Lion Alert!

Listen, your enemy cannot be ignored. You can't cloister yourself up in a church, this is what he'd want you to do, and just, I don't want to think about the devil.

Some people think too much about him, granted. But you have to engage him. The devil is never too busy to rock the cradle of a sleeping saint. He'd just like you to go.

Tonight, he must be engaged. The apostle Paul instructed the church, put on the full armor of God so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. Connect with Skip Heisig today to learn how you can engage the devil's attacks and win the victory. Right now, we want to tell you about a resource that inspires you to live with unyielding confidence in God.

But what about you? Here's New York Times bestselling author Eric Metaxas. Clearly, if God created us male and female in His image, it's leaning into who we are as women, if we're women, that is going to show God's greatness. Discover how the lives of some of the greatest women in history can show you the path to true greatness in your own life as a woman made in God's image. That's what you'll find in this month's inspiring resource by Eric Metaxas.

In every one of the seven women, I think you see a different side of femininity. Seven Women is our thank you for your gift of $35 or more today to help connect more people to God's Word. And right now, we'll also send you a special bonus resource, Pastor Skip's six-message CD collection on prominent women from Scripture.

Visit connectwithskip.com slash offer to give online securely or call 800-922-1888. Now, we're in First Peter chapter five as we get into the message with Skip Heintzeck. I was considering this week this text and I thought about Peter and his use of this metaphor of Satan like a lion. And I thought, well, you know, Peter didn't have a zoo that he could go to like we do today.

It's sort of a modern development. So Peter wouldn't act like the local zoo eating peanuts going, huh? That's kind of cool watching this lion in the enclosure here. So perhaps the imagery came to Peter. I can't be certain, but perhaps because of his contact with Roman believers, he had actually seen people fed to the lions, which was part of Roman entertainment. And he saw the vicious attacks these animals could have on humans. Whatever his source, the picture of Peter is profound.

A lion walking about, studying its prey, looking for the right time to pounce. That's the idea of what he writes. Can I take your mind back to a familiar passage in the book of Job? You don't have to turn there, but recall it with me. In Job chapter one, God asked the devil who appears before him. Satan appears before God. And God says, have you considered my servant Job?

That's a rhetorical question. It would be better translated. You have been considering my servant Job, have you not? The word consider means set your heart on, study. You've been studying Job, haven't you? You've been looking at him very, very carefully, haven't you? You've been eyeing him. Consider was a military term of a general who would survey a town before he would lay siege to it. So Satan had been studying Job and thinking, how can I undermine this blameless, perfect man?

Looking for weak points, looking for a time to attack. This leads me to a couple of conclusions. Number one, Satan is actively studying you. Does that make you feel a little unnerved?

I hope so. Makes me feel a little creeped out. Ever been in a restaurant when you realize that person across a restaurant has been looking at you, staring at you the whole time? It's like, ooh, ooh, that's just weird. You have an enemy who studies you. All of us have weaknesses. There are areas of our life where we are prone to fall and easily tempted. For some, it could be anger. For others, it could be lust and pornography. For others, it could be a bad habit.

For others, it might be insecurity and lying, trying to project an image because I always want people to accept me and like me. Whatever that is, and you know what those areas are, you have an enemy who also knows what those areas are. And the point being, whatever temptation he sends your way is custom made just for your personality. You've been considering my servant, Job.

That's the idea of prowling around. But the second conclusion that I find is that Satan operates within parameters. He can only act by permission of God and in line with God's purposes. Much like the demons who inhabited a man at Gadara and before Jesus cast them out, they said permit us to go into that herd of swine.

I operate only by permission. That brings comfort to me. That I know I have an enemy who's studying me and attacking me, but I have a Lord who's over him permitting him certain freedoms and curtailing and restricting other freedoms. So he can only go so far.

So this is what it means to me. When I'm in the fire of a trial or I'm in the fire of a temptation, I know that God has his eye on me and his finger on the thermostat. He knows what I can take. Paul said he won't allow you to be tempted above what you're able to endure.

So that's his identity and that's his strategy. Consider now with me his territory. Look at verse nine, resist him steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. Consider that phrase. Who's your brotherhood? Fellow believers in the world.

