[Note: This is Part A of the sermon on Luke 22:31–34. Delivered 17 January 1982, Montreal. Part B continues directly.]
Today we turn to the Word of God in Luke chapter 22, verses 31 to 34. "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 brethren." And Peter said to him, "Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death." Jesus said, "I tell you, Peter, the cock will not crow this day until you three times deny that you know me." This passage is exceedingly important and contains some most vital spiritual principles that we need to learn if we are ever going to survive, let alone grow, in the spiritual life. Before we begin, I mention that in the passage we studied last week and the passage we are looking at today, the two main intervening subjects are the Lord's Supper and Judas and his betrayal — both of which I have expounded in detail previously. Since those points have been covered, I move on directly to Luke 22:31.
Verse 31 begins without a connecting particle to the preceding verse — indicating that at this point the Lord Jesus is making a new and distinct point. And when we see the words "Simon, Simon" — a double name — that sounds ominous. A double name stresses the gravity of what the Lord Jesus is about to say. It is very much like Luke 13:34, where he says "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem," repeating the name just before announcing that their house is left desolate. When the Lord repeats his words in this way, he means he is about to say something very serious. Simon's spiritual survival is at stake — and this, in spite of the fact that he is a totally committed man.
What did Simon say? He said: "Lord, I am prepared to follow you to prison and to death." He certainly meant it; he was totally committed. Therefore, do not be too confident even in your own truthful commitment. Satan was not going to let him go simply because he was totally committed. This is the point I would like you to understand: if the totally committed can barely survive, where will the non-committed appear? They do not stand the slightest chance. Even the totally committed have problems surviving. The Lord Jesus knew Peter's commitment better than Peter did. He said: "Your commitment is not as strong as you believe. Today the cock will not crow until you have denied me three times."
We may feel ourselves to be totally committed, but when the test comes, it does not stand up. I shared recently with some brothers the fact that twelve people spoke to me about joining the training team, and of those twelve, only five actually proceeded. Now, that does not surprise me in the least. When we are thinking of joining the training, it still seems distant. But as the training date looms near and our commitment is about to be put to the test, suddenly all the implications become clear and people take fright. That is exactly what happened to Peter: "Lord, I will go to prison and to death." He did not even get to prison. All he met was a servant woman, and his whole commitment collapsed right there. Did he deceive himself? Not intentionally — he really believed his commitment to be genuine. Except it could not stand the test of reality.
Satan, it says here, "demanded to have you." And if you have the Revised Standard Version, you will notice in the margin that "you" here is plural — Satan did not ask just for Peter, but for all the disciples. He wanted them all, to sift them like wheat: to throw them up, beat them, shake them, and really work on them. The precedent for this, as you will immediately recognise, is the whole account of Job. Job was a pious man, a great Bible-carrier, always saying Hallelujah. And Satan said to God: "This man worships you? Sure — you keep patting him on the back, feeding him with a silver spoon, increasing his flock, giving him many sons and daughters. Who wouldn't follow you? Put him in my sifter, and when I have finished with him, you see if he still loves you." The point is that Satan had a valid argument — he had a very good point. God had to concede his point. "Okay, you have a point. Take him. Sift him like wheat. You may not kill him, but short of that, go to work." And Satan did a very thorough job on Job. Everything fell apart around Job's ears: his children, his health, his wealth, even his marriage. His wife said: "Curse God and die." But Job survived. He hung on. And when Satan had finished his sifting, worn out with the effort, there was Job still hanging on — refusing to quit.
Now, the very word "Satan" means an adversary in a court of law — that is the Hebrew word *satan*. In court, there is a judge, a defense lawyer — your advocate — and a prosecutor. Satan is the prosecutor, the accuser. The Greek word "Devil" — from *diabolos* — means accuser or slanderer; the same idea. And in the process of accusing, there is often a tendency to exaggerate, which becomes slander. This has enormous significance for the spiritual life, which I will now try to explain.
God is a God of love, but he is also a God of justice and holiness. Thanks be to God that he is that — because justice is the very foundation of life. Just as in the physical world there are laws which make everything possible to function, and without which you would have chaos — so the spiritual world is also governed by laws and principles which cannot be violated with impunity. The moral law cannot be abolished. You can remove the ceremonial law, which governed the religious practice of the temple worship and which we no longer need. But the moral law is the very foundation of spiritual life. You cannot abolish it. As Paul says, by loving we fulfill the law; love is the fulfillment of the law under the New Testament.
When you realise that God is a God of justice, you will understand why Satan can make his demands. Satan, like any good prosecuting lawyer, uses the law against his adversary. And most importantly, he uses the truth. I wish you would understand this clearly: Satan does not tell lies all the time. He is exceedingly good at using the truth. In the temptation of the Lord Jesus, Satan quoted the scripture carefully and exactly — the words were absolutely right, though taken out of context. If you commit a sin, Satan has a case against you. And his case is valid. If his case is valid, God cannot deny him. Suppose you stole some money. Satan will come before God and say: "This person, who calls himself a disciple of yours and is bound by your holy law, has stolen money. What is the penalty?" You see, God has to act. He cannot deny himself. The case is true and he is bound by the truth.
