered the Lord and said, does Job fear God for no reason? Have you not put a hedge around him and his house and all that he has on every side? You've blessed the work of his hands and his possessions have increased in the land, but stretch out your hand and touch all that he has and he will curse you to your face. And the Lord said to Satan, 'Behold, all that he has is in your hand.
Joel Brooks:Only against him do not stretch out your hand.' So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord. And so we see from from that passage in Job that Satan does have power. Satan goes to the Lord and he says, I, I, I want to sift that person. I, I want you to put down your hedge of protection so I could go after that person. And there's times that God says, okay, you can.
Joel Brooks:Here's your limitations. You can do this, you could do this, but but you can't go any further. And so we see that Satan does have power, but it's, he's always on a leash, always. And sometimes God lets that leash out a little bit. Sometimes he brings it in a little bit, but Satan could do absolutely nothing without God's permission.
Joel Brooks:And what we see here is that Satan has gone to Jesus, and he's asked for permission to go after the disciples, to go after Peter. And Jesus says, okay, for a season. So Satan wants to destroy Peter. He wants to destroy the disciples. He wants to destroy us.
Joel Brooks:30 years later, Peter writes a letter. 30 years after this event, and I have it in your worship guide. First Peter 5 in verse 8, he says this, your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. Now, when Peter says this, he is talking from experience. He knows that Satan wants to devour you.
Joel Brooks:He knows that Satan wants to sift you. To sift wheat, you you beat the wheat, and you toss it up in the air, and you upend it. He says, that's what Satan wants to do to you. All of his effort is bent on this and he says, resist him. So, but but how do we go about resisting him?
Joel Brooks:Well, Satan has one main weapon at his disposal. I'm tempted to say he has only one weapon, but I'm gonna cover myself. Now, I say he has one main weapon here, and it's to lie. That's his weapon. He is the father of lies, and that's how he sifts us is through his lies.
Joel Brooks:He lies in the garden when he says, did God really say this? He lied in the garden when he said, Oh, eat this and you surely shall not die. And he's been lying ever since. Lying to us that god really isn't good. And so when sickness comes your way or when poverty comes your way, there comes the lie that says, Hey, god's not being good to you.
Joel Brooks:Or when riches come your way and when health comes your way, there's the lie that says, you know what? These things can satisfy you far more than god. And so you see, sometimes, Satan sifts you by giving you wealth, by giving you prosperity, and that's how he's gonna sift you. Other times, he's gonna sift you by taking away your health and by bringing suffering and depression. But he's always trying to sift.
Joel Brooks:He's always lying. He's always telling you that whatever is is over here is more attractive than Jesus, and all you have to do is let go of this and cling to Jesus. I mean, cling to what's not Jesus, cling to that, that other thing. Let go of Jesus, cling to this attractive thing. And we've made the mistake of thinking Satan's goal is for us to worship him.
Joel Brooks:That's not his goal. His goal is for you to worship anything or anybody other than Jesus. That's his goal. And so if he can, you know, if he can get you to go down in your basement, you know, and light candles and wear dark robes and have a seance, you know, and skulls all around you and say chance to Satan, great. He'll take that.
Joel Brooks:Give your life to, to Satan instead of giving your life to Jesus. But the same way he'll take it if you go and you give your life to serving the poor. If you, if you give away your possessions, but you don't give your life to Jesus, He'll take that just as well. As long as you're devoted to any other thing other than Jesus, He's pleased. He's always lying, always sifting.
Joel Brooks:Some of the lies that Satan does to, gives us to help us to foster doubts in us of God's love. I know you've felt them. If you're single, I know you've felt them. Perhaps you've heard some of these. God doesn't love you.
Joel Brooks:If He did, why would He withhold a godly spouse from you? Why would He withhold from you a good thing? Look. Look at your friend over there who's engaged, your friend who's getting married. They don't love Jesus as much as you.
Joel Brooks:They haven't obeyed Jesus as much as you. You see, god doesn't honor obedience. God does not care about you. What does it matter? It's a lie.
Joel Brooks:If you're married, you hear all these lies. Why is it that you're the only one who works so hard in the relationship while your spouse does nothing? You're always working. He does nothing. You know, you deserve more than he's giving.
Joel Brooks:I can provide that for you. Why is it that all of these other couples seem to have the the the best lives? They're they're so attractive. I bet they have great sex lives. You don't.
Joel Brooks:You're struggling there. You deserve that. She can give that to you. It's a lie. You look around and Satan says, why is it that other couples have it so easy?
Joel Brooks:You know, they're better off financially. They could do all those home improvements that you've been wanting to do, but you can't. They have parents in town that can that can babysit the kids so they can have a night off. You don't. God doesn't love you.
Joel Brooks:Constant. It's like dripping. Constant lies. He lies to you in the workplace. He says, you know, you need that promotion.
Joel Brooks:People will respect you if you get that promotion. All you're gonna have to do is just sacrifice, you know, just a little bit of your morality, maybe a little bit of your family life, but it's only for a season. It's gonna get better. It's gonna get so much better. It's a lie.
Joel Brooks:He's always lying and his lie to Peter was this, Peter, you are so much better than all those others. You don't have to worry about falling. Look look at verse 33. Peter said to him, lord, I'm ready to go with you both to prison and to death. He would do neither.
Joel Brooks:I like Luke's account. He's he has compassion on Peter here. The other Gospels don't. You look at Mark. Mark's account adds this phrase, or correctly gives this phrase.
Joel Brooks:Peter says, hey, even though all of them deny you, I will not. I will not, lord. And and Peter, he makes 2 tragic mistakes here. He he begins to look sideways. He looks sideways.
