Fleeing from the Lion and Stealing His Prey

February, 2005

by: Jack Hughes

• Spiritual Growth

We have all seen movies, cartoons, or television programs where the good guy is captured by the bad guy and bound hand and foot. Usually they are destined to be tortured or killed. The good guy must figure out how to escape or someone must rescue him. This is such a popular scenario that many television shows have survived off of it for years. In every episode the good guy gets himself caught, he is threatened with death, but escapes.

Well, in Christianity, this is a common reality too. Satan lures the Christian into danger using the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the boastful pride of life. Once entangled in sin, the Christian either has to free himself or he needs someone else to rescue him. In this Calvary Review we want to examine what the Scriptures tell us about Satan, his tactics to do us harm, how to avoid being captured, and how to rescue someone who is.

The Roaring Lion Hunts You

First we need to realize that “the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (I Pet. 5:8). That “someone” is you! This has been Satan's long term strategy, and he is good at it. He is a predator and you are the prey. Satan's teeth are his deceptions. The lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and the boastful pride of life are the jugular which he tries to sink his teeth into. Satan, along with the multitudes of his demonic minions, are keen students of people and their behavior.

I don't mean to make you paranoid, but you are being watched. Satan studies you. Your weaknesses are well known to him. Once Satan discovers the chinks in your spiritual armor, he then shoots his temptations at that very point of your weakness. If he continues to have success, he continues to shoot at that spot. Maybe you are prone to worry. Satan knows this and so he will continually tempt you to worry, fret, and be anxious. It matters not what your weakness is, you can be assured Satan knows what it is and that he is tempting you in that area. He has many times received pleasure from seeing you fall into your favorite sin.

But why does Satan even bother tempting Christians? Satan knows that he can't “un–save” a Christian, so why does he bother? What he wants to do is entangle every Christian in sin. Why? Because when a Christian is in sin, they show hatred towards God, and Satan loves this. When a Christian sins, they grieve the Holy Spirit and fail to give glory to God, and Satan loves this. When a Christian sins, they ruin their testimony to the world and bring reproach upon the name of Christ, and Satan loves this. When a Christian sins, they give the enemies of Christ occasion to blaspheme God, and Satan loves this. When a Christian sins, God is forced to discipline them, and Satan loves this. When a Christian sins, they are not walking in the Spirit and hence they are not giving glory to God, and Satan loves this. Anything that steals glory from God or makes the Christian miserable is Satan's cup of tea.

So realize this — Satan is hunting you. He desires to tempt you in the areas of your weakness so that your life fails to give God glory. So the obvious question to ask is, “How does a person keep from being devoured by the lion?” This brings us to our next point.

Keeping From Being Devoured

In II Cor. 2:11, Paul exhorts the Corinthians to forgive one another. He tells them to do this, “so that no advantage would be taken of us by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his schemes.” Paul's point is that Christians know that not forgiving others leads to anger, bitterness, and resentment. Satan uses our unwillingness to forgive others as a means to tempt us to commit other sins. Paul's point is that no Christian should be ignorant of Satan's schemes. Yet many are. Many live their lives with their spiritual armor off and their guard down. Christians like this become easy meals for the lion.

So what can we do to keep from being devoured? The Scriptures give us a large list of things we can do. Here are seven of them:

1. As explained above, realize that there is a spiritual battle raging and there is an enemy that is trying to kill you. “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Eph. 6:12).
2. Also, as mentioned above, don't be ignorant of Satan's schemes but realize he is out to exploit you in your areas of weakness. He usually attacks through deception which means he offers you the bait, but conceals the hook, or in plain language, he offers you the pleasures of sin, but conceals the painful short and long–term consequences of committing those sins (See I Cor. 7:5; II Cor. 11:3, 14 for examples).
3. Read, study, meditate on and memorize the Word of God. God's Word is what informs you about what is right, what is wrong, and gives you everything you need to live a God glorifying life. “Your word I have treasured in my heart, that I may not sin against You” (Psa. 119:11; II Pet. 1:3).
4. Flee from sexual temptation and idolatry. “Flee immorality. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body” (I Cor. 6:18; 10:14; I Tim. 6:11; II Tim. 2:22).
5. Put on the full armor of God and stand firm in the faith (Eph. 6:10-20; James 4:7).
6. Walk in the spirit and you will not carry out the desires of the flesh (Gal. 5:19-25).
7. Pray that you might not enter into temptation but instead escape it or avoid it all together. (Mt. 6:13; Lk. 22:30-32, 40, 46).

