FIGHTING THE ROARING LION
Mike Cunningham
August 11, 2013

It’s inevitable! At a specific moment in time, which God alone has decreed, all of us will die and leave this world. It’s been my prayerful hope that we follow in the footsteps of a fictitious young man named Bobby, a man who unexpectedly had his life snuffed out in a split second. The following parable will explain what he experienced at the moment of his death.

“Bobby’s spirit immediately left his dead body like a little bird escaping from its cage, leaving behind a lifetime of burdens, such as worry, anxiety, fear, pain and suffering. He recognized his guardian angel who was accompanied by all the other holy angels who had been assigned by God to minister to and protect him from the moment he was born. They whisked Bobby away and began the final leg of the journey to his real home. Left behind was a world in which he was truly an alien, a world in which he had finally completed every good work God had prepared in advance for him to do.
The convoy of joyous spirits soared with incredible speed throughout the earth’s atmosphere. Piercing the darkness, they swiftly passed the sun, moon, stars, meteors, comets, galaxies, black holes and all the planets, including some without names because they haven’t been discovered yet.
On and the little band of happy spirits continued until they finally reached their destination, the “City of Light”, a place where there is no need of the moon or sun to shine because the glory of God gives it light. Joyfully welcoming Bobby home were all of the folks whom he loved that had arrived there before him.
In the midst of this joyous reunion the Angelic Choir was proclaiming, “Glory to God in the highest as they did to certain poor shepherds a couple of thousand years ago. While Bobby was being led into the presence of Jesus, everyone; angels and love ones alike, burst forth with a rousing refrain of “O come let us adore Him, O come let us adore Him, O come let us adore Him, Christ the Lord.”
Jesus, his Savior, the one whom Bobby had served imperfectly while he lived in this world greeted him saying: “Well done, My good and faithful servant!” And then He personally wiped away every tear from his eyes and reminded him that never again will he experience suffering, crying or pain, because for him the old order of things has finally passed away. Next He showed Bobby what no eye has seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for them that love Him. These are the folks who have sincerely made every effort to live in peace with everyone. They struggled to stop sinning against God and to be holy just as God is holy. (I have modified this account from my story, “This Sickness Will Not End In Death).”

We must never lose sight of the fact that there is someone who doesn’t want us to enjoy a similar experience as Bobby when we die and he will do his utmost to prevent us from doing so. Consider the following warning from the Apostles Peter and Paul and James as well as King David.

1 Peter 5:8-9 (NIV)
8 Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 9 Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.

Hebrews 12:14 (NIV)
14 Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.

Arthur Pink in his massive commentary, “An Exposition of Hebrews,” says that, “The cultivation of peace is a great aid towards personal and practical holiness: wherever discontent, envy, and strife dominate the heart, piety is choked. The two things are inseparably connected. For instance, whenever we don’t love our neighbor the way God commands us to we’re breaking God’s heart and not loving Him either. God will not accept our prayers while we entertain in our heart a spirit of bitterness towards another person. (Matthew 5:23-24)

1 John 4:20 (MSG)
20 If anyone boasts, “I love God,” and goes right on hating his brother or sister, thinking nothing of it, he is a liar. If he won’t love the person he can see, how can he love the God he can’t see?

“Citing C. H. Spurgeon, Pink says that, “Some people who have pursued holiness have made the great mistake of thinking that they have to be gloomy, contentious, fault finding and judgmental. Be unwavering for what’s right, but also be gentle, merciful and courteous. Follow holiness but do not needlessly endanger peace.” P. 997
“Practical holiness is a matter of growth. In this life our holiness is infantile, and it will only mature when we enter heaven. At the present time it exists more in the form of longings and strivings, hungering and efforts, rather than in realizations and attainments. The very fact that Christians are exhorted to “follow” or “pursue” holiness proves that he or she has not yet attained it.” P. 1000

Romans 5:16-18 (TLB) 16 Adam’s one sin brought the penalty of death to many, while Christ freely takes away many sins and gives glorious life instead.
17 The sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to be king over all, but all who will take God’s gift of forgiveness and acquittal are kings of life because of this one man, Jesus Christ. 18 Yes, Adam’s sin brought punishment to all, but Christ’s righteousness makes men right with God, so that they can live.

1 Thessalonians 4:1 (TLB) 1 Let me add this, dear brothers: You already know how to please God in your daily living, for you know the commands we gave you from the Lord Jesus himself. Now we beg you—yes, we demand of you in the name of the Lord Jesus—that you live more and more closely to that ideal.

