For our Scripture reading tonight, turn with me, if you would, to Ezekiel chapter 22. Ezekiel 22, we want to read together the first 12 verses as well as verses 23 through 31. And then we will also be turning to 1 Peter chapter 5, reading together just a few verses, verses 8-11. And 1 Peter 5, verse 8 is the text for the sermon tonight. Ezekiel 22, as well as 1 Peter 5. Hear now the Word of God as we begin in verse 1 of Ezekiel 22. The Word of the Lord came to me, Son of man, will you judge her? Will you judge this city of bloodshed? Then confront her with all her detestable practices and say, this is what the Sovereign Lord says, O city that brings on herself doom by shedding blood in her midst and defiles herself by making idols. You have become guilty because of the blood you have shed and have become defiled by the idols you have made. You have brought your days to a close and the end of your years has come. Therefore, I will make you an object of scorn to the nations and a laughingstock to all the countries. Those who are near and those who are far away will mock you, O infamous city full of turmoil. See how each of the princes of Israel who are in you uses his power to shed blood. In you they have treated father and mother with contempt. In you they have oppressed the alien and mistreated the fatherless and the widow. You have despised my holy things and desecrated my Sabbath. In you are slanderous men bent on shedding blood. In you are those who eat at the mountain shrines and commit lewd acts. In you are those who dishonor their father's bed. In you are those who violate women during their period when they are ceremonially unclean. In you one man commits a detestable offense with his neighbor's wife. Another shamefully defiles his daughter-in-law. And another violates his sister, his own father's daughter. In you men accept bribes to shed blood. You take usury and excessive interest and make unjust gain from your neighbors by extortion. And you have forgotten Me, declares the Sovereign Lord. And then moving down to verse 23. Again the word of the Lord came to me, Son of man, say to the land, You are a land that has had no rain or showers in the day of wrath. There is a conspiracy of her princes within her, like a roaring lion tearing its prey. They devour people, take treasures and precious things, and make many widows within her. Her priests do violence to my law and profane my holy things. They do not distinguish between the holy and the common. They teach that there is no difference between the unclean and the clean. And they shut their eyes to the keeping of my Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them. Her officials within her are like wolves tearing their prey. They shed blood and kill people to make unjust gain. Her prophets whitewashed these deeds for them by false visions and lying divinations. They say this is what the Sovereign Lord says when the Lord has not spoken. The people of the land practice extortion and commit robbery. They oppress the poor and needy and mistreat the alien, denying them justice. I looked for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it. but I found none. So I will pour out my wrath on them and consume them with my fiery anger, bringing down on their own heads all they have done, declares the Sovereign Lord. And turning over to 1 Peter 5, Peter, you may know, has identified God's people as a royal priesthood, a chosen nation. He has given instruction to wives and husbands and slaves. He has talked about how the Christian is to live. He has given instruction at the beginning of chapter 5 to elders and young men. He has talked about the church suffering for being a Christian. And then we have a few concluding comments, beginning at verse 8. 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 because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings. 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. To Him be the power forever and ever. Amen. Dear people of God, This Wednesday, October 31, will mark the 484th birthday of the Reformation of the Church, the 16th century Protestant Reformation. On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther nailed those famous 95 Theses to the door of the Church in Wittenberg. Now, of course, there was a period of time which we call the pre-Reformation era, which in a sense tilled the soil, prepared the groundwork for the Reformation. But this is what we consider to be the birth of the Reformation. October 31, 1517. And we hold the Reformation of the church as something special, as a significant event in the historical life of Christ's church. Through that event, God brought His church back to a proper understanding of Scripture and of salvation. That salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, on account of Christ alone. Truly, the Reformation, October 31, is a birthday that we ought to celebrate. It is an event that we ought to rejoice about. Yet the world doesn't share this joy with the church, does it? In fact, to counter the joyous truth of salvation by grace through faith, the prince of this world, Satan, has instituted what is popularly called Halloween. Now, no doubt there are many boys and girls here tonight that look forward to Halloween for trick-or-treating and all that candy. But literally, the idea behind that event, that so-called holiday called Halloween, is that