Sermon Transcript — May 3, 2003
Do you recognize this sound? Listen carefully. (Sound of a lion roaring.) No, that's not my tummy rumbling. I think we all recognize the ominous, spine-chilling roar of the lion echoing across the African bush.
Now, lions are mentioned one hundred fifty times in the Bible, and in various ways, various applications, sometimes figuratively, for instance the reference to Judah, sometimes in parables, Ezekiel 19, where it talks about the lamentations of the princes of Israel, and in various analogies, sometimes referring to its strength, the lion's strength, the lion's courage. But I think the one analogy that springs to mind when we think of the roaring lion is, what? Is the reference in the Bible to Satan, our adversary, our foe, our opponent, who walks around as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. And these are a dramatic analogy because as you study the behavior of lions, the lifestyle of lions, the various hunting techniques, and in conjunction, obviously, with the scriptures which we will be emphasizing, we learn, brethren, how to more effectively cope, how to stand up against our adversary, the roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. And to remain within the constraints of a split sermon, I'm going to be concentrating on one particular aspect of the lion.
So, for our first scripture, let's turn to Ephesians 6, a very well-known section of scripture, Ephesians 6:10. The lion roars, seeks to destroy, seeks to devour, and God does give us some very strong indications how we can withstand the adversary. Now, in Ephesians 6:10, we are very familiar with this section of scripture. It's talking about putting on the whole armor of God, but as we read through these scriptures, there is something we need to keep in mind apart from the fact of just putting on armor, and I wonder would you guess what that is?
God says, "Put on the armor," and that's the instruction, but putting the armor on alone, there's something missing. That alone will not help us to withstand the attacks of our adversary. Let's read through this, and I think you'll notice what is He emphasizing apart from putting on the armor? Notice verse 10:
Ephesians 6:10 - "Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might.
Verse 11 - "Put on the whole armour of God, that you may able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
Verse 12 - "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
Verse 13 - "Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God," and that is important, but there's something else that has to go along, or accompany putting on the armour of God, "that you may be able withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
Verse 14 - "Stand, therefore." Did you catch it? Four times in this section of scripture, the apostle Paul writes and says, "Put on the armour of God," but there's something else you have to do, and that's, "stand." Even the word - withstand - is the same Greek word.
The Greek word is actually - Histemi - and Theos Greek/English Lexicon of the New Testament says the following: "One who in the midst of the fight holds his position against the foe." One who in the midst of the fight holds his position against the foe. It also means - to persevere, to stand fast, and to stand firm. And I've entitled this sermon, "Stand Firm."
Now, recently I had an opportunity to go on a walk in a game park where they had four of the big five. In other words, they had lion, leopard, elephant, and they had the lion. I missed one; I guess it was the rhino. But the guide, he had a rifle, and he got us all together; all the others in the party were from overseas. And he stopped before we began the hike into the bush, and he said, "Now listen, this is one thing you need to keep in mind; we may encounter lion along the way."
And one of the people coming along turned to his wife and said, "Do you want to change your mind?"
And she said, "I thought we were going bird watching."
And you know what he said. "If you come across a lion, whatever you do, do not turn around and run. Do you understand?"
We all looked at him, "Yeah."
"Even if he charges, do not turn and run. Just stand still. Look him straight in the eye and wait. Because most times, it's a mock charge."
But, of course, you don't know that for sure. And may I assure you, it is a terrifying sight to see a lion coming at you, his tail is flicking backwards and forward, the bushes are being parted; he's being very much directing all his speed directly at you.
Now in most cases, the lion will stop a few meters away. And the man said, "Do you all understand? Do not run, because I may have to shoot this animal, and I don't want to do that." And it is a terrifying thing to see a lion coming straight at you and then you have to stand still, when the automatic reaction is turn and run.
Now the lion is unaccustomed to people standing and facing him or her, and especially if it's a male lion with his mane flying, and it's coming straight at you, because suddenly you are in a category of an elephant and a rhino, but all other animals run, and it's a terrifying thing watching a lion at close quarters, especially when it's angry. It has the light brown eyes with a black pupil in the middle, and when it gets angry, it turns yellow, just automatically, and it snarls and looks at you.
