Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up: it knows it must run quicker than the fastest lion or it will be breakfast. Every morning, a lion wakes up: It knows it must outrun the slowest gazelle or it will starve. Satan is a roaring lion looking for someone to devour: when the sun comes up, we’d better be ready to run.
We’re been thinking about spiritual warfare since early September and we’re going to keep doing that until the end of November – so we’re about half way through. What ground have we covered so far? Let’s rerun the tape a bit and remind ourselves what we’ve learned. We’ve seen, as if we didn’t know it already through personal experience, that the spiritual battle is absolutely real. Spiritual warfare is as real as physical warfare.
We don’t really know the origin of the devil because we aren’t given lots of detail in the Bible where he came from. There’s a hint that he is an angel who, with many other angels, rebelled against God and are to this day, living in open revolt against him. There are a few mentions in the Old Testament of the work of the devil, but in the New Testament, as the radiance and the glory of Jesus Christ shine brightly, Satan’s activity and personality are brought into the light and are exposed, so it becomes much clearer that there is this personal force of evil that we have to contend with in the power of the Holy Spirit and under the authority of Jesus Christ.
And people say, “Oh well, of course, this is just medieval superstition. It’s like belief in fairies and goblins.” Jesus believed in the devil; he faced him, he drove out demons and he talked about Satan being thrown out of heaven like lightning.” Some people say, “Well Jesus only believed in the devil because that was just the 1st Century worldview. Everybody at that time believed in the devil.” No they didn’t. The Sadducees, who were amongst Jesus’ opponents, didn’t believe in the devil, the resurrection or anything supernatural at all, and Jesus opposed them publically.
Satan is real and he is a liar, an accuser, a deceiver, a destroyer and a tempter. The Hebrew word for Satan means “Accuser” or “Slanderer” because he slanders God’s name and reputation. That’s why people outside of the church often have such a negative view of God. They say, “Why is he so down on people enjoying themselves?” It’s a false view of God because Satan is a liar, he slanders God before people. He also accuses Christians before God. Day and night he is shouting to God about all your sins and mine. But, thank God, Jesus is our Advocate in heaven and, as Counsel for the Defence, he pleads our case and because he has paid in full the penalty for our sin, he always gets all the charges dropped.
We’re told in 2 Thessalonians 2, verse 8 that when the Lord Jesus returns he “will overthrow Satan with the breath of his mouth, by the splendour of this coming.” When Christ returns he will throw the devil into a lake of fire; a hellish inferno that will never be extinguished.
The Bible talks about war in heaven. The kingdom of God clashes and collides violently with the kingdom of darkness. One of the consequences of that for us is that, sometimes, we get caught up in it - and most of us indicated a few weeks ago that we have gone through seasons of spiritual affliction. That’s what the theatre of spiritual battle looks like.
But Satan looks also to gain subtle footholds in our attitudes and establish strongholds in our thinking through devious means. That’s what we saw last week. It’s a holy discipline for us to take authority and take our thoughts captive and make them obedient to Christ. But that is what separates spiritual giants from spiritual dwarfs. The moment that thoughts that are contrary to God’s revealed truth begin to appear spiritual giants say, “Get out of my head” and they bring their thinking back into line with God’s revelation.
Our Default Stance
What we’re going to do tonight is two things. Firstly we’re going to consider what our basic stance should look like most of the time. I’m not talking about times of particular spiritual assault - and God knows we have had some of that here in the last 18 months or so - I’m not talking about seasons of affliction or temptation or attack. I mean every day. Spiritually speaking, what should my default mode be? And secondly, we’re going to see what a lion attack looks like and learn how we ought to respond when the devil springs an ambush.
In our reading from 1 Peter 5 it says that “the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” But in the verses surrounding this statement Peter draws up a list of four qualities that God wants us to cultivate at all times. This is what our basic default stance in the Christian life should look like. He says,
1) humble yourselves, 2) cast your anxieties on God, 3) be self-controlled and 4) be alert.
What I am saying is that these are not actions to take when you come under attack, I don’t think that’s what it means. Peter goes on later to talk about how we should respond the moment the devil strikes. And we’ll come to that later.
