Word of God here this evening, gonna be in the book of Judges tonight, Judges chapter 14. Judges chapter 14, gonna begin there in verse one, gonna make my way down to about verse nine here tonight. Judges chapter 14, and we'll begin there in verse one, make my way down to about verse nine here this evening. When you find your place, you can stand with me if you would, and we'll read the word of God together here tonight. I've entitled this message, When Lions Roar. When lions roar, Judges chapter 14 verses 1 through 9. You've seen probably perhaps on television on some of those even national geographic shows or things like that where you see the lions or you've been to the zoo and you've seen lions there and just the magnificence really of their power and their strength, you know, and just the beauty when you look at them of God's creation. and their eyes and just the fierceness of them. What a great creation of God. As I studied on lions, was studying and didn't know that, I thought there was perhaps more of them than what I thought they were, but it was said that years ago there was around 90,000, but really today there's only about 25,000, and that's even those that are in captivity. zoos and things like that, so I didn't know that there was only that few of them. But nonetheless, when you think about a lion, man, I tell you what, it's a tremendous sight. The Bible mentions lions, I believe, over a hundred times. And so the Bible says a lot about lions, uses a lion to demonstrate and speak of things that are good, but also shows us, also uses a lion to demonstrate and talk about things that are not so good. And so let's take a look at it here tonight. We're gonna look at a lion here this evening and see what it does. Let's take a look at it there in verse one. The Bible says, and Samson went down to Timnath and saw a woman in Timnath and the daughters of the Philistines. And he came up and told his father and his mother and said, I have seen a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines. Now therefore get her for me to wife. And then his father and his mother said unto him, is there never a woman among the daughters of thy brethren or among all my people that thou goest to take a wife of the uncircumcised Philistines. And Samson said unto his father, Get her from me, for she pleases me well. But his father and his mother knew not that it was of the Lord that he sought on occasion against the Philistines, for at that time the Philistines had dominion over Israel. Then went Samson down, and his father and his mother the Timnath and came to the vineyards of Timnath and behold a young lion roared against him and the Spirit, capital S there, and the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him and he rent him as he would have rent a kid, not talking about a little boy there, talking about a goat. And he wasn't there ripping kids apart, just, you know, And so, to rent him as he would a kid, and he had nothing, as he had nothing in his hand, but he told not his father or his mother what he had done, and he went down and talked with the woman, and she pleased Samson well, and after a time he returned to take her, and he turned aside to see the carcass of the lion, and behold, there was a swarm of bees and honey in the carcass, and he took thereof, in his hands and he went off eating and came to his father and mother and gave, and he gave them and they did eat, but he told them not. He had taken the honey out of the carcass of the lion. Let's pray. Father, we come to you this evening. I just thank you, Lord, for your goodness. I pray, Lord, you would just bless the night, help me as I preach. Lord, just help me to be emptied of myself. Lord, I desire to be filled with your spirit Lord that I may preach your word and not my opinion and so God I pray that you would just help us to just behold wonderful things out of your word tonight May we be encouraged it may we be lifted up But most importantly Lord we desire whatever it is that you need to do out of your word in our hearts tonight Whatever that may be God, that's what we want Lord I pray that you just bless the night and this we ask in Jesus name. Amen. Amen As we looked in the text, we saw there in verses 1 and verse 4, We see that Samson had seen a lady and had talked to a lady down in the Philistine area that he desired to have to wife. And so his parents, of course, were not agreeing to that, but there was a plan that God was going to work out in the midst of that. And the reason why his parents had agreed to that was because they didn't want him to go down to a place where it was full of paganism and bring him a wife. out of a land that was paganistic. That's why they said, can't you find somebody around here? Do you got to really go out there in the world and find somebody? But he did. That's what he desired. But yet, because even though he was making this decision, God was going to use this decision that he made to bring about his honor and glory. And so we get down to verse five. And the Bible says that Samson went down and his father And they came to Timnath. Well, interesting, we see them on their journey. And as they're on their journey, they come to this place called Timnath. And Timnath means to complete or finish. means to complete or finish. You know, and isn't it, and then we look on down further, we see that as they were finishing their journey, as they would come to this place, it means to finish or to complete. We