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Let me begin this sermon by doing something somewhat unpleasant but needful: I want to remind you that no matter how nice you are and sweet and loveable that there is somebody who "hates your guts!" His name was originally "Lucifer" and he is a fallen angel who loathes the creation that God loved enough to come die for and especially those who want to serve such a God. Another name for this fallen angel in scripture is "Satan" which means "adversary." Not only is he your enemy and adversary, he is "the devil," which means "false accuser." He doesn't eat or sleep. He never rests. He has other fallen angels that are helping him watch you and provide temptation for you to turn away from God's Word and love. I don't want to glorify the devil, but I do want to remind you that he exists. There are days that go by without us thinking about him, but there is not a minute that passes that the demonic influences of this world do not think about you and I. In their rebellion and hatred, they are passionate. They know God is All-Powerful and that they are eventually going to burn forever in the "Lake of Fire" because of their disobedience, and so they live in spite wanting to remove as much of God's prized creation from eternal life as they can. Simply put, they want you and I to spend eternity just as tormented as they are.

Let me give you a brief primer course on the devil. And let me do my best to dispel some popular untrue notions that some people embrace about our adversary. First of all, hell was originally created -- not for human beings -- but for the devil and his angels one day. Jesus said that the words of condemnation that would be said to those humans who would be eternally lost:

Hell is a real place, but understand that God never intended for human beings to go to hell. It was created for a resting place for Lucifer and his fallen angels. Only by giving in to the temptation from Satan to rebel against God do people set their course for hell. Simply put, God will not send any human being to hell, if they are lost it will have been their choice for choosing to obey the wiles and suggestions of Satan in their life. They will go to hell for giving in to their adversary.

The prophet Isaiah outlined why people would go to hell in chapter 5 of his book:

People will be lost because of one of three reasons:

1. They have no knowledge -- They never bother to learn about the reality of the devil and hell and what they must do to escape the clutches of both. Or, they have the wrong knowledge. They believe the lies of the "great deceiver" and don't think that it's that big a deal.

2. They are famished -- They cease to eat good spiritual food regularly and so grow so spiritually weak that they cannot withstand and fight against their adversary. The Word of God is our food -- "man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God" (Matthew 3:4). The key word there is "every." Some people are going to go to hell from a church pew because they are "picky eaters" in the Spirit. They'll digest the part of the Word that they like but not eat ALL of it. But yet the part they refuse to accept is what would bring them strength against the devil!

3. They are dried up with thirst -- Speaking about the Holy Ghost, Jesus said that "if any man drink of the waters that I give, they shall never thirst again" (John 4:14). In other words, the Holy Ghost is the only thing that will satisfy your human spiritual desires and all other things will never completely fulfill you. But you must keep drinking and allowing to fulfill you. A one time sip was not enough. There will be people who received the Holy Ghost who go to hell because they stopped drinking regularly from it and thus could not stand against the substitutes of sin that Satan brings to temporarily "quench your spiritual thirst."

But in verse 14 comes the sobering thought of the scripture:

Isa 5:14 Therefore hell hath enlarged herself, and opened her mouth without measure: and their glory, and their multitude, and their pomp, and he that rejoiceth, shall descend into it.

Hell is in a building program because of human beings choosing to either ignore the knowledge and Spirit of God or refuse to partake of it! The place that was never intended for human beings is now taking all comers who choose it.

Let me point out that Satan and his demon are not in hell today. The devil doesn't want to go to hell because it will be a place for torment to him. He is not cast into the lake of fire until the future (Revelation 20:10). In fact, right now the devil is on the earth -- at least he's on the earth between visits to heaven. The story of Job records quite a remarkable and interesting scene between Satan and God:

So we know from this story to facts: Satan walks about the earth continually and then goes to heaven to report what he has seen and to accuse us to God. When you fail, God knows about it, but He hears it again when Satan shows up because Satan is going to brag that you failed and sinned against God.

Have you ever wondered why God asked Satan where he had been? As God, He already knew every action of Satan, so why ask? Because God wanted the obedient angels to learn about Satan's desire and for you and I who would later read about the scene to understand Satan's greatest desire. The devil is not walking about the earth for his health. He does not continually travel the globe as a tourist. He is driven by a desire that drives him to restless travel and work. Peter identified Satan's desire in his letter to the church:

Simply put, you are Satan's desire. Satan's desire is to devour someone. To see someone fall from the graces of God. To see someone give in and walk away from the things of God. You have an enemy today with one desire: to see that someone who is weak and spiritually malnourished give in to his temptations and rebellions against the Word of God, and thus having become a partaker of his disobedience, also choose his eternal fate of hell.