But these four; humble yourselves, cast your anxieties on God, be self-controlled and be alert are actions to take all the time so you are ready and prepared - just in case.
Here’s a question; we know the devil opposes us at all times and all places. What do you need to do to get God to oppose you? The answer is “be proud.” Just walk around arrogantly, looking down on people - especially older people - as if you have nothing to learn, criticising what everyone else does but offering no alternative and God will resist you. He has said he will and he will. So if anyone wants to go through life opposed by God, resisted by heaven, hardly growing at all, bearing no fruit, making no impact on the world around, spiritually impotent - then the key is to cultivate a proud, haughty, arrogant attitude.
1 Peter 5.5-6 says, “You who are younger, submit yourselves to your elders. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, ‘God opposes the proud but shows favour to the humble and oppressed.’ Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.” God says the same thing in Proverbs 3.34 and James 4.6 where it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. Submit yourselves, therefore, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”
Pride says “Be superior, promote yourself.” Humility says “Be unselfish, humble yourself.”
So firstly, humble yourselves. Secondly, cast your anxieties on God. Because he cares for you. This is about everyday worries; where am I going to find love, how am I going to pay off my debts and cover the bills, where am I going to get a job, how am I going to deal with an impossible colleague… or whatever. It’s hard to throw your worries and cares on God isn’t it? But consider the alternative; sleepless nights, loss of appetite, bad moods, prescription tranquilizers, comfort eating, counselling and even hair loss.
Thirdly, be of sober mind. This is all about appetites. Having a sober mind means that, by the grace of God, I’m going to think straight. I’m not going to spend money I don’t have, I’m not going to eat food I can’t burn, I’m not going to drink alcohol I can’t manage, I’m not going to visit web sites that I know will take me out of God’s will for my life and I’m not going to pass on gossip I’ve just heard. By the grace of God. As a friend of mine once said to me, “If you haven’t run into the devil lately, maybe you’re travelling in the same direction.”
And fourthly, be alert. Imagine you are on safari, your land rover has broken down in the middle of the savannah, and you’re walking through the bush, knowing there is a pride of lions on the loose somewhere in the area what would you feel like? We’ll, that’s what “be alert” means. Have your wits about you.
Satan as a Lion
The devil is a formidable and impressive adversary. The Bible presents him as an intelligent being. He is associated with tactical slyness and subtle deception. Jesus called him the father of lies (John 8.44). Satan employs several strategies. If one of them fails, he goes on to the next. He looks for weaknesses to exploit. In Matthew’s gospel Jesus says he dresses in sheep’s clothing but underneath the fancy dress he’s a hungry wolf looking to visit carnage on unsuspecting prey.
Here, in 1 Peter he is compared to a ferocious, roaring lion, on the prowl, with the stated ambition of picking off a victim to ambush, kill and sink its fangs into. So how do we fight the lions in our lives – like “lion around in bed?”
I once read a book about the lion’s hunting behaviour. They stalk their prey for hours and hours, observing the pack of buffalo or antelopes or zebras, waiting to see if one will get distracted and become slightly separated from the rest. Once a lion selects its victim it approaches silently, patiently, inch by inch, until suddenly it springs, runs, jumps, pulls its victim down and goes for jugular artery, to suffocate it as quickly as it can and stop it thrashing around in self defence. It tears off flesh and feasts on the still-warm meat. Let’s not get romantic about spiritual warfare. That ferocious, bloodthirsty, man-eating hunter is what God says our enemy is like.
Gus Mills from the African Lion Working Group studies the behaviour of these animals for a living. He notes that, like all cats, lions are strong on acceleration, but weak on stamina. They can burst into a sprint with fantastic power but they are not built to keep it up for long.
That’s why the devil will never pursue you on one particular strategy for a prolonged period. He tends to strike occasionally and with the element of surprise, but he will not persist if he sees you’re a match for him in the chase. In the reading from Luke 4, he lasted with Jesus a few minutes and then, when he saw he was no match for Jesus, the Bible says “he left him until an opportune time.”