see that there was a lion, a young lion that got in their way and began to roar really loudly. And I thought it was interesting because how many times in life do we have things as we are on our journey to complete or finish something or going in a certain direction that there are things that come up and begin to roar at us as we are on our journey in our Christian life or as we're seeking the path and will of God in our life Whatever it is. I mean there's many different situations all kinds of scenarios and many examples that we can give tonight but just in our journey in life and things that we do and go and things that we face as we're trying to complete something whereas we're trying to finish something or as we are just living our Christian life along the way and there's gonna be things that come up. Now, Samson had no idea that this young lion was gonna come his way and roar and all that kind of stuff. He had no idea that that was gonna happen. But yet, in his journey, we see this young lion comes up and begins to roar, gets in his way, begins to roar, make a lot of noise, make a scene. And you've heard a lion roar just like I have. Listen, whether it was at the zoo or on television, you've heard the sound. that it makes. And as I was studying lions, it was said that sometimes lions can be heard up to five miles away in the roars that they give out. Now five miles, that's a long ways. I don't know about you, but I've never heard nobody, I think, speak from five miles away. but I tell you what a lion can roar from five miles away and you can hear it so that's pretty that's pretty amazing but nonetheless we see that this lion comes across this path totally unexpected wasn't looking for it but it come up and so I just thought that was interesting when we think about what the named Timnath means, it means to finish or to complete and that they were on their journey, they were going to a certain place but as they were trying to finish, as they were going down there, they would see this young lion, he gets up and he roars in his path and he gets in the way and so The very first truth I want us to see tonight, when we think about when the lion's roar is exactly that, the very first truth, is I want us to see the lion's roar. Now, why does the lion roar? I mean, what is the purpose of the roar? I mean, why does the lion roar anyway? Well, for one, of course, it would be for intimidation. You know, a lion roars and it roars really loud because its desire is to get your attention and its desire is to intimidate. Now, I don't know about you, But if I was on the African safari, and I heard a lion roar, I would probably turn around and take a look. You know, the idea is to get your attention, to draw your focus, because see, when you are on your way to finish, and you are on your way to complete a task, and you are on your way to finish a goal, often times what happens is, is you have these things that come up, totally unexpected, lions that roar for the purpose of drawing your attention away so that you are no longer looking at Temnath. You're no longer focusing on the goal. You're no longer looking at this challenge. You're no longer looking at the place of completion. But now you have turned and shifted your focus to that which has become loud, to that which has become noisome. And that, of course, is the lion's roar. And so the chorus The purpose is to distract and to grab a hold of your attention. And so we think about this here tonight in the course of our life and in the course of the direction that we're going. What is it that has come up in our life that is roaring really loudly trying to draw our focus and attention off the goal that is at hand? Trying to draw our focus and attention off that which is the most important. Listen, lions get up and they roar and they get in the way, but listen, a roar never hurt anybody. Amen. A roar never hurt anybody. Part of the purpose is to grab a hold of your attention. And that is one of the things that the devil seeks to do too. As you are on your way to Timnath and you're on your way to the goal and you are on your way to accomplish and finish something, the devil's going to do everything he can to roar as loud as possible. The devil's going to do everything he can to distract and to get your attention so you no longer are focused on the goal at hand. But a roar never hurt anybody. But I tell you what a roar does do, it does intimidate, and when it intimidates, part of that is to bring fear. Because that's what intimidation does, and we are intimidated. What often happens is, is there's an element of fear that comes our way, and if the devil can incite fear into our hearts, then it keeps us away from a place of faith. Because fear and faith can't occupy the same spot. The Bible says that the Lord, the Bible says that God, the Bible says that God is, that he gives faith. