May it please God to bless us
together this evening as we meditate in his word. Let's turn to the
Gospel of Luke, chapter 22, and we'll read verses 31 and 32.
The Gospel of Luke, chapter 22, reading verses 31 and 32. And
the Lord said, Simon, Simon, Behold, Satan hath desired to
have you, that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for
thee, that thy faith fail not, and when thou art converted,
strengthen thy brethren. The Lord very graciously spoke
here to Simon, but not only to Simon, really to the Church of
God. Because as we read here, Satan
hath desires to have you, and that you in the original Greek
is in actual fact plural. So it doesn't just refer to Simon
Peter, it refers to the 11 disciples and it also refers to the whole
Church of God. So we should recognize that such
words don't just apply to Simon Peter, they did of course, but
they apply to every one of his people, and therefore they apply
to us today. And to realise it's good to be
aware of such truths that Satan desires to have us, that he may
sift us as wheat. The devil's aim is to deceive
the people of God. And let us be clear, the devil
will never give up this side of the grave. He will always
be trying to deceive the people of God. He began, of course,
way back in the Garden of Eden when he deceived Eve. You see,
the principle skill that he used was to convince her that what
God said wasn't necessarily true, or it wasn't necessary to keep
to it. And you see, she very easily
was taken in. And let us not think that you
and I are any better than Adam and Eve. The devil knows precisely
what is our weakness. And we all have different weaknesses.
We're not all the same. The devil knows exactly what
our weaknesses are. And the Apostle Peter, who this
was of course addressed to, was very much aware of the truth
of it, because we know it was but a few hours afterwards that
he denied his Lord and Master, the Lord Jesus Christ, not once,
not twice, but three times. And we read not in this account,
but other accounts, it was with oaths and curses. We would think
that was hardly possible. We must realize the weakness
of our flesh and the power of Satan. Let us never underestimate
the power of Satan. And that's why the Apostle Peter
tells us in his first epistle in the fifth chapter from verse
80 says be sober be vigilant because your adversary the devil
as a roaring lion walketh about seeking whom he may devour whom
resists steadfast in the faith knowing that the same afflictions
are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world. So we should not think that such
a temptation was unique to Peter. In actual fact, it applies to
all true believers. And if you and I are not a believer,
the devil won't harass us very much. He'll be content to leave
us so that we wander on through this sinful world and perish
in our sins. But if we are amongst the true
Church of God, the true household of faith, then we can expect
that we will be tempted and we will be harassed by the devil
again and again. And so we need to be aware of
the fact that he is ever around us. In Job's case, you may remember
The first two chapters we're told how Satan came and walked
up and down the land and found Job. He knew where Job was and
he asked the Lord what he could do unto him. And of course the
Lord gave him permission to do everything he wanted to do, apart
from he was not allowed to take his life. It's a wonderful thing,
isn't it, to know that the devil is a chained foe. He cannot do more than God allows
him to do. But it doesn't mean to say he
won't cause a lot of havoc in our lives. We have the example
of Job, don't we? You shouldn't think, well, that
was, of course, Job, and thankfully I'm not like Job. Well, you don't
know what may come upon you, what you may have to face. And Job was sorely tempted, and
he was sorely tried, wasn't he? But you know he was able in the
midst of his difficulty, in the midst of his trials, he was able
to look up and he was able to declare, I know that my Redeemer
liveth. He knew his God. What a mercy
it is if the Lord comes and tests our religion. As Job's religion
was being tested very sorely, the devil didn't overcome. Job was brought down very low.
But he was brought down to that condition where before God he
recognised what he was like and he came and said, behold I am
vile. And that's not something that
you and I want to admit naturally. It's a good thing isn't it when
the Holy Spirit works in our hearts like it did in Job's.
So he came and said behold I am vile. What a mercy when God deals
with us and brings us down. So we don't have a high opinion
of ourselves. We don't think, well, I'm not too bad. In actual
fact, I'm better than most people. But when the Holy Spirit works,
how good it is to realize we can't throw stones at anyone.
