No Quarter

In our text this morning, Peter has some bad news for us: When you woke up this morning, an enemy woke up with you. An enemy whose desire is to destroy you. An enemy who will wake up with you tomorrow, and the next day, and the next day. (No, I’m not talking about your spouse). Look with me at 1 Peter 2:11,

“Beloved, I urge you are sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.”

-1 Peter 2:11

Your fleshly passions, Peter tells us, are at war within you. This is a war where no quarter can or will be given, where no truces can be called and no peace negotiated. It is a war for your very soul.

This is an enemy who aims to cripple you, harm you, and make you ineffective. It aims to sweep over you like an early frost in an apricot orchard and destroy all fruit in your life while it’s in the bud—before it can be brought to harvest. It aims to steal your joy in Christ and wreck your legacy and make you believe untruths. It aims to make a shipwreck of your faith. And this morning, Peter has two overriding goals for us:

1. Know the enemy. Peter says that there is a war on—who is this enemy? What are the schemes of this enemy?

2. Fight the enemy. To see that seriousness and stakes of the war we wake up to every morning and to fight it with grace.

So first, we need to understand the enemy that Peter is warning us against, which in this text, is actually in one sense, you. Your own desires.