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. And the more we listen to God, the more faith we get, the more we drown out the fear. Amen, and so we listen to God we listen to the Word of God with faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God So we got to make sure what are we listening to the most the lion's roar or the Word of God? Because what we pay our focus to the most is what we're going to receive. If you listen to the roar of the lion, you're going to get a lot of fear and you're going to get a lot of intimidation. If you listen to the Word of God, you're going to be receiving more faith. And so while the devil's trying to pump us full of fear, the Lord desires for us to be full of faith. And so what you lend your ear to the most is what it is that is going to lead you in that direction. So making sure we're not listening to the fear of the devil and making sure we're listening to the faith of God is exactly what we need because the devil will love nothing more than in your journey to get you sidetracked on fear and a roar Never heard anybody, but the lion's roar we see is to intimidate it is to it is to stop now If you're walking in the African Safari, and you heard a lion roar, and you are walking What is one of the things you're going to do you know? Okay, where did that come from? Right? Where did that come from? You're going to stop in your tracks. Because you're going to stand there and you're going to want to know where did this roar come from? What is making all this racket? What is making all this noise? It is definitely going to grab a hold of your attention. The purpose of the roar is to intimidate. It is to bring fear. But to stop you in your tracks. Because the last thing the devil wants you to do is to finish and complete. Last thing the devil wants you to do is to get all the way down to Timnath and fulfill the purpose and the reason why you were on your way there to begin with. And so we see the roar is there, the lion's roar to intimidate, to instill fear. fear and to stop and to hinder. But what you listen to the most in life, what you allow yourself to focus and concentrate on and meditate and ponder on, is that what's the direction that you're going to go. So if it's fear and it's the world and it's the roar of the lion, then that's the direction you're going to probably go. If it's faith, then you're going to be filled with faith. If it's the rule of the line, you're going to be filled with fear. So what you listen to the most is what you're probably going to be filled with the most. And so, the Bible shows us there in the text. The Bible says in verse 5 that he went down and his father and his mother, Timnath, And he came to the vineyards of Tinneth, and behold, a young lion roared against him. Now, his mother and his father, for whatever reason, seems like as they were making this journey, they started out together, but for whatever reason, they weren't there together when this lion came up. The Bible shows us that the lion roared against him, and in verse 6 says he never said anything to his mother and his father about it. So they didn't see what happened. They obviously didn't know anything about it. But they were all going in the same direction. But somehow or another, they were divided in their journey. But nonetheless, we see that this young lion, it roared against Him. It roared against Him. 1 Peter. Chapter five in verse eight, the Bible says that the devil is what? He is a roaring lion who walks about seeking whom he may devour. A roaring lion. And so we think about these things. Are you going to listen to the roaring lion who walks about seeking whom he may devour? Are we going to listen to the word of God? The Bible says that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. So what we're going to listen to the most is more likely we're going to be filled with the most. And so in our journey, there's gonna be lions that are gonna come across her path. The Bible says, the Bible didn't say this was an old lion. The Bible said this was a young lion, this young lion that was full of vitality and full of strength. I mean, something that was coming his way that was there almost as if it was designed to stop him in his path. This young lion that come full of vitality and strength and energy, but nonetheless, a lion, who was roaring against him. Number one, we see the lion's roar. Number two, I want us to see the Lord's ranting. The Lord's ranting. Notice, we see the young lion roared against him there in verse five on his way to Timnath to complete his goal. This young lion roared against him, but there in verse six, notice the Bible says, and the spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him. You know what I like about that in verse 6? You know, of course, we don't, I don't see, it's not in the verse. It could have happened, maybe, perhaps. But there in the verse, we see that when the lion roared against him, the Bible says the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him. God knew, that God knew the strength that he needed right when he needed it. Amen? You look over in chapter 13, in verse 25, which is the last verse in chapter 13. After the birth of Samson, the Bible says in verse 25 that the Spirit of the Lord began to move him at times. And so there were times that the Spirit of God would come upon him and give him the strength that he needed for whatever it is that he needed it for. Same thing took place right here there in verse 6. This young lion roared against him, and there in verse 6, the Bible says that Esther speaks of the Spirit of God. And the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him. God showed up and gave him the strength that he needed exactly when he needed it. And praise the Lord for that. Isn't that what God does for us as well? He knows where we are. He knows the lions that roar against us. He knows that they are unexpected, but nothing took God by surprise. God knew the lion was coming up. God knew that Samson was on his way to Timnath for a certain purpose. And