May the Lord be pleased to bless
us this evening as we consider 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, and 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 these are the words of the Lord
Jesus And he speaks to Simon, Simon Peter, but yet we realise
that it is also really addressed to the whole Church of God. Because the word tells us, the
Lord said, Simon, Simon, Satan hath desires to have you. And
that you in the Greek is plural, is not singular. And therefore
it does not just refer to Simon. Indeed it would have referred
directly to all the disciples that were there at that time.
And surely it is directed therefore to the whole Church of God. Because how true it is that our
adversary the devil, he desires to have us and he's well skilled
in the traps that he sets for the people of God to try and
overcome them. We only have to look back to
the word of God and to see how he has cunningly come and caused
havoc. We go back don't we to the beginning
in Genesis when by those lies that he told to Eve. She was taken in by them and
listened to what he said and what a tragic outcome there was
because of that original sin which passed upon all mankind. And it was because of the influence
of this great evil adversary, the devil, Satan. Now we should not think that
because Satan achieved as it were that victory that he has
given up. In fact we know how hard he tries
and we know as we think of the account even of Peter. Simon
Peter having been spoken to in this way, warned in this way,
yet it was but a short time just a few hours when, left to the
temptation of Satan, he denied his Lord and Master those three
times. So we should never assume that
we are able to cope with the tests of Satan. Be very sure
that we will not be able to cope with the test of Satan and that's
why no doubt the Apostle Peter wrote those wonderful words kept
by the power of God we are only kept by the power of God and
I believe that the church of God, the children of God have
those evidences in their lives when amazingly God has kept them
there's been temptations There's been situations which have developed
and the Lord as it were stood between and the Lord has delivered
and the Lord has saved and we give thanks to our God for such
occasions and to be able to record that we do have a God who is
able and willing to save to the uttermost to come where we are
to meet with us and to bless us and strengthen us. And so
to be able to record, yes, by the grace of God I have been
kept, not because of our own will, not because of our own
nature, but because of the grace of our God. Now, the Lord speaks
here and says, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to
have you. It's a very clear statement here
that he was told to behold, to look, to see. And my friends,
it's good for you and I, if we're aware, if we're on the lookout
for the devil. Those words that the Lord Jesus
taught his disciples in that what we know as the Lord's Prayer,
lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Those
are very glorious words, and they are words which we should
never forget, how we need to pray those often, that we might
not be led into temptation, and that we might be delivered from
evil. Because the devil is very keen to lead us into temptation,
to bring us into those situations which appeal to our nature. Now, we're all different. Some things might appeal to me
that will not appeal to you. And some things which might appeal
to you will not appeal to me. But we are to be watchful. We
are to behold that Satan is on the lookout for an opportunity
to come and to cause us to fall, to cause us to sin. He's ever
on the lookout. He's ever alert. And we therefore
need also that grace to be hold and to be alert likewise. To
be able to observe when we are being sidetracked. We're being led astray. We're
being led away from the truth. We're being led away from those
things which are pure and holy. The devil's aim is to blind our
eyes. He attracts us on the one hand
and desires to blind our eyes on the other. And it may be that
we come into situations which are exceedingly trying. You remember
Job. The Lord allows Satan to go to
great extremes, but he wasn't allowed to touch his life. And sometimes we may feel that
the devil's been allowed to go to great extremes with us. Well I doubt whether any of us
will ever have to go as far as Job did. And we have that as
a great and glorious example for us. to think about, but Joe
was greatly tempted, greatly tempted, yes, to give up everything. Everything seemed against him.
And there was a great temptation therefore to give up everything.
His wife encouraged him to do just that. Well, we have to be
very aware, do we not today? And we're thankful therefore
that We have here a warning sound. It's a trumpet sounding forth
to warn us today, in our life, as now it's our turn to walk
upon this earth. To realise that the words are
true. Behold, Satan has desires to
have you. And he's always desired, and
he continues to desire. He'll never give up. until we
are out of his reach in glory he cannot he cannot reach anyone
in glory and we can bless God for that but while we are on
this earth we will face much temptation and let us not forget
how the Lord Jesus Christ himself was tempted, led up into the
wilderness and tempted of the devil. My friends, the devil used all
his power to tempt the saviour. And we have the example of the
saviour, how he responded. He responded in the words of
scripture. And as you and I may be tempted
perhaps in a certain way, in a certain situation, it will
be good if you and I are sufficiently versed in the word of God that
we are able to quote the word of God to the devil because he
will not be able to stand against it and we know although he tried
he did not prevail and may we therefore be encouraged in our
life as we may be tempted perhaps to come and think like this well
what does the word of God say Does the Word of God encourage
me in a certain course? Or does the Word of God warn
me against a certain course? We mustn't rely on our own reason.