1 Thessalonians 4:3-8 (TLB) 3 For God wants you to be holy and pure and to keep clear of all sexual sin 4 so that each of you will marry in holiness and honor—5 not in lustful passion as the heathen do, in their ignorance of God and his ways. 6 And this also is God’s will: that you never cheat in this matter by taking another man’s wife because the Lord will punish you terribly for this, as we have solemnly told you before. 7 For God has not called us to be dirty-minded and full of lust but to be holy and clean. 8 If anyone refuses to live by these rules, he is not disobeying the rules of men but of God who gives his Holy Spirit to you.

James 2:19-24 (TLB)
19 Are there still some among you who hold that “only believing” is enough? Believing in one God? Well, remember that the demons believe this too—so strongly that they tremble in terror!

20 Fool! When will you ever learn that “believing” is useless without doing what God wants you to? Faith that does not result in good deeds is not real faith. 21 Don’t you remember that even our father Abraham was declared good because of what he did when he was willing to obey God, even if it meant offering his son Isaac to die on the altar? 22 You see, he was trusting God so much that he was willing to do whatever God told him to; his faith was made complete by what he did—by his actions, his good deeds. 23 And so it happened just as the Scriptures say, that Abraham trusted God, and the Lord declared him good in God’s sight, and he was even called “the friend of God.” 24 So you see, a man is saved by what he does, as well as by what he believes.

Consider the following Scripture the Devil doesn’t want us to read and ponder carefully. Praying to God, King David asks Him a question and then David answers it himself.

Psalm 15:1-5 (TLB)
1 Lord, who may go and find refuge and shelter in your tabernacle up on your holy hill? 2 Anyone who leads a blameless life and is truly sincere.
3 Anyone who refuses to slander others, does not listen to gossip, never harms his neighbor,
4 speaks out against sin, criticizes those committing it, commends the faithful followers of the Lord, keeps a promise even if it ruins him,
5 does not crush his debtors with high interest rates, and refuses to testify against the innocent despite the bribes offered him—such a man shall stand firm forever.

“In his insightful book, “The Pursuit of Holiness,” Jerry Bridges writes about the necessity of you and me to put on holiness if we want to see the Lord in eternity. Bridges says that, “our first problem is that our attitude toward sin is more self-centered than God-centered. We are more concerned about our own “victory” over sin than we are about the fact that our sins grieve the heart of God. We cannot tolerate failure in our struggle with sin, chiefly because we are success oriented, not because we know it is offensive to God.”

Bridges is saying that every time that I sin I break God’s heart. Up until a couple of years ago I hadn’t looked at it from that angle, but now I do and I feel awful whenever I sin. I also praise God that today I have a better appreciation for the magnitude of His amazing love for sinners such as me.

Pink goes on to cite Plummer who says that “We never see sin correctly until we see it as being against God…that it is His law that is broken, and it’s His authority that’s despised and it’s His government that is set at naught…. Pharaoh and Balaam, Saul and Judas each said, ‘I have sinned,’ but the returning prodigal said, ‘I have sinned against heaven and before you,’ and David said, ‘Against you, you only have I sinned.’”

Bridges writes that, “God wants us to walk in obedience-not victory. Obedience is oriented toward God; victory is oriented toward self. This may be seen as merely splitting hairs over semantics, but there is a subtle, self-centered attitude at the root of many of our difficulties with sin. Until we face this attitude and deal with it we will not consistently walk in obedience. This is not to say that God doesn’t want us to experience victory, but rather to emphasize that victory is the by-product of obedience. As we concentrate on living an obedient, holy life, we will certainly experience the joy of victory over sin.”

“Echoing this sentiment in his insightful work “Lifted by Angels,” Joel Miller says that “According to The Ladder of Divine Ascent by seventh-century monastic guide John Climacus, we fall under spiritual and satanic attack when we are proud, when we are negligent of our responsibility’s (whether spiritual or material), and when the demons turn their envy on us. The first two are pitfalls that we can avoid by cultivating humility and self-discipline, but the last is one that we can only pray to overcome by personal endurance and outside deliverance. Thankfully our guardian angels provide such deliverance or strengthen us for the fight to endure, if God desires that we weather the attack.”

“The demons cannot read our minds, but neither Satan and his angels are lacking in deceit and cunning. Macarius of Alexandria said our thoughts project from our minds like branches from a tree trunk. Just as a man climbing a tree can only grab two or three branches at any given time, Satan can only grasp two or three of our thoughts. “A few of these Satan can know,” said Macarius, “but the rest he does not even perceive. He and the demons can test and tempt, and poke and prod while carefully observing our reactions to see if we will succumb to sin.”

Miller continues, “Demons are experts at leveraging our weaknesses. When we are tired or ill, they prompt us to be angry, irritable, or short tempered. When we’re distracted by ease and wealth, they prompt us toward sins such as gluttony and fornication. When we are alone or separated from loved ones, they prompt us towards doubts, carelessness, and despondency. But guardian angels are given for our defense.”