Where's that? Well, it could mean scattered outside the church, the worldly system, but it just means everywhere on earth where there are believers, Satan is attacking. So listen to this. Satan has access to the entire world geographically, but his focus of attack is on believers specifically. Your brotherhood in the world. Did you know that three times Jesus Christ referred to Satan as the ruler of this world?

I've never liked that. I like to sing this is my father's world. And it is his world by creation and it is his world by sovereign purpose controlling everything. But he allows this devil, this Satan, certain liberties and freedoms to move and to do.

And though he is on a leash, frankly, sometimes I wish the leash were a little shorter. He has access. The world is his oyster. It's his platform of attack, like a lion who is considered to be king of the beast because he can roam just about anywhere he wants. So this enemy roams wherever he wants. He roams. He searches.

He looks for prey. Go back in your mind to Job chapter one, the story that I began with a little bit ago. It says there came a day when God called for an account and among those that he called for an account from was Satan. So Satan appears before God to give an account. And in Job chapter one, I think it's verse seven, God says, Where have you been, Satan?

What have you been doing? And Satan says, From going to and fro on the earth and walking back and forth on it. So he appears before God for some personal accounting, but he's been cruising the earth. Did you know that Satan has access to heaven and earth?

Stay with me here. He has some access to heaven. He had some ability to appear before God to give an account, but he was cruising the earth.

Let me give you something else that to some people is a shocker. Satan is not in hell. He has never been in hell. He will one day be in hell. He's going there. When he gets there, he will not be in charge. He'll be in chains. He'll be the chief victim. But until then, he has freedom and he wanders and he works. The devil commands the demonic realm, but the theater of operations of that demonic realm is in the human world. So this is what we were dealing with. We have an invisible army in a visible world.

It's pretty tough. I mean, think about it. It's like a massive cloaking device for Klingons. It's like they're everywhere, but you can't see him. He's active all over the world. He's active to deceive. And did you know the devil has four principal targets and you're not number one on the list, even though sometimes you think you are? We flatter ourselves and think he's all against me. He's all against me.

You're not even in the top three. His first target is not you. It's Jesus Christ.

And the only reason he would ever get to you is because he hates him. Jesus Christ is his first principal target because back in Genesis chapter three, in the very beginning, God said there's coming someone who's going to crush your head, Satan. And that's going to be my promise, Messiah, the seed of the woman. Ever since that promise, he's been looking for a way to get rid of Jesus, whom God said would bring salvation and destroy him. We see in the book of Revelation chapter 12, John said, I saw a dragon who was ready to pounce on the male child, Christ, as soon as he was born. He's always against the gospel.

He's always against Jesus. I found it interesting when I listen to people and I try to listen carefully and I listen to people what they say, even when they swear. And it's an interesting thing that one of the swear words a lot of people like to use is the name of Jesus Christ. I take personal offense to that and often I'll let them know, but what I find is that people who claim to be atheists or agnostics, I've even heard Muslims use the term Jesus Christ to swear. No one says, oh Buddha.

And I just think, why is it that of all of the religious names in the world, since all religions are created equal, some say, why not pull out a different name? But I can see even in that behind the scenes, the spiritual warfare that is going on. So Jesus is number one target. Second target of the devil, still not you, holy angels.

These are the one-on-one combatants in the battle. If you have evil angels, the equal opposite of that would be holy angels. And we find in passages like Daniel chapter 10, the heavenly host doing battle.

Revelation again, chapter 12, John said, I saw war in heaven, Michael and his angels warring with the dragon and his armies. Third on the list of attacks, still not you, Jesus, holy angels. Number three, the nation of Israel. And why the nation of Israel?

You see it all throughout the scripture because the nation of Israel, God made a promise to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David about them and their land and the plan of salvation. So Israel is the object of God's plan. So he's incessantly attacking the nation of Israel and in the tribulation period it will be no holds barred.

The attack will be fiercer than ever. And then number four, here you come in, on his attack list is believers. And that's why Peter says he is your adversary, the devil. He certainly attacks Christ and angels and certainly goes after Israel, but he's also your adversary, the devil. And why yours? Why does he attack you?

Because you're the object of God's favor, grace and love. That's why he attacked Peter and Paul and John and every follower of Jesus Christ from the beginning. How does he do it? What are his tactics?