he knew that he was on his way down there and his family was on his way down there. And then we see that this lion comes up. None of that took God by surprise. God knew the lion was gonna be there. God knew exactly what the lion was gonna do. And God also knew exactly what he was gonna do. And God showed up and did exactly what God does, and he did exactly on time when God needed to do it. The Bible says the spirit of God there in verse six. And the spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him, gave him the strength that he needed. And notice this now there in verse six. The Bible says, and he rent him as he would rent a kid. And notice something even more miraculous is that the Bible goes on to say, in his hand. And so he fought this lion and he had nothing in his hand. And he ripped apart this lion. He rent the lion. When you rent that means you tear something apart. He literally rent the lion apart. He didn't have a sword. He didn't have a sling, he didn't have a club, he didn't have a shield, he didn't have anything. The Bible says he had nothing, and he fought that lion, in essence, with his bare hands, and he ripped the lion apart with his hands. You say, wow, that's pretty amazing. It's amazing what a man can do in the power of God. Now, see, he couldn't have done this on his own. There's no way in the world he could have done this on his own. However, we do know and see that whenever God comes upon somebody, as He did in the Old Testament, we see that He gave them the strength that they needed to do for the accomplished task. Just as today, as the New Testament would say, I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me. Greater is He that is in you than he that is in this world. So when lions come up our way and they begin to war, and we're on our way down to Timnath, we're on our way down to complete a finished goal, on our way for a purpose, and these things just come up in a way unexpected, and they roar, and they roar loud, and they're intimidating, and they can be very fearful. and they can stop us in our tracks. But listen, are we gonna press forward in the power of God and rely on the strength of God to come and help us? Or are we gonna get so focused on the roars of the devil and so focused on the roars of the lions of this world that it stops us in our tracks? Because I tell you what, we could've just done this right here. It could've just said there in verse five, and behold a young lion roared against him and he went back home. It could say that, but it didn't say that. God came upon him, gave him the strength that he needed, and he completed the task. And he went down there and he did what he had to do and he came back. But it could have said that when the young lion roared, he just quit and gave up. It could have said when the young lion roared, he just went back home. It could have said when the young lion roared, He just became so fearful that he never ever came back again and run off and live somewhere else. There's a whole list of things it could have said. but we see that there in verse six that what happened was when the young lion roared against him, that the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him. I don't even see right here where he even prayed and asked for it. God help me. No, listen, he may have, but here in the text, the Bible just says that the Spirit of the Lord just came mightily upon him. God knew where the lion was, God knew where Samson was, and when the young lion roared, God knew the strength and the power that Samson needed, and he gave it to him to handle the situation that had arisen there in his life. And listen, they're gonna rise up in all of our lives. And God will give us the strength that we need, because God knows where we're going. God knows the tasks that we are seeking to fulfill. The Bible says there in verse six, the spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him, and he rent him as though he would have rent a kid. But listen, had it not been for the power of God, there's no way possible he would have been able to do this. Listen, there's some things in life, a lot of things in life, we just can't do on our own. And there's gonna be some lions that roar in our path that we can fuss and argue about, and they could care less. I'm gonna give you a verse for it. I think you're gonna like it. I'll give you time to get there. I don't wanna just read it to you, I want you to read it for yourself. Take a look at Isaiah, chapter 31. And look at verse four. In Isaiah 31 verse 4, the Bible says, in speaking of God coming through for His people, the Bible says, For thus hath the Lord spoken unto me. Like as the lion and the young lion roaring on his prey, When a multitude of shepherds is called forth against him, he will not be afraid of their voice, nor abase himself for the noise of them. So shall the Lord of hosts come down to fight for Mount Zion and for the hill thereof." Simply saying that there are some lions that we're going to approach, many lions, many obstacles, many challenges in life that we're going to face could care less what we have to say back. They're going to care less what it is that they're going to care. Well, anything that we try to do, in essence, is going to be of no avail. But the Bible does say this, listen, when those lions do roar, the Bible says this, I know that in that time in Isaiah, y'all can't handle this, and no matter who goes out to try to tame these lions, and no