Be the Strong Man for Your House!

[00:00:00] All right, let's go in our Bible to the book of Matthew 12, Matthew 12. [00:00:16] I think the Lord just worked this out with our study in Matthew. Lord willing, tonight we will be looking at verses 22, 22 to 32, rather. [00:00:29] But as I was thinking about that and reading through this passage in preparation for today, I came across something that is fitting for fathers as well. And so we'll see that in just a minute in one of these verses in this passage. So we'll start in Matthew 12:22. [00:00:51] The Bible says, this then was brought unto him, unto Jesus. [00:00:55] One possessed with a devil, blind and dumb, and he healed him insomuch that the blind and dumb both spake and saw. [00:01:09] And all the people were amazed and said, is not this the son of David? [00:01:14] But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, this fellow doth not cast out devils. But by Beelzebub, the prince of the devils. And Jesus knew their thoughts and said unto them, every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation. [00:01:32] And every city or house divided against itself shall not stand. [00:01:37] And if Satan cast out Satan, he is divided against himself. How shall then his kingdom stand? [00:01:45] And if I, by Beelzebub, cast out devils, by whom do your children cast them out? Therefore they shall be your judges. [00:01:55] But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you. [00:02:04] Or else, how can one enter into a strong man's house and spoil his goods? Except he first binds the strong man, and then he will spoil his house. [00:02:17] And he that is not with me is against me. And he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad. [00:02:23] Wherefore I say unto you, all manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men. [00:02:29] But the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men. [00:02:35] And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him. [00:02:39] But whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him. Neither in this world, neither in the world to come. [00:02:48] Let's pray together. [00:02:50] Thank you, Father, for the opportunity to study your word. Thank you for the opportunity to honor our fathers on Father's Day. Thank you, Lord, for the chance as well, and the honor to be a father. [00:03:03] To have children, to. To have people. That, Lord, you've given to me. And to us, Lord, that serve as mirrors whereby we can see ourselves. [00:03:14] And by our children's actions and temperaments, we ourselves can grow. Lord, we thank you for that. [00:03:21] Lord. Help us to grow today as we look in your word as we consider what your word says and is particularly applicable to us as fathers. Help us to receive the truth with all meekness and humility to respond to it, Lord, to respond to the words of the living God. [00:03:41] And so, Lord, I just confess I have no power or ability to help your people. Lord, I trust you to use your word to speak to each and every person here that they might be edified and strengthened. Lord, if there be one among us who is not born again, who does not know the Lord Jesus Christ, would you and your spirit please prick the heart of that person and open their eyes to their need, because we ask all in Jesus name. Amen. [00:04:10] Now, as you can see, the verse I want to concentrate on is in verse number 29. 29. [00:04:17] And the Lord says, I'll just read it one more time to get it fresh into our memory. [00:04:21] The Lord says, or else how can one enter into a strong man's house and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man and then he will spoil his house? [00:04:33] Of course, in this particular passage, the Lord is talking about he's being accused of casting out devils by the power of the devil, right? And so he's responding to that accusation, that really irrational accusation in this passage. And when you get to verse 29, the point that the Lord is making here, he's using this kind of parable, this illustration with the strongman's house as an illustration for his power to cast out devils. So in this case, verse number 29 is, he's referring to the devil as the strong man, and he himself is referring to himself as a thief. [00:05:19] And this is not the only time the Lord Jesus refers to himself as a thief. You know, that in his second coming, he refers to himself by comparison as a thief in the night. So this is not a surprise he refers to himself in this way. [00:05:32] But in this case, in verse 29, Jesus is the thief who comes into someone's house where a strong man lives. [00:05:40] And of course, the strongman's not going to stand aside while the thief comes in and plunders his house. He's going to put up a fight and resist. [00:05:48] And Jesus is saying, that's what the devil. That's what the devil that possesses a person does. He does not give up his ground willingly. He must be overcome. [00:05:58] Right? That's what he's saying. And he's saying, I am the one who is stronger. In fact, if you take a peek with me, if you would, at Luke chapter 11, I'll show you the parallel passage very quickly, Luke 11. [00:06:12] Look at verse 22, Luke 11, verse number 22, verse 21, to pick up the context. Here says this, Luke 11:21 When a strong man armed, keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace. [00:06:35] But