Joel Brooks:He compares himself to others. He says, lord, even if Andrew, even if John, even if Thomas, even if Bartholomew, even if all of these people here leave you and deny you, I won't. I love you more. I'm, I'm better than these guys. And, and we make the same mistake.
Joel Brooks:I guess I should say, we sin in this way all of the time. You raise your hands and worship, and you think, I'm worshiping. The person next to me is not. Wish they could be a little more passionate about the lord, but can't all be as passionate as me. They don't love the Lord.
Joel Brooks:And what you don't know is the person next to you is going, person, pretentious jerk, raising their hand. I know that you only have to worship Lord in your hearts. I don't have to do all that stuff and you're both thinking you're better in your worship of all things. Churches do this all the time. We think that our church is better than the other churches.
Joel Brooks:Those churches are so big, They have so much money. They waste so much money. Their people aren't out there serving. They're not helping the poor. They're not giving admissions.
Joel Brooks:Not like us. Not like us. Lord, know that even if all the other churches were to abandon the gospel, even if all the other churches, you know, were to to only care about numbers and only care about growing bigger and all that, know that we will not. Not us. That's exactly what Satan wants us to do.
Joel Brooks:He wants us to look sideways instead of that, the Lord. Years years ago, I I was at staff meetings. And and and for years, our prayer times will begin with talking about the other churches and what they were doing wrong and how we were so much better than these other churches. That's horrendous in the Lord's sight. The second mistake that Peter makes is this, is he thought that somehow through sheer willpower, he could resist the devil.
Joel Brooks:Just through sheer willpower, he could resist temptation. And I call this putting on the the super you. You put on this super you. You know, we think that if we just put on the super you, you know, we can we can overcome every temptation. I am I am now with sheer willpower.
Joel Brooks:I can put aside all of that stuff. Some of you've been trying that for years. Hasn't worked, has it? Never will. You think that if you just try hard enough, if your problem is you're not focusing, focusing, you got to focus harder.
Joel Brooks:You think you can overcome anything. And that's what the former pastor who was speaking to our seminary class, that's what he said was his mistake. He said, I thought I could put on the super me, and I would never do something like that. Sheer willpower. I would never fall in that way.
Joel Brooks:But he had no idea the depth of his depravity. No idea. And for those of you who don't know the depth of your depravity, one day you're gonna find out, and it's gonna hurt. It's gonna hurt bad. Because reality is, if it wasn't for the grace of God in your life, is it if it wasn't for the Spirit of God at work in you, you are an enemy of God.
Joel Brooks:You're a child of wrath. Apart from His grace, apart from His Spirit working in you, and you need to cling to Jesus day by day, moment by moment, or you will certainly fall. Let's look at how we can resist temptation, how we can resist the evil one. That's what we prayed before him when we were praying the Lord's prayer, deliver us from evil. How, how, how can we be delivered from evil?
Joel Brooks:Turn to 1st Peter chapter 5. It's actually in your worship guide, and we're gonna read verses 6 through 9. And when and when you hear this, realize these are autobiographical words from Peter. It's 30 years removed, but he has this event in mind. Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him because he cares for you.
Joel Brooks:Be sober minded. Be watchful. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. And so Peter says the first thing here is you have to humble yourselves.
Joel Brooks:That means you have to throw away this notion that there's a super you. Throw it away. You've gotta quit comparing yourselves to one another. You have to be humble. And then he says, we can resist the devil by being firm in our faith.
Joel Brooks:Resist him. Firm in your faith. A better translation is firm in the faith. Not just your faith. Firm in the there's a definite article there.
Joel Brooks:Firm in the faith. Not your ability, but firm in the gospel. That's what you gotta remember. And so the way to resist the devil is to stand in the gospel. Be firm in it.
Joel Brooks:Don't get out of the gospel. Never leave the gospel. Always stand in the gospel, and that's how you're gonna resist the devil. He doesn't say, resist the devil. Try harder.
Joel Brooks:Resist the devil. Sell your new Lexus. Give to the poor. Resist the devil by selling your home and moving into wood lawn. He doesn't say anything like that.
Joel Brooks:There there's no nothing extreme here that we would think of that. It's resist the devil, be firm in faith. The faith. The gospel. Believe the gospel.
Joel Brooks:The gospel is your only hope to keep from being devoured. You need to know this, that all of us in this room have failed and will fail. Don't think you're gonna, once again, bow up, get out there, do great. No, no. You're, you're gonna fail.
Joel Brooks:You're going to. But if you hold fast to the gospel, that's not gonna shake you. It's gonna restore you. And we have Jesus exalted, as we looked at a couple of weeks ago, praying for us that our faith would not fail. What a comforting thought.
Joel Brooks:Let me, let me just end with these words once again from 1st Peter, I'll begin in verse 9. What a what a comfort this was to Peter. Resist him, firm in the faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To him be the dominion forever and ever.
Joel Brooks:Amen. Pray with me. Lord, forgive us for all the times that we have not humbled ourselves. Forgive me for the many times I have looked sideways, and judged other people, and judged other churches. And what I've done is open the door wide for Satan to come and sift me.
Joel Brooks:Deliver me from evil. Help us in this room to stand firm in the faith, to believe the gospel. May it be in what we read, may it be in our songs, may it be in the Word that is spoken here every Sunday. May we say it to one another in our home groups, when we meet one another at lunch. May we always remind ourselves of the gospel, that apart from you we will fall, we have fallen, but you have died to forgive us.
Joel Brooks:You have been raised for our justification and now you are highly exalted and you are interceding on our behalf. We believe that. That's our hope. And so we pray this in the name of Jesus. Amen.
