Satan Attacks The Family

Introduction

Even the most cheerful and optimistic among us would not want a repeat of most of this year. But the optimist among us can find some good in the midst of darkness. I can think of three things that I hope will remain once this lockdown mask pandemic is over. Number one is I hope we finally learned how to wash our hands. Number two, when you’re sick, stay home. Don’t come sneezing and coughing on me. It doesn’t have to be COVID. I don’t want whatever you got. But number three, and most importantly, I hope we’ve learned what’s most important. Through this, we have largely been forced to put aside many extracurricular outside things. And we’ve been forced to stay home with just our families.

I hope that we’ve learned that we can live without going out to eat. That we can live without all of the extracurriculars and hobbies and playthings. But what’s most important is home and family. I truly believe that, and I think you do too. And you know there’s someone else who believes that as well. There is someone else who believes that the family is the foundation to our society. And someone who firmly believes that the family is foundational to our relationship to God and our eternal inheritance. And that someone is Satan. He knows those facts. And because he knows those facts, Satan attacks our families. And so we’re going to make just two simple points this morning. Number one is to remind you what you already know that Satan is that roaring lion.

1. Satan Is That Roaring Lion, Seeking Whom He May Devour

And he’s seeking whom he may devour, and he is trying to devour the foundation of our moral society and our moral underpinnings. He is trying to attack the foundational building block of our inheritance in heaven. And secondly, I want us to know how he is doing that. And so that we can be on the watch and we can be prepared to engage with God on our side in this battle against Satan. But first of all, let’s just begin with that premise and recognize that we are engaged in warfare. That’s New Testament language. The word battle or war or warfare are repeated in the New Testament to speak of this spiritual struggle that is going on. And that, my friends, is not hyperbole. That’s not just the tension getting language.

That is real. That we are engaged, the Apostle Paul would remind us, it’s not the battle and the weapons of this world that we might normally attach with words like war, warfare, and battle, but it is nonetheless a battle, a war for the very possession of our souls. And we better prepare ourselves for that battle. Will you turn with me in the book of Ephesians, chapter 6 and look at this broader point? You’ll recognize Ephesians chapter 6 of the passage that encourages us and really enjoins upon us as those who are engaged in a battle, that we be prepared for battle. And to be prepared for battle, you must be equipped for that battle. And there are certain armaments and certain protections that must or should at least be worn if we’re to be successful in battle.

And to the Christian, that’s called the armor of God. Look with me in Ephesians chapter 6. Look at this familiar text with me again. Verse 10 beginning. Ephesians 6, verse 10 says, Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his mind. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For, listen to the warning in verse 12, we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against the spiritual host of wickedness in the heavenly places. Would you pause there? Has the inspired writer got your attention? Be strong because we’re engaged in a battle, and look who we’re fighting against.

Not flesh and blood. As frightening as a flesh and blood battle or fight might be.

Against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against the spiritual host of wickedness in the heavenly places. Issue a warning to you this morning. Number one is I don’t know that I fully understand who and what all of that is. Must less do I feel equipped on my own to be able to engage in that battle, much less be successful in that battle. And so here’s the bad news followed by the good news. The bad news is that in verse 12 of our text, you can’t win that battle. You can’t. The good news follows, beginning in verse 13. It’s already been hinted about when he said, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. The good news is you’re not engaged in this warfare alone.

And so he encourages us very famously in verse 13, therefore, and I think the therefore means, because you’re fighting a battle you can’t win, therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, having done all to stand, stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Above all, taking the shield of faith, with which you’ll be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one, and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for the saints.

You can. Maybe that’s not stated strongly enough. Not only God can, God will. If God be for us, who can be against us? And so he says in a battle that you cannot be engaged in by yourself, take up the whole armor of God. I think that’s the real lesson that sometimes miss of the story of David and Goliath. We won’t go back to that text and revisit it. I hope you’re familiar enough with it. The story of David and Goliath is not that every once in a while the little guy can beat the big guy. If you’re a sports fan, you hear that analogy, that metaphor sometimes, don’t you? When the big powerhouse school that everybody knows of their tradition and their dominance in that sport comes up against the small college that you had to Google to even find out what state they were in.

And that small college on that one special day when all the stars were aligned and the ball literally bounced in the right direction, that small college beat the powerhouse school. And the sports commentators will say it was a real David and Goliath story. The little guy can beat the big guy. I guess that’s okay as far as sports metaphors go, but spiritually speaking, that’s not the lesson of David and Goliath. The lesson of David and Goliath is not that the little guy can get lucky and beat the big guy. The lesson of David and Goliath is that with God, we can defeat giants. David, regardless of his skill as a shepherd and a rock throwing slinger, David was doomed to defeat on that battlefield.