when a stronger than he shall come upon him and overcome him, he taketh from him all his armor wherein he trusted, and divideth divideth his spoils. Notice it says in verse 22, when a stronger than he. So what the Lord is saying in this passage is he's saying, I'm the thief, and when I go somewhere to plunder it. When someone is controlled by the devil, who's the strong man? I'm stronger. That's the whole point of this. [00:07:01] He's flexing his muscles and saying, I am stronger than Satanic power. When I speak, they bow, and when I cast them out, they have no choice but to leave. And that's actually demonstrating his identity, who he is. [00:07:19] And so in this case we see that the Lord is not the strong man. Rather, the Lord is the one that has come to plunder the strongman. [00:07:27] And the only way that he can do that is by first binding and disabling the strongman, then he gets to rule the house. [00:07:39] But I want to take this example that the Lord gives in verse number 29, because he gives a good, sound example. [00:07:48] I hope if you're a man and you have a family, I hope you were able to see yourself in this verse. And I don't think it's doing any injustice to the verse to see ourselves, men and husbands and fathers, as the strong men. Because the Lord is saying, this is the, this is the way man works. [00:08:08] That's why he's using this. Anytime you see a parable in Scripture that the Lord uses parables, and he often did, he's drawing off of a well known reality of life. And that's what we see here. Many of you probably have guns in your house. [00:08:22] Maybe not everybody, but many of you probably do. I know I do. [00:08:25] And In Luke chapter 11, we saw how the strong man is armed. You, you saw that. Now, of course they didn't have guns, but they definitely had other things that could be used that were equivalent to guns at that time. But the idea is, if you're a family, if you're a husband, if you're a father and you have a family, you are the strong man of your house and in the natural order. [00:08:48] I sure hope that if there was an intruder that you're not locking your doors while your kids are trying to figure out what to do. You're not locking your. You're not going into the closet and say, honey, would you please take care of this problem? [00:09:03] Maybe there's some that would do that. Of course you wouldn't do that. You're the strongman of the house. So what is the strongman? We know this. This is obvious. Is it your wife? [00:09:13] Is it your children? [00:09:15] In the home, who is the strong man? [00:09:17] That's daddy. In your home, who's the strongman? That's husband. [00:09:24] The strong man is the man of the house. The strong man is the patriarch. And as we see by virtue of the Lord using this as a parable, we see it's our duty to defend our home. [00:09:38] This is a biblical truce. It's a duty to defend our home. This is also found in the Old Testament as well. The Old Testament law, when a thief comes in to break up or to steal, someone smite him that he died. That man is not guilty of blood. [00:09:53] That's a truth from God's law. [00:09:57] So you see this truth. But what I want to point out before we move any further is first of all, the house. [00:10:06] I just have three things I want to show you, okay? First is the house. Notice what it says in verse number 29. [00:10:12] Or else how can one enter into a strong man's house. [00:10:17] House and spoil his goods? Now, let me ask you a question. To start. What is the thief coming to do? [00:10:27] What is the thief there to do? [00:10:30] Is the thief coming there to because he wants to confront the strongman? No, he's not. The strongman is just there. He lives there. He's kind of incidental to the main purpose of the thief. Why is the thief there? He sneaks in at night because there are goods. That's what we see in verse 29. He will spoil his goods. [00:10:51] Says two times, spoil his house, spoil his goods. So the thief is there not for the strong man, not to do him harm. He could have done him harm out on the street. The thief is there because he has his eye on the goods of the house and of course, the goods of the house. Just like in your house. [00:11:09] The goods of the house refers to those things that a thief would want. Those valuables, jewelry, maybe money that you have stuffed between your mattresses or anything else of value in your home. [00:11:23] Your tv, maybe your computer, your cell phone, whatever he might be able to. Your guns, some of you probably had guns stolen. That's a prime object for a thief. [00:11:36] So the goods of the house in this verse refer to those valuables within the house that the thief would like to take and would like to plunder. And I want to tell you something. [00:11:46] And you know this. This is just a reminder in your home, men, there is nothing more valuable within the four walls of that home than your wife and your children. [00:12:01] Those are the goods of value. [00:12:05] I mean, if you were ever put into a situation where you had to choose between jewelry or a computer or your wife and kids, which one would you choose? Well, obviously, they can have the jewelry, they can have the phone, they can have the gun. [00:12:22] Just not the wife and kids. Right? Because the wife and kids