Satan's War on the Family

Last week, I think it was last week on September 6th, David Holiday gave a sermon entitled, Healing and Addictions. As we would like, we'd like to cover a number of different subjects along those lines that deal with various situations that God's people, along with the people the world face and struggle with. What is God in the process of doing? God is in the presence of building a family, isn't he? His family.

Which is why Paul said, as recorded in Ephesians 3, verses 14-15, which I'll just quote, he said, For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named. God wants to build a family, an eternal family. Now, since that is God's overall purpose to build a family, he's called all of us to be a part of that family, since that's God's purpose, who will do everything within his power to try to force that purpose?

We all know the answer. Turn to Ephesians 6. Ephesians 6, this is what Paul wrote in Ephesians 6, and this applied back when Paul wrote this, applies today just as much or even more as we get towards the time of the end. Ephesians 6, beginning in verse 10, he says, Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might, put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles or schemings of the devil.

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the doctors of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in that evil day, and having done all, having done everything within your power, getting all the help you can, having done all, to still remain standing when it's over. Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having charged your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace, above all, taking the shield of faith, with which you will 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 all the saints, because we're all part of that family, and Satan would like to destroy that family if he possibly can, in any way he can.

So it says here, put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil, or against the schemings of the devil, as it could be. Because Satan does. He schemes and he plots. Schemes and plots to do what? Turn to Revelation 9. Revelation 9 will take us up to the time before Christ, and this is the time of the fifth trumpet here in Revelation 9, verse 1. Then the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star falling from heaven to the earth.

Tim was given the key to the bottomless pit, and he opened the bottomless pit and smoke arose out of the pit like the smoke of a great furnace. The sun and the air were darkened because of the smoke of the pit. Verse 3. Then now the smoke locust came upon the earth, and to them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth had power, to sting and hurt people.

Verse 7. The shape of the locust was like horses prepared for battle, like prepared for war, to go out and destroy and to hurt. Two damage. In the time leading up to Christ's return, violent demons filled with hatred will be released from what the Bible here calls a bottomless pit. Now, that hasn't happened yet, I don't think. But when it does, as the saying goes, all hell will break loose, literally. Do these demons have a king over them? Verse 11, Revelation 9. And they had a king as a king over them, the angel of bottomless pit, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon.

But in Greek, he has the name Apollyon. Abaddon means destroying angel. Apollyon means a destroyer. What does Satan's giving plot to do? He gives him plots on how to destroy. He is a destroyer and a destroying angel. What is the number one thing he seeks to destroy? The number one thing he seeks to destroy is God's purpose of building a family.

He hates family. He seeks to destroy families. How is he doing? How successful has he been in our time today? How many countless families have been damaged or destroyed, even in the most prosperous society on the face of the earth right here in the United States of America? The Salvation Army puts out a free magazine. It's very appropriately called War Cry, because there is a war on the family.

And the perpetrator of that war is Satan. The current September 24th, excuse me, September 2014 issue deals with a special report on breaking the silence on domestic violence. My sermon is not going to be about the domestic violence. I'm just bringing in some points here from that. I'll touch on that article in a moment. But today, then, I want to continue focusing on issues the people of God's Church face today in the war against Satan's attempt to destroy families.

Not only people in the Church, but people around the world as well, especially in God's Church. And that's going to be an ongoing war, an ongoing battle, until Christ returns, until Satan is put away. And it affects all the churches of God to one degree or another, and all the congregations of God, large and small. Because Satan hates the family, and will do everything within his power to destroy it, especially the family of God. Again, my title today is Satan's War on the Family. Now, I want to begin by quoting portions of this lead article in the current September 2014 issue of War Cry, having to do with breaking the silence on domestic violence.

And that's the title of this particular article. Breaking... Well, it's actually the name of the article, Domestic Violence, How to Help Those Who Stay. That's the actual title of the article. I want to just quote a little bit of it. Again, like I said, I'm not focusing on domestic violence today, physical violence, but it's the only lead in with some of these principles it brings out in this article.

It just shows how devastating... how much devastation has been caused on families because of Satan's attempts to destroy families. The pain and power struggles between men and women in unhealthy romantic relationships can surface in a variety of violent ways. Harsh words are manipulated behavior. Physical attacks such as slaps or squeezes that hurt but don't cause serious injuries. And more aggressive violence such as kicks, punches, and attacks with weapons that result in bruises, broken bones, or even death.

