Sheep Amongst The Wolves

SHEEP AMONGST THE WOLVES

Dr. D. K. Olukoya

Sheep amongst the wolves is the title of our message for this week. Matthew 10: 16 says, “Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.” ln this passage, Jesus is warning us about the danger surrounding us in the world. The wolf is a very dangerous animal. Physically, if a contest were declared between the sheep and the wolf, the sheep would stand no chance at all because the wolf is stronger than it. The wolf would destroy the sheep utterly.

The environment in which we find ourselves is a very hostile one. The Bible does not use kind words to describe it. The Bible talks about the environment being filled with serpents, scorpions, lions, foxes and all kinds of terrible creatures. And in the passage we read, the Bible is talking about wolves. Truly, the wolf can destroy the sheep but there is something that can enter the sheep and give it the ability to confront and defeat the wolf. That thing is the Spirit of the living God. The Holy Spirit can enter the sheep because of certain qualities that can be found in the sheep.

Readers of the Bible recognise that Samson was a man that did exploits. There was a time he met a lion on the way and the lion did not know that Samson was not just an ordinary human being it could devour. It smiled at Samson and wanted to pounce on him but then something was in the life of Samson, which the lion did not know about. The Spirit of the Lord was mightily upon Samson. Judges 14: 5 – 6: “Then went Samson down, and his father and his mother to Timnath: and came to the vineyards of Timnath: and behold, a young lion roared against him. And the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him, and he rent him as he would rent a kid, and he had nothing in his hand: but he told not his father or his mother what he had done.” The Spirit of the Lord came upon Samson.

When the Spirit of the Lord comes upon men, new things begin to happen. When it comes upon you, new ideas would begin to come up in your mind, a new power would enter into your spirit, you would begin to resist the devil and he would certainly flee from you. Perhaps as you are reading this message, you are the timid and fearful type. When that Spirit comes upon you, it will make you to become bold. Samson did not flee from the lion, instead he pounced on it. Meaning that he did to the lion what the lion planned to do to him.

The Spirit of God has always been doing wonders in people’s lives and I am sure He would do wonders in yours too, in the name of Jesus. Every serious man of God in the Bible passed through this kind of experience that we are talking about. The seventy elders had a difficult task to do. Ordinarily, they would not have been able to cope, but God had to do something to them before pushing them into the midst of wolves. We too need this Spirit to give us wisdom. We need Him to disgrace all the lions harassing us. Gideon, too, was a man that was called by God for a task he could not cope with until the same Spirit came upon him. The same thing happened to king David, Simon in the New Testament, and to all the apostles. The Spirit of the living God came upon them and that made all the difference.

The whole of the Bible can be divided into three clear sections:

Section 1. The time of Tabernacles and temples: The people of Israel built tabernacles in the wilderness. Anytime they were moving, they carried their tabernacle. When they finished with tabernacles, they started building temples. That time God was in a place and not in their lives. This is the reason the devil was able to mess people up thoroughly in the Old Testament. God was inside the tabernacles and inside the temples but was not inside their lives. The high priest used to go to the Holy of holies once a year and he did that with very great precautions because anything could happen to him there. That is what we see in the Old Testament.

Section 2. The time of Jesus Christ: Jesus came, and men looked upon Him and decided that He was not worthy to remain alive so they got rid of Him. But before then, He moved around preaching the gospel and healing the sick. God anointed Him with power and He did great exploits. He laid the foundation of the apostolic ministry. When He was going away, He said, “I am going away but I will not leave you comfortless. I will send to you another Comforter,” and that ushered us into the realm of the Holy Spirit, where we are now.