are the most valuable things that we have in this life. [00:12:29] Can I get an amen? [00:12:31] Your wife, men, your wife and your kids are the most valuable things that you have in this life. [00:12:40] Those are the goods of yours in verse 29. [00:12:46] But those are also the goods that the thief of our soul has his eye upon. [00:12:56] There is nothing, there's nothing more valuable than your wife and kids and Satan in this context. That's what he's talking about in verse 28. He cast out devils by the spirit of God. He mentioned Satan in verse 26. If Satan cast out Satan. So the strongman in this is talking about. He's talking about the work of Satan. Okay? I want you to understand that. And Satan in this context especially, he doesn't care about your. About your gold. [00:13:26] Satan doesn't care about your guns. He doesn't care about your computer. He doesn't care about any of the valuable things that a human thief would care about if they tried to burglarize your house at night. That's not what he cares about. Satan cares about the real valuables in your life and in your home, and that is your wife and your children. [00:13:46] Those are the valuables that he wants. [00:13:50] He does want to plunder and destroy your wife and your little kids. [00:13:59] He does want to destroy and plunder your wife and your little kids. [00:14:04] First Peter, chapter five. Look at that, if you would, very quickly. [00:14:08] First Peter, chapter five. [00:14:20] To be honest with you, I think we have a. [00:14:23] I think we have been deceived. [00:14:27] Largely I say we. I'm referring to Christians in general. [00:14:31] We have been deceived about what the devil is really after. [00:14:38] He has been good. He has done well at camouflaging his goals. We have this idea probably because we spend too much time listening about religion on the television or radio or whatever and not enough time in the actual Bible. [00:14:58] But we get this idea that the Lord's. I'm sorry, Satan's job and his ultimate goal is to make us sad. [00:15:08] He's trying to take away all of our things and put us in the. In the, you know, put us in the muck and mire of discouragement. You know, you listen to Southern gospel songs. That's all you hear, is it not? That's all you hear. The devil's really getting me down. That's not what he's trying to do. He is trying to obliterate your wife and your kids. [00:15:30] He's trying to drag their soul to the lake of fire. [00:15:35] It's not about whether you're happy or I'm happy at all. [00:15:41] He has much more sinister goals than just our temporal happiness. [00:15:48] He wants to take the souls of our children. [00:15:51] He wants to ruin and mar the name of Christ by using our life to do it. [00:16:00] Serious. First, Peter 5, 8. [00:16:03] Look at what it says. [00:16:06] Be sober. [00:16:08] Be vigilant. [00:16:09] You think of the strong man, right? [00:16:12] Because your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom he may devour. So he's looking for opportunity. That's what you see here. [00:16:24] He's looking for opportunity. And as opportunity presents itself, so he will pounce to devour. Notice the word devour. [00:16:35] That's not making you and me sad. [00:16:38] That's eating us up, destroying us entirely, our faith, our life. [00:16:45] He says this verse 9. Whom resists steadfast in the faith. Notice that. Whom resist steadfast in the faith. Now, if you are going to resist steadfastly, you are going to need some strength. You are going to need to be a strong man, like we read in verse 29. [00:17:06] Just like if you're going to resist a thief in our day, I would suggest that you learn how to use a weapon, because when they come into your house, they're going to have a weapon. [00:17:17] And you had better be able to meet force with force, right? [00:17:23] That's the idea of a strong man, right? And it might not have anything to do with the size of your biceps or your, you know, or anything like that, but this verse says, resist steadfast. [00:17:36] You're going to need some spiritual strength to resist the opportunities that. That Satan is seeking to devour your wife and your children. [00:17:49] You. Yes, but really he's seeking those who are weaker. [00:17:55] He's seeking opportunity, easy prey. [00:17:59] And it's just a fact that your wife and kids are that. [00:18:05] Your wife and kids are that. [00:18:12] Imagine with me what would be the result if. Instead, go back to Matthew 12, if you would, in verse 29. What if this thief seeks to enter into a house that doesn't belong to a strong man, but belongs to a weak man because he says strong man. [00:18:31] In that case, entering into this kind of house would be easy. There's no resistance at all. [00:18:38] He hides, he runs, he flees. [00:18:43] When the thief has come in to destroy his goods, his valuables, to take them, would you allow an intruder to come into your house unmolested, unopposed? Would you do that, men? [00:18:58] Would you allow that? [00:19:03] No way. [00:19:06] In fact, if someone did that, we would say that that's probably one of the greatest acts of betrayals that a man could do against his family. [00:19:14] Right? [00:19:15] And that doesn't mean he's not terrified. [00:19:18] I mean, have any of you ever been in a place where you thought somebody