matter who goes out to try to talk to these lions, the lions don't care. So what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna come down and take care of this myself. And that's kind of what happened here, I believe, as we see that God saw There was no way possible, of course, that Samson could have done this on his own. No way possible that Samson could have rent this lion in half by himself. So the Spirit of God came upon him and gave him exactly what he needed. And I believe in our life, too, there's going to be things that come our way. They're going to roar. They're going to make a lot of noise. They're going to cause a lot of fear. They're going to intimidate for the purpose of stopping us. hindering us, keep us from fulfilling our goals, and keep us from not having faith in the Lord, and keep us from not pressing forward, you know, and these types of things. But we can see that God moved in, and He blessed, and man, God just overshadowed Him. And the Bible says that He came mightily upon him there in verse 6, and He rent him as He would have rent a kid. In other words, He tore him apart like it was nothing. I mean like it was absolutely nothing. God came in, God moved, and took care of the situation, took care of the problem, and just got it out of the way. And we see that that was something that He couldn't have done Himself, but that was something that God could do. And there'll be some lions that come our way, there'll be some things that come across our path that we won't be able to handle on our own, but God can. God can. And the Bible says when he had nothing in his hand, which is even more of a miracle, but the Bible also says, but he told them there in verse six, but he told not his father and his mother what he had done. And he went down and talked with a woman and she pleased him well. So not only do we see the lions roar, but then we also see the Lord's renting. The Lord's renting. God gave him power. God was his help, his shield, his high tower. So not only that, but we also see, let's move it down forward. We also look down in verse 8. The Bible says, after a time, he returned. He returned to take her and he turned aside. to see the carcass. So he waits a little while. He goes back down there and on his way back he stops for a moment. He turns around and he takes a look there in verse 8. And he sees the carcass of the lion. And he turns around and he sees the carcass of the lion and the Bible says, Behold, there was a swarm of bees and honey in the carcass of the lion. The Bible says, And he took thereof in his hand. and went on eating. In other words, he went down there, he saw the lion that he had slew, the carcass was there, and when he turned around and looked back and he saw the victory, of course, that God had brought him, he looked back and he saw that lion there, and inside that lion's carcass was a swarm of bees and some honey in there. And he reaches in there. Now, I don't know how he fought the bees. I guess if he can fight a lion, he can fight the bees too, I guess. I don't know. But he reached in there, and he got him some honey. And the Bible says, and when he got that honey, he went on. So in other words, he ate it while he was in his journey. He ate it while he was in his journey. And so he reaches in there, he grabs that honey, he puts it in his mouth, and he eats it while he's on his way, and he gets back home, and then he gives some of this honey to his mother and his father, but he didn't tell him where he got it from. but he gives it to them. You say, well, what can we see out of this? Well, I think some things of way of application, not only do we see the lion's roar, and not only do we see the Lord's renting, but we see a later reward. A later reward. Listen, sometimes the reward from our victories may not always be immediate. Sometimes they may come a little bit later. Amen? Sometimes what we want to see don't always, what we desire to see, the reward from what we desire to see might not always happen right now, sometimes it may take a minute. Now I don't know how long it was before he went back down there and he got her and brought her back. I don't know how long it takes for that carcass to finally deplete enough, decay enough to where it had a a bee's nest inside of it, and there was honey inside of it. I don't know, could have been a miracle from God, act of God, of course, but we see nonetheless that he goes down there, when he killed the lion, the lion was out of the way, but there wasn't a honey reward until later on. And sometimes in life, we may not be able to, we may reap the reward of the, we may reap the victory, yes, but sometimes the rewards we may not necessarily see there immediately. Some of these things may happen As we continue on our journey, the Bible says there in the text that he came, that he took thereof in his hand and he went on eating. So he reached in there, he grabbed a hold of some honey that God had gave him the victory over, and he reached in there, he grabbed him a hold of some honey, and he took it with him as he went on his journey, and then he shared that with other people. So the blessings of his victory, he was able to share with other people, and I believe in life, listen, the last thing the devil would want you to do is to have some honey in your life, is to have something that's refreshing and to have something that is good and to have something that is pleasant to your soul. We read in the Bible, the Bible