Please open your Bibles up to Ephesians 5. I had anticipated again to work through verse 22 and I believe on Thursday the Lord asked me to speak on something within the context but to hold off on verse 22 through 24 till when I return I'm going to be gone for the next two weeks and I wanted to keep the commands for wives, husbands, children and workers together as a unit and as I was finishing actually the sermon on verse 22 to 24 something I think from the Lord came to heart that I think would be a nice foundation for us to understand all of Paul's exhortations to us in the family And it has to do with spiritual warfare. And so the sermon would be called, The Family and Spiritual Warfare. If you would look at this section of verse 22 to 6, 9, it's sandwiched in the context of being filled with the Spirit of Christ, 518. versus fighting the spirit of the God of this age, 610. And I thought it would be very important for us to understand, as many commentators actually agree, that Paul's exhortation to families is in the context of spiritual warfare. Let me give you a quote from a man named Andreas Kostenberger. I thought it was very helpful and maybe is justifying My little break before we get into the specific commands of submission, loving, obeying and working. He says this, because marriage and family are not merely a human convention or cultural custom, but rather divine institution, it should be expected that Satan, who seeks to rob God of his glory, would attack marriage and families. And though there are a plethora of materials on marriage and the family, as well as much literature on spiritual warfare, rarely are they treated jointly. It's the beginning of that quote I thought was interesting. Because if you look at Ephesians 5, verse 32, Paul says, this mystery, speaking of marriage, and by implication, family flowing out of that, this mystery is profound. And I am saying that it refers to Christ and the Church. And so if you push Paul into a corner and ask him what a beautiful picture of Christ's love for his church and how the church in response to his grace is to submit herself in obedience, he says, look at marriage. That's a beautiful picture of God's glory and his grace revealed in the gospel. Look at marriage and look at a family. It's a tangible, visible expression of the gospel. It's not the gospel. But a gospel marriage is a beautiful picture of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And so, Kossenberger is correct when he's saying, if Satan wants to undermine the gospel, if he wants to demur, if he wants to attack the glory of God, who is building his church in Christ, well, why not attack the foundation block? And I was thinking of it. We don't need to be too immersed in the world to understand that our world is crumbling, at least in our society. And it's been this long drawn out battle as Satan has been attacking families for the last 50 to 100 years. That this massive surge of the homosexual agenda and their militant attack against the family, this is not new. This is the result of Satan attacking marriages. It's no surprise that we have so many broken families and kids coming from broken families that start broken families. And we're in a cruel cycle right now. And it's because I believe Satan is attacking families. Because families from the beginning are the means through which God seeks to fill the world with His glory. Go back to Genesis 1 and 2. Adam, Eve, be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth. with a godly remnant, with a godly seed, take dominion of this earth, and it's done through God-ordained traditional families. And so, if your family is going through something severe, it's because Satan is trying to undermine God's glory in the gospel by attacking your family. And we saw it in Sunday school, that if you're trying to preach the gospel and your marriage is in tatters, the world is going to question, this is the power of God? Christ is uniting all things in Himself, and a husband and a wife can't even be united? God seeks to sum up all things, and a wife can't submit to her husband, as unto the Lord? Children can't obey their parents. This is the power of the Gospel? Of course then, Satan is going to attack our families. And as some of you are realizing, I love reading on World War II stuff. Hitler never declared war on the nations. He just attacked them. When are we going to wake up and declare war on him? Hitler wanted to destroy any vestige of the people of God by destroying the Jews and annihilating them. That's what the Holocaust was all about. Anything that reminded him of the Jews he wanted destroyed. The church is a picture or is a representation of God's gospel. And the foundation, the building blocks of the church are families. You think, but I'm single! The way God usually works is by calling men and women to become husbands and wives. If you are granted the gift of singlehood, this is still applicable because most of the people you know are married, or will be. And so please don't zone out if you're not married. Because when I used to go to Sunday school and listen to their family seminars every Sunday morning, I learned a ton when I was a single guy. If you get married, John, Satan's going to attack you. He's going to attack your wife. He's going to attack your kids. And we can pretend that nothing's happening, or we can follow what Paul says in Scriptures. Therefore, finally, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Psalm 11.3, maybe I'm proof texting here, but he says, if the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do? Satan's attacking the foundation. He's attacking the family. And so what I want to do is understand, help us understand that we're in a war, especially as families, but I also want us to see how we can fight back and how we can ward off the attacks and the schemeful plots of the evil one. Spiritual warfare has been a part of married life and child-rearing from the beginning. Go back to