evil spirits are going wild for an evening. As I said a couple of weeks ago, what is called Halloween is considered to be the new year for devil worship and for witchcraft and the sword. And of course, Satan loves the fact that our culture makes light of all of this by dressing up in costumes and celebrating witches and skeletons and black cats and all the things that go with it that our neighbors decorate their yards with mock tombstones and spiders and all of these things and bats. But Satan doesn't want us to know how dangerous it really is to play with Halloween fire. You see, what is promoted before Christians is the worldly philosophy of don't worry, be happy. Let your guard down. Live a little. Take a chance. Because with the right setting, with your favorite beverage in your hand, with no worries in your heart, life just doesn't get any better than this. But you see, that's a far cry from what Scripture teaches the church. The armor of God, which we considered in detail, we considered it completely, is to be put on, but not for nothing. It has a serious purpose. In this letter of 1 Peter, Peter is writing to the church, which he calls, as the NIV translates it, strangers, elect strangers. Other versions call them aliens or pilgrims, elect pilgrims. Now, a pilgrim is one who is not at home. A pilgrim is one who is traveling through to a better place. Boys and girls, you've heard about the pilgrims on the Mayflower. They came to this country. They were traveling from one place, hoping to find a better place. God's people, believers, are pilgrims traveling through this life. This world is not, this earth is not our home. And as pilgrims, every night, as it were, we pitch our tent to stay for the night. In the morning, we pull up our tent stakes again for another day of travel through this life. And Peter makes it clear that Christian pilgrims travel through this life among pagans. The world of wickedness. Now, earlier in his letter, he has encouraged the church with the truth of who and what she is in Christ. As chapter 2, verses 9 and 10 say, But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God. Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. As well, he has spoken previously of the persecutions and the hardships that the church was suffering for her faith. In chapter 1, verses 6 and 7, we read, In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire, may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory, and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. As well in chapter 4, verses 12 and 13, we read, Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when His glory is revealed. And in the midst of this, as those called of God as a chosen generation, royal priesthood, but those who are also suffering for the faith, our Lord, through Peter, issues the Christian's call to stand guard. That's the message of this text as we consider it tonight. And we are to consider these three things. First of all, the evil enemy at the door. Secondly, the enemy's destructive goal. And then finally, the Christian's attentive posture. Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Now Paul begins this text with very short to the point commands with regard to a certain posture for Christians. A certain posture which we hope to consider in our third point tonight. But there's a good reason for this posture that Christians are called to keep and that is because of the evil enemy at the door. Your enemy, the devil. Now Peter is talking here about the church's sworn enemy. Satan himself. The church's enemy from the beginning who will be the church's enemy all the way to the end. He's not just God's enemy. He's not just the enemy of the individual believer. He is the enemy of the church as a whole. Your enemy, the devil. Your is in the plural here as Peter addresses the church. He is the sworn enemy of the church because she is the body and bride of Christ of whom it was said already in the Garden of Eden that he would crush the serpent's head. And this means, beloved, that Satan is not, he is not the church's friendly companion. You say, we know that. We don't want anything to do with him. But you see, he tries to get in. He tries to make you and I believe he is a companion that we can chum around with. He often disguises his roar as a gentle voice. As Paul says, he often transforms himself as an angel of light. And compromise is one of his biggest weapons. He makes the world look friendly to the church. So that the world doesn't look so dangerous. He makes the world look indifferent to the church. He makes the world look neutral to the church. It's not a big deal. We can participate with the world. No problem. He makes witches and ghosts look fun and harmless and entertaining. Many of us no doubt remember the cartoon of years ago, Casper, the friendly ghost. Yet his hand is in it all along, congregation. He doesn't let go. The Bible describes Satan as the prince of this world, as the ruler of this dark age. And Jesus Himself describes Satan in John 8, verse 44, as a murderer from the beginning. And He does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in Him. When He speaks a lie, He speaks from His own resources for He is a liar and the father of it. Satan is the other side of the antithesis. Boys and girls, an antithesis means opposition. There are opposing sides. And Satan is the