Well, I don't have time to give them all to you in this message, but let me just share a couple. Number one, the very name devil means, do you remember? Slanderer. Slanderer. In Revelation chapter 12, he's called the accuser of the brethren. When he came to God, he was accusing Job of motive. So one of the ways he tries to attack us is by accusation. He accuses you before God. He accuses God to you. He accuses your brother and sisters to you and you to your brother and sister.

Always trying to divide. He's the accuser of the brethren. I bet you've even heard some of those accusations in your own mind spill over. Things like, you call yourself a Christian. Ever heard that?

Who do you think you, what are you doing here? You think God's going to answer that prayer of yours? We've heard all of those accusations from our accuser of the brethren. A second tactic toward believers is what's mentioned in the text, persecution. That's the thrust of verse nine.

Please see it. The same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. He persecutes believers. You say, yeah, but that was 2,000 years ago. Certainly not today. Did you know that in the last 100 years, last century, more Christians have been martyred for their faith than the combination of martyrdoms from the time of Jesus up until the last 100 years?

All of those centuries combined, the last century has seen more persecution, more martyrdom. So that's his identity, his strategy, and his territory. I've saved the best for last. That is his frailty. He can be and must be engaged, and he can be defeated. That's found in these words. Be sober, verse eight. Be vigilant, also verse eight. Verse nine, resist him steadfast in the faith.

Listen, listen, your enemy cannot be ignored. You can't cloister yourself up in a church. This is what he'd want you to do. And just, I don't want to think about the devil.

Some people think too much about him, granted. But you have to engage him. The devil is never too busy to rock the cradle of a sleeping saint. He'd just like you to go, in the jungle, the mighty jungle, the Christian sleeps tonight.

He must be engaged. It begins here, right here, in the mind, where you think this is your biblical heart, inside. And then it has an outworking into your life.

So notice the three things. Be sober, he says. Be sober. Some of you may be thinking, well, I'm not drunk.

That's good. But it doesn't mean don't be intoxicated. It's here used metaphorically for be mentally, spiritually sober. Be sober-minded, some translations say. It means be self-controlled, be disciplined, think clearly.

Let me translate it and how I think the intention is. Don't allow yourself to be intoxicated by the amusements of this world. Be sober-minded. Battle always begins in the mind, folks. It always begins in the mind. As a man thinks in his heart, so is he.

Every behavioral scientist in the last several decades have said that most people are governed by subconscious thought. So we begin in what we set our minds on, what we think about. We have to think clearly. Be sober. Number two, be vigilant. It means be alert, be watchful, be on the lookout. Don't fall asleep on the job. I think of Peter and James and John in the Garden of Gethsemane.

That was probably still resonating in Peter's head when he wrote this. And Jesus came to him and said, watch and pray that you enter not into temptation. So watch out. Watch out for what? Watch out for attacks in weak areas.

You know what they are. Watch out for that. Watch out that you don't get in a compromising position or situation where you would be more apt to yield than to resist.

Watch out. So be sober, be vigilant. Third, be resolute. Be resolute. Verse nine, resist him. Resist him. He can be resisted. James chapter four, resist the devil and he will flee from you.

Resist him. Steadfast. Notice what it says. Please read it with me. Steadfast in the faith.

See the definite article, the? It's important. He does not say resist him steadfast in faith. He's not talking about your faith, our faith. It's the faith which is this. It's the truth embodied in the scripture. That's the faith.

In Jude chapter one, there's only one chapter, verse three. He said, contend earnestly for the faith once for all delivered to the saints. He was speaking about the body of truth that has been passed down by the Holy Spirit in the written word of God.

What did Jesus do when the devil assaulted him? Use scripture. It is written, he said. It is written. It is written. Can I just say you got to know what is written before you can say it is written? That's why Christians need to know their Bibles. Otherwise, when we're attacked, we're going to be going, okay, what is that verse? God helps those who help themselves. Oh, it's not even in the Bible.

A good turn goes, no, wait a minute. It is written. The faith is how you resist the devil. I just want to add a fourth.

You wouldn't read it, but it is implied and I'll explain it. So be sober, be vigilant, be resolute. Here's the fourth.

Be together. When he writes these little imperatives, these commands, be sober, be vigilant. Those are commands, imperatives. They're written in the second person plural. In other words, he's writing to a group of people, all y'all.

