God's Truth About the Home — Russell Kelfer

The lesson you're about to hear is designed to help you in your spiritual pilgrimage. We pray that this will be a blessing in your life. Our teacher is Russell Kelfer of the Into His Likeness radio broadcast.

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Satan’s Increasingly Open Attack on Christian Faith

I made a comment last week about the openness of Satan's attack in these latter days, that rather than being underground and subtle as he once was, that today Satan has come up to the forefront, so to speak, and there's really no hiding anything anymore.

Two such illustrations I found in the newspaper this past week. One was the article indicating that more than one group are threatening to sue certain local governments and federal governments for allowing the Pope to preach and teach and speak on public soil.

Come a long way, haven't we? And even sadder note, I don't know how many of you have paid any attention to the movie called The Life of Brian. Now, if you haven't read about this movie, my purpose is to alert you so that you will understand what it really stands for and take note and respond accordingly.

I think I'll just read you a little bit from an article in Newsweek magazine. It says this, it's entitled Brian Cohen of Nazareth, and it says a child is born in Bethlehem and three wise men offer its mother gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

The mother, no lady she, grabs the gold and frankincense but returns the myrrh. Is there something wrong with this story? Quite. The wise men have stumbled onto the wrong manger. What they have witnessed is the birth of Brian Cohen, who will soon grow up to be the star of Monty Python's Life of Brian, which, if not the greatest story ever told, is certainly one of the more irreverent.

The Holy Land, in the gospel according to Python, is a prophet-ridden madhouse where radical sects like the Judean People's Front bicker with the People's Front of Judea and plot terrorist raids on the Romans.

Stoning blasphemers seem to be the national sport, with merchants hawking rocks at bargain prices. The Sermon on the Mount is considered from the vantage point of the listeners who can barely make out the words.

Blessed are the cheesemakers, they say. What does that mean? The righteous followers of Brian, a most inadvertent messiah, pick up a lost sandal of his and read it as a sign from God that they should gather shoes in abundance.

Needless to say, there is a crucifixion scene at the end, but one that owes much to Busby Berkeley as to the Bible. The life of Brian fortunately skips along at such a frenzy that the lulz are barely noticed.

Though the pious will blanch, hypo-maniacs should find this film a treasure trove of unborn-again humor. Now to some of you at first glance this may look like a clever satire of some type, but before you buy that lie, let me just remind you that the person being ridiculed in this film is not even a famous preacher or even the Pope.

The person being laughed at is God in the form of Jesus Christ, our Savior. God himself, who died himself to bring us to himself, is being made fun of in the film. Now I realize that we don't want to be alarmist, and I'm not trying to, I don't think we ought to picket the theater or that type of thing, but I want to encourage you not to just grin and bear it.

Number one, don't go to the movie, please. Don't go for the sake of education. You don't need to witness blasphemy in order to understand it. And secondly, I would encourage you to pray about it at least, but what I'm going to do is to write a letter to the owner of the theater it's showing at, hopefully in love, and simply share that it is my Savior and King that is being ridiculed in that film.

And because of that, I not only will not attend that film, but do not attend to return to their theater. You know, that's a hard step to make, and many of you may not want to do that, but you know, that's the only thing that talks to the world.

And I would just encourage you, that's how upfront Satan has become in these last days. My wife and I were talking about this yesterday and realizing that in essence 2 ,000 years have passed since Christ died for us, and for the 1 ,990 of those, I doubt that you would have seen the type of thing that you're seeing in this movie accepted by the world and laughed at by the press.

Moral Absolutes, Marriage, and the Assault on the Home

Now last Sunday we saw how Satan's first stage of attack on morality was to deceive us into imagining that morality changes with the times. In other words, it is relative. But as we discovered last week and reminded ourselves, that's a lie.

Morality is an absolute. It is founded on the character of the holiness of God. It is recorded in the permanence of the Word of God. God does not change, hence His Word does not change. Therefore God's positions on homosexuality, stealing, lying, pornography, as we talked about last week, are exactly what the Scripture says they are.