We had an interesting incident occur years ago where I came to a reception area of one of our game reserves, a natural park, and it was a photograph of a lioness on top of the bonnet, the hood, for the Americans, I believe, the bonnet for those in the U. K., and the lioness was on top looking inside through the windscreen. And I went to the guide, and I said, "What happened here?"
It was very interesting, this lioness was walking along, and this was unusual for her to do this, jumped onto the bonnet and started looking inside to see what was going on there. Now there were two occupants, the man was driving, and the lady was in the passenger seat. When the lioness looked through the windscreen, she fainted. But that's not the end of the story, because he found this fascinating, this lioness was looking in, and she came by, and she fainted again, because he was still there.
So the advice God gives us here in Ephesians is, "Stand."
Now over the years, I'm sure we have seen that those who have faced certain trials, certain difficulties, and many of them have come from the adversary, sometimes it involves Sabbath employment, sometimes other trials that come along. Now we have noticed that those who are willing to "stand," and to say, "this is what I believe," and are willing to say, "Please, I'll come in on Saturday evening; I'll come in on Sunday, anything, but this is what I believe."
Just recently we had somebody over in the Dover congregation who had to face this, and the pressure that she was under to work on the Sabbath, Last Day of Unleavened bread, was immense. In those situations, you have to stand. And have you noticed that when we do that, how God intervenes?
We had a situation years ago, now I guess quite a number of years ago, of a farmer in Zimbabwe, maybe I shouldn't mention the name, but in Zimbabwe, who lived in a village in a remote area of the country, and God called this person and his family, and the decision on the part of this person was, "I want to observe the Sabbath."
Now he was in a village where you had a headman, and all the others were basically mainline Christians. And they had the other beliefs, which was fine, but he decided to keep the Sabbath with his family. And he as a family, they started finding intense pressure from the others in that community. Unbeknown to us, because there was no telephone that the person can pick up and say, "Help me, I'm in trouble." He had to stand firmly in that situation.
And they burned down his crops to start with, but he stood. Then one day, they burned down his hut; he still stood. And ultimately, the headman came to him and said, "I can see that we will not budge you."
And he said, "No, you will not. I'll stand firm." And guess what? The whole attitude changed toward him, but it took standing firm.
We had in the sixties some of our young people, I think one in particular, with military service, and the individual had decided, and we'd explained to the person, "Look, do not say that my church tells me to do this. You can say, ‘My church teaches the following on military service and war,' but I have made the decision to believe that and to follow it. They didn't tell me to do it. It is my decision."
Well, at that particular time, the country was involved with border conflicts and the next minute the officer walks in with some form of the constitution of the country and says, "We are at war; you are refusing to carry a rifle; you will be shot tomorrow."
Now this young man didn't know was it a bluff or not. Was this a real charge? Or was it a mock charge? He was able to stand firm, and he said he never slept that night because the next morning they were going to put him before a firing squad and execute him. But of course, they never did that, and he learned a vital lesson. You have to stand in those situations, and it's not always easy, and we'll see a little later how that can be done.
Let's turn here to I Peter 5, a very well-known scripture, and again, we, especially the elders amongst us are familiar with the scriptures in I Peter 5:1:
I Peter 5:1 - "The elders that (which) are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed:
Verse 2 - "Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof. . ." Let's drop down to verse 8:
Verse 8 - "Be sober, be vigilant;" be on guard, "because your adversary. . ." We have an adversary. ". . .as a roaring lion, walks about, seeking whom he may devour." Now notice verse 9:
Verse 9 - "Whom resist steadfast in the faith. . ." That word - steadfast - has the same root meaning as the word - Histemi. You could check that in Strong's and other references, the same root meaning. Stand stedfast when Satan attacks. Not always easy. As that lion comes running towards you, the automatic reaction is, "Let me turn and run; let me climb a tree." Now lion's climb trees as well, so that's not going to help because you automatically look around for the highest tree. But they'll come up after you, if they want to. So the vital lesson here: In order to face our adversary, we have to stand firm under the onslaughts of the adversary.
