In Mark 3 is a fascinating story involving Jesus. The Jewish leaders are upset with Jesus and all they can do is criticize Him. They make the ridiculous claim that He has had such success casting out demons because He is the head of demons. Jesus’ responds by pointing out the illogical nature of their argument. Why would Satan cast out Satan. A kingdom divided will not stand. He then expands the illustration in describing how you first bind a strong man before plundering his house. Given the frequency of exorcisms leading up to this point it seems Jesus’ underlying message is that the reign of Satan is coming to an end. Jesus is going to bind the strong man and plunder his house.
This is a great thought for how we ought to manage our home. How do we go about binding Satan and casting him out of our homes? First we have to understand how Satan operates. The fall in Genesis 3 helps us understand the working of the devil.
Our home is like a mini-Eden. It is like a mini-congregation. We are to seek first the kingdom and His righteousness. We are to build stronger homes, a concept of which we will build on this summer. So we need to know how Satan acts, the things he does to throw us off track. He wants to being chaos into the home.
So in Genesis 3 we see him beginning this reign of chaos. The serpent begins by tempting Eve, which she succumbs to as does Adam. His ways now are much the same they were then. When we have homes that break down, that will carry over into the church which will in turn carry over into society in general. We are greatly influenced by our culture.
Satan works through:
1. Deception, lies and manipulation. We see all of this in Genesis 3. He starts by introducing subtle doubts. Did God actually say…? Are you sure, Eve? He’s trying to produce doubt in her mind. Then he just outright ,it’s to her – you shall surely not die, he says. Satan has no problem lying. This is how he works. The end product of this is that we end up worshiping the creature rather than the Creator. Feminism is a key example of one of the outcomes of Satan’s influence.
2. Encouraging improper desire. Gen. 3:4-5. Satan promises Eve she will know so much more, she has been kept in the dark by God. God is oppressing her through lack of knowledge, Satan says. This is what happens to Eve, to David with Bathsheba and to Aichen – they see something they want, it looks good to them and they take it. This is what has happened in our times with the marriage relationship. It has become warped and twisted and contrary to God’s plan for a husband and wife. He has turned sex into something dirty and wrong by warping and twisting and manipulating.
3. Failed leadership and neglect, Gen. 3:6. Adams job is to tend the garden and guard it. He had only one rule. Eve needs a leader to tell her what is right and what is not. Adam does not do that. Adam is not ignorant and he is with Eve when this happens. Verse 9, the Lord calls the man, not the woman. Where are you? And what does he answer? He blames Eve and he blames God. Satan can accomplish a lot through failed leadership and neglect. When men fail to lead, sometimes women step up and take action themselves because he is not leading. This is one of the things that has led to things like feminism. The mission is not that men get whatever they want in the home. The mission is God’s mission. Men that believe they can have what they want do not understand God’s mission at all. If we don’t understand our mission now can we expect our wives to be submissive?
How do we protect our home?
⁃ Read, meditate, memorize, sing truth
⁃ Regularly praise God’s goodness
⁃ Boldly lead in truth toward God’s purposes.
Men, do not be like Adam. It is your mission to protect your home, to guard your home. It is not your wife’s.
Sermon by Brent Moody