And they are, as we saw last week, crystal clear. We also saw last week that Satan's next objective is to attack God's picture book of his relationship to man, marriage. He can do that because if morality is relative, then sex outside of marriage becomes an acceptable alternative.

And as we saw last week, there is a deeper objective in Satan's mind than that. He wants to destroy the spiritual portrait that marital purity proclaims, that if man can find physical fulfillment without the commitment of marriage, it is saying that man can find spiritual fulfillment without committing his life to Jesus Christ.

And then he goes on to build another lie on top of that. That if marriage is not necessary, then marriage is not binding, and divorce is a reasonable alternative or a solution or a way out. For those that want to look up the verses, basically a study of Matthew chapter 19 that outlines at least eight basic principles on marriage that don't get into doctrinal differences but are basic spiritual principles that I think all of you will agree with.

What God is saying, basically, that marriage portrays his relationship with Israel and Christ's relationship with the Church. It was designed to be permanent. It was designed to show forth his patience and long-suffering.

It was designed to show forth his love to those who were without merit. To cheapen his permanency is to deny the security of the believer in Jesus Christ. Well, this morning we've come to the next lie which builds on the truth of the last three.

If morality is relative, marriage not essential, marriage not permanent, then the home as we know it is at best unnecessary, outmoded as the center of society. And Satan has launched a full-scale offensive to take the husband out of the home as the authority, and if possible, by divorce, to take him out of the home altogether.

To take the wife out of the home, then, and place her in the marketplace, and then to take the children out of the home to daycare centers, nurseries, or other centrally controlled non-Christian substitutes for parenthood.

And he's succeeding. Now, what I want to share with you this morning, in beginning, is some excerpts from a tape by John MacArthur. How many of you have heard John MacArthur's tape on the year of the child?

Just a few, maybe a half dozen. These are excerpts from that tape. In case you haven't heard, 1979 has been designated the year of the child. Now, that on the surface sounds very exciting. We certainly need to be concerned about our children.

But what is the origin of it, and what does it mean? Its origin is a 1976 Declaration of the United Nations called the Rights of the Child. And it designed that 1979 would be the year of the child. It is connected to the IWI, which is the International Women's Year.

Its roots came from a communist women's group who uses their authority, a quarterly, called the Women of the World. And it's published in Poland, East Berlin, and Czechoslovakia. Its total philosophy is not only godless, but anti-god.

Now, what's its goal? The goal of the year of the child, the goal of this declaration, is to remove children from the authority and influence of the traditional home as we know it, and place them under government-controlled influences which grant children freedom to make their own choices concerning religion, morals, and values.

As they put it, apart from the pressures of parental authority. Their avowed purpose in 1979 was to flood the media using whatever tools available, such things as situation comedies and so forth, to restructure our thinking on family roles and values.

Now, here are some of their stated objectives. We won't spend a lot of time here, but we need to understand. Number one, children are to be liberated from traditional morals and values. Quote, the real solution requires fundamental change in the value commitment and the actions of the persons who control the public and private sector of our common life, parents.

And part of its primary program is to set up a daycare program that takes children out of the home at the age of six months, puts them in a daycare program until the age of six years, when they automatically then go into public school.

Over 8 ,000 hours in which they can teach values, fears, beliefs, and behavior. Gloria Steinem says, and she's a backer of this plan, says, quote, we will, I hope, by the year 2000, raise our children to believe in the human potential rather than God.

Sound familiar? Number two, children should be liberated from parental authority. Quote, we recommend that laws dealing with the rights of parents be reexamined when they infringe on the rights of children.

Example, freedom from physical punishment. In fact, in 1978, right in Oklahoma, in December of 78, a pastor who forbade his daughter to attend a dance had her taken from him by the court and was returned to her, returned to the family only with the stipulation that she could never again have to do anything she didn't want to do.

There's now a law in Oklahoma that a child can be taken to a psychiatrist or a psychologist without parent's permission. Thirdly, the goal further includes sexual freedom for the child. As they say, freedom to express oneself sexually in any way he or she desires, including fornication, homosexuality, or other gross acts of immorality with no parental control or limitation.