Let me show you one example here, in Exodus 14:9. Again, to cut into the story flow, the context of Exodus 14, I'm sure most of us covered these scriptures during the recent Days of Unleavened Bread. But we'll pick up the story flow in Exodus 14:9:
Exodus 14:9 - "But the Egyptians pursued after them. . ." The Israelites. Again, we know the analogy of Egypt being a type of sin, Pharaoh, a type of Satan, and it mentions here:
Verse 8 - ". . .and he pursued after the children of Israel; and the children of Israel went out with a high hand.
Verse 9 - "But the Egyptians pursued after them." That's the way Satan is with the church. He's relentless; he will not give up; he will keep pursuing; he will keep pursuing, as Mr. Armstrong would say, "We have won this battle, but we haven't won the war yet." And they pursued after them in verse 9, with the chariots and the horsemen, and the army overtook them in camping by the sea.
Verse 10 - "And when Pharaoh drew near, the children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians marched after them, and they were very. . .afraid." I think you would be too, if a lion came at you. I think there's that innate fear that we have. Notice they complained to Moses, and again, Moses' reaction is very interesting. If you notice verse 13:
Verse 13 - "And Moses said unto the people, ‘Fear you not, stand still," Stand still. Now fear is a different subject, and I don't want to introduce that, but it does seem that in order to stand still, we have to learn to cope with fear at the same time. But that's again a different subject. ". . .and see the salvation of the Eternal (Lord), which He will show to you today: for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you shall see them again no more for ever." Notice again verse 14; we are familiar with these sections of scripture:
Verse 14 - "The Lord" (or the Eternal), "shall fight for you, and you shall hold your peace." You shall hold your peace. Now talking about fear and holding firm, years ago, I was up in Kenya talking to a group of Masai, the Masai inhabitants of Kenya, they are well known for their strength; they're very tall individuals, their bravery and one of the things they have to do, and incidentally, they've changed a lot of their approach to killing lions in order to prove their manhood, but they still do occasionally, but they do it as a group rather than on an individual basis. And they mentioned that they would actually surround a lion and then slowly move in towards the animal. And the lion would be watching, looking around, and suddenly, as they would get closer, the lion would suddenly charge in a particular direction at a particular warrior. And of course, they would have their shields and their spears. And one of the Masai said to me, "You know which direction that lion - why he goes in that particular direction? Is because he senses that that person there is fearful."
And I said, "Well, that's an interesting observation, but," I said, "how does a lion know that?"
And the reason they gave, I'm not sure if it's correct, but they said amongst the people there, there is fear, but they don't want to show it, but the lion senses it because the most fearful one, his legs are shaking so much, he's sending vibrations. So, I found that funny, but at the same time, I found it interesting that they understood a lion can sense fear, and he will go for fearful people.
Now you know in the recent history of the church; you remember just eight, nine years ago that the church went through a very traumatic time, and many of you here and others around the world had to make a stand because the church was under attack, no doubt, from Satan, the roaring lion. And some did have the courage to stand, and if they hadn't stood, where would we be? We wouldn't be here today, but there were some who said, "No, the truth of God has to be preserved. The truth of God is something very precious to us, and we will stand in order to be able to insure that the truth of God is preserved, because Satan wants to destroy the church by destroying the truth, but there were some who stood firm. And I'm pleased that they did, aren't you? And I'm sure many are around the world are very pleased that some did that, but is this the last time we as a church will have to stand firm in facing the adversary?
