The topic as you see above me is to keep the Devil out.
We're gonna be looking at three ways, three areas that we need to keep the Devil out of. But the Devil has a long and terrible reputation for actively attacking those who are committing their lives, and who have dedicated their souls to the service of the Almighty God. So much so that we have warnings that are given to us in scripture.
- 1 Peter 5:8,9
The Devil has a plan for mankind. And we often talk about the plan that God has for mankind, a plan of obedience, a plan of the dedication of service to God in Thanksgiving for the sacrifice that God has made for every one of us.
But the Devil also has a plan for mankind, and that is to seek us out, those of us who claim to be the children of God, and devour us. Destroy us. Remove us from being those in service to God.
- Job 1:7-9
You don't believe that's the case? Go back to Job chapter one, the opening chapter there in the book of Job, and you're going to find Satan coming up to God and God telling Satan to consider his servant Job.
Now, this is a meeting that is taking place up in Heaven, and Satan's like, well, what about your servant Job? And God's like, I'm paraphrasing here. Look at his righteousness. There's none like him in all of the Earth. And Satan's like, well, of course, there's not. You're protecting him. There's nothing that I can do to Job because you have got this hedge of protection around Job and nothing is going to harm him in any way.
God will allow Satan to test Job just so that God can prove that Job is the faithful being that he says he is. And we know what happens to Job, but given an opportunity. Satan was right there to take advantage of that opportunity, and he took away Job's family members, all except for his wife. And you could argue he took her too in the state of being that she was in. All of his herds, all of his cattle, all of his sheep, all of the possessions that he had were gone, stolen, destroyed by those that were around him. And yet, Job never gave up his faith in God.
When Satan tries, Satan wanted to prove God wrong.
- Matthew 4:1-11
We see, that Jesus is attacked by Satan. Satan has tried three different ways to get Jesus to worship him, to take His eyes off of God, to turn His focus inward toward Himself, and to please the needs of His own flesh. And each time Jesus sees right through the temptations that Satan places before.
Each time He says it is written and does exactly what He's supposed to do. Jesus didn't allow Satan in so that He could have an effect on Him just as Job did not allow Satan in to have an effect on Him. Just as we are warned that we should not allow Satan to have an effect on our lives.
Three areas of our lives that we need to keep the Devil out of
- We need to keep the Devil out of our marriages.
- We need to keep the Devil out of our families
- We need to keep the Devil out of our congregations.
1) We Need to Keep the Devil Out of Our Marriages
Are there any of those proofs out there that we could talk about? Well, sure there are.
Proofs The Devil has a Foothold in Marriage
- Divorce Rate
We could look if we really wanted to, concerning the divorce rate among our society today, which historically has been right around 50%. That's regardless of whether these marriages happen between individuals that are in the church and those that are outside of the church.
You would think that marriages that take place between a man and a woman who are both members of the body of Christ would have a higher success rate than marriages that take place among those that are out in the world. But statistically speaking, they don't.
- Growing Number Refusing to Marry
Maybe the striking number that we often don't talk about is the number of individuals now refusing to be to marry. Believing, and you may not understand that this is the case, but there are those individuals that believe that marriage is not worth getting involved in. That it's not necessary anymore. See, these are individuals that are out for pleasing themselves and they are refusing to marry. Instead, they live with their desired mate until that mate is no longer a desire for them and they go find another one.
- Devaluing the Sanctity of Marriage
There is a devaluing of the sanctity of marriage among our society today.
- Matthew Chapter 19:3-9
Marriage is the union of a man and a woman in the presence of God, and that union that is created there at that marriage is supposed to go on until the natural end of either the man or the woman. That's how God designed it. That's not how society sees it.
- Hebrews 13:4
Some have accused Paul of being critical, the Apostle Paul of being critical toward marriage when they go and have a cursory look at First Corinthians chapter seven and, and some other passages there. God, through inspiration, says marriage is honorable. Paul would agree, marriage is honorable.