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With all of this in mind, let's go back to our text in the book of Luke. The story of Job and how that the devil had to ask permission to mess with his life is an old one and a familiar one. And to many of us, Job lived so far before Calvary that his story is one that we can file away and say "that's a great story, but that's not what goes on in my life." So with the story of the testing of Job in mind, let's go to a New Testament scripture that would be more applicable to you and I today. I've been doing an in depth study of these verses and what I have found has astounded me. Let me share with you what I've learned:

Let's begin with looking at the word "you" in the Greek. Jesus addressed Simon Peter with these words: "Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat." In the original Greek, the word for "you" is plural, meaning that it refers to more than one person. A better translation to my Louisiana mind might be "ya'll." Many times Peter had spoken up (often!) for the group and so now Jesus is addressing Peter but at the same time speaking to all of the disciples. It wasn't just Peter that Satan desired, but all of the group of the disciples.

Then in verse 32, the word translated "thee" is singular, indicating Peter alone. Not only that but the Greek word for "desire" in verse 31 means "to ask of, to demand for trial." It is also in past indicative tense indicating something that has already taken place for a fact and has been settled. Because of all of this, the Amplified version of these verses reads:

What Jesus is telling Peter is that Satan has already asked over and over again to come against the disciples much as he did with Job. The conversation has already taken place. And God has already granted Satan the permission to bring a trials against the disciples! And so Satan was coming against all of the disciples, not just Peter, but that it would be Peter's overcoming of the situation that would help strengthen and establish the others back into the plan of God. Of course, we know that out of the twelve, one didn't make it back, and that was the betrayer, Judas Iscariot. What happened was that Satan, the accuser, was telling God that "they are just serving you for the loaves and the fishes." It's just because of the miracles and all those demons that you've cast out, that they follow you." Satan was standing in the throne room of heaven saying "if you let me bring a little hardship in their life, and let the winds of life begin to blow and allow me to shake their world and toss it up a little, then they'll curse you and turn from you."

And Satan's plan, his desire for you and I, is to "sift us as wheat." Judas Iscariot didn't just walk away from God, he fell into the trap of the sifting process. He gave into the desire of Satan. Peter almost did as well, but he made it. I don't know about you but I want to make it in this fight against the desire of Satan!

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It's a common analogy drawn from a practice that was very common back in Biblical days. After the harvest and after the growing season was completed, the wheat was taken to a threshing floor, usually a flat, open ground which had a stiff breeze. There it was beaten with a "threshing rod" and then the grain was scooped up in a big, flat shovel called a "fan" and was tossed up in the air. From the threshing, the grain was in three parts: the straw, the chaff or hard outer shell, and the wheat (the edible part). The straw and the chaff were much lighter than the edible wheat so by throwing it up in the air, the wind would blow the straw and chaff sideways a few feet and the grain of wheat which were heavier would fall straight back down in a pile. This process was called "sifting" because it separated the good from the bad; the edible from the inedible; the valuable from the throw away. The "chaff" that was blown away was gathered together and burnt in a fire. The grains of wheat were gathered together and stored to be eaten later.

The process of sifting is used throughout scripture to indicate the process of the wicked falling away from God. In our other text, the Psalmist said:

We could do an entire lesson on the difference between the godly and the ungodly. A godly man doesn't walk in the advice of the ungodly, doesn't hang out with sinners all of the time, and doesn't sit down in the judgment seat of those who make light of the things of God. Not only that, the godly are not tossed to and fro by the winds of life and trials and storms, but are like trees with good roots by a river of water. They are planted and solidly connected to their life source.

But the ungodly are not like that, and then the writer makes a powerful statement: they are "like the chaff which the wind driveth away." When the winds come and the storms come they are as unstable as the chaff at the threshing floor. The sign of a true Christian is not how holy you seem, but whether or not your life is producing the fruit of the Spirit, and how steady and rooted you are to the things of God during the storms of your life. Are you blown about and tossed about? Does the smallest storm and wind of life discourage you and move you about from your place of faithfulness? Then you are not living Godly as you should, because you are being like the "chaff which the wind driveth away."