Number four, further, the child should be protected from racial and religious discrimination. Quote, no one has the right to teach their children their religious beliefs. Children should be removed from the family to prevent such an unfavorable influence.

Five, children should be, quote, delivered from nationalism or patriotism. Schools should use every mean possible to combat family attitudes that favor nationalism. Now, these are just five of the ten points in the Declaration.

Now, how far has it gone? The Carter administration asked for and received permission to designate 1979 the year of the child. And as far back as 1970, a bill went through Congress to take children into mandatory government childcare from the ages of six months to six years, at which time they would be taken to mandatory public school.

186 congressmen voted for it. Recent bills introduced in Congress are now being considered asking these questions. You can decide for yourself. Number one, should children be permitted to sue their parents if forced to attend church?

Two, should children be paid minimum wage if asked to do household chores? Three, should children be given the right to choose their own family? Now, the U .S. National Commission on the International Year of the Child has set out some goals.

They are as follows, to set up a conference on children with an eye to legalizing abortion, creating government-supervised family planning, condoning homosexual marriages, creating an equal rights amendment to the Constitution for children, and a government takeover of responsibility where children are concerned.

I don't like to read this sort of thing because I don't want it to be a negative, but I want you to at least be aware of the problem. The Texas legislature passed a law which, in effect, makes it a crime to physically punish a child by spanking.

One noted authority who speaks on college campuses and has written three books on the subject and is well accepted among this group makes this claim. He said, I'm looking for a world where there are no families, no schools, and no parent-child relationships.

He said, our goal is, quote, to free the child. To do that, we must do away with parenthood and marriage. We must settle for nothing less than total elimination of the family entity. You see where it comes from?

Up front. And it is exactly the opposite of the plan of God. The plan of God is that the home is the center of society, that the parent-child relationship is the key to everything that is spiritual. That is the intent in the heart of God, and that is why the home is so vital to God.

And that's why this is such an important subject for us to talk about. This morning, I would like to suggest to you that God has two basic reasons for protecting the home at any cost. Two reasons that Satan cannot stand.

Two reasons he fights with all he has to destroy the home as we know it. The first reason is that God, from the foundation of time, ordained that the principles of the faith must be passed on, one principle at a time, one day at a time, from one generation to the next.

In other words, his basic agency of discipleship, the family. Now, God's key solution to evangelism and discipling is in the home. If Satan can interrupt that cycle, to whom will the baton be handed in the next generation?

Passing Faith from One Generation to the Next

Let's look at God's training manual, Deuteronomy chapter 4, verses 9 and 10. Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently. In other words, keep spiritually alert. Lest thou forget the things that thou hast seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life.

In other words, don't forget what God has done for you. Lastly, it says, but rather teach them to thy sons, and then to your grandsons. That's God's plan. Then he says, especially tell them about the things the Lord has done, such as when we stood before him, and when he said, gather the people together, and I will make them hear my words.

And listen to the two reasons he said we're to hear the word of God. Number one, he said that they may learn to fear me all the days of my life. And number two, so that they may teach their children. Learn to fear God, learn to teach their children in the home.

Now, there's a more detailed instruction book if you turn over two chapters to Deuteronomy chapter 6. We'll begin reading in verse 1. He begins with a pronouncement in verse 1. Now, these are the commandments, the statutes, the judgments, which the Lord your God commanded to teach you, so that you might do them in the land whither you go in to possess.

In other words, here's the word of God. Verse 2, that thou mightest fear the Lord thy God to keep all his statutes and commandments which I command thee. In other words, the first purpose is obedience.

And he says, I want you to learn them. I want your son to learn them. And I want your grandchildren to learn them. That's your responsibility. Obedience for you, obedience for your children, and obedience for your grandchildren.

God said, that's the mantle I'm placing on you. And then he promises a blessing in verse 2 and 3. He says that thy days may be prolonged, that it may be well with thee, and that you may increase mightily.