The verses above are a good overview of the kinds of resources God has given you to keep from being devoured by Satan's temptations. Now don't get the idea that every time you are tempted that Satan or one of his demons is behind the temptation. If Satan and all his demons were locked up in hell, you would still sin because you are a sinner. Your sin–cursed heart would still tempt you to do things that are contrary to the will of God. Not only that, but other sin–cursed people would tempt you to sin against God. It's not that temptation is absent if Satan is absent, it's that the temptation to sin is always present and so Satan uses our desire to sin against us. We are sometimes tempted by Satan and his demons, sometimes by others, and sometimes by our own wicked hearts.

It is usually impossible for us to tell whether or not we are being tempted by Satan or our own wicked hearts, but the solution to the problem of temptation is always the same. We flee from sin, we remind ourselves of the truth, we remind ourselves of the consequences of sin, and we do what the Word of God says out of love for God, desiring to give Him glory. We must avail ourselves of the spiritual resources which God provides and know that they are sufficient for our every spiritual need.

Stealing the Lion's Prey

Sometimes Satan has his teeth sunk so deep into people that they can't free themselves. When this happens a person's only hope is for God or someone else to rescue them. Normally God rescues people caught in sin through the church. You have probably seen those nature shows where a herd of water buffalo surrounds their young to protect them from the lion so that they don't get devoured. This is what the church should always be doing. We should always be looking out for each other, encouraging, warning, admonishing, and protecting each other. Of course to do this we have to let people into our lives and spend time building relationships with those in the church, but as hard as we might try to do this, some people still sneak away from the herd and find themselves unprotected. They become easy prey for Satan. When they are away from the church they are first tempted with some sort of pleasure and then caught in the jaws of sin, then suffer the consequences.

In this case the church is called to go on a spiritual safari and try to find them, in order to set them free. Jesus described the rescue process in Mt. 18:15-17 with these words, “If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother. But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that by the mouth of two or three witnesses every fact may be confirmed. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.” Here Jesus tells us that the church is to go after those who have been captured by the jaws of the lion, but if they refuse to be rescued after three attempts, we are told to let the lion have them and to treat them as someone unclean and despised.

It is interesting that in several instances Paul spoke of giving certain unrepentant people over to Satan (I Cor. 5:5; I Tim. 1:20). Refusing to be rescued, they aline themselves with the enemy and hence are to be left to suffer the consequences of their sin. Hopefully, after they have suffered the consequences of sin they will be “taught not to blaspheme,” repent, and be restored to the church. If they continue in sin the Scriptures tell us to “keep our eye on them” (Rom. 16:17-18); “not even eat with” them but “remove the wicked man from among yourselves” (I Cor. 5); “reprove them severely” and to “reject the factious man after the first and second warning” (Tit. 1:13; 3:10-11).

In Gal. 6:1 the Apostle Paul says, “Brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, so that you too will not be tempted.” Here the Apostle Paul describes the wayward believer as a fly, caught in the web of sin. He says it is the responsibility of those not caught in the web to try and free those who are, but very gently so that they themselves are not caught.

So what have we learned? First, there is a lion out there seeking to devour you. Secondly, you need to remember to use the resources God has given you so that you will not be caught. Finally, remember that it is your responsibility to help rescue others who have been captured in sin. Though we will never be perfect in this life, we must strive against sin until Christ returns or until we die and go to be with Him.