But if you walk down the road in downtown Oak Grove and ask 10 people what their definition of marriage was, I bet you don't get the same definition among all 10 people. Not anymore, because our society today does not believe that marriage is honorable. Otherwise, they wouldn't treat it the way that they do.
How do I know? Because I have a definition given to us by Sheri Stritof f who is a noted author on the topics of marriage and relationships today.
“A commonly accepted and encompassing definition of marriage is the following: a formal union and social and legal contract between two individuals that unites their lives legally, economically, and emotionally. The contractual marriage agreement usually implies that the couple has legal obligations to each other throughout their lives or until they decide to divorce.” — Sheri Stritof
That's a recent definition of marriage. This is only a few years old that she wrote this, and she's an expert. She's an expert.
When they decide that their own personal happiness is not being satisfied with the one that they marry, notice the focus is on themselves instead of what God desires for there to be in Marriage. Society says if you are not happy, you are feeling satisfied by your mate, you may divorce them and find another. Your happiness is what's most important.
I would say that the Devil has a foothold in our marriages today. But we need to keep the Devil out of our marriages.
Why do we need to do this?
- Dastardly Tactics Thwart Marriages
Because the Devil has used dastardly tactics to thwart marriages. He really has. When you consider some of the things that marriages have to go through, you look at things like selfishness; the me, myself, and I before us kind of theory that goes on in many homes today, whether it's on the part of the husband or the part of the wife, they're taking their wants and wishes and desires and putting them over the needs of their marriage. Nothing good is going to come of a marriage where there is selfishness, holding grudges, and resurrecting past offenses. These don't do any good within the marriage because it breeds strife and anger, refusal to forgive, bearing false witness, mistrust or distrust, abuses, infidelity, backbiting, and the list could go on All of these things and many others that we haven't even considered this morning are in the marriages of people that you know, that I know.
Hopefully, it's not named in our marriages, but we certainly are aware of those that have them.
The goal of the Devil, when it comes to marriage is to convince us that marriage is nothing more than two individuals cohabitating in the same place, instead of becoming one flesh as God designed for them to be.
When marriages have problems, I say when, because it's not a question of if there are going to be issues with our marriages, but when that happens, we need to work to resolve problems within our marriages. Probably one of the biggest issues that we could look at is those that continue in marriages without ever trying to solve the problems that are there. And when we do that, we're only asking for more problems to compound themselves on the problems that we already have.
Reconciliation in the marriage is best done with one husband, one wife, and one trusted mediator, and that's it. And everybody else needs to stay, stay out, not be involved because it's not your marriage, it's their marriage, and it's between them and it's between God in order to get those things resolved.
Why Should We Remove the Devil From Our Marriages?
But why should we remove the Devil from our marriages? The church is based on the marriage relationship.
In Ephesians 5 starting in verse 22 down to verse 33, you have this discussion of how husbands and wives are supposed to treat one another within the marriage.
Now we as preachers get up here and talk about the wives' obligation to the husbands, and then we gloss over the husband's relationship to the wives. No, we don't really do that, it's just to get a smile on your face, that's the only reason.
- Ephesians 5:22-33
The inspired writer there talks about obedience, about love, about sacrifices that are supposed to take place, mostly from the man toward his wife, the sacrifice of love that is going to make sure that she is taken care of the way that Christ did the church.
We need to fix our marriages and we need to keep the Devil out of our marriages because the church is patterned after the oldest institution known to man, and that is marriage. And that was not done by accident.
Many of the same rules, and principles that apply in marriage are also in the church. That's exactly what Paul is getting at by these verses here in Ephesians chapter five.
And please read them for yourself and study them to get a better understanding of that relationship between not only the husband and the wife, but Jesus and his church, and we'll move on.
2) We Need to Keep the Devil Out of Our Families
Secondly, we need to keep the Devil out of our families. The Devil would love to take control of our families and have them focus on themselves and, not on building one another up.
But the family unit, as God has designed it, is the single greatest asset that the local congregation has. I want you to notice a quote by the late Joe Gilmore, which you probably don't know. Some of you may, but he was a preacher many years ago. I had the privilege to meet him as a young boy and hear him preach and he said this concerning the family.