darkness that opposes the light of Jesus Christ. He is the lie that opposes the truth of the Word of God. He is God's enemy, the enemy of God's people. He is to be your enemy and he is to be my enemy and we are to treat him as such. And Peter makes it clear in his description of Satan that he is no friend of the church. He is our enemy. Another version you know calls him our adversary. An adversary is one who is your opponent. He's against you. And the idea here is especially that of an opponent in a court of law. One who wants to see you go down. We cannot stress enough, young people, we cannot stress enough the fact that He is against us. He is not for us. He is against Christians in Christ's church all. Sometimes His temptations are fashioned in such a way that He tries to make us think that He is for us. That He has our well-being in mind. That that's His goal, but it's not. His goal is destruction, as we'll talk about in a moment. But then Peter adds to the fact of this enemy, this adversary, that He is the devil. Devil means accuser, but then not just one who accuses simply for the sake of the truth, but one who accuses slanderously or falsely for the sake of evil and wickedness. He uses whatever he can to try to get his way. And Satan accuses God's people by way of slandering or lying. And first of all, he accuses God's people falsely before God. We see that with Job, don't we? In Job chapters 1 and 2. Does Job fear God for nothing? Have you not made a hedge around him? And of course, then everything he has. You have blessed the work of his hands and his possessions have increased in the land, but now stretch out your hand and touch all that he has and he will surely curse you to your face. And then a little bit later, he says, skin for skin after the first time didn't work. Skin for skin. Yes, all that a man has, he will give for his life. And therefore, Satan challenged God to take away his health and watch Job curse you, Satan, we're sure. As well in Zechariah 3, we read, Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord and Satan standing at his right hand to oppose him. Beloved, indeed, Satan is not short of evidence against us in and of ourselves. In reality, all of our transgressions piled up. It's an open and shut case against us. But he accuses us falsely in that, according to him, our sins are too great. They cannot be atoned for. That's where he's wrong. Congregation, we do not deserve the grace of God. We do not deserve forgiveness because our whole being apart from Jesus Christ is an offense to a holy God. We do not deserve salvation but just as with Joshua the high priest, Satan has no firm ground to stand on because Jesus Christ has satisfied for all our sins. He has fulfilled all righteousness in your place and my place. He has removed our filthy garments of sin from us and clothed us in His very own white robes of righteousness. Beloved, remember we serve, we worship a just God. We said that last week. Just on the one hand in that our sin must be punished. Just on the other hand in that it has been punished in Jesus Christ and because God is just, our sin will not be punished twice. We don't have to fear that. we will never, as believers, we will never have to suffer punishment for our sin. But not only does Satan accuse God's people before God, he also accuses God's people before men. He infects and infests the thinking of the world that Christians don't belong. And again, since we are pilgrims, in a sense that's right, but we do belong. This is where God has placed us for the time being. As well, he tries to make the world believe that the church is dangerous for the world. In Acts, we find that the apostles in the early New Testament church were accused of basically turning the world upside down. But the truth is, God's people are called to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world, aren't we? We are to flavor our surroundings. We are to show forth the light of Jesus Christ. And the truth is, believers are good or are supposed to be good for the world. Good for society because we are to be law-abiding citizens, aren't we? As believers, we take God at His word. We obey Him when He tells us to put ourselves under the governing authorities. And therefore, God's people do not lie, should not lie, cheat, steal, commit adultery, and all those things. But Satan's accusations also attack God's people directly. Now, Peter himself knew this. Even after Jesus had told Peter that Satan desired to sift him as wheat, Peter failed to watch and pray. And what happened? The very same night, he denied his Lord three times. Congregation Satan continues to shoot his flaming arrows at us. He wants us to believe that because our sin is so terrible, that there is no cleansing agent so strong, there is no stain remover so powerful that can remove our stain of sin. He wants us to think that forgiveness can only be secured if we have a hand in securing it. Now, He knows we can't secure it, but He wants us to believe that we can. Because in that way, He knows that we'll go down. The word from which we get devil or accuser has the idea to strike through or stab. And Satan's goal is to strike or stab right through us right to our soul with poisonous accusations for our destruction. He slanders both God to his people and his people to God in order to pit us against each other. He tries to place