Old Testament Lesson; Genesis 11:1-9
Gospel Lesson; John 14:23-27
Sermon Text; 1 Peter 5:8-11

Earlier this year, at a zoo in Denver, Colorado, there was a twenty year old zoo worker, a young woman, whose job was to feed the large cats, including the lions. One day, a crowd of people were gathered around a cage that had in it those big cats, and particularly those big, powerful lions. This young twenty year old woman zoo keeper went into the cage to feed the lions, as was her daily task, when to the horror of everybody, one of the lions attacked this twenty year old woman. It pounced on her, and began to maul her. And there, in front of men, women, and children that lion mauled the twenty year old woman to death and crushed her skull.

It is not without reason that God, in the scripture reading I read this morning, likens the devil to a lion. Of all the animals He could have likened him to, He likens him to a roaring lion, the king of the beasts, the king of the cats. Our scripture reading says, "Be self controlled, and alert." Or, as you may have learned it from King James English,

"Be sober, be vigilant;

because your adversary the devil,

as a roaring lion,

walketh about,

seeking whom he may

devour."

We should take note of the comparison that God makes to the devil and a lion. When you look at the hunting tactics of a lion, we should consider that a lion is a smart hunter. He is a patient hunter. A lion waits for his prey. He waits to make his kill. A lion does not rush into the herd, all at once, scattering them all over the place, seeing who he can catch. A lion has a very patient, careful hunting tactic by which he intends to make the kill.

A lion will approach a herd from a distance, so the herd can see him. But, he is far enough away, that the herd feels a sense of safety. The herd knows that they are faster than he is, and they can sprint away from him, if they have to. (Maybe you have even seen documentaries where they show the lion pacing back forth, off in the distance.) The herd, off in the distance, will begin to get used to the lion being there. As they begin to get used to his presence, they begin to let their guard down, a little bit. The lion may then sit down, while keeping his eye on the prey. The lion does not watch the whole herd, but he studies, he studies the herd. He looks for and then watches the weak one, the foolish one. He looks for holes in their defenses. While he sits and watches, over a period of hours, the herd grows even more used to him being there. However, unnoticed by them, over that period of time, he inches closer and closer, until the moment comes when that one from the herd gets too close, and then he pounces. He makes the kill on his prey.  

And so, scripture warns,

"Be sober,

be vigilant;

because your adversary the devil,

as a roaring lion,

walketh about,

seeking

whom he may

devour."

the devil will prowl and watch us. He will wait for us to not only fall into sin, but fall into sin and then begin to revel in that sin. He is waiting for us to fall in love with that sin, and begin to go unrepentant of that sin. And then the devil, in a moment, will jump in and make a spiritual kill, killing us.

And so, our scripture reading warns us that this is no child's play. This is no game. Our scripture reading says,

"Be sober,

be vigilant;

because your adversary the devil,

as a roaring lion,

walketh about,

seeking

whom he may

devour."

And then it says,

"Resist him.

Resist him,

standing firm in the faith."

How can we resist the devil? How can we resist that adversary? The Bible describes him in such a way as this.

"Your fight is not against flesh and blood.

It is against the rulers,

the principalities,

the authorities of this dark world."

He is much more powerful than we are. So, how can we stand firm? How can we resist that prowling lion that is waiting and watching to make the spiritual kill?

Our scripture reading leads us away from ourselves and leads us to God, when it says,  

"And the God of all grace, who called you, (He called you) to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself restore you and make you strong, firm, and steadfast."

God will do it!

If I want to remain strong, firm, and steadfast in my faith, if I want to resist the devil, if I want to stand firm against him, where can I go to find my safety? What castle can I run to? What fortress can I hide in?

When you look at the castles that were designed in mid evil ages, they were designed as a big fortress of defense, which the enemy could not penetrate. And so, what castle can you and I run to, to defend ourselves against that enemy, the devil?

The ‘castle’ that God has provided for us, the fortress, the mighty fortress that God has provided for us is none other than the Word and Sacraments, through which the Holy Spirit works. The Bible tells us that we do not have the ability, nor the power to bring ourselves to faith. "No one can say that Jesus is Lord, except by the Holy Spirit." And, the Holy Spirit is the One who has brought you to faith. He has called you to the Gospel. He has brought you to faith, as a believer in Christ. And, He is the One who will keep you strong. I want to go where the Holy Spirit is, because He alone can defend me against my adversary. The Bible calls Him the Comforter, the Councilor, the Holy Spirit. I want to meet Him where He promises to be.

And, where does the Holy Spirit promise to be? He promises to be in that ‘castle’ of His Word and Sacrament.

That is where He promises to meet me.

That is where He promises to protect me.

That is where He promises to pour out His grace and mercy on me.

That is where He promises to help me resist and stand firm against the devil.

What does the Holy Spirit do, through the Word and Sacrament? Our Confirmation Students, in the catechism learn this simple little answer.

What does the Holy Spirit do to keep you in true faith? (Here is the catechism's simple little answer.)

"In order to keep me in the true faith, the Holy Spirit, through the means of grace (that is the Word, Baptism, and the Lord's Supper) does these four things.

He gives me an alert conscious.

He strengthens me in temptation.

He guides me into the truth.

And, He comforts me with the grace and mercy of God."