talks a lot about honey. Of course, too much of anything is a bad thing. In the Bible, listen, even too much honey, the Bible talks about ain't good for you. But honey is good. Lots of people, they eat honey. The Bible talks about how good honey is. And the Bible shows that he ate it while he was on his journey, and it was a blessing to him. But listen, the devil would do everything he can to roar as loudly as possible to keep you from experiencing a blessing, and to have a blessing, and not only that, but to share that blessing with other people. And there'll be some lions that'll roar in the way that'll try to stop that from happening. It can be people, it can be circumstances, it can be a whole host of things. I mean, the laundry list is so long. The Bible shows us here that we see his victory, but he didn't enjoy the honey until later. The honey part came a little bit later, but there was honey nonetheless. And the Bible says in verse 8, there was a swarm of bees and honey in the carcass. And you say, man, can something that's dead provide something that's good, well God did in this case. We see this carcass had some honey in it and he took it and he ate of it and it supplied him on his journey. And he was able to share what God had blessed him with. He was able to share with others the victory of his fight. Nobody knew how he got the honey, nobody knew that he had slain this lion that came his way, nobody knew anything about it. But he was able to share the blessing of it with everybody. You know, sometimes there are some battles and fights that you're fighting yourself and nobody knows about. Amen? Sometimes there are battles and there are fights. Lions that roar against you and nobody knows what they are. But you're fighting them privately. You're fighting them. They're things that, listen, they can be beset in sins. They can be all kinds of things. Not everybody knows every aspect of your life. And sometimes there are some public lions and sometimes there are some private lions. Nonetheless, they roar and make a lot of noise. And their purpose is to instill fear and to hinder and to stop and to distract and to keep you from finishing and completing that, which is what you need to do. Who do you listen to the most is going to determine what you're filled with the most. Am I going to listen to the roar of the lion? Because there's many. There's not just one lion. There's many lions. Listen, there are lions of fear. There are lions of pride. There's lions of revenge. There's lions of bitterness. There's lions of envy. I looked today just just to see. And I was like, how many sins are there? So I just typed in, how many sins are there? And this list came up 125. There's probably more than that. And I just kind of scrolled down and looked through them and I thought, yeah, well, hey, every single one of them is a lion. And there's probably more than that. But every single one of them is a lion. And there are lions every day that come up in our life. There's lions every day that roar and make a lot of noise. Who are you going to listen to the most? Because we can stop with the roar of the lion, and we can say, well, I'm not going to finish my task down in Timnath. I'm just going to go back. Or I can say, well, you know what? I'm not going to continue listening to the roar of these lions. What I'm going to do is I'm going to listen to the word of God, and I'm going to stay strong in my faith, and I'm going to continue to march forward. And I'm going to believe that no matter what lion roars in my path, that the strength and power of God is going to help me to be victorious. But the choice is yours. Nobody can make that be you. Now, Samson could have turned around and went back, or he could have stayed and fought the lion in the strength of God. But he had to make that decision, and every single one of us here tonight have to make that very same one. So we can see the lion's roar, we can see the Lord's renting, and then we can see the later reward. Because what was the later reward? The later reward was, yes, he got victory. Yes, he went down there and he got his wife. And yes, on his way back, there was honey. And so there was a lot of rewards that came after this victory. But not all of it was immediate. But there were a lot of things that came after. The devil would love nothing more than to stop you from future blessings that you could have. Amen. From future blessings that you could have. So we gotta make sure that we don't allow the devil to do that. So when the lions roar, what are we gonna do? Who are we gonna listen to the most? Let's pray. Father, we come to you tonight. We thank you, God, for your goodness, for your blessings. Lord, I pray here this evening that you help us. And God, as we get ready to leave tonight, Bless our evening and just keep it safe as we go home or it's nasty out and and so I just ask God just wrap your arms around every vehicle around every car and And just get everybody home safely or just bring us back here as well to our next appointed time here this weekend on tomorrow with the With the seniors lunch and then Bible College last day of Bible College tomorrow night for this semester And then on Saturday, Lord, the men's breakfast and Sunday church. And we just pray that you'd help us to finish out this week strong and finish it well. We love you and we thank you for all that we know you're going to do in this. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.