us on opposing sides that we would take our stand against God. He did that with Eve. Did God really say? Well, he's not telling you the whole truth. I am. He is the captain of deceit. For example, He doesn't want us to think about October 31 as Reformation Day and what that means for the church. He wants us to focus on Halloween, which is really the devil's night out. He doesn't want us to think of Christmas as the Savior's birth who came to save those who could not save themselves, but He wants us to focus on Santa Claus, you know, the one who knows if you're naughty or nice. He doesn't want us to think about Easter as Christ's resurrection and victory. And He doesn't want us to look above to our secured eternal home. He doesn't want us to fix our gaze on the heavens looking expectantly for Christ's return. Instead, He wants to focus on the Easter bunny and keep our noses stuck looking in the grass for eggs. Now, no doubt some of you are saying, Come on, preacher. This is all just a bunch of fun. We don't mean anything by it. You're trying to take all the fun out of it. Let me remind you of something. Remember who's really having all the fun. And that's Satan. True joy. True rejoicing. A true reason to celebrate is only in the truth and grace of God. Satan is the evil enemy at the door. He's prowling around. He's on the move. And his goal is destruction. That's our second point tonight. Peter says, Your enemy, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion. looking for someone to devour. Now, the imagery is vivid here. Maybe some of you have seen a documentary on Africa and wildlife, and especially on lions, and you know that lions prowl around quietly, and as they approach their prey, they may even stay close to the ground and out of sight because they want to remain unseen. Yet, at the time of the attack, the lions announce their ambush with a thundering roar as they pounce on their victim. The lion is powerful and strong and fierce and dangerous. The lion is life-threatening. And that describes the devil. Now, some believe that in Peter's writing here, there may have been an allusion to the persecution by Nero in the Roman Colosseum. As lions tore to shreds and devoured Christians, Satan's goal is the destruction of the believer's soul and thereby the destruction of Christ's church. He is seeking congregation with the goal of finding and His desire is to completely devour. And He will stop short of nothing else. The Greek word for devour means to gulp down, swallowing whole like an animal swallowing its prey. Children are taught to chew their food carefully. You can be sure that wild animals don't care if they chew their food 30 times. They gulp it down. As well, there's the idea here of helplessness on the part of that which is being swallowed. and beloved, that's Satan's goal, to get us when we least expect it. He attacks us when our guard is down. And He comes after us in ways that we cannot always recognize, as we said a bit earlier, friendship with the world. Or He wears us down with temptation and especially temptation of the flesh. We read together that portion of Ezekiel 22. You may have wondered why in the world would we read something that talks about such hideous, sinful things. And if you didn't catch on, this is talking about God's people. God's nation. And I believe what we have there is a vivid illustration of those who have been devoured by Satan. And the result of that. And especially in verses 25-28, we read about Israel's wicked leaders who are described using virtually the same illustration that we have in our text. Beginning again at verse 25, there is a conspiracy of her princes within her like a roaring lion tearing its prey. They devour people taking treasure and precious things and make many widows within her. Her priests do violence to my law and profane my holy things. They do not distinguish between the holy and the common. They teach that there is no difference between the unclean and the clean. And they shut their eyes to the keeping of my Sabbath so that I am profaned among them. Her officials within her are like wolves tearing their prey. They shed blood and kill people to make unjust gain. Her prophets whitewashed these deeds for them by false visions and lying divinations. They say this is what the Sovereign Lord says when the Lord has not spoken. Satan devours through false teaching that infiltrates the church which disguises itself as truth but is really opposed to God's truth. He devours through temptation to trust ourselves and not God. He devours through temptation to compromise, to let our guard down. Congregation, we need to understand that Peter is teaching here that Satan himself, none other than Satan himself, is the power behind the persecution and the suffering these pilgrims have been suffering. He's like a savage lion which can take your breath away. His roar terrifies us into fear. His teeth and his claws can tear deep into our spiritual being and inflict permanent scars. When the church deals with evil, she is dealing with the devil himself. But God has given His people His armor. His full armor. Indeed, Satan is a fierce and greedy pursuer of souls. His eye is always open as along with his wicked host, he looks for chinks in the armor, for weaknesses in the armor. You remember King Ahab? He'd been warned by the prophet. as he was getting ready to go