Let's look at that ‘castle’ of the Word of God and the Sacraments, through which the Holy Spirit protects us and defends us against our adversary the devil. Our catechism says that in that ‘castle’ of the Word and Sacraments, God gives us an alert conscious. Imagine for a moment, if you were the thief on the cross. Imagine the sins you had committed. Imagine that, now, you are such an evil person, as you hang on that cross, that you are even involved in mocking Christ! That is how bad you are. That is how far you have fallen. As you face your death, you continue to pour out sin!

Now, imagine then that as you hang on that cross, the Holy Spirit begins to convict you of your sin. You begin to look off into eternity, and you begin to realize, "In a few moments I am going to close my eyes for the last time here on this earth. And when I open them up, when I open them up, I am going to be in Hell. I am going to be in Hell, for all eternity."

The Holy Spirit begins to trouble you over your sin, and cause you to see that there is no way, no way to be saved, except by the One you were mocking on the cross. And the Holy Spirit convinces you that He is the Savior of the world.

And so, you turn to Him and you cry out to Him, "Lord, remember me, when you come into your Kingdom." It is a plea for His mercy. It is a plea for His grace. It is a plea for Him to save you.

And now imagine that He turns to you, while you hang there on the cross, facing your death, facing Hell, and He says to you, "Truly, truly I say to you. Today you will be with me in Paradise."

Wow! What words of comfort! With that Christ, our Savior announces, what we call, the Words of Absolution. He declares, there to that thief on the cross, the personal forgiveness of all of his sins. His sins will not be held against him. He said, "Today you will be with me in Paradise. Eternity is yours!"

Now, imagine that you are that thief on the cross and imagine at that moment, before you die, Pontius Pilate changes his mind and tells his soldiers, "Take that thief on the cross down and set him free."

And so, you are untied from the cross and you are set free to go!

Can I ask you this? If that had happened to you, (or to that thief on the cross), do you think your life, (or his life) would have been different, from that point on?

I know it would be.

Actually, that is you and that is me! That is us! We have been facing the eternity of Hell, because of our sin. Our Savior has declared us forgiven. And, we don't die. The moment we became Christians, we’re ‘let down off that cross,’ as it were, to live for our Savior, to live a new life. And, we believe that the Word, that ‘castle’ of God's Word, that Gospel of Christ's forgiveness, gives us an alert conscious. It gives us a love for our Savior. There is a passage that says,

"In your heart,

set apart Christ as Lord,

keeping a clear conscious."

The Word of God, that ‘castle’ of the Word, presents me with a Savior, presents me with the forgiveness of sins, and sets Him in my heart, as Lord. And I want to keep a clear conscious, for His sake, defending me against the attacks of the devil. The Word of God gives me a clear conscious, an active conscious.

The Word of God strengthens me in temptation. What does the Bible say? "The fruit of the Spirit is peace, joy, patience, gentleness, kindness, long-suffering, self-control." As the Holy Spirit works through that Gospel, in the Word of God, He fills us with a new heart that, instead of wanting to live in sin, wants to live for our Savior and fight against temptation and against the devil.

The Word of God guides me into truth. In our Gospel reading today, Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit, who would guild us in the way of truth. We are surrounded by the ‘walls of that castle’ of God’s Word. And, what are the ‘walls of that castle’ made up of, that we are in? The ‘walls of that castle’ are none other than the divinely inspired Word of God, the Word of the Holy Spirit. That is the impenetrable truth. It is the truth that the devil cannot, he cannot get to you, if you are behind the truth of the Word of God. He cannot penetrate through that defense.

And so, what will the devil try to do? He will try to knock holes in the ‘walls of the castle.’ He will try to lead you away from the truth. He will try to get you to believe false doctrine, and by that knock holes in the ‘castle walls’ and weaken them, so he can get to you.

Let us remain firm in the ‘castle’ of the Word of God. Let us take God's Word at its simplest, plainest, clearest meaning. Let God be God, and let the Holy Spirit defend us with the mighty truth of scripture.

And finally, our catechism says, "The Holy Spirit keeps me in the true faith through the means of grace, as He comforts me with the grace and mercy of Christ."

In that ‘castle’ of God's Word, in the ‘castle’ of the Word of God, God defends me daily with the grace and mercy of Christ. Daily, in the Word of God, I come to my Savior with my sin. I come to my Savior repenting of my sin. And daily, in that ‘castle’ of the Word, the Holy Spirit speaks to me. He speaks to you. He speaks the words of forgiveness. He says, "Be of good cheer, your sins are forgiven." And through those very words, He delivers to us everything that Christ has done for us, everything that Christ has won for us. He delivers to you the forgiveness of all of your sins. And where there is forgiveness of sins, there is certainty, certainty of salvation, certainty that God loves me, certainty that He will take me to be with Him in His home.

And so, the glory of being defended in our faith, does not go to us. The glory goes to God alone, to the Holy Spirit. Our scripture reading says this once again,

"Be self controlled and alert.

Your enemy

the devil

prowls around like a roaring lion,

looking for someone

to devour.

Resist him,

standing firm in the faith."

Run to that ‘castle’ of God's Word. And, stay there. Through that, the Holy Spirit will keep you strong, until the end.

Amen.