Sometimes the violence includes sexual abuse. Domestic violence is a pervasive problem in the United States. Each year, approximately 960,000 domestic violence incidents take place between Americans. According to a 2013 report from the U.S. Department of Justice. It could be much higher than that. Despite the prevalence of domestic violence, only 25% of the incidents in 2013 were reported to the police. When such crimes go unreported, the violence can continue for years or until people are killed. On average, three women and one man will be murdered in the United States every day by their spouses.

Three women and one man murdered every day by their spouses. And the men that are murdered are murdered by a wife who had no other way out of the situation. She had to murder her husband to get out of it in most cases. Every day by their spouses, boyfriends, or girlfriends. About 75% of the time, victims are murdered either while they're in the process of trying to leave their abusive partners, or after having left.

Abused women make an average of seven attempts to leave their abusive partners before they finally were able to do so. Those who are caught in the dangerous web of such violence often choose to stay. Why? Why would they choose to stay? The answers are complex. There are going to be five quick reasons here that they give in this article. One, fear of what could happen if they would try to leave.

Two, sometimes wishful thinking plays a role. Victims love the romantic partners who abuse them, and abusers may apologize and act lovingly in between violent incidents, so the people who suffer abuse often want to believe that their partner will eventually change. Three, victims are financially dependent on the people who abuse them. Four, the experience of going through domestic violence can shatter victims' self-confidence. They may eventually come to feel as if they simply don't deserve to be treated better, so they won't bother trying to leave. And five, misguided spiritualists may also lead victims to stay in violent, romantic relationships.

They may believe that in order to faithfully obey God's call to forgive those who hurt them, they must reconcile with the people who abuse them, even though reconciliation isn't necessary to forgive. And reconciling is unwise when abusers haven't repented and changed.

If victims are married, they may believe that since God designed marriage to be a lifelong relationship, they should stay married no matter what, even when they're being abused. Again, like I said, it's somewhat of a complex issue, especially that fifth point is a complex issue. And there are many forms of abusive behavior that can destroy a relationship, destroy a family. It doesn't have to be physical abuse. It can come in the form of different addictions, which, as David Holiday covered in his sermon, can cost us our spiritual lives, and which can sometimes cause hiding, blame, and lead to the destruction of relationships.

And there are a number of addictions individuals can struggle with that can devastate a family. There's alcohol addiction. There's addiction to pornography, which is becoming really a big problem in the United States today, and or sexual addiction, addiction to gambling.

And addictions can be extremely difficult to overcome. Those who try to overcome on their own have only about a 30% success rate. Those who go to support group have about a 60% success rate. Those who reach out and become involved in helping others with the same problem have about a 90% success rate. So that's the best way to overcome is by getting to the point where you can actually reach out, be open, and help others dealing with that same situation or similar problem.

Actually, that principle is actually found in God's Word. Let's go to given to us by the Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians. This principle is here in 2 Corinthians about how the benefit of reaching out and helping someone else with the same problem. 2 Corinthians 1, beginning in verse 3, Paul wrote, "...blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort, who covers us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God." In other words, that does fit in with that point I made.

We can best overcome any problem we face by getting to the place. We can use our experience to reach out and help others who are in any trouble, as it says here, with the help and comfort we receive from God and from others. Now, most, if not all, addictive behaviors have to do with control issues. An addiction could tend to give people a sense, maybe, if things are okay, in a sense of being in control, but in reality, the result is just the opposite.

Any and all addictions are destructive to relationships. There can also be mental and emotional abuse as well, even without an addiction. That mental and emotional abuse can come in the form of manipulation and wanting to be in control to a destructive degree through relationship. The point is, there are many who silently struggle with these kinds of issues, and they are very difficult to deal with and they're difficult to talk about, to bring out in the open. Hard to deal with. But many who struggle with these things, with themselves, maybe with their spouses, with their children, or with other family members.

And all those struggles need help, comfort, and understanding and support. And that is what families are for. And we, as a congregation, we are a family. We are part of the family of God.

Now, the article I quoted from was titled, Domestic Violence, How to Help Those Who Stay, which raises a question I'd like to address. What if someone is not able to stay? And should everyone stay in an abusive relationship, regardless of what they may have to suffer and put up with? And what about the children? If there are children in the relationship, should a parent, usually the mother, stay in an abusive relationship, even though the parent knows it's going to have a devastating effect on their children, on their sons and daughters?