2. Satan Attacks Our Families With Lies

Except he refused the armor of King Saul and took with him the armor of God. That’s the lesson of David and Goliath. That’s the point of Ephesians chapter 6 in the armor of God. We’re engaged in a battle. And it’s a battle that we’re doomed to lose unless we take up the armor of God to protect our families. And we need to understand this. Understand the weapons and the wiles of the devil. The devil is a liar. Turn with me to a couple passages that will reiterate that. Look in John chapter 8. Jesus made this warning to his disciples. Not only is the Satan a deceiver, but in some of the strongest condemning language that Jesus would use of the Pharisees and those of his day, he would say in John 8, verse 44, You’re of the Father, you’re of your father, the devil.

And the desires of your father you want to do. He, speaking of the devil, he was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there’s no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it. Satan is a liar. And so this liar, this deceiver of the brethren, if he is attacking our families, rest assured that he is attacking our families with lies. He’s telling us lies. Lies that we can argue that the world has largely bought into and accept as truth, but they’re still lies. And so I want us to think about the battle that we’re engaged in as Satan is attacking our family, and think of the lies that Satan is trying to get us to believe about our family.

He is attacking the very institution of marriage, the foundation of the family, and he’s attacking it with lies. 1 Corinthians chapter 6. The Apostle Paul to the Corinthian brethren was discussing the sinful world that they had come out of and the sinful practices that they had come out of. And is letting them know in no uncertain terms that they had made the right choice of coming out of that, and they should not be tempted to go back, tempted by the lies of Satan to go back. One of the lies that Satan is perpetrating against the family and against marriage is that marriage and the institution of marriage is not all that important. Lie number one is just live together. That living together outside of marriage is not just okay, but is to be preferred.

Satan is a liar. First Corinthians chapter six, look what he says in verse 18. Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. Sexual immorality, your translation may say fornication. That’s the idea of sexual relationships outside of a God approved marriage. Flee. Have nothing to do. Run away from that because Paul is telling us that in some sense this sin is unique. Every other sin is in a different category, he says. But this sin involves the most intimate relationship, the most intimate personal use of your body, which he would also argue in this same book is a temple of the Holy Spirit, or at least it should be.

I think we were as Christians were shocked when same sex marriage became accepted. And the norm in our country and our society. But maybe we shouldn’t have been shocked. Because our world, our society, has been buying into lie after lie of Satan. Why not the next lie? But look in 1 Corinthians chapter 6 again. And look this time, look at verses 9 and 10. Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived, neither fornicators, that’s the class we were just talking about earlier, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, will inherit the kingdom of God. That is plain language. And no lie of Satan can change that.

I shouldn’t have to, but let me add this disclaimer.

Certainly does not excuse violence towards someone who would practice that sin. But it also does not change the fact that God dictates and has every right to dictate what we do in the flesh. Satan’s lies notwithstanding. Look in Matthew chapter 19. Another lie of Satan that is crumbling the very foundation of our society. Another lie that Satan tells is in marriage, if it doesn’t work out, we’ll just get a divorce. That’s a lie from the father of lies. Because Jesus says in Matthew chapter 19 and in verse 6, after referencing the creation scene of man and woman, by the way, being joined together by God into one, he says, so then, here is the inspired conclusion from the creation scene and the creation of marriage. So then they are no longer two but one flesh.

Therefore, what God has joined together, let not man separate.

If God himself says not to do something, and we do it. What is that called? Sin. I fear sometimes we put the emphasis upon an unscriptural remarriage as being sinful and have forgotten the fact that Jesus said, don’t separate what God has joined together. Divorce itself is a sin. Now again, we add this disclaimer, Jesus in this very text talks about the exception, which is adultery. But otherwise, he says, if God has joined it together, you don’t separate it. God tells you not to do something and you do it. It’s sin. But Satan is telling us a lie. Satan is attacking the internal mechanics or the internal workings of the family. In Ephesians chapter 6, the apostle by inspiration tells us what God’s plan for the family is.

And Satan, from the very creation of the institution of marriage, Satan has been telling husbands and wives a lie. The lie has been fathers and husbands. You don’t have to be the spiritual leaders of your family. But look what Ephesians chapter 6 says, and in verse 4, and you fathers do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and the admonition of the Lord. I am not, and I do not believe the inspired apostle was discounting the mother’s role, the crucial role the mother plays. But he was putting the responsibility upon the fathers to be the spiritual leaders of their household. And he did not say, except if you work a lot of hours.

Or except if you have a hobby that keeps you away from home when you’re not working those many hours. And he does not say, unless you weren’t gifted with the ability to be a great Bible class teacher or an elder. No. Those are lies of Satan. The statement is, fathers, you are the spiritual leaders of your family. Husbands, back in chapter 5, you are to love your wives as you love your own body. If that standard wasn’t high enough, he raises it higher when he says, husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church. Wives, you’re to submit to your husbands and you’re to respect them, verse 33 of chapter 5 says. How many years have we been told a lie? That that’s not the way it ought to be.