Genesis chapter 1 and chapter 2 where God instituted marriage and Jesus says that it's from the beginning. This is a God-ordained institution. One husband, one wife bearing children. Satan in the garden, he tempts Eve. But you know what? Adam's right there. And already you have Satan attacking the family. Chapter 4, you have Satan attacking the family as Cain slays Abel. And so from the fall on, we have Satan continually bombarding and attacking and assaulting God's instituted marriage. Thus it is vital for us to look at the biblical teaching not only on marriage and family, but also at the same time spiritual warfare. They should be studied together. It's not the charismatic idea of slaying spirits and putting anointing oil on your doorpost. We have to understand and I'm going to actually encourage men most to listen. I think this is most applicable for men who are going to be husbands and fathers. Yes, it's applicable for women, but I'm speaking especially to men this morning. I think that the destruction of our society is because men aren't being men. Because men don't understand whom God has made them. They're being lazy little boys. They're playing video games. Instead of getting into the Word, praying for their families, fighting, as it were, for their families, teaching their families, training up their children. Men are boys and our society is crumbling because of it. And so you can feel guilty or we can repent and say, Oh Lord, give me grace that I would be a godly man, a godly husband, a godly father, a godly part of this church. I really believe that it is us men who need to take the reins this morning. We need to understand what the word is teaching. Men, cherish your wives. Teach them the gospel. Men, train up your children. Men, be men. Hack up the Xbox if you have to. Get rid of the YouTube if you must. Get rid of your cable. Men, be men. Costenberger says this as well. In living out their Christian faith in their marriages and families, believers must recognize That their sinful nature will lead them to rebel against God's plan unless aided by the Holy Spirit. Hence, Ephesians 5.18. Walk in wisdom. Do not be foolish. Discern what is the will of the Lord. Men be filled with the Spirit. Women be filled with the Spirit. Kids be filled with the Spirit. Which, of course, requires salvation. If we're not aided by the Holy Spirit, the devil will seek and will use our sinful tendencies and inclinations to lead us, our families, the church, and the world astray. So let me just give you a very simple sermon. I have where the battle for our families is won. and then some strategic things that need to be understood for those who are engaged in war. If you don't want to engage in war, just leave and you can go and sleep. But if you actually believe that we're in a war and you want to fight for the glory of God in Christ, we'll look at some strategies. First, where the battle for families is won. The key element in spiritual warfare, according to scripture, is our minds. 2 Corinthians 11, just turn there. I'm not going to make this a topical sermon, but I just want you to see where Paul is getting this from in Ephesians 5 and 6. So 2 Corinthians 11, verse 3. So there's issues going on in the church, and in Corinth obviously there are family issues too, if you were to read 1 Corinthians 10. 11 and 14, but let Paul speak here. But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning. Those are words used in Ephesians, by the way. Deceived, cunning. I am afraid. Here's the one who planted a church. I'm afraid, he says. And you should be afraid. That as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. So here's Paul, everywhere he goes preaching Christ and Him crucified, 1 Corinthians 2. He built the church, as it were, upon the foundation of the apostolic message of Christ. And then all of a sudden, now, Satan comes in and he begins to attack the foundation. And how does he attack the people? He attacks the people at their thought life and deceives them with cunning. He offers them false promises or he distorts the word of truth. What's the best way to determine or distinguish or to see a counterfeit? By studying the real thing. And so what Satan did in the garden, he has been doing and is still doing. We have a rudimentary understanding. There's a sincere devotion. We understand the gospel, but just as he did with Eve, he just twisted it just a little bit. Maybe a little addition, maybe a little change, maybe a little doubt. And he deceived Eve, he beguiled her. And Adam was there the whole time, so it wasn't just her. They were both deceived by the cunning of Satan, and it happened at the thought level. Just as Satan reasoned with Eve as to why she should disobey God in the garden, it is in the thought life where Satan deceives us to disobey God. 2 Corinthians 10, you don't have to turn any pages likely, look at verse 3. For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but have divine power to destroy strongholds." Here it is. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against, what? The knowledge of God. And take every thought captive to obey Christ. So at least according to these two chapters is that Satan tries to trip us up in our thought life. And if you don't understand the gospel through and through and through, you're done. He's going to deceive you. You're going to believe a lie. You'll think the counterfeit is the real thing. The battle for our families is won, men, women, children, in our thought life. What we're filling our minds with will determine if we have a healthy family, or an unhealthy family. I'm going to bombard you with a bunch. Go to 2 Timothy 2. Because I just want to make it clear, because it seems that a lot of people kick against the goads when I say, we've got to be in the Word. They just nod their heads, but they don't get in the Word. And I just want to frighten you, if possible, to show you that if you're not in the Word, renewing the spirit of