was in your house? I'm sure you weren't scared, right? There was no fear. No, no, no. But that doesn't matter. [00:19:28] Fear doesn't matter when your wife and your family, when your wife and kids are at stake. Fear doesn't matter because to do anything else would be betrayal. [00:19:38] Here's what I want you to see. [00:19:41] What is true in the physical sense is also true in the spiritual. [00:19:47] How is it that we could, as men, as husbands and as fathers, would confront an intruder in our home and play the part of that strong man to defend our family in that case? But spiritually we're gone. [00:20:09] Spiritually, we're absent. We're not there. [00:20:13] We're not a strong man. We're a weak man who is hiding in the closet when he should be confronting the intruder, the thief. [00:20:20] And there are so many men that that is the case. [00:20:25] But the most valuable things that you have are your wife and kids. That's the house being referred to in 29. [00:20:33] That's the goal of Satan. [00:20:35] The valuables, your wife and your kids. [00:20:39] So that's the house. [00:20:41] The second thing I want you to see is the strongman, verse 29. [00:20:46] Or else how can one enter into a strong man's house and. And spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man? I want to encourage you, gentlemen. This is Father's Day. [00:20:59] I'm not going to speak nice to fathers. I really. I do not have a lot of. Just personally, this is Adam talking here. I do not have a lot of patience to coddle and speak easy to men on spiritual things. [00:21:14] If you know it is right, you ought to be doing it. [00:21:18] If you know what the will of God is, you ought to be doing it. [00:21:27] Men should not need to be. Men should not need to be handled with kid gloves. [00:21:36] So I want to encourage you. [00:21:38] I want to charge you gentlemen to Be the strong man of your house, to be the man that's going to confront the intruder who has his eye on your wife and your kids. I want to encourage you to be that man, to be armed, to be ready, because look at first Corinthians, chapter 16. I want to show you. It's not just me saying this. The Lord says it, too. Look at First Corinthians, if you would. Chapter 16, First Corinthians, 1613. [00:22:27] Look at what it says. Watch ye stand fast in the faith implies strength, does it not? Stand fast means there's an assault. It's hard. [00:22:39] It is contrary the circumstances, and yet we're not moving. We're not running, we're not fleeing, we're not sliding. We're standing. We're immobile. You see this? That's the language being described here. You have to have strength to do that. [00:22:58] This is not talking about physical things. So don't misunderstand. [00:23:01] Watch he. Stand fast in the faith. [00:23:04] Quit you like men, be strong. [00:23:09] You see that? God is telling us. [00:23:12] God is telling us. This is written to all Christians, but I'm applying it right now to the husbands and to the fathers and to those who want to be that. [00:23:19] The Lord says to us. He commands us. He commands us. [00:23:24] And it's a command that we cannot simply ignore. He says, quote, quit you like men. Be strong. [00:23:31] So I think I have biblical grounds to say, gentlemen, be the strong man in your home for your wife and for your children. Be that guy spiritually. Because that's what we're talking about here, and this is not what we're talking about here, is not natural strength. [00:23:48] This is not the strength that is promoted in this world as I already described, you know, if I ask, you know, if any man you know that has a wife, has children, if you ask him, would you let an intruder come to your house? Nine out of ten men would say, no, I'm not going to let that happen. I mean, we get that. But those same men are not strong men in the spiritual world at all. [00:24:10] That should not be, because you are not only responsible for your family physically, gentlemen, you're also responsible for their spiritual care also. We are. [00:24:26] Ephesians, chapter 6, verse 10. Notice what this says. Finally, brethren, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. You know that verse. But notice the strength the Lord is pointing out. He says, be strong. We read it a minute ago. First Corinthians, 16:13. Watch ye. Stand fast in the faith. Quit you like men, be strong. He adds in Ephesians 6, first verse 10, he adds, be strong in the Lord. I don't. Listen, I don't care. [00:24:55] I don't care how much iron you pump. I don't care how much you can bench. I don't care how much you can squat or curl. I don't care about any of that. If you can do that, great on you. But that is not what we're talking about here. We're talking about spiritual strength in the Lord Jesus Christ, that strength. And you know what? You can go to the gym, and I encourage you to do so. You can go to the gym and you can get strong, and you just do your routine right? You do your reps. You do it, you do it, you do it. And you'll get strong. Over time, you'll get strong, but you're going to have to put some work into this thing if you're going to be strong for the Lord Jesus Christ. [00:25:30] And you are going to have to be strong when the intruder arrives at your family. [00:25:36] You're going to have to have something more than just average, average