And we are, by the grace of God, as the Apostle Paul said, we
are what we are. Not something that you and I
have produced ourselves. We have no strength ourselves
to resist the devil. Never think you are strong enough. Never think you can contend with
the devil, because the devil is a very cunning foe. Never
underestimate his skill. But you see, the wonderful blessing
is that although we're told Satan desire to have you, He may sift
you as wheat and of course that means that we're being all shaken
about in sifting wheat. It was tossed up and down to
separate the true seed from that which was just a husk and it
was shaken all around and you and I may be shaken all around
sometimes. So that perhaps we're almost
ready to give up and we think well I can't be a true believer. Surely there's no life in my
soul if I'm like this. Surely I'm not. Well, there are
many encouraging accounts in the Word of God to be a blessing
to us. And if you feel like that, well,
don't shut the Bible up. Open the Bible and read the Bible
and you will find you have companion in the Bible. You may not find
it immediately, you may not find it on the first page you read,
but read on. You will find there the characters
in the Bible which suit your condition and suit your position. And especially in the Psalms
of David, how he was able to portray the temptations and the
oppositions and where he looked for deliverance. And where did
he look? He looked to his God. My friends,
don't forget to look up. If you continue looking down,
you'll get worse and worse. Look up to the Lord Jesus Christ
and look up to his great and glorious and finished work of
salvation. Now you see, the devil does not
like, he hates the cross. My friends, if you point the
devil to the cross. He won't be able to stand up.
He'd have to slink away because he was defeated when the Saviour
died upon Calvary's cross and rose again a victor over sin,
death, hell and the grave. And they're such lovely words.
And you and I, we are more than conquerors through him that loved
us. Now there's our consolation. And there's our support. But
it would only be so if you and I found, therefore, looking to
Him and putting all our trust in Him. Because we have no might
against this Great Host. But our eyes are upon Thee. That's
what Jehoshaphat said years ago with a very different situation.
But it's the same today in our spiritual life. We have no power,
naturally, to resist the devil. But may our eyes be upon our
God. And we know, of course, in Jehoshaphat's
case there was a glorious victory, a wonderful deliverance. And
there is still today for his people. It's a wonderful victory.
And what praise then comes from our hearts as we realize what
God has done for us. These words Satan hath desired
to have you, that he may sift you as wheat. Don't think therefore
that we come outside of those words, but they have an application
to us and therefore we should desire that we may know what
it is as the Lord goes on when he says, but I have prayed for
thee that thy faith fail not. Ponder that glorious truth. I have prayed, Almighty God has
prayed for us. It's really beyond our comprehension,
isn't it, to think of the wonder of it. And of course, when the
Lord Jesus prayed to his father, which is recorded in the 17th
chapter of John, we're told this in the ninth verse, where perhaps
I'll read the eighth verse first. For I've given unto them the
words which thou gavest me, and they have received them, and
have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have
believed that thou didst send me. I pray for them. I pray not
for the world, but for them which thou hast given me, for they
are thine, and all mine are thine, and thine are mine. and I am
glorified in them." Now those are very wonderful words, they're
very powerful words and they're very far-reaching words if we
just ponder them carefully to think of what the Saviour said,
for I've given unto them the words which thou gavest me. That means the Lord has spoken
into our hearts. He's spoken the words that were
given to him to us and they haven't been rejected and they have received
them what a blessing then today if we have received the words
of God and if we receive them they would have made a very gracious
effect upon us because they would have met our spiritual need And
we would have been thankful that such words were spoken to us. And they have received them.
And what is the outcome? And have known surely that I
came out from thee. These statements are very positive,
aren't they? And thankful we should be. The
word of God is positive, it is sure. There's nothing to doubt
about it. The devil will cast doubt upon
every word of God. And of course, what he said to
Eve, he'll say to you and me today, hath God said? He'll try
and turn us away from it. Well, what a blessing when we're
able to resist the devil, that he may flee from us. And so he
says, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they
have believed that thou didst send me. What a foundational
statement that is. What a blessing it is. If you
and I have received grace, that means the unmerited favour from
God to believe that the Father sent the Lord Jesus Christ into
this world to save you and to save me and to save all the living
Church of God. And to realise then, if that
is true, The Lord has prayed and does pray for us. I pray
for them. It's really beyond our natural
comprehension, isn't it, to think that almighty God should pray
for such sinners, such wretches, such vile people, such unworthy
people. And yet how true it is. Can we
not praise God for it? Can we not be thankful for it? I pray for them. And so, as the
Lord spoke on this occasion in this upper room on this very
special time, wasn't it? What a wonderful occasion it
was. Those disciples blessed there
with the very presence of the Saviour, having instituted the
Lord's Supper, and now speaking to them in love to their souls. My friends, it's true today.