your minds, you're sitting up for Satan and his cunning, deceitful tactics. So yes, he's talking about false teachers, but they're also indicative of the rest of humanity. The Lord's servant, verse 24, must not be quarrelsome, but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. Here it is. God may perhaps grant them repentance. Leading to what? A knowledge of the truth. Repentance is linked to knowledge of the truth. People will never biblically repent if they don't know the truth. They might unbiblically repent and still go to hell. Why do we repent? Because God shows us the truth. We realize, according to his standard, that we're off kilter. And so basically, we realign ourselves with God's pattern and God's way. But we will never understand what is His pattern or His way if we don't have an understanding of the truth. Why are they false teachers? Because they don't get the truth. And Paul says that he prays they would be granted repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth. And they come to their senses. We will never come to our senses unless we know the truth. If we don't know the truth and we don't come to our senses, we'll never escape the snare of the devil. He will capture us at will to do His will. So I hope you don't tire of me pleading with you to be men and women who are in the Word, letting it dwell in your hearts richly, the Gospel of Jesus Christ. and all of its implications. Me and Marvin were praying in here. We said Marvin could preach on Isaiah 45 for eternity and he could because there's so many rich, glorious truths of God's sovereignty, of God's plan to save a people for himself, of His goodness, His greatness, His ability to save to the uttermost. What are you filling your minds with? Because the battle for our families is won at the thought level. Your family is dependent upon your thought life. Sorry to put so much pressure on you. No, what about the grace of Christ? The grace of Christ challenging us and changing us by the truth. We're not hyper-Calvinists. Let's go to Ephesians 4. This is the context of Paul's thought. And I have no problem reading for you a whole bunch of verses here. I'm going to read to you verses 11 to 24, because I believe 110, 210, 310, 610 are the framework of Ephesians. And so I'm reading now chapter 4, 10 following in light of 610. So we're thinking of a saint attacking the Church of Christ at the family level. Christ is risen, and He gives grace to the Church. He gives grace in teachers. who teach and equip, who equip fathers. Let me say this, I believe my primary role in this church is to train up the men of this church. I get your kids for a week, Phil, or for a week, I get your kids for an hour, and if they doze off, for ten minutes. You get your kids seven days a week. I don't get to see Jared in tomorrow day. Mark, I will train you, so you can train your kids. And so if the sermons are a little bit heady and the kids don't get them, it's because I'm going for you men. You take what I'm saying and you challenge your kids. You put it into their life. You adapt it to their life circumstances. You know your kids better than me. You take the gospel and you apply it to the kids. I'm going for the men intentionally. And so if you feel convicted, it's because I'm pleading with you men. Let's grow up together. And if you can't train your families, they come speak to me, to Marvin. Speak to someone, for God's sake, speak to somebody. Don't let Satan destroy your family because you're ignorant. Verse 11. The risen, ascended Christ gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers to equip The saints for the work of the ministry. For building up the body of Christ. And remember, the fundamental components are families. If you're single, of course you're included in there. But God has equipped this church with equipers to equip families. But it doesn't end there. Until we all attain to the unity of what? The faith and of the knowledge. Oh, that we would know Christ. If we don't know Christ, we're going to see we're duped. That we might grow up into mature manhood. Women included, but men. We want to grow up and be men. To the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. So that we would no longer be children. That's the plague, that's the endemic of North America. Men are boys. For the most part. So that we may no longer be children. Why? Because children are tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine. By human cunning. Cunning is satanic. So you got false teachers. You have people who can listen to Paul Washer and then they can listen to Joel Osteen. They need to grow up. They need to get into a church. It's dangerous. Tossed to and fro by the ways and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness and deceitful schemes. That's satanic language there. Rather, speaking the truth in love. We are to grow up in every way into Him who is the head. There's the language of Paul in Ephesians 5. Husbands, your heads grow up! Is it Christ who is the head? From whom the whole body joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped when each part is working properly. It's not enough that you're here, you have to be working properly. Makes the body grow so that it builds itself up and up. Why is Paul so concerned about the church growing up? Because it displays the glory of God. It shows how God is summing up and uniting all things in Christ. And if the church is full of immature people, It's not showing that Christ is summing them up. It's false advertising. Therefore, this I say and testify in the Lord. It's therefore in the Greek. I don't know why the SV does that. That you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do. Why are we walking the way Gentiles do? Because we're not grown up. We're not mature men. We're not attaining to the stature of the fullness of Christ. We're not... Well, we'll get there. Such people are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God, because of