into battle. He was warned that he was going to die. So therefore, the way I understand it, the way I like to see it, he dressed up as just a common soldier. He left his kingly robes back at the palace. He went out in disguise thinking that he was safe. But in the providence of God, that arrow found one small hole in his opening in his armor and it cost him his life. But you see, when God's people are clothed with the full armor of God, they are impenetrable. Satan cannot get through. Why? Because of the Lion of Judah. Boys and girls, notice, Satan is like a lion. But Jesus Christ is the Lion of Judah. Even as John is comforted in Revelation 5, verse 5, as he sees the Lion of the tribe of Judah. The Lion of Judah, the Lamb of God, has defeated Satan through His shed blood. He has dealt Satan that death blow. And that's why by God's grace, Christians in the church are called to maintain the attentive posture. Peter says, be self-controlled and alert. Other translations you may know better say it a little bit more pointedly. Be sober. Be vigilant. Be self-controlled or sober. Be alert or vigilant. And this is the posture that Christians must take up in this life because Satan is still prowling. Now, there are two different ideas being expressed in this short phrase. Self-control or soberness is talking about internal control. And alertness or vigilance is talking about watching for the external enemy. And we need to understand, beloved, that these two things are commands. These are not options for the Christian and for the church. These commands must characterize God's people in the midst of the antithesis. Now, when we hear the word sober, alert, but sober, most likely, I'm sorry, self-controlled or sober. Sober, we often think of the opposite of being drunk. And really, that's what Peter is saying here. Don't be spiritually drunk. When one is drunk from alcohol, everything about that person is affected. His faculties of mind and thought and perception and strength are impaired. They're weakened. That one cannot see straight or walk straight. One commentator said, a drunken man is mentally and physically confused and does not know where he goes and cannot walk steadily. And a spiritually drunk person is the same. He is confused with regard to the truth. He is so ignorant with regard to the truth that he cannot walk steadily in the truth. Instead, he is tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the trickery of men in the cunning of craftiness of deceitful plotting which is the very opposite of those who enjoy the fullness of Christ as Paul says in Ephesians chapter 4. A spiritually drunk person has no spiritual strength to stand firm on the truth but compromises at every turn. Those who are not spiritually sober judge according to a different standard than the only standard which is Scripture. They judge according to the standard of their feelings. Is it fun? Will it hurt me? Are there worse things that justify this desire? How often have you heard people say, or maybe you've said it yourself, maybe with regard to one of your children, well, I don't like what they're doing, but they could be doing things that are a whole lot worse. And we justify it in that way. Or maybe some judge according to the standard of what's popular in the world, everybody's doing it. So it must be okay. Because everybody can't be wrong. But the Christian is to have the posture of soberness. That means being attentive, to be well balanced, to be self-controlled, to be clear-headed. We are to walk the straight line of the truth of the Word of God and stand firm in our position in Christ against Satan and sin. Beloved, those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ are in Him. They live in the realm of Christ, founded firm upon the solid rock of Jesus Christ. There's an increasing trend among Reformed people today, questioning the truth of the Reformed faith. And ironically, it's not those who are new to the Reformed faith, but those who grew up with it and ought to know better, especially as they begin to compare what we claim to believe against other denominations and churches. After all, how can we say that we have a corner on the truth? And because they do not know the truth as well as they should, they begin to waver. I believe wholeheartedly that the Reformed interpretation of Scripture is the most accurate interpretation of Scripture. Soberness is a familiar call in Scripture. 1 Thessalonians 5, verses 6 and 8 it says, Therefore, let us not sleep as others do, but let us watch and be sober. But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love and as a helmet the hope of salvation. And even Peter calls for spiritual alertness or self-control, soberness in spirit twice in this letter before our text. But the truth is, congregation, you cannot be sober in the truth if you don't know the truth. You cannot be well-balanced or clear-headed in the truth if you don't understand it. Peter also adds then, be on alert. Be vigilant. Another way of saying this is be watchful. Keep your eyes open. And it should be clear that being sober is an indispensable condition for being alert and watchful, which 1 Thessalonians 5 made clear. Only when we are sober can we walk steadily. Can we know what's going on? Without being sober, one cannot watch out for the enemy. And that's the idea here that Peter is driving at. Being