So what is Jesus teaching us when He tells the disciples that "Satan hath desired to sift you as wheat?" The sifting of the wheat was a seasonal process. Every time a new batch of wheat was brought into the fold, the process of separating the wheat from the chaff began all over again. I'm preaching this message today not because this is the subject of my choice but because in prayer last week, the Holy Ghost spoke to me and said "it's threshing time." You may remember that I told you that the season of our church was about to change. It's harvest time. A lot of good seed has been planted in the first half of this year, but now we are entering into a reaping stage, and if a reaping stage, then it's also threshing time.

Satan's desire is to come against you and fight against you and I. If he got permission to do so for Job and he did the same against the disciples of Christ back then, then he wants to do the same thing to you and I during this season! That's why Peter warned us, the church, to be sober and vigilant because our adversary, the devil, is seeking whom he may devour. It is his desire to devour you like grain is sifted.

There have been new people that have come into our church over the last year. The last sifting of this church happened last summer. There were some good people that fell away as the chaff because they weren't anchored in the right things. And now it's your turn. Some of you have had the winds of life fighting against you. Some of you have felt like you are tossed around in the spiritual sense and that you have been fighting just to survive. Some of you have had some great disappointments and feel as if you have been crushed and hurt and broken by things that have happened. You feel as if you are in the "fan," and that big shovel is tossing you in the winds of life and you don't feel very steady. I'm here to preach to you that what you are experiencing is a NORMAL process of living for God. The harvest is here, and so it's threshing time. Satan has already got permission. He is bringing a contrary wind against you to see what you are made of. He wants to see if you are in this thing just for the blessings and miracles and goosebumps or if there's something within you that serves God because you love Him!

Like the disciples, you may have started out serving Jesus Christ because of the loaves and the fishes, but if you are going to make it through the sifting process, then you've got to be more committed than just to that. You've got to be sold out and willing to die out to anything for God! You've got to be willing to let anything go that needs to be let go. You've got to be willing to surrender all to Him and not to run from the truth of your shortcomings and faults. If you don't do so, then the seasonal winds and storms are going to move you from your faithfulness. If you don't recognize this time for what it is, then you might not make it! It's threshing time, and Satan is walking about the people of God seeing whom he may devour. His desire is for you to fall. His desire is see you give up living for God and not give God everything. His desire is to see you so disheartened from the breaking process of the threshing and the storm that is blowing in your life that you walk away from God. Satan is driven by a desire today and that is to see you fail in your walk with God!

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Let me answer what to some theologians is the hardest question of scripture to answer. Let me answer for you of why God allows the devil to roam the earth and to deceive. Have you ever wondered that? Have you ever wondered why God didn't lock the devil up and keep him from humanity? Let me answer that question for you and all of the theologians out there.

There is another scripture that refers to the sifting process. It is found in the preaching of John the Baptist who was preaching about the coming Jesus Christ. Listen carefully to John's description of Jesus Christ's ministry:

The interesting point is that here, for the first time, it is Jesus Christ that is separating the chaff from the wheat! Our other scripture said that it was Satan that desired to do that to us! But here it is Jesus Christ who would do it! Scripture cannot contradict itself, so both must be true, and let's look at a principle in scripture.

Jesus taught in another parable the same principle of chaff and wheat and combined it with a fishing analogy:

Notice how that Jesus switched from a fishing analogy back to the chaff and wheat analogy at the end in verse 50? He's talking about the same process. What God is saying is that the kingdom of heaven is just like throwing out a net. We throw the net out and we catch all kind of people that start coming to church and Bible studies. But then the good must be sorted from the bad and the bad becomes just like the chaff, eventually burnt in the furnace of the fire. The good fish from those who choose to be disobedient, the wheat from the chaff, this parable fits well with our chaff analogy which is why Jesus combined them.

It can get disheartening sometimes to see people coming and then just "not get it." But actually it's a process of the Spirit. It's a sign that we are in the kingdom of heaven when everyone doesn't stick. God uses this church as a net to draw them in but then begins the sifting process where those who really love God are separated from those who are not willing to sell out everything. I used to get frustrated when it happened, and I am never happy when someone decided not to live for God, but I have come to understand it as the process. When someone leaves, and walks away from God, I'm not going to focus on them: I'm going to throw the net out again! I'll focus on the "keepers." If you invite a hundred people to church and only one comes, don't stop inviting people to church, focus on the one and keep throwing the net out! Or to return to the wheat analogy: if you keep planting seed and see that the majority of what grows is not useable and that the pile of chaff and straw seems a lot bigger than the harvest of wheat kernels, don't get disheartened! Keep planting the seeds. Keep reaping the harvest. Because it takes a lot of chaff to get a bushel of wheat, but without the wheat, there is no harvest! The worst thing you can do is to get so discouraged that you stop throwing out the net and cease sowing seed and reaping your harvest. It's a process. It's going to continue as long as this church is on this earth!