what? Ignorance. I know I'm coming across harsh. I don't want us to be an ignorant church that is tossed to and fro. Because if we're an ignorant church, our families are going to get destroyed. that is in them due to their hardness of heart, they have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. But that is not the way you learned Christ. Learning is imperative, isn't it? Learning not just statistics or facts or background information, but learning Christ and the Gospel. Remember, that's how we grow up. We grow up into the head as we focus on Him. That's not the way you learned Christ. Assuming, if indeed, you have heard about Him and were taught in Him. Why is it that churches don't care about teaching anymore? Oh, how we need to teach. It's not a happy-go-lucky Lion's Club where we gather for an hour and entertain one another. You're taught in Him as the truth is in Jesus. Linking it to 2 Corinthians. linking it to the other passages, truth changes us. The truth is in Jesus. So why are we not looking to him? Why do we spend so much time looking at everything but him? That's why we're not mature men and women and children. This is why we have so much chaos in the churches and therefore the world. You know what the hope of the world is? It's Jesus. But you know what it is? It's the church of Jesus Christ that is filled with the spirit of Jesus Christ. Sounds good, the hope of the world is Jesus. How does the world see Jesus? How does the world see the head? The body that is growing up into the head represents Him. Let us represent Him in spirit and in truth. We were taught that the truth is in Jesus to put off our old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and, I will translate, is being corrupted, it's a present principle, through deceitful desires. There's the word deceit again. How are we corrupted? By believing deceit. By believing lies. Happened in Genesis 3. It's been happening since. Rather, we're to be renewed. So I link the two. We will be deceived and become corrupt. Corruption flows out of deceit. I just want you to understand that. It flows out of your heart. But when your heart is deceived, Christian, corruption follows in its ugly, wicked wake. Because the sentence isn't complete. You're either being corrupted, or, I would translate the next verse, being renewed. They're both present. Are you being corrupted by deceit, or are you being renewed by truth? How much do you give to reading your Bible and seeking the face of Christ? The truth is in Jesus. To be renewed in the Spirit, I would capitalize that as, the Spirit uses the Word of God to renew us. It's not enough just to say, I'm Spirit-filled. The Spirit takes the Word, shows us the lies, so we're not deceived and corrupted. We see who we are in Christ now. And we put off the old, which is inconsistent with who Christ is and who we are. And the Spirit shows us the truth, as it is in Jesus, to walk differently. As we saw on Sunday School. To talk to our kids differently. To work differently. Wives, to submit in a godly, God-honoring way differently. Husbands, to love your wives differently. You see how I'm putting this all together? Ephesians 5 and 6 are not separated from Ephesians 4. And to put on the new self, here it is, created after the likeness of God, and this is how I translate it, in righteousness and holiness that come from the truth. So I think, when I say that the battle for our families is won and lost at the mind level, I think there's plenty of scripture. We are corrupted in sin, we are deceived. Therefore, to prevent this, we renew our minds continually by looking at the truth as it is in Jesus. Believers must saturate their minds with the gospel. Listen, especially with the scriptural teaching regarding their new position in Christ. Okay, I'm going to say that again. Because I'm not sure if anybody got that. You must renew the spirit of your mind's Christian, especially with your new position of who you are in Christ. The very thing Paul did in chapters 1, 2, and 3. There's a problem in Ephesus. So what does Paul do? He renews the spirits of their minds by reminding them of who they are in Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed you, blessed us, blessed me, with every capitalist spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. Even as He chose you, you're chosen, you're adopted, you're blameless. All these spiritual realities, Paul says, focus on them. Because if you focus on yourself, apart from Christ, you're going to start to sin, you're going to tailspin into despair and despondency. And so Paul says, renew the spirit of your minds, and I believe, especially with who you are in Christ. That's why we spend so much time, be who you are. But before you can be who you are, you need to know who you are. Not feel who you are, be who you are. I don't feel forgiven. If you've staged your hope on Christ, you're forgiven. Now live as a forgiven saint. Be as holy, as McShane said, as a justified sinner can be. This is what Paul does. He reminds us of who we are in Christ. Doesn't tell us stories. Doesn't give us jokes. Doesn't entertain us with anecdotes. He gives us propositional truths that must be memorized. He could have entertained them, but rather gets into predestination, and adoption, and justification, and perseverance, and all those glorious truths. That's what we need. You don't need some yahoo here with tattoos entertaining you. You need somebody standing up and saying, this is who you are in Christ if you have repented and believed. On the basis of their new understanding, of their new position in Christ, believers will be able to deal effectively with the various lies and demonic deceptions and temptations and struggles which they are confronted on a daily basis. Are you in the pit, the slew of despair? Are you being beaten up by giant despair in the castle? What's the key that he pulled out of his bosom? The key promise. He remembered the Gospel promise. Why do we fight in our marriages? Why are we so nasty with our kids? Why are there so much divorces? It's because we've strayed from the simple truths of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, of what He's done, who we are, and how we live as His new creation by His grace. I'm still not done. Go to Galatians. It's one book before Ephesians. I have no problem doing this. I'm not apologizing. I really am not. Because I want to show you the link between having a renewed mind and a transformed life, and therefore a transformed marriage, which is the building block of a transformed church, which is what God uses in Ephesians 3.10 to demonstrate His wisdom to the ends of the earth. Okay, so I have here Galatians 4 verses 8 and 9. Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved. to those that by nature are not gods. See the link? Just like in Ephesians 4, ignorance leads to bondage. When you don't know God, you're enslaved. Because you will know the truth, Jesus says in John 8, and the truth will set you free. But if you don't know the truth, you could be a Christian. But the more truth you know, the more freedom you will live in. I know so many Christians struggling. If they only understood the electing grace of God and His power to keep those whom He has saved. Oh, if they only knew that truth, what bondage they would be delivered from. But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, love it, How can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world? Whose slaves do you want to be once more? What's the problem in Galatia? They don't understand the gospel enough. And so when these Judaizers, these angels of light, 2 Corinthians 10, they're speaking all kinds of good things in the name of religion and even small-c Christianity. They're duping the believers to go back into bondage. You don't think that happens to us? What's the way out of bondage? No God. How do you know God? To see Christ, Jesus told Thomas. You want to know the Father? You've seen Him if you know me. How do you know? You get to know Christ by equating yourself with this book. And understanding that every promise in the old finds its yea and amen in Christ in the new. One more. Two more. Go to 1 Thessalonians. I'm just showing this, that when there's faulty or lacking knowledge, we're hooped. I love the sound of turning pages. I've resolved lately to not just quote you the scriptures. I want you to see these. I want you to circle. I want you to underline knowledge all the time. Especially in the next path. This is going to blow your mind. It blew mine. I've seen this passage a hundred times in the next one. And it just opened my eyes. But we're looking at 1 Thessalonians 4, 5. Paul says, I want... Okay, so let me start in verse 3. 4. This is the will of God, your sanctification, that you abstain from sexual immorality, that each one of you know how to control his own member in holiness and honor. 5. Not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles, who what? Who do not know God. So are you struggling with lustful passions and pornography? Know God. I know that sounds impossible, but it's scriptural, and God will give you the grace. The reason why these believers in Thessalonians, because they were not fixing, staying their gaze and hope upon God. Okay, and last one, 2 Peter 1. We'll move on. This is just the first of two points, we're almost done. Okay, I'm going to read quite a bit, so just bear with me. Simeon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ. To those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ. May grace and peace be multiplied to you. Underline it if you're an underliner. If you've got your iPad, highlight it. How does God multiply His grace and peace to you, believer? It says here, in the knowledge of God. and of Jesus our Lord. Oh God, give me grace! Multiply your grace! I'm willing to, Ryan. Immerse yourself in the Word. I will give you my grace and I will demonstrate it in the knowledge of who your God is and how He's revealed Himself in the Lord Jesus Christ. But it doesn't stop there. I've read that introduction so many times and I saw the word in. God multiplies His grace so it's in the knowledge. So you're doing double talk if you're asking for grace but not reading your Bible. And I do feel bad for you, but I'm not feeling sorry for you. I want grace! Why aren't you reading your Bible? I don't know, I just want grace! Get in there! Get in there! Get in there! Otherwise you're going to be like a child tossed to and fro. His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness. Do you want a godly family? Do you want a family characterized by life, the abundant life Christ came to give? How does it come? God gives us, He graces us, all things that pertain to life. I want a godly family. Then don't go home and watch TV all afternoon. Because at least here it says, through the knowledge of Him who called us to His own glory and excellence. By which, this calling, based on knowledge, He has granted to us His precious and very great promises, so that through them you might become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire, which we saw in Thessalonians is linked to ignorance. For this reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue. And your virtue was what? with knowledge and knowledge with self-control. I struggle with self-control. He says, get knowledge first and self-control should follow out of that. And he moves on to godliness and all those qualities. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. So, where is the battle for our families won? At the mind. Romans 12, don't be conformed to this world, but rather be being renewed. How do you renew your minds in Romans 12? You look at Romans 1-11, which is the gospel of grace. Peter does what Paul does, what biblical writers do is they seek to transform us by showing us the truth and us believing in it. Grace comes as we Immerse ourselves in the truth, believe it, and act on it. I am not a hyper-Calvinist. God uses means to accomplish his ordained ends. Thus families, as we will see, husbands and fathers in particular, must take the necessary precautions in order not to lose the spiritual war that rages against them and their families. Men, do you love your families? You want to protect your families, then protect your mind. Husbands, love your wives. As Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her, that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of the water of the Word. Husbands, are you able to do that for your wives and your children? I don't want to guilt you. Come and see somebody. Not me. Come see Titus 2. Younger men, seek after godly older men. Younger women, same thing. Let me give you three important more lessons. A conclusion and we'll close. So we know that we must renew our minds. If you're not renewing your minds, I don't know what I'm doing here. First, we must be aware of the fact that there's actually a battle going on. So Pearl Harbor happened on a Sunday, and all the soldiers were sleeping. And if you know, they saw them on the radar. Nah. Not us. A war had been raging, and the Japanese and the Germans had been concocting all kinds of evil schemes. Because they knew the Americans were a superpower to be reckoned with. Are we like the sleeping Americans in Pearl Harbor? It might take a bombing as it were to wake us up. You might not see a war raging against your family. You might not think it. But it doesn't matter what you see or feel or think. On Wednesday I prayed that God would open our eyes the way Elisha's servant had his eyes opened to see there is a massive spiritual realm and a massive battle going on in the heavenlies right now. And the church is in the midst of it, and families are in the midst of it. Did you know that when you're watching the internet, men, women, there's a battle going on? Do you actually believe? You're just like, oh, that's what I feel like I do. There's a spiritual battle going on. Oh, that God would open up your eyes to see the demonic influence going on. When you're coveting the things of the world. When you're tempted to argue with your wife. That's spiritual warfare. And not because your wife is the enemy, but because Satan is trying to destroy you, and your family, and your witness for Christ. We just think it's just a little disagreement. It's not according to Ephesians 5 and 6. Satan wants you to say the most cruel, heartless, unloving, unforgiving things possible. Because if he destroys you, the church is destroyed, and the witness for Christ is destroyed. Do not let the anger go down. Why? Because if you do, you've given a foothold to Satan, Ephesians 4, 26-27. Don't let the sun go down on your anger. Why? Because if you're angry at your wife and you can't sleep in the same bed, Satan's attacking your marriage. Many Christians, unfortunately, have a casual attitude and they do not have a wartime mentality and Satan loves it that way. He'd prefer to just do all of his works incognito, undercover, not rouse us from our slumber. Which is why Paul says, Awake! Awake, O sleeper! Arise from the dead, that Christ might shine on us. Do you realize, married couples, that Satan has a vested interest in the destruction of your marriage? You might not be thinking that. Do you believe it? We've been married for a long time. Do you understand that the destruction of marriages, especially of Christians, is near the top of his to-do list? We don't think that way. That's what just woke me up. Ryan, what are you doing? Your family is sitting there. Train them up. Show them to Christ. Pray for them. Plead for them. Ryan, you're in a war. And your family's in between. What are you going to do about it? So the first thing is to know you're in a war. Not just families, of course kids. But Satan loves to attack us and our families. Second, we must know our spiritual enemy and his tactics. Ephesians 6, we do not battle, we do not war, fight with flesh and blood. You know when you're arguing with your spouse? You know who Satan wants you to think the enemy is? He likes to back away into the light. He wants you to think that your spouse is the enemy. He wants you to think it's your disobedient kids that are your enemies. They're just believing lies from him that it's not good and right and fitting in the Lord to obey the parents. Our enemies are not people. Our enemies are the spiritual forces in the heavenly realms. 612, 613. I've seen this happen too many times amongst people I love. People who are once in love and they begin arguing. And then it progresses and escalates. And they file divorce papers. And it's the ugliest thing you will ever see in your life. Where people hate each other. And their enemies are each other and they don't understand that Satan is sitting and laughing. Your wife is not your enemy if you're in an argument. Satan and your unruly wicked heart are your enemy at that moment. Satan loves arguments and he loves unforgiveness in marriage. This is another verse that came to me. Go to Matthew 6. And now it comes to mind actually, our prayers are hindered in 1 Peter 3 when there is unforgiveness and strife in our marriage. You can read that after 1 Peter 3. Our prayers have become useless. But here's a prayer I was thinking about that Jesus taught us how to pray in Matthew 6. Our Father in heaven, we know this part, and this is what caught me this weekend. Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we have also forgiven our debtors. Okay, so we have a sandwich here. So we have forgiveness in verse 12, and forgiveness in verse 14. Maybe I'm reading too much into this. Because you always think, how come he repeated the forgiveness part? Like, shouldn't he have repeated the glory of God part? Right? He reiterates himself. after verse 13. And I don't think it's accidental. Lead us not into temptation and deliver us from the evil one. It shouldn't be evil. It's the evil one in the Greek. Deliver us from Satan. For if you forgive others. Do you have unforgiveness in your heart? You're believing the lies of Satan that unforgiveness is more pleasing and satisfying than forgiving them for the sake of God's glory. Unforgiveness is satanic. He's playing with all the evil pensions of your heart. And I think that, lead us not into temptation, FOR! GAR! It's linked. For if you forgive. If you're unforgiving right now, Satan's got you right where he wants you. If you can't forgive your spouse, according to this passage in Ephesians 4, he's got a foothold in your life. Root of bitterness is going to spring up. Defilement in Hebrews 12 or 13. Know who he is. and his tactics. He is our enemy and what are his tactics? Deceit, outright lies, dishonesty. Satan and his fallen hosts are the enemy of our souls and they employ a variety of strategies which you can see in here and if you've lived long enough you know how he works and attacks you. He loves to exploit and incite our sin nature. And He loves to cause us to crave the things of the world. He's the God of this world. So even your desiring for things of the world is satanic. You're craving and lust for more of the world. You're believing the lie of Satan. You're not believing the truth of Jesus that's better to give than to receive. You're believing the lie of Satan that's better to get and get as many cool things as possible. Maybe I'm just becoming really paranoid as I'm getting old, but this whole world system, Satan's just loving it when we're just craving the latest technologies and wanting a bigger this and a newer that and this and this and this. So satanic, he plays with that. And the truth in Jesus says, I've learned the secret of contentment, Jesus really is enough. 1 Peter says, Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of your flesh which are waging war against you. Satan's waging war, your passions are, and they work together. So crucify them. How do you crucify them? By the Spirit, Romans 8.13. How do you crucify them? With the Spirit. My whole first point. Renewing your mind with the truth as it is in Jesus. Let me just give you four descriptions from John. He's a liar. The father of. He's a deceiver in Revelation. He's a thief, a murderer and a destroyer. And He's an accuser. How do you fight all of those? How do you fight His lies? The truth of the Word. How do you fight His deceitful schemes? The truth of the Word. How do you prevent Him from stealing all kinds of things? Getting in the Word and knowing the truth. How do you argue his accusations? We sang in the first song, before the throne of God above I have a strong, a perfect plea. When Satan tempts me to despair and tells me of the guilt within, upward I look, not inward I look. Upward I look and see him there who lived and bled and died for me. So you fight all that Satan is and all the schemes he throws at you, his flaming darts. I guess that's more of a dart. You do so with the truth. Precisely what Jesus did in Matthew 4. Satan took scripture, he twisted it. He offered him the things of this world. And Jesus fought those lies and deceptions with the truth of understanding the superior pleasure that God offers us in who He is and what He has done for us. How do you fight all of these deceitful pleasures? All these deceitful... Looking at the gospel and fighting the lies with the truth Christ is more important to me than looking at pornography It really works Some of you don't think it works, but it does Third and final important war lesson Which I basically just unpacked we must know which weapons are ours and how to use them So how do we fight What Paul basically says in Ephesians 6, arm yourselves with the gospel, defensively and offensively. We're going to get into them, so I'm not going to preach them all. But put the gospel on, whether it's the breastplate of righteousness, or the helmet of salvation, the shield of faith, whatever you want to do. You can shod your shoes with The preparation of the gospel of peace. But the weapons we saw in 2 Corinthians 10, they're not carnal and earthly. We fight against Satan's spiritual lies with the spiritual truth of the word of God. I know I've said that a hundred times, but I just, I really sense Christians don't get that. Just, what do I got to do today? If I get time, I'll read the Bible. A soldier would never say that. If I get time, I'll pick up my gun. But we're like that. We sleep in. Let me encourage you this. I said this on Wednesday in the class. Something that I've put back into practice. No breakfast if there's no Bible. So you're running out to school, girls. Class is at 8.30, it's 8.20. Man, I gotta grab a bagel. You haven't read the Bible. What are you doing eating physical food? You're saying, physical food is more important to me right now. If you've got five minutes to pour a bowl of cereal, or to read a Proverbs, or to recite a Psalm, or to look at Christ, get in the Bible and starve physically for the morning. So I've been trying that. No Bible, no breakfast. You legalists! I know I'm so weak! I need Christ more than I need that bagel! It's in the Bible I realize the arsenal God has equipped me with in Christ and what He's purchased for me in the Gospel. In the Bible we read He has given us His armor, the Word. Who is God, His attributes, and what has He done? What are His gospel promises? It's a fighter versus. He's given us Word and He's given us all prayer, as Lazarus emailed us this week. He's also given us not only the Word of God, He's given us the Church of God. Christ has given gifts to the Church, and it says they work together. that a harmony is produced. Some commentators believe that there's no armor mentioned at the back because Christians are together watching each other's back. Maybe that's reading it, but maybe it's true. You need the Word of God, but you need the Church of God. This is going to hurt, but I'm going to say it anyways. Some of us have no idea what we're doing, And yet we refuse to