It's love to our souls. It's not something which is unattractive. It's not something which is irrelevant. It's something which is very
wonderful. To think that we have such a gracious God warning us
what Satan will do. and not therefore be surprised
if we are attacked by the devil. Attacked to try and turn us out
of the way. Attacked to try and make us give
up our hope. He tries to dismiss the work
of God. He tries to convince us it's
of no value. He tries to tell us We are lost,
we may as well give up. Well may the grace of God keep
us. Praying unto Him. Again, Peter
knew so well the power of God and the need of it. And in the
first chapter of his first epistle, he speaks about that to us. And it's his encouraging words
as he tells us, he says, He speaks first of all about the blessing
of God and which according to is abundant mercy hath begotten
us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ
from the dead. And you won't argue with that.
You'll recognize it is abundant mercy that you and I have not
been cut off. Abundant mercy hath begotten
us again unto a A lively hope, that means a real hope, a living
hope, not a dead hope, not a vain hope, a good hope. By the resurrection of Jesus
Christ from the dead, no resurrection, no life, no hope. We have abundant
evidences in the Word of God of the glorious resurrection
of the Saviour. And so he goes on to an inheritance
incorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not away reserved
in heaven for you." It's a tremendous statement, isn't it? To ponder.
It should be a wonderful statement to encourage us as we press on
day by day believing that it comes every day nearer when by
the grace of God we shall inherit this incorruptible undefiled
condition it doesn't fade it always remains the same yesterday
today and forever and to think wonderful thought such a place
is reserved in heaven for us for you for me then he says who
are kept by the power of God Peter realized the needs to be
kept So often we perhaps forget the need to be kept. Kept from
doing wrong things. Kept from thinking wrong things.
Kept from saying wrong things. Things that so easily come upon
us. But he says, who are kept, not
by our own strength, not by our own will, by the power of God. Through faith and to salvation,
ready to be revealed in the last time. And then he goes on to
say, wherein ye greatly rejoice." We mentioned it this morning,
didn't we, really, about great joy. It is. Greatly rejoice. And I'm sure, blessed by the
work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts as we view that which
is set before us in the future, we have reason to greatly rejoice. And then he says, though now
for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through many,
for that means many temptations. Well, the Church of God will
face many temptations. Many temptations. Here was the
Lord speaking in these words to Simon, Satan's desire to have
you. He may sift you as wheat, many
temptations. And today it hasn't changed. We will still be sifted. The
devil will still try and turn us out of the way. And so we
will be faced with many temptations. But there is a benefit. There
is a benefit in these things. You may say, well, I don't see
any benefit. I don't know any benefit. The
benefit is this. that the trial of your faith,
this tests whether our faith is real or not. And we don't
want to have a false faith. We want to have a real faith,
a God-given faith, which stands firm. And so he says that the
trial of your faith being much more precious than the gold which
perishes is a very valuable asset. that God gives to us. He does
give it. Living faith. God-given faith. Though it be tried with fire.
And our faith will be tried with fire. And you may say, well why
is that necessary? I'll tell you why it's necessary.
Because sometimes we can rest on a false faith. A false religion. that which is of the flesh and
not of the spirit, we can perhaps take texts to ourselves which
haven't been given us to God just because they seem rather
nice and rather suitable. Now of course the Lord does give
suitable texts to us, but here we have this situation that the
Lord will test our faith, that it be tried with fire so that
it might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing
of Jesus Christ. Now, this is the path of the
true believer, the true child of God. And it's not something
that the unbeliever really understands. To have our faith tested as to
the reality of it. But the good thing is that that
which is of the flesh then is burnt up. And it's good to have
it burnt up rather than writhe at heaven's gate under a false
faith and find that those terrible words are spoken, depart from
me, I never knew you. We want to have and possess a
God-given faith. What a mercy it is to possess
a God-given faith, a belief in what God has done. and not resting
in anything that you and I have done in and of ourselves. And so the Lord comes and says
here to Simon and to the Church of God, but I have prayed for
thee. And what has he prayed? That
thy faith fail not. The Lord God has prayed that
for us. We can believe and we can trust and we can know that
our faith will not fail. We may be brought sometimes to
extremities. We may perhaps be brought sometimes
tempted to give up. But you see, the grace of God,
the favour of God will not allow us to give up. Our faith may
appear to be very frail, very small. But remember what the
Word of God tells us, a little that a righteous man hath is
better than the treasures of many wicked." It's not the quantity
of faith, it's the quality of faith. And the quality is God-given
faith. That's not something that you
and I have worked up ourselves. That which is God has graciously
come and given to us. But I pray for thee, that thy
faith fail not." And if, of course, the Lord has prayed for us, then
our faith cannot fail, can it? Because God is almighty. And
if he's prayed for us, and we have the evidence that we are
amongst those who are loved with everlasting love, oh, what a
great blessing it is, you know, Jeremiah and his prophecy, he
speaks truth, wonderful truth as I'm sure we know and in the
31st chapter he tells us in words about Ephraim and he says this
verse 18 in chapter 31 I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning
himself thus thou hast chastised me and I was chastised Sometimes
we need to be chastised. We need to be corrected. Children don't like being corrected.