And then he gives us the message in verses 4 and 5. Verse 4, Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one God. Now, what he says in verse 4 is, God is all there is, and God is all you need. You can build your life with no other raw materials than God.

And then in verse 5 he goes on to continue the message, and he says, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God. How? With all thine heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy might, with your thoughts, your emotions, and your choices, mind, emotion, and will under his control.

It's called discipleship. It's called commitment. It involves convictions, things you would rather die for than relinquish. That's the message. And then he gives you the means, how the message is to be proclaimed, in verses 6 through 9.

Verse 6 he says, here's how we do it. These words which I command thee this day shall be in your heart. That's number one. He said, Believer, I want you to take the Word of God, memorize it, meditate on it, and store it in your heart like a memory bank, so that every thought you think, every move you make, you'll be led by the Spirit because the Word of God will be paramount in your life.

Put the Word of God first in your life. And then he said, that's your first priority. Then he says, your second objective is found in verse 7. And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children. In other words, you spend the rest of your life teaching your children.

That's the plan of God. Do you see why Satan wants the children out of the home, why he wants the home dissolved as the center of life? Because the Spirit of God, through the Word of God, takes the message of God and changes people into the image of God through the home.

Now he says, in the next two verses, he says the answer to it is called show and tell. First, he said, we show and we tell. He said, you bind them for a sign upon your hands as frontlets between your eyes.

You write them on the doorposts of your house and on the gates of your house. In other words, you take the Word of God and bind it for a sign on their hands. How many of you give your children assignments in the Scripture like they have at school?

How many of them are taught to memorize the Word and feed on it and get excited about it and taught about it from their earliest years that they can understand? Then he says it ought to be like frontlets between your eyes.

The Word of God should take the place of secular alternatives. That's what they ought to see wherever they look. Then he says, write it on the doorposts of their house and on the gates of your house. The central theme of your home should be not football or not entertainment or not money or not pleasure, but Jesus.

That's what he's saying. But show is not all. Tell is a big part of it. He says, then you talk about it all the time. You talk about Him. He says, you talk about Him when you sit in your house. He said, this is the purpose of the home, when you're sitting in your house.

Daily times of family study where the family gathers around the Word of God. Regularly in your casual conversation, Jesus is the natural source. When you're walking by the way, he says, the places you go should be for His glory.

The subjects you speak about while you're going should be His story. While you're preparing for bed, it says, your children should learn to meditate on the Word as they go to bed. They ought to be able to meditate on the Scripture and go off to sleep with the Word paramount in their lives.

And then it says, the first thing upon rising, when they get up in the morning, they ought to be singing like Wink does, good morning, Lord. This is the day which the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.

They ought to arise. We all ought to arise. Most of us don't. We just barely arise. But we ought to arise with such joy in our spirits and we ought to communicate it to our children that this is God's day and God's message and God's program and we're God's people.

So that's what he's saying. One national TV authority was quoted recently, a head of a national network, saying that television is the greatest single educational force in America, particularly the children.

Something like 65 of their information comes from the tube. And this same person indicated that the goal of the TV networks were to break down traditional family roles and morality. And so, if necessary, turn it off and make Jesus the honored guest in your home at every meal, the topic of your conversation.

The whole idea is that the home is the instrument of God to instruct the children of God in the ways of God. In some ways, we've gotten away from it and we're to blame. But Satan's up front about it now and his desire is just to destroy the home and eliminate that possibility.

Here are some other verses in your notes and I'm not going to cover them this morning for the sake of time. Deuteronomy 11, Deuteronomy 29, Deuteronomy 32, and Joshua 4. But Psalm 226 says, Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.

And the way he should go in the Hebrew, as many of you know, means literally in the manner in which the bow is bent. Each child having a specifically different personality needs to be ministered the word to as it relates to his need and personality.

Train up a child in the manner in which the bow is bent, and when he is old he will not depart from it. It means a lifetime, full-time parent's task of ministering, not just on an impersonal basis, but a personal life communication of the word of God.