insert ourselves into the life of other mature believers. We're too proud to ask for help. You need the church. Some of you have no idea how to raise your family. I didn't. I grew up as a pagan. And by God's grace, I learned through this church, who's living out the word. Families, fathers, please commit yourself to become a part of a local church that loves you and fights together for you which will speak the truth to you in love. I can't force you to put armor on but what I can do is put it before you and others can put it before you. If you never before others who are showing you the armor you're going to forget you need it. So let me give you a conclusion with a quote and we're done. Spiritual warfare is the all-encompassing, ruling reality for the marital relationship. Those who ignore it do so at their own peril. Just as the devil attacks those with potential for church leadership, he seeks to subvert human marriages because they have the greatest potential for displaying to the world the nature of the relationship between Christ and His Church. If believers want to have a part in showing the world, by their marriages, what a glorious and good God they have, they must, for God's sake, as well as their own, engage in spiritual warfare. And they must do so using spiritual weapons, knowledge, I will say. Then, and only then, will Christian marriages reflect the image and design of their Creator. For in the end, it is God's glory, not merely human fulfillment and satisfaction that is the proper goal of Christian marriage. This is all my notes I have. Do you care about God's glory, husbands and wives? I mean, forget about this. Would you think marriage is horizontal? I just want a happy marriage. I want a God-glorifying marriage. Here's my charge. The very end of Joshua, Some of you know this very well, some of you have seen it in our house, when you walk into our door. This is what Joshua says here. Now therefore, this is Joshua speaking to the people. Fear the Lord and serve Him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your father served beyond the river and in Egypt. That's idolatry, which is spiritual warfare, by the way, in the Old Testament. and serve Yahweh. And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your father served in the region beyond the river, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell." And this is what I'm hoping men will say this morning. And you probably think I'm a chauvinist, but I'm not. We're gonna see, I believe women are made in the exact same image. God loves women, He uses them. Women are often more equipped. But I believe men are called to be heads of households. And I am praying that the men of our church will say with Joshua, but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. That's great for a sermon ending, isn't it? But what are you going to do this afternoon to start implementing that? It sounds great to have that stenciled on your wall, but is it true of your life? I told Christina, there's a whole bunch of junk that needs to be kicked out of my calendar. But God really convicted me yesterday. Really, really, really convicted me. I want to serve the Lord. I want my family to serve the Lord. And I want to be willing to put away anything, anything that restricts or inhibits that desire that will bring glory to my Father in Christ. Men, are you willing to do that? Are you willing to become men this morning? Women, are you willing to pray for your husbands? Single men, are you willing to pray that into your soul and start doing it today? Doesn't this happen once you get married? The ruts you're walking in now, single men, you're going to bring into marriage. If you're not reading the Bible lots now, you're going to read even less when you get married because life gets chaotic, especially when kids come. Are you cultivating those characteristics today? Single women, are you praying that God will give you men who lead? You're praying that men will lead you and your family. And if they're not, pray and plead and get on your face and ask God to change their heart. I'm asking to change yours too. Father, this has been a heavy message. I don't know why the ones you lay in my heart always seem so heavy. I pray that my tone hasn't come across as angry because I'm the guiltiest offender perhaps. Father, my desire is that Christ would be glorified as head of this church. And Father, I pray that Christ would be the head of our families and help us as men To imitate our head. To imitate our Savior. To lead our wives and our families well. Sacrificially. Giving up all of our hobbies if need be. Dying to all of the things that are necessary. Father, help me to die to all of those things that don't build my wife up. Help me to die to all those things that keep me from training my kids up. God, so forgive me. Help us God. Help us not to treat this like a game anymore. Please wake us up. If that means taking a baseball bat to our TV, then give me the grace to do that. Father, help me to see that Satan's a roaring lion. He wants to devour my marriage. He wants to kill my kids. He wants them to go to hell. And I'm passionate now, God. The test will be that if you're working now, that if there's change this afternoon and tomorrow. Don't let this be a lasting or a fading conviction like James says. Help us not look in to the mirror and realize we've fallen short. Oh, that we might be doers of the word. Oh, that people might come to community group this afternoon. Oh, that people might get together and say, I need help. Help me to explain justification to my kids. Help me to understand that they're not saved by their good works, but by Christ alone. Help us God. Show us how needy we are, because we'll never pray until you do. Father, be pleased. If no one is saved this morning, then work in our lives so that kids and our families will be saved this afternoon. Father, I pray help. As we begin to sing, give us the mind of Christ, we ask in His name. Amen.