Our reason is faulty, our reason is often sinful. But the Word
of God is not faulty. And we will not fail. if we refer
to the Word of God to come to the right decision. And I believe
through that we should be able to overcome. It's not that we
should be able to resist the devil, but he will flee from
us as God gives us that grace to quote the Word of God to Satan
himself. But, as you may, by God's grace
overcome one difficulty, And we might be able to thank God,
and I believe, truthfully, when the Lord does deliver, and we
recognise it, we're able to thank God that we didn't fall into
that situation, that temptation that was put before us. And don't
forget we still possess our old flesh. Our old flesh is sinful. which still likes to indulge
in sinful things. Oh bless God for that new nature.
If we have that new nature, then which truly seeks after holiness,
then as we are delivered out of temptation, and you see the
Lord does know how to deliver us out of temptation, and as
we are delivered out of those temptations, then I believe there
will be that well perhaps we could say relief in our heart
when the battle's been won when we've been overcome and the Lord's
helped us, given us strength to turn away from a temptation
there is that relief and thankfulness in our heart to the Lord Satan hath desired to have you
and so he has and so he will let us ever remember that has
ever been on our watch against all his snares and temptations.
And he's very insidious in the way that he tempts us. He's very
clever. He's very clever to lead us perhaps
in a way which on the surface initially may seem to be very
harmless. But you know we can enter in
and we can become entangled what on the surface appears to be
quite legitimate but if we haven't actually examined it in the light
of God's word we can very easily find that it was not so legitimate
as we initially considered and we had to prove perhaps very
painfully as we may have come entangled in the snares the devil
sets for us And it's not so easy to retrace our steps. It's not so easy to untangle
ourselves from a situation which we have become entangled in. Satan has desired to have you. And the Lord then illustrates
that in this picture, that he may sift you as wheat. Now, in
a sifting process, there's really no time of peace or stillness. There's a constant motion. There's
agitation. Indeed, in a sifting, the sieve
is agitated all the time to make it work. And that's really the
picture here. and the devil will agitate us,
he'll keep up the motion in our lives as it were, to try and
wear us down, tire us out by his continual agitation, continually
bringing a situation before our mind, perhaps before our eyes,
and we find there is a gain, Oh, the devil's still at it.
My friends, he is still at it. He desires to have possession
of us so that he may grasp us and agitate us to such an extent
that we are willing to at last listen to his temptations and
enter into it. That's the way that he desires
to operate. And we may think sometimes that
he's going about, which he does, as an angel of light. And he
agitates us in that way, saying, well, look, this must be alright,
there's no problem in it, there's really no harm in it, and you
can carry on doing this, and you won't find any ill from it. And he keeps on bringing that
before us. And if we're not careful, we find we're weakened. under
his temptations. Now the Lord's warning us here.
He's giving us the situation. He's telling us, behold, Satan
desires to have you, that he may sift you as wheat. That's
his aim and that's his desire. And the Lord tells us here very
plainly, in simple words, that this is so. And that applies
to us all. Don't think you're exempt. And
don't think, ever think, that under such a temptation you would
be able to resist the devil. Left yourself, you cannot. It's
only by the help of the Holy Spirit of God. Simon, Simon Satan had desire
to have you. that he may sift you as wheat now the Lord goes on when he
tells Simon but I have prayed for thee this was a personal
statement I have prayed for thee and it's a wonderful blessing
if we have the evidence that the Lord God has prayed for us. The Lord says, I pray not for
the world, I pray for those whom the Father has given him. It
would be a great blessing for us tonight if we have the evidence
in our hearts that the Lord has prayed for us and that's a tremendous
truth a wonderful consideration to think that the creator of
everything, the almighty God, who holds our breath in his hand,
who knows every detail of our life, this great God prays for
us. I, the blessed Lord, have Pray
for thee. Pray for thee, that thy faith
fail not. Now, we might say, well, but
Peter fell. But Peter sinned. Well, he did. But his faith didn't
fail. And sometimes the Lord allows
us to fall to show us, to prove to us our weakness. To prove to us that we are not
as strong as we thought we were. Peter thought he was strong.