sober internally in order to watch externally. And the call is for strict attention here. Watching and being ready to resist the devil as Peter calls for in verse 9. And when I think of being alert and watching, I often think of the pictures I've seen of those British guards. They stand firm at attention. Nothing takes away their focus. You can wave your hand in front of their eyes and they barely even blink. Their focus remains on the duty at hand. Being alert or vigilant or watchful is another reoccurring theme for God's people. And as Paul makes clear in Acts 20, verse 31, one must be ready as well to warn others of danger. He says, Therefore, watch and remember that for three years I did not cease to warn everyone night and day with tears. And he says in 1 Corinthians 16, verse 13, Watch, stand fast in the faith, Be brave. Be strong. Beloved, this is to be the Christian's attentive posture throughout this pilgrimage, each and every moment. We are never to relax from this posture. Don't ever let your guard down. We are always to be suspicious. Yes. We are always to be suspicious of constant danger from this evil enemy. And he must be resisted as we stand steadfast by grace in the faith. You see, Satan cannot, he cannot break through that shield of faith. His flaming arrows ricochet off that shield of faith, God's shield, like raindrops bounce off the sidewalk. He cannot ruin the souls of those who are founded firmly upon the Lord Jesus Christ. I pray that that is our comfort tonight. That Satan cannot destroy God's people. We know that at times our faith is weak. We know as well that at times confessing Christians go to sleep in the spiritual struggle. They let their guard down and Satan finds a way to work. And when that happens, they begin to ask Satan's questions. Did God really say? Or did He really mean what He said? As we begin to give all kinds of wild interpretations and ideas with regard to God's Word and His commands. Well, this is what I think it means. Congregation, the devil must be resisted with the preaching of the Word of God, the faithful preaching of the Word, and diligent prayer. He must be resisted with the daily reading of the Word of God, committing it to memory and Bible study. He must be opposed so that his false doctrine will not infiltrate the church. And our lives must be lived by the standard of the Word of God, not the standard of our own feelings and desires, not the standard of what provides pleasure for us, not the standard of what the popular opinion polls of the day tell us. You see, Satan doesn't care how he gets us. Only that he gets us. But he cannot stand against the truth. But we also cannot stand apart from the work of the Holy Spirit, apart from His regenerating power and being brought to confession and repentance of our sins. We cannot stand firm against the devil. Only in Him, when we are clothed fully with the unfailing armor of God, can we stand firm against the devil. And we are called, beloved, to trust and obey in our Lord Jesus Christ. The beauty of the Reformation of the church was that the biblical truth was brought forth once again, as the apostles taught it, that salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, on account of, for the sake of, because of the merit of Christ alone. And beloved, we can stand firm against Satan because of Jesus Christ. The devil cannot devour God's people. As Revelation 20 says, he can no longer deceive the nations. He has been defeated. His head has been crushed so that now against the church, against God's people, his bark is worse than his bite. But he's still barking. he's still roaring loudly he will still attack for a time and those who reject the Lord Jesus Christ will be devoured by him and those who are devoured by him will be lost forever but those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ by grace through faith they will stand firm forever they will resist the devil in time and eternity Halloween fire beloved is just one way, one terribly dangerous way that Satan tries to lure God's people into his trap. So don't be fooled. Be sober. Know the danger and resist him. Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Martin Luther expressed the believer's confidence in Christ against the devil with these familiar words that we sing and we say often and we're going to sing them tonight again. The Prince of Darkness Grim, we tremble not for Him. His rage we can endure for low, His doom is sure. One little word shall fell him. Beloved, Satan's doom is sure. But you know what else is sure? The Christian's glory. For Jesus' sake. Amen. Shall we pray? Father, thank You again for Your instruction tonight. Thank You again for what are often such hard words. Things that go against the grain of our desires and our pleasure. Because so often we think that we know better than You do. about what we can handle and what we may or may not participate in. We pray, Father, that You would give us wisdom, that You would give us strength, that You would place before us the proper reason to rejoice and celebrate, and that is salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, because of the work of Jesus Christ alone. Oh, Father, may we always be deeply humbled because of that work of salvation but always be filled to full with the rejoicing of that blessed gift. Hear our prayer for Jesus' sake and in His name, Amen.