“There is not any influence on this earth more powerful for good than a Christian home…Home building is one of the greatest works people can engage in.” —Joe Gilmore Jr.
Do you want to have strong and healthy congregations? It starts with strong and healthy homes of people that are in those congregations. That's how congregations get stronger. Yes, there's a lot of individual Bible study, and there's a lot of individual desire to grow as Christians. We all must have that desire, but if we want our congregations to grow, it's because we have good growing families that are in there.
We're not just talking about the number of people that are in those families. The family trying to follow God is recognized and commended by God.
- Genesis 18:19
The Holy Spirit had this to say concerning Abraham.
Question: how many children did Abraham have when God made this statement? None.
Genesis chapter 18 is when Abraham and Sarah are in the plains and they receive three visitors. One of them we believe to be the pre-incarnate Christ and the two angels that he sends to Sodom and Gomorrah.
And there's a discussion between this pre-incarnate Christ and those that are with him, do I keep from Abraham these things that I know? And then he tells him this for I know that he will command his children and his household after him.
There is a great commendation to those households that follow after God that we can read of in scripture, it is the family unit that is the preferred method for teaching God's law.
- Deuteronomy 6:6-10, 20-25
See, God gave us a pattern of how spiritual information of His will is supposed to be passed down from one generation to the next, and it is to stay within the family. The fathers are supposed to teach the children who are supposed to teach their children, who are supposed to teach their children, and so on and so forth. It is counted unto us as righteousness, verse 25.
When we do those things, and it worked that way for the children of God when they did those things, when they were following after that way.
- 2 Timothy 1:5
- 2 Timothy 3:14,15
Timothy had those that were in his family that made sure he knew what the scripture said and he was of a mindset to take those things into his heart and to pattern his life after them. If responsible parties in the family unit, and by that, I mean fathers and mothers if they're not willing to pass along godly principles to their children, rest assured that the
Devil will pass along his.
If we as parents decide that we're too busy looking out for ourselves to do the job that God has required us to do for our children, Satan will gladly hold up his hand and say, let me take over. And sadly, there are many families who have abdicated the training of their children to the Devil and his influences.
There are distractions that pose great threats to keeping the Devil out of our families. Now we have warnings against such distractions.
- James 1:8
One who's trying to mind the things of God and mind, the things of the world at the same time.
- Matthew 6:24
But, we have the advantage of social media today. Right? Whoever thought social media would be good, really should have thought again because social media has become a major focus, not only for our younger generation but a major focus of those who would like to indoctrinate them and those who would like to get them to not follow after God anymore. It is done through various ways, but social media has become somewhat of a blight on our society.
Can it be used correctly? Yes. Can it be used for good? Absolutely. Is it often done that way by the majority of people? No, not really.
Even among those that are in the church, those that get caught up in what we may call mainstream media, you know, we deal with elections on a regular basis in this country, right? Every couple of years there's somebody getting elected to something, but if we're focused and we're caught up in positions of the mainstream media, then we can increase the possibility that we're taking our eyes off the goal of leading our families away from the Devil. And, we can allow ourselves to succumb to what the Devil would like for us to succumb to. No matter what part of you say you're affiliated with or who you pay attention to on the TV or radio, it really doesn't matter. But if we're focusing on those things, we're not focusing on where God wants us to focus, and that's in keeping the Devil out of our homes.
Is it good to stay informed? Absolutely. It is because through information we can better protect our families, but we need to make sure that the getting of all of that information does not take over our lives.
“David once said, “Unless the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it.” God is the architect of the Christian family as he is indeed the founder of the church. Many a strong church owes its power to the combination of Christian homes that constitute its membership. Wherever there are good homes within a good church, that church is a power for God in a community.” — Earl West
And that's what we want out of this congregation, is it not? We want to be a force for good in our local area, Oak Grove, outside the Kansas City area, and so on and so forth. This area that we're in will only be that way if we keep the Devil out of our homes.