It may affect them the rest of their life if they stay in that relationship. Then there's this question. Should there ever be allowances for divorce? I know some people feel no. I want to begin with a biblical example of abuse that led to divorce.

When God gave the Ten Commandments to Israel at Mount Sinai, it was a marriage covenant. And it was a binding covenant. All the words of the covenant are recorded in Exodus 20 through Exodus 23, beginning with the Ten Commandments.

All those other statutes and judgments listed after that would fall under the principles of the Ten Commandments. Let's go to Exodus 24. Exodus 24, beginning with verse 3. So Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord and the judgments, and all the people answered with one voice and said, All the words of the Lord have said, We will do. They all openly agreed to the words of the covenant in the presence of a multitude of witnesses. And as they said, I do, or in this case, we do.

Verse 4, And Moses wrote all the words of the Lord. Now he wrote them in a book, as mentioned later. And he rose early in the morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel. Why did Moses build an altar at this time?

Because in order for a covenant to be binding, it had to be ratified. And none of the old covenant had to be ratified in blood by a blood sacrifice, thus the need for sacrificial altar. Verse 5, Then he sent a young man of the children of Israel, who offered a burnt offerings, and sacrificed peace offerings, a box unto the Lord.

And Moses took half the blood and put it in basins, and half the blood he sprinkled on the altar. Why did Moses sprinkle half of the blood on the altar? What is the significance of that? Let's go on to verse 7. Then he took the book of the covenant, the book he was writing these things in, and he read it in the hearing of the people. And they said, all that the Lord has said we will do, and we will be obedient.

Again, they all openly agreed to the words of this covenant. In addition to saying we do, they also said, and we will be obedient, even giving more emphasis to their end of the contract for the covenant. They said, well, we will be obedient. And as a marriage covenant, they would be obedient to their husband. The one who was going to marry them was God, was Jesus Christ, the God of the Old Testament.

What happened after they agreed to this covenant? Verse 8. Then after they agreed to that covenant, Moses took the blood, sprinkled it on the people, and said, this is the blood of the covenant which the Lord has made with you, according to all these words. Why did Moses now sprinkle some of this sacrificial blood on the people? To show that both God and the people of Israel were now mutually bound by this marriage covenant.

God was bound by the blood on the altar, and Israel was bound by having the blood sprinkled on themselves. In God's essence, they had just made a marriage covenant with God and taken Israel to be his bride. God married the Old Testament Israel, and they were now both bound by that marriage covenant. But what happened in the case of Israel? Did Israel break their marriage vows? Let's go to Jeremiah 2. Jeremiah 2, beginning in verse 4.

Hear the word of the Lord, O house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel. That says the Lord, what injustice have your fathers found in me? That they have gone far from me, and have followed idols, and have become idolaters. Neither did they say, where is the Lord, who brought us up by the land of Egypt, who led us through that wilderness, through a land of deserts and pits, through a land of drought, and a land of the shadow of death, through a land that no one crossed.

There were no one dwelt, but God got him through it. He said, I brought you into a bountiful country, to eat its fruit and its goodness. But when you entered, you defiled my land. You made my heritage an abomination. The priest did not say, well, where is the eternal? And those who handled the law did not know me. The rulers also transgassed against me. And the prophets prophesied by Baal, and walked after things that do not profit. Dropping down to verse 11.

Has a nation changed its gods, which are not gods? But my people have changed their glory, for what does not profit? Be astonished, O heavens, at this. Be horribly afraid. Be very desolate, says the Lord. For my people have committed two evils. They have forsaken me the fountain of living waters. And instead, hewn themselves, sisters, broken sisters, that can hold no water. They cannot provide anything that's going to help your life, sustain your life.

So what was God to do? He was now married to an unfaithful wife, who was openly and defiantly committing spiritual adultery with no remorse whatsoever. Jeremiah 3, verse 1. They say if a man divorces his wife, and she goes from him and becomes another man's, may he return to her again. Will not that land be greatly polluted?

For you have played the harlot with many lovers. For you, Israel, have played the harlot. You have prostered yourself by going after and giving your allegiance to many strange gods. Even after all that, does God say, what does God say to his unfaithful wife, even after all that? He says, in the latter part of verse 1 of chapter 3, he says, Yet return to me.