Let's turn to II Thessalonians 2, and again I have to break into the story flow, fortunately we are very familiar with these sections of scripture, but II Thessalonians 2 deals with the man called "a man of sin," mentioned in verse 3. The man of sin. Notice verse 4:
II Thessalonians 2:4 - "Who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sits in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God." And this man of sin will be brought into automatic conflict with the church of God. There is no way we're going to escape that because it's discussing here in verse 10, it talks about the "love of the truth. . ." and that's what Satan would like to destroy. He tried that eight years ago; he's tried, if we go back in the history of the church, he tried that over centuries, and he's still trying, and he hasn't given up yet. And it has to do with the truth, and we as a church will once again have to stand, because the advice the apostle Paul gives here, if we drop down to verse 15 is the same advice that's given in many sections of the scripture when dealing with Satan. And in verse 15 he says:
Verse 15 - "Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which you have been taught, whether by word or by (our) epistle." And it's rather sobering to think that that word - brethren - there specifically could apply to many of us sitting in this room and others of God's people around the world because these events occur immediately prior to the return of Jesus Christ.
So a few years ago, it wasn't the last time the church collectively had to stand. We, as a church, it seems, if my understanding is correct from these scriptures that once again we, as a church, will have to stand firm against the roaring lion who will come at the church, and he will try and destroy the church by destroying the truth. We have to stand firm.
Now times lions. . .is not a mock charge. My daughter works in one of the lodges in these game parks, and they go on game drives and walks as well, and they would come across lion quite frequently. And one time, one male lion charged them three times. Three times, and every time, stopped just in front, turned and left, but you never know. Now, sometimes, because they're so unpredictable, they'll come all the way. And sometimes you see animals that have been mauled by lions, just ugly cuts in their flanks, open wounds where they've managed to be able to allude the lion. Sometimes you get mauled, but that doesn't mean to say we still don't stand as a church, and we're going to have to stand as a church, and that's on an individual basis as well. We have to stand to be able to combat Satan.
Now what helps us to stand? What is it that helps us as a people to stand? If we turn to I Samuel 17:32 And again, I have to just break into the story flow, but we're familiar with this section of scripture because it talks about David defeating Goliath. And I'm just going to read a few scriptures, I Samuel 17:32, David was brought before Saul, King Saul:
I Samuel 17:32 - "And David said to Saul, ‘Let no man's heart fail because of him;' " Again, the matter of coping with fear. We all have fear, but I guess it's a matter of trying to cope with it, sometimes successfully, sometimes not that successfully. And it goes on and says, ". . .your servant will go and fight with the Philistine."
Verse 33 - "And Saul said to David, ‘You are not able to go against the Philistine to fight against (with) him, for you are but a youth, and (he) a man of war from his youth."
Verse 34 - "And David said to Saul, Notice: " . . .‘Your servant kept his father's sheep, and there came a lion, and a bear, and took a lamb out of the flock:
Verse 35 - " ‘And I went out after him, and smote him, and delivered him out of his mouth: and when he rose up against me, I caught him by his beard and smote him and slew him.' " Now, this is most remarkable. If you understand a lion, the power of the lion, his strength, his agility.
I was joking with Neil Becker one of our ministers once, and I said, "I tell you what, that lion's got an antelope in it's mouth; I will give you a staff, a shepherd's staff, a sling and a knife, take that antelope out of it's mouth."
He said, "You're joking."
I said, "David did it. Isn't he an example we should follow?"
He said, "No, no, no!"
That is most remarkable. Firstly, no matter how diligent and conscientious a shepherd is, he's only human, because he was certainly very diligent, and yet, on two occasions, lambs were take out of his flock. Now he wasn't the chief shepherd; Jesus Christ is the chief shepherd. He's only human, but lambs were taken out of his flock. I don't know why; the Bible doesn't tell us, but it happened. Very unfortunate. And I've often wondered, was the lamb alive or dead? Very likely, dead. But it didn't matter to David.
Can you imagine? Taking a staff; he probably had a knife as well, and then following the stride, it's tracks, and then approaching it. And he says, "I struck him." Probably with his staff. I wouldn't even begin to think of it. If somebody tried that, I would say he's reckless, foolish and rash. Wouldn't you? But he did it. A most remarkable man.
I'd like to ask him one day, "How did you possibly get hold of his beard?"
I mean, he didn't come and say, "Meow, meow, get hold of me."