He thought he would be able to stand. In actual fact he said
he laid down his life for the Lord. And yet faced with a question
from just a servant, he denies his Lord and Master. But his
faith did not fail. And so we read these words, I
pray for thee that thy faith fail not. And our faith will not fail if
the Lord has prayed for us. Because the Lord prays for his
people. He prays for them individually. And as he prays for them, then
you see that faith cannot fail. Because that which the Lord says
and does cannot fail. And maybe therefore tonight have
that confidence to believe. That if we have a hope in the
mercy of the Lord, if the Lord is directing us tonight to such
a consideration as this, to think about the temptations of Satan.
It is because the Lord is bringing that before our mind. It is because
the Lord is producing that concern in our hearts that we might not
fall, that we might be aware of the devil's temptations and
all his cunningness in our life. And then to be so thankful that
the great Lord Jesus Christ has prayed for us. And then, I believe
the wonderful benefit and influence will be this, as we then consider
perhaps those things that we read together, even in this chapter. We think of the Lord Jesus himself
there, when he had spoken to his disciples, preached that
glorious sermon, gone out over the brick kidron and gone into
the garden of Gethsemane, And there we just have a little sight
of the cost of our salvation. We just have a little view of
what it meant to the Saviour to have to endure all our sins. Those sins which the Lord is
warning us against. He is warning us The Saviour
has desired to have you that He may sift you as wheat. And
then we see how the Lord Jesus suffered on our behalf because
of our sin. If there had been no sin, there
would be no need of a suffering Saviour. But because there was
sin, because there is sin, there is a need for a suffering Saviour. And it is important that you
and I have some little view of the value of our salvation. I believe we should have a little
view of the cost of our salvation. It will influence our lives as
we come into these times of temptation. If we are given that grace to
consider Him, oh then, to consider Him suffering for us. It may indeed be that which hinders
us from following that course of sinfulness. The Lord Jesus then, in that
garden, He prayed saying, Father, if Thou be willing, remove this
cup from me, Nevertheless not my will, but thine be done. Never forget, the Lord desires
to do his Father's will. And may that be instructed to
us, and may we desire to do our Father's will. Surely that must
mean turning away from sin, desiring truly not to be led into temptation,
Truly our desire should be to be more like our Saviour, to
be given that grace to truly resist the devil. Father, if Thou be willing, remove
this cup from me, nevertheless not my will, but Thine be done. And there appeared an angel,
unseen from heaven, strengthening him. I believe there are those
times when we may fear to know The strengthening influence of
an angel, of the Saviour Himself, by us, strengthening us, helping
us. What a great blessing it is to
know the Lord by our side. Blessed experience when we feel
the Lord with us. And then I believe We can say,
really Apostle, I can do all things through Christ that strengthens
me. It is a wonderful blessing to
walk that path. There's a temptation. The Lord
strengthens us to turn away from it. We feel his presence. We realize his help. And then there appeared an angel
unto him from heaven, strengthening him. And being in agony, he prayed
more earnestly. What prayer this was, wasn't
it? He prayed more earnestly. And his sweat was as it were,
great drops of blood falling down to the ground. What a picture
we have here of earnest prayer. the prayer of the Saviour. And
remember here, not carry his sins, not burn with his sins,
but burn with our sins. Every sin. The whole Church of
God. And here he was, in this agony,
praying more earnestly. And his sweat was, as it were,
great drops of blood falling down to the ground. It's a picture
which really is almost beyond our comprehension, our imagination. And yet this is the picture we
have of the suffering saviour before he went into that judgment
hall. He was in this state already
of weakness through the earnestness of his prayer. Oh, my friends,
today, we think of our prayers. Oh, we must, I'm sure, be ashamed
of most of our prayers. But oh, we'll be blessed with
true, providing prayer to pray earnestly. Remember those words
which we often quote, the effectual earnest prayer of a righteous
man about his much And he gives us here a better view, doesn't
he, of the earnestness of true prayer, true providing prayer. When he rose up from prayer and
was come to his disciples, he found them sleeping. for sorrow,
and said to them, why sleep ye? Rise and pray, lest ye enter
into temptation." Again, what wonderful words they are. Simon,
Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift
you as wheat. And when that comes into our
lives, here we have the remedy. Rise and pray. Rise and pray. Think of those words. And Satan
trembles when he sees the weakest saint upon his knees. Because although we may be weak
in ourselves, we're strong in the Lord. Strong in the Lord. That's why Satan trembles. Only
you and I might be blessed with greater prayer. And more prayer. Providing prayer. Earnest prayer.
as we see the great example of our Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. But I pray for thee, that thy
faith fail not. Now you see, it's the faith which
God has given. It's that blessed faith which
God has given. That faith to believe. That faith
to trust in Him. And so, We have this wonderful
truth that the faith will not fail. That God given faith to
believe in the Lord Jesus Christ will not fail. Because the Lord
has prayed for us. The Lord has prayed for us. We
are his people and we can be sure that he has prayed for us.