Wow, can you imagine that? After all that, he said, Yet return to me. Return to me, and I'll take you back. I'll give you another chance. Verse 2, Lift up your eyes to the desolate heights and sea, Or have you not lain with men. By the road you have set for them, Like an Arabian in the wilderness, And you have polluted the land with your harlots and your wickedness. Harlot trees in your wickedness.

Dropping down to verse 6, The Lord also said to me, In the day of Josiah the king, Have you seen what backsliding Israel has done? She has gone up on every high mountain, Under every green tree, and there played the harlot. And I said, If she had done all these things, Return to me! Return to me! Change your ways, repent, turn things around. But she did not return. But she did not return. Why was God so eager for Israel to return to him? Especially after playing the role of a harlot? Jeremiah 3, verse 14, Return all backsliding Israel, says the Lord, For I am married to you. God hates divorce. He didn't want to break the vow. He didn't want to take Israel back. He wanted to give her a chance to make it work. What was God to do? She wouldn't return. He had a wife who had left him and forsaken him, and he refused to return. So what did God have to do? Verse 8, Then I saw that for all the causes for which backsliding Israel had committed adultery, I had put her away and have given her a certificate of divorce. God had to divorce Israel. He divorced Israel. He had no choice. Even God could not live with and put up with that kind of abuse and unfaithfulness. That, then, is a biblical example of abuse leading to divorce. Israel abused their covenant relationship with God to such an extent that God had to write her a certificate of divorce. I want to cover something here because the Church's position on this, because it's an issue that can come up, and it's controversial to some. What are the three biblical grounds for divorce in the Bible? The biblical grounds for divorce. One is Porneia, P-U-R-N-E-I-A, or sexual immorality. That's a Greek word, which is basically unfaithfulness and marital infidelity. That can include such things as pornography, or seeking a relationship with someone over the phone, used by means of text messages, or even via the Internet. And the Scripture supports these grounds for divorce as found in Matthew 19. Let's go to Matthew 19. Matthew 19, verse 3. The Pharisees came to him, to Christ, testing him and saying to him, is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for just any reason? And he answered and said to them, Have you not read that he who made them in the beginning made them male and female? And he said, For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. So then they are alone no longer two but one flesh. Therefore, when God has joined together, let not man separate." My man could have sundered as he is in the Old King James.

Of course, Deuteronomy 24.1 is the one, talk about what Moses is getting to build a divorce. You can read that back in Deuteronomy 24.1. In verse 8, He said to them, Moses, because the hardness of your hearts, or excuse me, verse 7, Why then did Moses command to give his stick of divorce and put her away? Again, that's Deuteronomy 24.1. He said to them, Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, permitted you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning, that was not God-attended. Never intended for marriage to end up in divorce or be broken up. And I say to you, Whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and the Greek word there is porneia. Except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery, and whoever marries her, whose divorce commits adultery. So again, the Greek word translated sexual immorality is porneia. Thus, porneia, or sexual immorality, or unfaithfulness, is an exception and is a biblical grounds for divorce. Second reason is when an unbeliever departs. Paul touches on that, recovers that in 1 Corinthians 7. Let's go to 1 Corinthians 7.