Here's the point: I can find Jesus commanding several times for the disciples to go fishing but I can NEVER find Jesus actually separating the fish. In fact, Jesus always commanded others to do the separating. How exactly does Jesus purge His floor, as John the Baptist said? He uses others. Peter said "judgment begins at the house of God." That doesn't mean that we are to judge others who don't think like we think, but the fact is that the process of threshing and sifting begins here with God's people. God will use life. He will use bad situations. He will use preachers and the ministry. He will allow an antagonist in your life and use people to let you go through the sifting process. He always uses others, and yes, He will even use Satan to separate the good from the bad.

And so now you know why God allowed Satan to have access to humanity and allowed him to roam the earth: Satan's desire actually works to fulfill God's desire and God's desire is that someone will serve Him because they want to, because of their great love for Him! God's desire is not to have robots worshipping Him mechanically but that someone would choose to be faithful out of a thankful heart of what He has already done for them! God's desire is that people would praise Him and worship Him in spirit and in truth! God's desire is that humanity would be holy because He is holy! God's desire is that you would give your all because He gave his all! And so God allows Satan to test you with the winds of the threshing floor because He wants to see if you love Him just for the miracles and the blessings or if you are faithful because of who He really is!

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"Satan desires to sift you as wheat, disciples, but Peter, listen to me!" I have prayed for you! Prayer is always the key to making it in the kingdom of God! But notice what Jesus went on to say: "when thou art converted, strengthen the brethren." In other words, "Peter, don't let your faith fail, and when you get through this trial, you will be the key to helping others making it through the sifting process!"

You can make it through the sifting process! But to make it, you are going to have to get a prayer life and learn to seek God's face earnestly and to take a long look at yourself in the spirit. Get this: the devil wanted twelve out of twelve, but he only got one out of twelve. Why? Because Peter made the right decision when he failed God and turned his back on him. Peter didn't go hang himself and beat himself up for his mistakes, but he repented and wept bitterly and got up and kept serving God! He said "devil, you brought me to my lowest point and you threw everything that you had at me, but I want you to know that I made it through your best and I want you to know that I'm like Job, if I never get another blessing from God and lose everything that I have, I'll die being faithful to Jesus Christ because, Satan, I'm in this for more than just the blessings! I'm in this more than just for the loaves and the fishes and "goose bumps" at church. I'm in this because I truly with everything in me love Jesus!"

And when Peter got that attitude, not only did he make it through the process of sifting, but he became instrumental in helping the other ten that made it through as well! What God is waiting on in this church is someone to get the attitude "nothing will separate me from the love of God!" God is waiting for someone to be so resolutely in your love and relationship with God that everything that hell has to throw at you can't cause you to walk away! That nobody can offend you nor can life get so difficult that you walk away from this precious truth! When you get that attitude, then God has somebody that He can build upon!

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I close with this:

Before likening the ungodly to the chaff which the wind drives away, the Psalmist back in the first Psalm, likens the godly to trees on the banks of a stream of water. Water is used throughout scripture to represent the Holy Ghost. The narrower and higher the banks of a river, the more swifter and more powerful that it becomes. But the natural process of a river is to tear down the banks and erode them UNLESS there are trees with roots planted by the waters. Then the sediment carried by the river builds up around those trees and the banks climb higher and the river gets swifter!

God desires for this church to be a channel of the Holy Ghost to this community. He desires us to be "rock solid" like Peter so that a great revival can be built off of us. We're not going to see that revival by being like the chaff. We're not going to have that revival if we give in to Satan's desire to sift us and we fall by the wayside and quit. But if you will stand tall and you will get your roots deep in this thing, then you will notice that the river of the Holy Ghost which is flowing by will build up stronger and more swifter as it flows through and by you! You'll notice that your fruit will be sweeter, and you'll notice that others will began to grow up beside you causing the river to get even faster and more powerful! God is looking for someone who will resist the winds of change and the seasonal storms. God is looking for someone who will stand strong and become a well-rooted, tree of life to this community! He's looking for someone who can make it through the sifting process and then encourage others so that they too can make it!

I've made up in my mind that Satan's desire will not be fulfilled in me! Let the seasons change! Let the winds blow! Let the threshing and sifting process begin! When the winds have howled and the storms have come, I'll will have returned back straight down to my place of faithfulness serving God!