Satan–A Roaring Lion

Message by Darrell Pickle

I Peter 5:8

Be sober—be serious minded.

Be vigilant—be on your guard.

Because your adversary—you may think you have no adversaries,

But you do and he’s a big one.

The devil— he is our adversary

As a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour…

The Bible calls him a dragon and a serpent, but here he is called a lion. Let’s draw some characteristics that will help us understand who we are dealing with.  God wants us to get hold of the truth.

If we watch an animal show on TV we’ll see a lion. He is one of the most dangerous animals there is. He’s generally hungry. He has no respect for beauty or size. He’ll eat and kill somebody due to his hunger. We have a lion among us today, and he traveling and looking for prey.

The lion is a beautiful creature.

• He’s kingly and priestly. Everything about the devil is painted ugly.  He IS NOT ugly. The ugly is what comes after he’s had his way. He has no pitch fork. Ezekiel 28:12-15 “Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and PERFECT IN BEAUTY. Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; EVERY PRECIOUS STONE WAS THY COVERING, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created. Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.”  Satan is perfect in his beauty.
• The devil is impressive in his beauty. He is always the high, always the drug. He doesn’t show the bad health on the back side of the beauty. In trying to legalize marijuana California uses a big sign calling it by it’s legal name-cannabis. It shows a beautiful plant, but behind it are ugliness, death and dying. Satan is serious about this. He promises the world, yet he owns nothing. He will make us think he owns it all.

A lion is a cunning hunter.

• He stalks. He’s patient. He’ll wait for the right time to devour his prey. Satan picks up on habits and sinful desires. He watches and sooner or later he’ll try to attract and devour us with them. He does it to the young and old, for he’s not particular. He’ll go after a preacher the same as any other.
• James 1:14-15 says “But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.” There are steps to being drawn away from God’s purpose.
  • Satan uses our lust, simply our desires. We have a lust to live, good in its rightful place. It’s as much a sin to eat too much as it is to drink.
  • Satan entices. If we have a sinful desire, he’ll offer it to us.
  • Conception needs two seeds. Together they produce.  Temptation and lust are those seeds. Temptation is not the sin, but when connected with lust, conception occurs. With conception comes death. The devil kills our dreams, our hopes, love, homes, marriages, and can kill a church.
  • The Bible says to resist him. We cannot rebuke him; it’s not in our power to do so. We resist; God rebukes.

A lion has a distinctive roar.

• All prey can tell and will stop and listen at the roar of a lion. It’s been known to paralyze victims to the point of allowing the lion to devour them. A water buffalo is bigger than a lion, but at his roar a mother will watch him as he eats her young.
• Satan roars in music. He roars in drugs. He roars in movies. He roars in broken homes. He roars in pleasures. The Bible says men will love pleasures more than God. Sports are not wrong in themselves, but if they keep us away from church, they are sin. The pleasure has drawn us away. Some churches have made themselves a rock festival. It is the simple words of the Bible that work.

The lion separates the weak from the strong.

• He stalks. He doesn’t boldly walk up to a herd. He watches for the lame animal that can’t keep up and gets separated from the others. Then he pounces on it. We must be careful not to get away from church. The herd loves us; it is our family. The lion cannot get us if we stick with the herd.
• He’ll walk between a child and parent. He’ll separate that child from his training so that he walks away from it. We need to nudge our children toward the herd. Too many parents don’t try to get the children close; they abandon church and family and Satan devours them.

Sampson grabbed a lion and overcame it. Later when he returned to the spot, the carcass was filled with honey. He reached in and scooped some up and ate it. The Bible commands us to be strong in the Lord. Honey to help will follow.

Is something bothering you? It might be the devil. It’s so important to realize this. We have to get in a safe place.  There is a 100% safe place and it is in Jesus Christ. Satan can aggravate us to death, but we do not have to obey.  The Old Testament had cities of refuge for those who accidentally killed someone. Once inside the gates the person was safe. His pursuer might beat on the gate; he might yell and scream. He might tantalize with some agreement if the person would just come out and meet with him. But as long as he stayed behind the locked gates, the pursuer could not get to him.

We cannot face our lion, the man slayer. Get in Christ and stay there.