In 1 Corinthians 7, 1 Corinthians 7, 1 Corinthians 7, 1 Corinthians 7, 1 Corinthians 7, 1 Corinthians 10, Now to the married I command, that the Lord, a wife is not to depart from her husband. But even if she does depart, let her remain unmarried or be reconciled back to her husband. And husband is not to divorce his wife. Then verse 12, But to the rest, I, not the Lord, say this, and of course, since Paul wrote this, and since God's Spirit was inspiring him to write this, it was included in God's Word and becomes a part of God's Word. So this will be written by God's Spirit. I say, If any brother has a wife who does not believe, and she is willing to live with him, let him not divorce her. And a woman who has a husband who does not believe, if he is willing to live with her, let her not divorce him. For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband. Otherwise, your children would be unclean, but now they are holy. But, verse 15, a believer departs. Let him depart. A brother or sister is not under bondage in such cases that God has called us to peace. So in this case, a member is married to an unbeliever, or a member has become an unbeliever, and the unbeliever is not pleased to dwell with the believing mate and departs. Then, in that particular case here, the believer is not bound to the unbeliever. The believer is not under bondage in such cases to remain single for the rest of their lives. In that circumstance, they would be free to divorce and remarry. The third instance for divorce is fraud or deception. A marriage agreement must be based on true force and honesty between both partners. If a member is deceived or defrauded in some way, the marriage covenant is essentially not completed. In a sense, this would be an annulment of the marriage, even though the fraud may have been discovered well after the marriage took place, since fraud would have been in the mind of the person who was defrauding the other person, it would have been in their mind they would have known about before they got married, but they didn't reveal it. It's found out later. And they may not find out until some time later. But those that are the three biblical exceptions and three biblical allowances for divorce and remarriage. I want to also cover something else here, just so you know. How are those situations processed? Well, one or both parties, depending on the circumstances, will write up their evaluation or history of their marriage. The pastor will then give his evaluation. And those forms and histories and evaluations are then sent to a divorce and remarriage committee at the home office currently headed by Vernon Hargrove. They will then make a determination, and they'll contact people if they need more clarification and so on. They'll eventually make a determination based on those three biblical grounds for divorce and remarriage to see if the submitted request meets those biblical grounds. Then they will then, through the pastor, let the party or parties know whether or not they are free to remarry according to those biblical grounds. What is the role of the pastor in all this? In addition to what I just stated. What is the role of the pastor to be objective? He's going to have to be objective. He's got to be fair. He's got to make sure he doesn't take one side against the other. He's got to be totally objective and fair and remain neutral. Try to just uncover as much information as you can.

But the pastor will be asked to confidentially give his evaluation of how he feels, the situation is, whether it was about to be found or not.

And you have to do that very confidentially. So one role is to be objective. The other is to maintain strict confidentiality. Those are basically two main roles of the pastor, other than gathering the information. To be objective and keep things confidential. This, at least, is the core of what I want to touch on today, which has to do with judging one another. The title of my sermon is Satan's War on the Family. And the family Satan is most focused on warring against and destroying his God's church family. Family of God. What's a very subtle way in which Satan, I should say, can seek to destroy God's family? How can he seek to destroy the house of God, if you will? Let's go to Matthew 12. Matthew 12.

Matthew 12. Let's begin in verse 22. Matthew 12. Then one was brought to him, to Christ, who was demon-fossessed, blind and mute. And he healed him, so that the blind and mute man both spoke and saw. And all the mulchants were amazed and said, could this be the son of David? But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, this fellow does not cast out demons except by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons.

But Jesus knew their thoughts, and he said to them, every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation. And every city or house divided against itself will not stand. Remember, we are the house of God. If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will this kingdom stand? Satan can seek to destroy the house of God by dividing us against ourselves, because he knows that every house divided against itself will not stand. How then can Satan seek to divide us against ourselves by getting us to wrongly judge one another?

What did Christ tell us? Let's go back just a few chapters here to Matthew 7. Matthew 7, verse 1. He said, judge not that you be not judged. Why? Why? Verse 2. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, we measure back to you. I mean, I've read that Scripture many times. I take that Scripture very seriously, and I take it very personally. I think to myself, someday I'm going to have to stand before Christ's judgment seat. How do I want to be judged? How do I want to be judged by Christ when my time comes to stand before His judgment seat?

And we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. Romans 14, verse 10. Why then do you judge your brother? Also, Romans 14, verse 10. So this verse here in Matthew tells me I want to judge others with a great deal of mercy and forgiveness. Because I'm going to need all the mercy and forgiveness I can get when it comes my time to be judged by Jesus Christ.

And that's how I want to be judged with a lot of mercy and forgiveness. As it says here, for with what judgment you judge, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, we'll be measured back to you. See, how then should we properly judge, and who should we properly judge?

Matthew 7, verse 3. Why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye? But you don't consider that you might have a plank in your own eye. How often do you say to your brother, I want to remove the speck from your eye, and look, you've got a plank in your own eye. First, remove the plank from your own eye, and then, in time, maybe down the road, especially in God's kingdom, you will see clearly to help remove the speck from others' eyes, and help them. See, what this says is we should all focus on judging ourselves, not on judging one another. We should lead the judging of others to Christ, to whom the Father has committed all judgment.