Because lions have little staying power they have to get as close to their prey as possible before they charge and pounce. Therefore, they have to conceal themselves when they stalk their prey, and approach for a kill. They hide in long grass; they crouch and crawl low against the ground. They hunt mostly under cover of darkness at night – and especially when there is no moon or plenty of cloud cover. They have excellent eyes that see much better in the dark than we do (in fact, their vision is about eight times better than ours). They always stay upwind of the animals they stalk. They are awesome stealth machines.
That’s how Satan works. As he is a spiritual being, a fallen angel, he operates in the spiritual realm and, as such, sees a lot more than we can. There are spiritual realities all around us that we do not perceive except by a gift of discernment – but he does. He likes darkness and obscurity where things are ambiguous and vague; and he likes to conceal himself. 2 Corinthians 11.14 says he even disguises himself as an angel of light.
To catch their prey, lions have to be quick and clever. If their intended victim is some distance away at first the lions move towards them fairly rapidly. But as they get closer they slow down, hold their heads and bodies as low as they can and focus intently. If the prey looks up in their direction, the lions freeze, then inch forward as soon as the prey bends down to continue feeding or looks away. Eventually, if it is patient enough, a lion will manage to get within striking distance, which is 20-30 metres from the prey.
According to Gus Mills, when a lion runs out and begins the chase, statistically the prey actually has a better than even chance of escaping. It’s only if a particular individual fails to detect the lions in time, or if it stumbles or runs into an obstacle that the odds begin to favour the lion. So, given the odds, lions look to select a victim that is either sick or young or who has become isolated from the herd.
That is what the devil does. He is stalking even now. He is looking for sick ones. They are Christians who are undernourished from not getting enough of the milk and meat of God’s word, who are not getting stronger year on year – they’re suffering from truth decay. That’s easy pickings for a hungry lion.
He picks out the young ones. These are new Christians who aren’t yet experienced in fighting sin. I’ve known so many people who have asked Christ into their heart in a moment of excitement but who have slipped away soon afterwards. They come under pressure from their friends and families. They don’t count the cost and they don’t go the distance – their young faith devoured by Satan, the roaring lion. It’s tragic.
And then Satan goes for the ones who become isolated from the herd. These are solitary Christians, loners, who think they’re alright on their own and don’t get to church very often. They opt out or they just drift towards the edge. Satan notices and draws close to pounce.
Ending - Resist and Stand Firm
All right. Lions stalk zebras and antelopes and buffalo - and God says here that that is how Satan behaves towards us. Because he is always on the prowl we have a default stance and we know what that should look like – that is to say we know from these scriptures how we should be, as Christians, all the time.
But when the devil actually attacks God says to do two things; resist him and stand firm in the faith. What do we actually mean by attacks from the devil? Peter talks about fellow believers throughout the world going through the same kind of sufferings. This letter was written from Rome shortly after the outbreak of persecution under the Emperor Nero. Christians were already being singled out for physical maltreatment, they were being picked on in society, they were being falsely accused of cannibalism (because of the Lord’s Supper) they were having their jobs taken away, their children were being harassed at school, they were losing privileges, they were having the windows of their homes broken.
This kind of persecution is very common today right across the Communist world and certainly in the Muslim world. Some forms of discrimination have crept into legislation in the West now too – people are being disciplined for wearing crosses and being ostracised for having objections in conscience to new working practices that are contrary to God’s Law. We should be under no illusion here; the devil is behind this and he is looking for someone to devour.
Satan attacks in other ways too; false teaching in the Church, fallacious gossip and slurs, acts of vandalism, threats of legal proceedings, assaults on health and seasons of acute temptation are just some examples. And we’ve had to deal with most of the items on that list in the last 18 months. Make no mistake, we have been in a tough battle and we’re not finished yet.
This is a time to stand firm and resist the devil. This is what Jesus did when he did battle with Satan in the wilderness where he was tested. He’d just been filled with the Holy Spirit and he’d been fasting so he was spiritually prepared, but he just stood his ground and spoke out the truth of God’s word - and the devil moved on.
Resist him, standing firm in the faith. If we do, we will emerge stronger from every spiritual conflict and we will be victorious for the battle is the Lord’s. As Moses said in Exodus 14, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today… The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.”
Sermon preached at All Saints' Preston on Tees, 18th October 2009
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