We Need To Get the Devil Out of our Congregations
Thirdly, and finally, we need to get the Devil out of our congregations.
From the beginning, the goal of the Devil has always been to stop the church from existing, and we know this through various interactions.
First of all, going all the way back to the beginning of Adam and Eve, the interactions that Satan had with Eve there.
- Genesis 3:4
At that time, Satan was attempting to mess with God's plan for salvation. That wasn't going to work out, but that was his plan.
We could look at the numerous attempts that Satan tried to sideline the Jews, if you will, the Israelites in all of their wanderings, in all of their time during the Old Testament period to make sure that God could not bring about Jesus through a pure lineage, yet that didn't work.
And then to make sure that God was not able to fulfill His promises, which was not going to happen specifically the one where Jesus said He was going to establish his church, and the gates of Hades would not prevail against it, and it did not. But since the coming of the church was not able to be stopped, Satan now seeks to destroy the Kingdom from within. From within.
We could talk about all the outside forces that would potentially persecute the church. That's not really the focus that we're looking for, or that which comes from government officials brought on by those who believe in science that try to convince us that the Bible is not inspired. That what we read in the Bible concerning how the world got here is not how the world got here.
No, those are outside forces, but we have those that are forces that are from within.
- Romans 1:30
Romans chapter one in verse 30 talks about those that are back-biters. They're right next to those that are haters of God. In this particular list, in Romans chapter one and verse 30, we don't want to be those that are haters of God, do we not?
I don't think there's anyone in this room that wants to be labeled a hater of God. Let's not do those things that would cause us to be a hater of God, and be a back-biter among our fellow Christians in the congregations that we serve. We need to be those that are building one another up.
There's fear that causes those that are within the church to persecute those that are also in the church. The fear of persecution, not only for standing with God and against friends but maybe the fear of rejection by individuals who would consider them friends or brethren, fear of failure. After teaching the truth to many, that person could still fall away.
- 1 Corinthians 9:27
Maybe it's thinking the worst about everyone, and everything. It is true that some people, maybe many people, will let us down throughout our lifetime. However, we're still called to be the light of the world.
- Matthew 5:14
No matter who is standing with us, no matter who is standing opposed to us, we as individuals, as Christians are to be the light of the world, no matter what.
We are still supposed to look into the world and see souls, not a helpless nation, but see souls in need of a Savior.
What about keeping the gospel to ourselves? Now, this one is where the Devil can make some inroads into our conversion. If we're keeping the gospel to ourselves, then we're not doing what God would have us to do in sharing it with others.
- Mark 16:15
Notice what Jesus would say about the great commission. Mark chapter 16 and verse 15, go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. More literally, we could say it like this, as you are going about through all the world. You see, all of us are not gonna go everywhere, all around the globe throughout our lifetime. Or maybe we're not even gonna leave the United States at all in our lifetime, but we are going throughout the world, every day of our life as you are going through the world, preach the gospel. Share it with those that you come in contact with because that's how we're going to keep the Devil out of our congregations.
You may be one who is a member of the body of Christ, but you've allowed the Devil back into your life, whether it's in your marriage or your family. Or maybe through you, the Devil, taking a look at the congregation that you're in saying, maybe I can get in there, and using you as the way in. It's time to shore up our defenses against the Devil and it is time to turn back to God to make sure we're doing things His way.
Maybe you're one who's not a member of the body of Christ. We're looking at how to protect ourselves against the influence of the Devil. But if you're outside the body of Christ, he's already got you where he wants you, and that's outside the church, that's outside the Kingdom of God. That's outside where all of the blessings of God cannot reach.
Don't you want to be in the church? Don't you want to be where the blessings of God are found?
- Ephesians 1:3
Having heard the word, are you willing to believe it? Are you willing to repent of your sins and confess your faith in Christ and be baptized to have your sins forgiven and be a part of the Kingdom that is going to last forever, Daniel 2:44?
If we can assist you in coming to Christ, please contact us.