John 5, verse 22. But how do we usually judge? Here's the thing. How do we usually judge? In contrast to that, how does God judge? And this ties right into Mr. Jacob's sermonette, by the way. I appreciate that very much. Let's go back to 1 Samuel 16. 1 Samuel 16, verse 1. The Lord said to Samuel, How long will you mourn for Saul? See, and I have rejected him from reigning over Israel.

Fill your home with oil, and go, I am sending you to Jesse the Bethanite, for I have provided myself a king among his sons. Drop it down to verse 4. So Samuel did what the Lord said, and went to Bethlehem. And the elders of the town trembled at his presence, and they said, Do you come and come peaceably?

And he said, Peaceably, I have come to sacrifice to the Eternal. Sanctify yourselves, and come with me to the sacrifice. Then he consecrated Jesse and his sons, and invited them to the sacrifice. So it was when they came, that he looked at Eliab, the oldest of Jesse's sons, and said, Surely the Lord's anointed him, as before of him. But the Lord said to Samuel, Do not look on his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him.

See, we judge by what we see, and by what we perceive outwardly. That can lead to wrongful judgment. And that is not how God judges. How does God judge? How does God judge? How does God judge? How does God judge? Well, the Lord does not see as man sees. Again, verse 7, 1 Samuel 16. For man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart, as was covered in the sermonette. The Lord looks at the heart. God judges our hearts. He judges what no man can see.

No man can see or perceive our hearts. You can't determine that outwardly by looking at outward appearance. God judges what's going on inwardly, in our hearts and in our minds. And only God, only Christ, can know that. 1 Samuel 16, 10. Then Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel, and Samuel said to Jesse, The Lord has not chosen these.

So Samuel said to Jesse, Are all the young men here? Then he said, Well, the remains yet the youngest, and he's over there keeping the sheep. It can't be him. And Samuel said to Jesse, We'll send and bring him, for we will not sit down till he comes here. So he sat and brought him in. Now he was writing bright eyes and good-looking. And the Lord said, Arise, anoint him, for this is the one.

That of course was David, who we all know, they had a lot of faults, shortcomings. But as Mr. Japheth said in the sermon, that Immerly was a man after God's own heart, which just tells us there in Acts 13, verse 22. And the primary attribute that made David a man after God's own heart was his attitude of repentance.

His willingness to admit his sins and faults when they were pointed out to him, and to ask God to help him to change. And you can read Psalm 51, that whole Psalm 51 is devoted to God. David's showing David's heart of repentance and wanting to change and getting help to change. Now let's go back for a moment to Ephesians 6, and putting on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

What two pieces of that armor must we put on in order to stand against Satan's schemes to divide and destroy God's church? Especially by and through judging one another. Again, Ephesians 6, just look at just two verses this time, verses 13 and 14. Verse 13, Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in that evil day, and having done all to stand, stand therefore having girded your waist with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness. When it comes to judging, we must first and foremost gird ourselves with truth, with truthful judgment, and with righteousness, with righteous judgment.

But here lies the problem when it comes to judging one another. As members of the church, we will seldom know the whole story. We'll probably only hear one side of the story, and that will probably be prejudicial, as human nature will almost always tend to defend itself as being right in any and all disputes. When we only know one side of the story, and when that one side of the story will always contain a certain amount of prejudice, any judgment we make will not be totally truthful or righteous.

We could say that the scale of judgment would be tipped away to one side or the other. That will be a dishonest scale of judgment. What can we learn from the book of Proverbs? I want to just conclude here, get down to concluding the sermon. I want to look at some of the lessons we can learn from the book of Proverbs.

How does God feel about a dishonest scale? We're talking about a dishonest scale of judgment here, not judging properly because we don't have all the facts. But how does God feel about a dishonest scale? Let's go to the book of Proverbs. Look at a number of Proverbs here, but first let's look at Proverbs 11, verse 1. Disonoscales are an abomination to the Eternal.

I'm not sure everything is properly weighed and balanced by knowing both sides of the story or leaving it up to someone who might know both sides of the story in this case. Did not dishonor scales an abomination to the Lord, but a just weight, just balance, is his delight. When things are weighed and judged properly, knowing both sides and understanding the situation more properly. So our judgments of one another need to be justly weighed toward both parties. Why? What else does Proverbs tell us?