And it says, "And he rose up against me." Of course, a lion will do that. Most animals do in order to protect their food. That's the nature of a lion. But he did it. But you know how he did it? Well, it's a remarkable act of courage and bravery, but let's notice Verse 37:
I Samuel 17:37 - David answered and said, ‘The Lord that delivered me out of the paw of the lion.' " He had to have strength from God. He had to. And I believe the church, even though eight, nine years ago now, you know, it seemed we had to start right from the beginning, but God has helped us over these years, and we've shown tremendous growth and development. Why? Because God did take the lambs out of the mouth of the lion. And many of us are here today. He was able to do it. God did it. God gave people the strength to stand, but at the same time, it was God's strength that did it; not human strength that made it possible, and we see here that it's important then to do what? To have a close contact with God, and over the years, our instruction to the church has been do not neglect so great a salvation. Make sure the basics. Keep close to God in regular prayer and study. Don't neglect your relationship with God because you desperately need Him. We had no chance against the lion. No chance. A lion can with one swipe of his paw could take your head clean off.
There've been people that where the lion has got so upset has got hold of the tire of the motor car, and within seconds has just totally destroyed it. Just torn it into ribbons. Very powerful animals. But God is more powerful, you see, than the roaring lion, and He's able to help if we have that close relationship with Him. And that's what He's trying to get across to us.
I may just give you one example. Years ago, we were in the Hwange Game Reserve, which is a private game reserve in Zimbabwe. And we were watching some lion, who were maybe about five hundred meters away; they were on top of a little rise looking down, and at that same time about three hundred African buffalo came along. And they came down to drink, it was like a hydrant, there was quite a big water hole, and they came down to drink and right at the back was a mother and a little calf. And the little calf had a broken leg, and it was just struggling. And I remember our two daughters started crying.
I said, "Don't worry. . ."
And they were crying because of this little calf. But the minute those three lions, there were three female, saw the calf with the broken leg, they immediately turned, came around, and guess what? There were three hundred buffalo there, which one did they go for? They know. The one with the crippled leg. And that's why it's important that we as God's people need to be sure we are not crippled spiritually. Because if we're crippled spiritually, then we are going to allow ourselves an easy prey for the adversary. And so it's basic teaching that we have tried over the years to inculcate into our minds - Be sure that we maintain a close contact with God; obedience, pray and study and fasting, meditation. Don't neglect that. And it gives in Ephesians 4:
Ephesians 4: - "Neither give place to the devil."
One interesting last scripture, if we go to Isaiah 11. But let's remember that because in the future I believe our final trial will probably be having to stand for the truth against a great religious leader who has immense backup power from civil authorities. And again, we've had the practice now, I guess, in a number of years ago, but the one is yet to come. And Isaiah 11:6 where it does say:
Isaiah 11:6 - "The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.
Verse 7 - "And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox." A different time, a different world.
Now a lion seldom roars when it hunts, contrary to popular opinion. That lion we heard roaring was marking his territory, and we know whose territory this world is. It is, of course, Satan's territory. And that's why he does roar. A lion will virtually every night go around his territory and roar to make sure that lions from other prides do not come into his territory. Normally they hunt at night, and very quietly. They do occasionally roar, but I can't go into that, but here we find that this description is of the world tomorrow. We're all aware of that.
Remember our seal with the lion and the lamb? Very much millennial. But this pictures a time when the lion has been bound and restrained. And in the picture of God through the holy day plan, this occurs after the Day of Atonement, when the lion is bound, restrained. And it seems to me that the analogy then strictly speaking doesn't apply, because he's lying next to the lamb now. He doesn't want to eat the lamb, and it shows that in a sense, Satan is no longer around, so the analogy doesn't apply.
I'm sure we'll still refer back to it and say, "This is what happened, and that's why the lion's nature had to be changed because this is the way the lion was." And that points to a wonderful time when that lion will not longer be roaring, will no longer be around. But now, we have to be realistic. There is a lion, and he is roaring, and he's roaring at the church. This is the prey. The church.
So remember, as we face that roaring lion in our own private lives and for the church the advice from God almighty is, "When he charges, stand firm."