Many people, failing to understand this, cannot understand why God had to send the Lord Jesus to die. Why couldn't God simply say: "You repent, I forgive you, forget it"? If God could forgive you without Jesus dying, do you think he would have sent Jesus to die for the fun of it? That is too ridiculous to contemplate. Jesus had to die because there was no other way that God could be just. As Paul says in Romans 3:25, that God might be "just and the justifier" at the same time — to be just is law, to be the justifier is love. Only in this way could love and justice be compatible. Every time you are unfaithful to your commitment, Satan is going to come before God and say: "Look at this fellow. He professes that Jesus is Lord of his life. Just look at his life — is he living with you as Lord? Is his priorities right?" In terms of justice, the person is in breach of covenant. And you read this exactly in the Bible: Revelation 12 tells us that he is the accuser of the brethren, and he accuses them day and night.
I feel ashamed in comparison to Satan. He is there pleading his case day and night — such is his terrifying zeal, motivated by hatred. If you think Satan spends a lot of time sleeping, read that passage again. When his case is true, as any judge must, God has no alternative but to concede. Punishment must follow. This is where the importance of Jesus as our advocate appears. You must understand the entire legal aspect before you can understand love. If you don't understand law, you don't know what you are talking about when you speak of love.
Now, what about Satan as tormentor? In Luke 13:16 we read of a woman who was bound by Satan for eighteen years — physically crippled. She had been to many doctors who could not help her, because they realised it was a spiritual problem that no medical skill could address. This means that sometime earlier, this woman had done something that caused her to come into Satan's power, and Satan did not miss his chance. He bound her for eighteen years, until the Lord Jesus set her free. Similarly, the Apostle Paul was tormented by Satan, as he tells us in 2 Corinthians 12:7. Paul's weakness was pride. A capable person knows he is capable — it takes only a moment to see that he is on a different level when dealing with this or that problem. And the greater the capability, the stronger the temptation to pride. Satan came to God and said: "Look at him — you see his pride? Look at his attitude. It's true, isn't it?" God had to admit: "Yes, it's true." "Then hand him over to me. I'll give him a few lessons in humility." And Paul says: "Satan's messenger buffeting me" — beating me, hitting me, knocking me. If I hadn't pleaded for the mercy of the advocate and made it possible for him to defend me, I think Satan would have finished me off long ago.
You may say: but is Satan in heaven? Yes, he is in heaven. That is where God's court is, the court of justice. Let us read Revelation 12:7–10. War arose in heaven — notice where the war takes place. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back, but they were defeated. Verse 9: the great dragon was thrown down — that ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world. And verse 10: a loud voice in heaven said, "Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before God." Notice: Satan is in heaven up to this point, and is thrown out only immediately before the coming of Christ's kingdom — which is still future. That means at this very moment, as we speak here, Satan is in God's court in heaven, pleading cases against you and me, day and night.
There is in Luke 10:18 the words of the Lord Jesus: "I saw Satan fall from heaven like lightning." Some people imagine this means Satan was thrown out of heaven at that time. This is not the case at all. What we have in Luke 10:18 is a prophetic vision. In Old Testament prophecy, the prophet speaks in the past tense of something that is going to happen in the future, because what is prophesied is as certain as though it were already accomplished. Satan is still in heaven, and at this very moment he might be pleading the case against you.
Now, I want to look at the beautiful contrast between Peter and Judas. The Lord Jesus interceded specifically for Peter — not for all the disciples, not for Judas, but for Peter. Why? Because the Lord Jesus knew that only Peter would actually publicly and openly deny him. What a wonderful intercessor — he knows our weakness, he knows us better than we know ourselves, and he pleads for us accordingly. I thank God for this wonderful thought. None of us would survive, let me tell you — not one of us — were it not for his intercession. Salvation is not something that happened only in the past at Calvary. As Paul says in Romans 5:9: we are justified by his death. But we are saved by his life. It is his living, interceding life right now that upholds us. "Because he ever lives to make intercession," Hebrews 7:25 says, we can be saved.
And the last point I want to make is this. Not only does Jesus intercede for us, but we must intercede for one another for our survival. Samuel said in 1 Samuel 12:23: "God forbid that I should sin in ceasing to pray for you." Not to pray for one another is sin. How can you say this is your brother and your sister and you do not pray for them? And in Exodus 17:11 we see that in the spiritual battle, as Moses lifted his arms in prayer, Israel prevailed, but when his arms came down, Israel started losing. So they put a stone for him to sit on, and Joshua held one arm up and another man held the other arm, so that he could continue praying. In the Old Testament, saints prayed with uplifted arms as a physical gesture of openness and yielding to God. That is why I say in closing: let us realise that we need each other. If we see we care for one another, let us show it in prayer. This means finding out something about your dear brothers and sisters and what their problems are — because if you don't know anything about a person's situation, you cannot pray specifically for them. Share your problem. Don't be afraid to tell your brothers and sisters: I wish you would pray for me because I have this need. And sometimes join together — where two or three are gathered in his name, he is in the midst. Let us be quiet before God in prayer.
[Continues in Part B]