You want to elevate your status as a human being in whatever sex you are. You be what God created you to be. You do the task that God has given you to do. And you’ll never be greater or higher or nobler to our society, to our church, and to our God. Another lie that’s been told is that children don’t need discipline. When again he says, Fathers, bring them up in the training and the admonition, some translations say, in the training and in the discipline of the Lord. That’s a lie that Satan has been telling. And if I was to be the cynic rather than the optimist I claim to be at the beginning of this lesson, I would say that we’re reaping the benefits of that lie in our society today.

Fathers and mothers, your children are literally crying out for the discipline that God has commanded you to exercise. And I recognize that in the midst of the day-to-day crazy activities of raising children, that it’s easy to forget, especially when Satan is whispering a lie into your ear, but it’s easy to forget that you’re not raising children. You’re raising future adults.

You’re raising souls who will be accountable to God.

And you’re to bring them up in the nurture and the admonition of the Lord.

Another lie that Satan is telling as he attacks our family, he is attacking the intention of the Christian home. Let’s look at his lies. Turn with me in the Old Testament, if you will, the book of Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy chapter 6, a very foundational, though stated in the old covenant, a very foundational principle of our families. And a foundational principle that Satan is saying is not that important. In fact, it’s to be discarded. And the lie that Satan is telling is that the home doesn’t need to be the training ground for spiritual wisdom. But look at God’s plan. Deuteronomy chapter 6, you’ll recognize these words almost immediately. Deuteronomy 6, verses 6 and 7. And these words, as Moses through God through Moses was sending that next generation into the promised land without him, these are the words that he leaves them with.

These are the words that I command you today to be in your heart. You shall teach them. That’s the words and the commandments of God. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. What a beautiful, poetic way of saying, here’s how we are to train our children. Now don’t misunderstand my next point. I don’t think Moses is just talking about what we would normally think of traditional family Bible study. Now that’s important. Setting down as a family, opening up God’s word, reading it, discussing it. But I think he’s broadening that. When you walk by the way, when you sit in your house, when you lie down and you rise up.

Recognize that in this time, certainly, not everybody would have had a copy of the Bible to set down and open up. But in every walk and facet of life, that your children can be introduced to God. Yes, set down with them, open up the book. But also in an everyday walk of life. By both your example and by your words, you can instill within them a love for the Word of God and for God Himself. Another lie of Satan. And maybe the lie that this pandemic will help us to recognize is a lie. And that is that your family is going to be happy and fulfilled if their schedule is full of secular activities. Turn with me to Matthew chapter 6 and in verse 33. Now don’t misunderstand me.

They’re good secular activities to be engaged in. And they’re not to be avoided necessarily. But when they become the focus, and they become so much of our schedule that those spiritual things, that spiritual training we’ve been talked about, has to be pushed off that schedule. Then can’t we see that that’s a lie? And it may be destroying our families. Matthew chapter 6 would remind us, Jesus would in verse 33 seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.

Let me give you this advice. When it comes to spiritual, godly things, write those on your schedule first, and write them in indelible ink. And then add in the secular activities. Second. And write them in pencil. And I mean that literally. Well, maybe not literally, because nobody uses a paper calendar anymore, do you? But the emphasis and the reminder is that these spiritual things come first, and they’re unalterable. And we’ll play ball or have banned practice and all those other things. But this comes first. And those things may have to be shifted around. But God and his kingdom and his righteousness are what’s most important to our family. And don’t buy into the lie. Satan is attacking our families. Satan is marshaling the forces of the spiritual forces of darkness.

Conclusion

But I want to leave you with this one last passage. Turn with me to the first John chapter 4. Satan is attacking the family, and he is a roaring lion. And without the armor of God, we are hopeless to defeat him. But I want to leave you with this powerfully encouraging passage. In the context of talking about false teachers, who were also perpetrating the lie of Satan, John says in 1 John 4, verse 4, and though again, this is talking about the doctrine of these false teachers we’re perpetrating, I think it equally can apply to the battle against Satan and his lies as he attacks our families. You, 1 John 4, verse 4, and you have overcome them. Because he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.

What a wonderful turn of events. That in fighting against those spiritual forces of darkness in the heavenly places, that we are without hope in that battle. But when we put on the armor of God, Satan is without hope in this battle. Because greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world.

Or more properly stated, God and you can win this war. Recognize that Satan is attacking our families, and he’s doing so by lying. Be reminded of the truth of God’s word and how important it is for your family and in the warfare that we’re all engaged in. Would you become a Christian this morning? Would you engage in the army of God? Repent of your sins, confess your faith, and be baptized for the remission of your sins this morning. Recognizing if God be for us, who can be against us? Would you come to him? Would you do so right now as together we stand and as we sing? Almost persuaded Christ to receive.