Adults don't like being corrected. But the Lord graciously does
correct his people. And so we're told Ephraim, I
have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus, thou hast chastised
me, and I was chastised as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke. Well,
we don't see that so much perhaps nowadays but in the old days
of course there was bullocks that were used for ploughing
on the farm and they had to be put, a yoke put round them so
they could pull the plough. Of course when that was first
put on them they didn't like it because their freedom was
restricted and they had to go in a straight line and they weren't
very happy. And that's truly the same today
with the Church of God. When the Lord first comes to
us and puts that yoke upon us and we see before us a straight
path and no deviations and we're not very happy because we find
we can't do perhaps the things that we used to do, perhaps the
things that we wanted to do. And we may still perhaps continue
to do them but we find that there's not the happiness in them. We
find that there's a problem, that we don't enjoy them anymore,
because we know that they're not right and they're not things
that really bring honour and glory to God. And so we kick,
we don't like it, run accustomed to the yoke. And what are we
told? Turn thou me, and I shall be
turned, for thou art the Lord my God. What a mercy. The grace of God brings us to
that condition, so we come and seek. The Lord will turn us against
our will. Against our will. What a mercy
that is. What does that show? The grace
of God, and the Lord gives us a prayer to pray against our
will. Turn thou me, and I shall be
turned. Confidence in God. What a blessing. Confidence in God to realise,
I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not. And so he goes on to say, I shall
be turned for thou art the Lord my God. Surely, after that I
was turned, I repented. What a blessing it is when God
gives us repentance. It's not something you and I
just produce ourselves. You and I just can't stand there
and say, well, I repent. My friends, it's the work of
the Holy Spirit. And godly repentance is a blessing
from God. And what a mercy it is when he
brings it to us. And therefore, Jeremiah is able
to tell us, shortly after that I was turned, I repented. Realizing God's goodness upon
us, the goodness of God leads us to repentance, we read in
the Romans. The goodness of God, to think
that God hasn't cut us off as a cumbra of the ground, as a
waste of space. God hasn't dealt with us as our
sins deserve. Surely after that I was turned,
I repented, and after that I was instructed. I smote upon my thigh,
I was ashamed. Yea, even confounded, because
I did bear the reproach of my youth. We may look back. We will be ashamed of things
that we did, things that we should not have done. And yet the Lord's
goodness and mercy was toward us. I have prayed for thee. In that situation, the Lord's
prayed for us. What a mercy. What a favor. that thy faith fail not and when
thou art converted strengthen thy brethren now we may say well surely Simon
was converted yes he was he was a converted man but you see here
was further teaching to Simon as he was to learn, the weakness
and the evil of his own heart. You see, when he was shown that,
we're told this, the Lord turned and looked upon Peter. And what
happened to Peter? Did he just go away? We're told
something very wonderful. He went out and wept bitterly. That means he was truly sorry
for what he'd said and done. He truly repented, didn't he?
And there was therefore, we might say, that conversion, that wonderful
time when the Lord had come to him and showed him very clearly
his weakness, his sinfulness in denying his Lord. As we read
just previously, he said he wouldn't He would never deny the Lord.
The Lord had told him that before the cock crowed thrice, twice,
he would deny him thrice. Before that thou shalt thrice
deny that thou knowest me. Yes, well, Peter was very strong
in his own eyes. He didn't realise how weak he
was. Now the Lord does weaken us. We're told this. He weakens their
strength in the way. He weakens our strength. So that
we can't rely on our strength. What we can rely upon is God's
strength. And then you see that is a blessing
because when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren. What
does that mean? Surely it means then we can testify
of God's grace. We can testify of his love and
his mercy toward us. See, Peter knew God's love. Peter knew what a wonderful thing
it was to receive that love from God. And he tells us, or at least
John tells us rather, not that we loved God, but that he loved
us. Always is that way round. That's
what brings down our hard nature, to realise that God has loved
us. Oh, what a wonderful blessing,
and what a wonderful favourite it is to receive this blessing
from Almighty God. But I pray for thee, that thy
faith fail not. And when thou art converted,
strengthen thy brethren. Apostle Paul tells us something
about this, about faith, when he wrote to the Ephesians, when
he came towards the end of that epistle, the sixth chapter, he
tells us this, above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith
ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.