And we can bless God that indeed he has indeed prayed for us. as the Lord Jesus prayed to his
father, that wonderful high priestly prayer, when he desired that
the father would glorify the son, that thy son also may glorify
thee. He said, this is life eternal,
that they might know thee, the only true God and Jesus Christ,
whom thou hast sent. He said, I manifested Thy name
unto the men thou gavest me out of the world, thine they were,
and thou gavest them me, and they have kept my word. Now they
have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee. For I have 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 believe
that thou didst send me." Now, the Lord says here that those
who he prays for, they have been given the words which thou gavest
me and they have received them. Oh, tonight have we received
the words of God. The words that the Lord has given
to us, have we received them? His words. His words. to our soul and we receive them
as a word of God and they have believed that thou
didst send me and then he says I pray for them I pray not for the world but
for them which thou hast given me for they are mine and all
mine are thine and thine are mine and I am glorified in them
glorified in them. Isn't that a statement, to think
that God is glorified in the lives of his people, for his
children. He's glorified in your life and
my life. And surely that is as we're able
to be a follower, as we're able to observe and know the truth
of these words. a statement of desire to have
us, we might be sifted as wheat, and the Lord has prayed for us
and our faith, fail not. And then he concludes his little
statement to the Apostle by saying, and when thou art converted,
strengthen thy brethren. Now what that means is, not an
initial conversion, it means that when the Apostle had recovered
from that time of denying his Lord, then that would be when
he was then converted, and then he would be able to strengthen
his brethren, be able to point out his failures, and point out
the mercy and the favour of the Lord toward him. When thou art converted, strengthen
thy brethren. He wasn't going to be silent.
He wasn't to just go on his way, no, he was to strengthen his
brethren. Having come out, come through that trial, great trial
as it was, to then strengthen his brethren. Surely that is
the whole emphasis for us to think upon that as the Lord brings
us out of a trial, when he appears for us, when he strengthens us,
When he helps us, we are to strengthen our brethren, to record the Lord's
goodness and mercy toward us in all that he's done. 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. And now I am no more
in the world, but these are in the world and I come to thee
holy father keep to thine own name those who now has given
me that they may be one as we are while I was with them in
the world I kept them in thy name those that thou gavest me
I have kept and none of them is lost but the son of perdition
that the scripture might be fulfilled. None are lost. Can we not bless
God tonight that none of his children, none for whom Christ
died, none for whom Christ agonized will ever be lost. And so as
we think of these things tonight and if we are given that faith
to believe that the Lord Jesus Christ did suffer for us and
he prayed for us and we shall never be lost never be lost but
we shall be to God's glory forever with the Lord well what a wonderful
consideration it is as we journey on living a life in this earth
Many temptations. We know there will be. The warnings
are here. God's gracious admonitions are
set before us. Behold Satan's desire to have
you. My friends, it's true in our lives. Satan's desire to
have us. And you'll pester us. And you'll
shake us. And you'll agitate us. We won't find rest in this world. There's a rest that remaineth
to the people of God. That rest is to come. During
this life we should be agitated by the assaults of the devil.
Let us look ahead. Let us look forward to the end
of the road. Let us look forward to that prize
which our Saviour has gained for us. Let us be dependent upon
what He has done. Let us look to His finished work. Let us look out of ourselves
unto the Saviour. Let us trust in Him. Trust in
Him at all times. Ye people, pour out your heart
unto Him. The Lord said, it's God speaking,
it's not man, it's God speaking, Simon, Simon, Behold Satan's
desire to have you, that he may sift you as we bite. I have prayed
for thee, what a mercy, what a blessing, what a wonderful
thought, isn't it? The Saviour prays for us. I have prayed for you, for thee,
that thy faith fail not. And when thou art converted,
strengthen thy brethren. A word of exaltation for us.
So the Lord blesses us and encourages us to come then and strengthen
the brethren to be able to tell what God has done for us for
his honour and glory. Amen.