When they stand up, when they sit down, when they go to bed, when they rise up, on the doorposts of the house, on the gates of the house, everywhere, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. This is still God's plan. The home is God's training school from one generation to the next.

Satan's attack in the past has been subtle through television, through developing a hyperactive society where parents are always on the run and then children are always on the run, by allowing the church and the school to downgrade and either compete with the family, by allowing society to disintegrate, the authority of the parents.

But now his attacks are more overt. Remove children from the home, remove parents from the home, remove God from the home. God's purpose in the family physically is to reproduce and replenish the earth.

And God's purpose for the family spiritually is to reproduce and replenish the kingdom. Question, with inflation and intervention by the government, immorality and unemployment rampant, who would want to bring children into an evil world like this?

Answer, Christians, the darker the darkness, the brighter shines the light. The more intense the conflict, the more need there is for a fresh supply of soldiers. And those children of yours in these Sunday school classes and in these houses around here this morning being fed the word of God are God's warriors that have been brought into the kingdom for such a time as this.

And you've been a part of bringing them into the world and bringing them to the Lord. And this is our commission as parents. So that's Satan's first reason for wanting the home as we know it to be dissolved.

He wants to destroy basic training camp. Take away your instructors. Secondly, he wants to take away your examples. Because there's a second reason that's as vital as the first. God has in scripture represented himself in tangible, physical ways so that we with our finite minds could make the spiritual switch and be able to grasp the real meaning.

That's why he spoke in parables. When he wanted to tell us about the word of God, he gave us the parable of the sower. When he wanted to tell us about ministering to others, he gave us the parable of the good Samaritan.

When he wanted to teach us about forgiveness, he gave us the parable of the prodigal son. When he wanted to teach us about stewardship, he gave us the parable of the talent. But when he wanted to give us reflections of his character, he did so by identification with physical objects or relationships.

God told us that we wanted to know about his steadfastness, we could look at a rock. He said, Jehovah is your rock, your fortress. You want to know how steadfast God is? You look at a huge rock and you get a picture of it.

He said, I am the vine, you are the branches. You want a picture of how you can grow in Christ, you look at a vine, you look at a tree. He that abideth in me and I in him. He tells us about pruning, he tells us about tribulation, the relationship between the vine and the branches.

You want to know how God leads his children through concern? You look at a shepherd, you study the life of a shepherd. Jesus said, I am the shepherd, the good one. The shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

You want to learn about the revelation of God? You read about God as light, and that the darkness cannot comprehend, the darkness cannot overcome the light. You see in scripture that God is related as a fountain, as a shield, as water, as bread.

In other words, we learn of God by looking at these physical illustrations that God has given us to show us who he is. But to each of these illustrations, God gave a passing reference compared to one basic supreme example that begins in Genesis and goes all the way through Revelation.

Hundreds and hundreds of times, God says the primary picture in scripture of himself is that of a parent. Father. Jehovah says, when you see me, you see what a perfect father should be. And more than that, when you see your earthly fathers behaving as fathers ought to behave, you have the best tangible portrait possible of God.

That's the reason so many counselors say that an individual's first image of God is the image he has of his father. Now Satan hates that, for the perfect father's domain is the home. And God is the perfect father.

And he has prepared a home for us, and the father will be in that home, and the father will be an authority in that home. Now what is the perfect father? The perfect father is one who teaches his children.

The Father’s Teaching, Love, and Direction

John 8, 26. As my father has taught me, Jesus said, I speak these things. If you want to learn the principle of being taught by God, you look at a father teaching his son. Number two. The perfect father is one who knows how to love without limit.

John 3, 35. Jesus said, The father loves the son, and he hath given all things into his hand. 1 John 3, 1. Behold what manner of love the father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God.

Perfect love. Thirdly, the father is one who gives direction. John 5, 20. The father loves the son, and showeth him all things that himself doeth. You see the principle? Whenever he wants to communicate the character of God, he communicates the relationship of parent to child.