He's not writing to an individual, but to a group. There's a principle in that. Be together. Did you know that lions in Africa, when they hunt, when there's a herd of animals, they want to isolate an animal from the herd.

Once they isolate that animal, they pounce on it. You are safer with the herd. If you think I can live a Christian all by myself, live the Christian life, you are dead meat. You need the herd. I need the herd.

But I want to close with this, because otherwise you say, yeah, I heard a great sermon. I got an enemy who wants to kill me. Woo hoo.

Feels so good. Listen, as vicious a lion, as brutal a lion as the enemy is, he's only a second rate lion. He roars a lot. Sounds so intimidating, but he's the second rate lion. Jesus Christ is called in scripture the lion of the tribe of Judah. And John sees him in the book of Revelation. He said, I looked and saw the lion of the tribe of Judah has prevailed.

C.S. Lewis wrote a whole series of books, Chronicles of Narnia. And he wrote about the Christ figure, and that is Aslan the lion.

That's what he was referring to. In Amos chapter one, the prophet predicted the Lord will roar from Zion. And he did. When Jesus was on the cross, dying in Zion, our Lion King, the true Lion King, roared from Zion these words. He cried out with a loud voice, it is finished.

He made that proclamation. There was a guy who lost his job, was looking for a job and couldn't find one. He went to the zoo and the guy said, we don't have jobs, except I've got an idea. Just the other day, our gorilla died. And I was just wondering, you're a pretty big fella and I've got this gorilla suit. Would you be willing for a pretty good paycheck to dress up and play the part of a gorilla till we can get a new one? I'd love to.

I can do that. So they gave him the gorilla suit and he went in the cage and he started beating his chest. Banging on the bars and swinging around and people loved it. He was so amusing.

In fact, they said he was the most intelligent gorilla they'd ever seen. Well, the second or third day of this, he kind of got carried away and he was moving and swinging. He swung a little too far and he ended up in the other enclosure, which next to him was the lion enclosure. And he came face to face to the lion who started walking. Looks like he was prowling, studying him, ready to pounce. And the guy just freaking out, his heart's pounding, he's moving back, he's moving back.

And he's trying to get over back into his enclosure, but there's no holds on this side like there were on the other side. And so he just yells out, help, help, help. And just then the lion in a quiet whisper says, shut up, stupid, or you'll get both of us fired. Now, why do I close with that? Well, one, I just was looking for a way to fit that joke into this.

No, but here's my application. One day, Satan, the lion, is going to get fired. Now, I don't mean let go from the job, I mean fired. Hell, fired. He's going to be fired eternally. John, in Revelation, sees him tormented day and night forever. One of the best verses in the Bible.

Are you kidding? He's going to get his eternally, this malevolent being who has been out to attack God, attack holy angels, kill Jesus Christ, destroy Israel, and neutralize believers, and bring people with him to hell. He will be the chief victim. Until then, he roams around. But until then, you can be resolute, sober-minded, alert, clear thinking, disciplined in your thought, watchful, and engaging. Greater is he that is in you, the lion of the tribe of Judah, than he that is in the world.

That wraps up Skip Heitzig's powerful message for you from the series Rock Solid. Right now, we want to share about an exciting opportunity you have to take your knowledge of God's Word even deeper. Personal or small group Bible study is a great way to learn God's Word. But what if you want to learn more?

Go deeper. Calvary College offers classes in Biblical studies, classes like the Fundamentals of Biblical Counseling. Take evening classes on campus or online, and transfer credits to Calvary Chapel University or Veritas for an accredited degree that will impact your spiritual life for the rest of your life. Apply now at calvaryabq.college.

That's calvaryabq.college. There are many benefits to knowing God's Word. Your soul is refreshed, and God brings great delight to your heart. And today, you can help others experience those same life-changing benefits when you give a gift to keep these teachings coming your way and going out to encourage others with God's Word. To give a gift right now, just call 800-922-1888.

Again, that's 800-922-1888. Or visit connectwithskip.com slash donate. Connectwithskip.com slash donate.

Thank you. Come back again tomorrow as Skip Heitzig shares encouraging truth to help you continue running the race of faith in the face of trials. Make a connection, make a connection at the foot of the cross and cast all burdens on His Word. Make a connection, connection. Connect with Skip Heitzig is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to God's never-changing truth in ever-changing times.