We can assume from that statement that the church of God will be
bombarded with fiery darts, which will come into our very being. But yet the Lord gives us a shield
of faith. And earlier on, we're told, wherefore
take unto you the whole armour of God, the shield of faith,
the gift of faith, which God gives us to tell Satan that Christ
has died. The Saviour has taken away our
sins. You see, the devil may say, you're
just too great a sinner, there's no hope for you at all. The Lord
came to seek and to save the worst of sinners. What a blessing
that is. He came to seek and to save David
who sinned so greatly in the sin of Bathsheba and then Uriah
when he caused him to be killed, murdered. Yes, David was a sad
state and a sad condition. And David left to himself. He
thought he was all right. Everything was plain sailing
until Nathan the prophet was sent to him and pointed and said,
thou art the man. Oh, David, you can't escape.
You killed Uriah. Yes, you did. You committed Bathsheba.
And of course, we know that Through that incident, he was able then
to write, under the blessed influence of the Spirit of God, the 51st
Psalm. And in that 51st Psalm, how clearly
he speaks about his own condition. And he asks, have mercy upon
me, O God, according to thy loving kindness. And this is what breaks
the heart of the sinner, the loving kindness. of the Lord. David knew it, the Church of
God know it. What a blessing tonight if you
and I know the loving kindness of the Lord. According unto the
multitude of thy tender mercies brought out my transgressions.
And aren't they a multitude, God's mercies toward us. Every
day we receive the mercy of God. It wasn't so we would perish
in our sins. But God is ever gracious. He's
ever merciful. And therefore David comes and
asks, wash me throughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from
my sin. What a mercy, therefore, to come
down to realize that when the Lord speaks like this, I have
prayed for thee that thy faith fail not. David's faith didn't
fail. because he was led to see the
glorious salvation in his Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. But it
brought him to true godly confession. And that's a mercy when God brings
us to true godly confession. It's between our soul and God
that we have to confess our sins. As he says, against thee, thee
only have I sinned. and done this evil in thy sight,
that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear
when thou judgest. And he goes on and says, Behold,
thou desirest truth in the inward parts. That means in our very
heart, God desires truth. And in the hidden part, thou
shalt make me to know wisdom. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall
be clean. Wash me, and I shall be whiter
than snow, make me to hear joy and gladness, that the bones
which thou hast broken may rejoice. Well, there is a rejoicing when
we realize the Lord has looked upon us and had mercy upon us,
and rejoicing because the Lord has prayed for us. But I have
prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not. And when thou art converted,
strengthen thy brethren to clear inference here is that when the
Lord does these things for us, we are to acknowledge it, we
are to speak of it, because the brethren won't be strengthened
unless there is an acknowledgement of what God has done for us in
cleansing us from all our sin and directing us to look to him,
the Lord Jesus Christ, and his sin atoning death. The Lord saves
to the uttermost, the uttermost. Yes, we have a complete salvation. There's nothing omitted from
it. God has come to save us. What a mercy tonight, then, as
we think of these words that the Lord spoke on that Passover
night to Simon, to the disciples, to the whole Church of God, and
bless God, if they're directed to you and me tonight. So we
can say, yes, Satan hath desired to have me, that he might sift
me as wheat. I know something of what the
Lord is speaking here, but then to realize the wonderful comfort,
the wonderful confirmation that the Lord himself had looked upon
me has remembered me in my lowest state and come and prayed for
me, upheld me, strengthened me, enabled me to resist the devil,
to turn away from him and to serve the Lord and to seek after
him and to be blessed for those heavenly blessings which are
to be found in Christ. What has been the effect? It's
been this, Christ is precious. Christ is a reality. We come and say, my hope is built
on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. How valuable
that is. How good it is then to have understood
what the Lord spoke to Peter and to realize the temptations
and difficulties that we faced and yet to realise through the
grace, through the death and blessing of the Saviour, we are
made whole, we are complete in Him and we can look forward to
that great and glorious day when we will have finished our pilgrimage
on this earth and we shall be found with Christ, which is far
better. Amen.