“The early writers saw these angels as being attracted and encouraged by our prayers and our efforts to lead holy lives. If we persist in pursuing God and humbling ourselves, and growing in grace, they desire nothing more than to protect and defend us from spiritual foes. “The Devil,” said Isaac the Syrian, “cannot withstand the angel who strengthens the man.”

“Sometimes the angels assist us amid the trial. Climacus said that the demons buffet us while we sleep, but we awake feeling good and peaceful because “we have been secretly encouraged by the holy angels.” Most of us are more aware of our waking struggles, and for these, according to Isaac the Syrian, our guardian angels provide “strength and patience. When we choose to oppose the Devil, said Gregory of Nyssa, “then [our] brother brings assistance and joins [us], for the angel, who in a way is a brother…appears…and stands by us.”

“The Scripture says that God will not test us beyond our abilities to resist. (1 Corinthians 10:13) When we are particularly week, our angels may help provide escape. Evagrius, as an example, was captured by lustful thoughts to a married woman with whom he had contact. He was arrogant, and because of his pride, his biography explains, “he fell into the hand of the demon that causes lustful thoughts.” “For the sake of his soul, the contact with the woman needed to cease immediately. But Evagrius was a sucker for her allure and advances. Despite his prayers, he felt powerless to resist and was too cowardly to flee, as Joseph had done with Potiphar’s wife. Yet “God’s mercy did not delay,” as the account says, Evagrius’s guardian angel staged an intervention.”

“One night Evagrius had a vision of shining angels who came to arrest him and take him away. One angel suddenly assumed the likeness of a friend and told him that he was in grave danger and needed to flee the city, adding that if Evagrius promised, then he would assist him. Evagrius swore, woke up and packed his bags, and then sailed immediately from the city. When it came to his battles with lust, Evagrius was not yet out of the woods. But because his angel came to his aid, he survived to fight another day.”

“Other times our angles comfort us after the trials and temptations we endure. Macarius’s cherub, for instance, often came following a demonic attack. That is not to say the angel was absent during the trial, but that he stood back to allow Macarius to assume his proper station as a follower of Christ-that is someone who fights the demons and is victorious over them, just as was Christ. Battling temptation makes us stronger. If our angels were to drop in and relieve us in every fight, we’d never learn to stand, which surely is what Christ desires for all of us. This is the proper way to imagine demonic attacks on believers. God allows them for our maturity and good, particularly to teach us humility.”

“The pattern can be seen in the life of Jesus himself. While angels appeared to have ministered to Christ during his Gethsemane passion, they came after his temptation in the wilderness. Chrysostom said Christians can expect to be treated the same way. By observing Christ, he said, “…you also may learn after your victories which are copied from Christ’s, angels will receive you also, applauding you, and waiting as guards over you in all things.” P. 103

“In some cases guardian angels are charged with protecting God’s people in the midst of turmoil while other angels pour out judgment on those around them. At the same time, in some cases we know that God allows His people to suffer through such grave occurrences.”

“Our sins offend our guardian angels. If we are unrepentant, they withdraw from us, perhaps not permanently, but we cannot expect or demand their presence in the midst of our sins. When a person persists in pride, for instance, “the angel of providence, who is near him and trying to stir in him a concern for righteousness to no avail; then that angel withdraws from him,” said Isaac the Syrian. The person can, he continued, “wrong this angel.” “This is a curious point, but one that makes sense when we remember that we have a real relationship with our angels. They are not abstract ideas, they are persons, and persons can be harmed and offended by sin.”

“Angels are humble and holy creatures and prefer the company of those who are humble and holy. Strengthening the bond between our guardian angels and us requires that we grow in humility and holiness.” P. 117

“Jesus said that in heaven we will be like the angels. He was speaking specifically of marriage and that people will not be given in marriage in heaven. But the early Christians considered this statement to be about their lives generally. More than that, they considered our becoming like angels as the goal of our lives right now. That especially concerns cultivating holiness and obedience. The angels are our models here. “Let us,” said Chrysostom, “exemplify the life of angels, the virtue of angels, and the conversation of angels.” P. 118

1 Peter 5:8-9 (NIV)
8 Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 9 Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.

In the beginning of this message I mentioned the fact that it’s been my prayerful hope that you and I will follow in the footsteps of that fictitious man named Bobby. Then when we die and leave this world we will be welcomed into Heaven by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and also be joyously reunited with those loved ones who arrived there before us. I hope that through this message each of us have received plenty of ammunition to do a better job of “Fighting the Roaring Lion.”

Lord willing, next week….