Knowing God through His Word … Day by Day

1 Peter 5:8 Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen.

John Piper asks, in a sermon “The Dominion Belongs to the God of All Grace”

So can true, born again, Christians possibly be devoured by the devil? No they can’t, because true born again Christians resist the devil firm in their faith. That’s the meaning of being true born again Christians; they have the Holy Spirit inside moving them to fight the fight of faith.

If God says—which he does say in 1 Peter 1:5—that he will keep us eternally secure by his power through faith, then it is foolish and presumptuous to say, I am eternally secure without a life of faith. The promise stands sure in many wonderful passages of Scripture (Philippians 1:6; 1 Corinthians 1:8; 1 Thessalonians 5:23–24; Hebrews 13:20f., Romans 8:30): God will bring us safely through the jungle of this world and keep us from being devoured by the devil; and he will do it by his power through faith. Therefore the person who says, I believe I am eternally secure, and so I don’t need to resist the devil firm in my faith is contradicting God and throwing away the warrant of his assurance. Those who are called by God do not do that. They fight to the end. And that is their badge of being born of God.

Where Is Our Assurance Found?

Verse 10 shows us where our assurance is really found.

And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you.

What this verse promises is this: if God called you to his glory, he’s going to get you to his glory. A little suffering in between is not going to stop him.

The meaning of being a Christian is that we have been effectually called to eternal glory (cf. 1:15; 2:9). This is Peter’s way of saying what Paul said in Romans 8:30: Whom God calls he also justifies, and whom he justifies he also glorifies. Peter simply says, The One who called you to his glory will get you to his glory: he will perfect, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. It’s a promise. You can take it for yourself if you will have it and believe it and bank on it this morning.

And I urge you to take it. When Peter says that “the God of all grace” makes this promise, he wants to help you believe that it’s for you. You may say. It can’t be for me. I’m not qualified. I’m not spiritual. Peter says, you don’t start with being qualified. You start with the God of all grace. Grace precedes qualification. You may have this promise freely, if you will believe in this God of all grace.

And he gives one last encouragement to believe it in verse 11: “To Him—to the God of all grace—be dominion forever and ever. Amen.” Dominion means superior strength. God has dominion over the devil. He is stronger than Satan. Therefore when he promises to successfully get us through the jungle of this world and bring us to glory, he can do it and will do it. Dominion belongs to the Lord.

Resist the Devil Firm in Your Faith

So when Satan roars with his suffering in your face and threatens to devour you, don’t say, “O, I’m eternally secure, this is no real threat.” Rather say, “The God of all grace has called me to his eternal glory in Christ Jesus, and after I have suffered a little while from your claws and fangs, he will perfect and confirm and strengthen and establish me. He is a God of all grace. He is a God of absolute dominion. You can maul me. And you can even kill me. But you cannot devour me. He has called me to glory and he will get me to glory.”