And that's why the home is so important. Your children are getting imagery of how God relates to his children by looking at the relationship of parent and child. A perfect father is one who assumes responsibility.

John 6, 44. No man can come to me except the father who sent me draw him. Luke 22. Father, if thou be willing, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, thy will be done. The father is one who possesses authority.

John 5, 26. For as the father hath life in himself, so he hath given to the son to have life in himself, and hath given him authority to execute judgment also. The father is one who provides for the needs of his children.

Perfect picture of provision. You want to know how provision, the providing of God, you look at a small child and see how their parents care for them and provide for their needs. Sometimes they let them cry, but it's because it's better for them to cry, but they always are there to meet their needs.

Matthew 7, 11. If ye then, being evil fathers, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly father give good things to them that ask him? Luke 11. If a son asks bread of any of you that's a father, are you going to give him a stone?

If he asks for a fish, are you going to give him a snake? If he asks for an egg, are you going to give him a scorpion? You are evil fathers, and yet you give things to your children. How much more will your heavenly father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?

The Father’s Protection, Inheritance, and Pleasure in His Children

Seventh, your heavenly father is one, and a perfect father is one who protects his children from harm. John 17. The most intimate conversation ever written between a father and a son is written in John chapter 17.

Jesus said, And now I am no more in the world, and I come to thee, Holy Father. Keep through thine own name those that thou hast given to me. Matthew 26, 53. Thinkest thou that I cannot pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels.

John 10, 28 and 29. And I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish. Neither shall any pluck them out of my hand. My Father who gave them to me is greater than all, and none can pluck them out of my Father's hand.

Oh, the imagery of scripture. That's the picture. Satan wants to destroy the negative. Number eight. The heavenly father is one who prepares for the future. 1 Peter 1. 2. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his abundant mercy, that we have been born again into a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, because we have an inheritance that is incorruptible and undefiled, fades not away, reserved in heaven for you, or kept by the power of God.

The heavenly father is one who leaves an inheritance for his sons. Galatians 4 .7. Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son. And if you're a son, then you're an heir of God through Christ. John 16 .15.

All things Jesus said that the Father hath are mine. The heavenly father and the perfect father is one who takes pleasure in his children. And we learn as we see earthly parents proud of their children.

It's not a sin to be proud of your children if you're proud of them in the right way for the right reasons. Matthew 3 .17. If you want a reference on this. And lo, a voice from heaven sang, This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased.

Hebrews 1 .5. For to which of his angels did he say, At any time thou art my son. This day have I begotten thee. And again, I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. 11. The heavenly father is one who identifies with his children.

And we can learn identification, real identification, as we see an earthly parent relating properly. 1 John 2 .23. Whosoever denies the son has not the father. But he that acknowledges the son hath the father also.

1 John 3 .1. Behold what manner of love the father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of God. Therefore the world knows us not because it knows him not. Total identification. 12. The heavenly father is one who trusts his children.

And we learn as we see earthly parents entrust responsibility to their children and trust them with it. Let them make mistakes. John 3 .35. The father loves the son and has given all things into his hand.

Hebrews 1 .1 and 2. God who at sundry times and in divers manners in the times past spoken to the father by the prophets hath in these last days spoken by his son whom he hath appointed heir to all things and by whom also he made the world.

The Father’s Comfort, Forgiveness, Discipline, and Example

13. The heavenly father is one who comforts his children. You've never seen comfort till you see a mother or a father comfort a child who's been hurt. 1 Thessalonians 2 .11. As you know, we exhorted, comforted and charged every one of you.

How? Just as a father does his children. 14. Our heavenly father and the perfect father is one who knows how to forgive. Luke 15 .21 and 22. And the son said to him, Father, I've sinned against heaven and before thee and am no more worthy to be called your son.

Make me like one of your hired servants. And ye rose and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion about him and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him.

Forgiveness. 15. Our heavenly father is one who chastens. Hebrews 12 .5 -8. And he hath forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as children, my son. Despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, where faint when you are rebuked of him.