Proverbs 12, verse 17. He who speaks truth declares righteousness. But a false witness, you don't have everything right, and when you say something you thought somebody else is not balanced properly, it can end up being deceitful. In verse 18, there is one who speaks like the piercings of a sword, but the tongue of the wise isn't going to say anything unless it promotes health and healing, because it will be based on truthful and righteous judgment, and it will be given to help somebody, help them to overcome.

It will show compassion and care and love towards that person to help them, because we're all in the same boat, we all have things we need to overcome and need help with. Let's go to Proverbs 12, verse 9. Is that right? Oh, excuse me, no, not 9. Proverbs 12, verse 19. The truth will live should be established forever, but a lying tongue is put for a moment, because eventually the truth will be made known at some point. But if we only hear one side of the story, how can we make sure we don't promote deceit or something that is less than truthful?

Let's go back to Proverbs 11, verse 13.

A tale-bearer reveals secrets, but he who is of a faithful spirit will conceal a matter. As for a confident, somebody comes to you for help. They want you to help them. And they're willing to get that help to be open with you and confide in you. Maybe you're a type of a friend, as a member of God's family, we're all from God's family. Maybe you're that kind of a friend that needs to be a confidential friend that they can confide in and know that you're not going to tell anybody else about the problem, but you just try to help them.

See, if we want to be faithful to God's word and faithful to one another and faithful to both parties and dispute, we will conceal the matter and try to help that person anywhere we can and leave the judgment to someone who knows the whole story. Or help them if we can. They come to us. But let it go no further than that. Keep confidentiality. That's so important. Proverbs 13, verse 3, He who guards his mouth preserves his life. But he opens wide his lips, shall have destruction. But be very careful what we say to someone else. Be very careful. If you're not sure, don't say anything. Proverbs 17, verse 9, He who covers a transgression seeks love. That's a loving thing to do. If you know something, the loving thing to do is not tell somebody about it. The loving thing to do is to cover it. Or try to get some help for that person in a very confidential way. Because he who repeats a matter separates friends. If we repeat a matter and take sides in a dispute based on one side of the story, what will we be doing in addition to separating friends? Proverbs 24, verse 23. Proverbs 24, verse 23, These things also belong to the wise. It is not good to show partiality and judgment.

See, if we repeat a matter, and it's not exactly right, we can be showing partiality and judgment. If we take sides based on one side of the story, we're going to end up showing partiality and judgment. How can we instead promote the glory of God? Proverbs 25, verse 2. It is a glory of God to conceal a matter. But the glory of kings is to search out a matter. So a person in a position of authority, or in a leadership position especially, such as a pastor, must search out a matter to make sure he understands both sides before jumping to any conclusion. So we're going to try to help both sides in that dispute in a very neutral way. In other words, a king or a leader should never rush to judgment. But instead, the church ought to matter to make sure they've got all the facts as much as possible. So we're going to try to help both parties without taking sides one way or the other. Finally, one final proverb in regards to judging one another. Proverbs 18, verse 13, which says, He who answers a matter before he hears it, before he really understands all the facts, it can be a folly and a shame to him.

He hears a matter before he hears it, before he understands both sides of the story, that led to maybe that separation or divorce or whatever. He who has the matter before he hears it is a folly and a shame to him. Why? Because if you do that, you might rush to a wrongful judgment. See, in conclusion, Satan is our real enemy. We're not enemies of one another. Satan is our real enemy. He's an enemy who wants to destroy us. As I said, his name in Hebrew is a badm, destroying angel. His name in Greek is a polyon, a destroyer. And as the saying goes, destroyer is his name, and destruction is his game. I want to conclude by re-emphasizing what the apostle Paul wrote to the church at Ephesus. This is like their one final time. We'll conclude with this. Ephesians 6. Ephesians 6, the beginning of verse 10. Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and the power of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood. We're not wrestling against one another. We're not one another's enemies. We do not wrestle against flesh and blood. We really wrestle against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of weakness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in that evil day. And having done all to remain standing, stand therefore, and encourage your waste with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, because Satan is at war. At war against families. He wants to destroy human families, and he wants, above all things, to destroy the spiritual family of God. And he can try to do that by turning us against one another. Don't allow that to happen. That is the bottom line when it comes to Satan's war on the family. So don't allow yourself to fall into Satan's trap of judging one another.