strength, because he is going to be strong. Remember In Matthew, chapter 12, verse 29, the one who's invading is the Lord Jesus Christ. He's stronger. So in the way we're looking at it here in the natural sense, when that intruder comes, you better have some strength from God in the Lord Jesus Christ. That means you are going to have to work on you. [00:26:04] You and I, we are going to have to work on us. [00:26:08] Just like the man who goes to the gym to get strong physically, he's got to work on him before he can exert that strength in some activity. And so it is with us. We have to be strong in us, in the Lord Jesus Christ, so that we can play the part of the strong man for our family. [00:26:27] You know, there's a lot of men who are strong in body and they might brag about how much they can lift or how much alcohol they can hold, but they're wusses and pushovers spiritually. [00:26:47] They have no ethics. [00:26:49] They have no principles. [00:26:51] They have no heart for God. [00:26:54] They don't walk with God. [00:26:56] They don't bow their knee to his strength. [00:26:59] They're not upright in life. [00:27:02] They're not living in God's will. [00:27:06] They do not live by immovable godly principles. [00:27:11] They do not have clean consciences. [00:27:15] They put up practically no resistance to temptation at all. [00:27:21] They're not worthy examples to their wife and to their kids to emulate. [00:27:27] They have no driving godly purpose in their life. They just float right from pleasure to pleasure. [00:27:36] They have no willingness nor capacity to instruct their families at all. [00:27:45] You know what that is? That's a spiritual wuss. [00:27:50] That's what that is. [00:27:53] That's someone who has no spiritual strength, skin and bones, spiritually. [00:28:01] Remember, the Lord has called you, man, father, husband, to be strong. [00:28:09] He has called you to be able to do these things, to have some might remember David's mighty men, right? He's called you to be that. He has commanded you. He has commanded me to be that, to pump iron, to get strong, to develop skill so that you can stand when the intruder comes. You can stand between that wife and those kids and the danger. [00:28:44] Let's look at a few verses, really quick. [00:28:47] Look at Acts, chapter 18. [00:28:50] Look at Acts, chapter 18. [00:29:09] Acts 18, verse number 24. [00:29:19] Verse 24 says this. And a certain Jew named Apollos, born at Alexandria, an eloquent man. Notice what it says here. And mighty. [00:29:27] That's strong, right? Mighty in the scriptures. [00:29:30] Came to Ephesus to be a strong man in the Lord, like the scriptures say in Ephesians 6:10. You should know the scriptures. [00:29:41] You see this? He was mighty in the scriptures. [00:29:45] I'll just say this, gentlemen, husbands and fathers, you ought to know the Bible way better than your wife and kids. Not as a matter of comparison, but how in the world are you going to be able to instruct them if you don't know what it says, right? And this is your and my responsibility to our wife and to our kids to be the one that the scriptures describe it very clearly that your wife, she is to go to you with the questions. You cannot, I cannot just say, oh, never thought about it. [00:30:18] You got to be in that Bible. You got to know what it says. You need to be mighty in the scriptures if you're going to be the strongman for your home. [00:30:26] Not only that, but you should be able to teach the those things to your family. Well, I'm not a preacher, I'm not a teacher. [00:30:35] You are a husband, you are a father. And with that comes the responsibility of instructing your family. You know that you are the source of information for your family. [00:30:45] You are the primary source before any other source. You are the primary source and in fact, you are also supposed to be the filter for any other information that might come out, that might interact with them. You're the filter. You know what we should want is we should want our kids and our wife. If they hear something a little, maybe they think it's a little off, that they go straight to You. And they say, hon, I heard this, Dad, I heard this. [00:31:11] I don't know. I don't really know what the Bible says on it. Can you help me with this? You ought to be the one they go to instinctively and you ought to have an answer. [00:31:21] But you're going to have to pump some iron. [00:31:23] Some Bible iron, right? To be that strong man knows the scripture, mighty in the scripture, and be able to teach it as well. Because that's what Apollos was doing. [00:31:35] He was mighty in the scriptures and he was teaching other people because he was mighty in the scriptures. Look at First John, if you would. Chapter 2. 1 John, chapter 2, verse number 14. [00:32:05] First John 2:14 says this. I have written unto you fathers because you have known him. That is from the beginning. Do you know God? [00:32:14] Written to fathers here. Do you know God? [00:32:18] Not of God. Do you know him personally? Like, are you born again? Do you know God? If you do not, if you have not been born again, you do not know God. You know of God, but you do not know him. Because to know him is eternal life. First John says that. [00:32:32] But. So say, you know God, but do you know him well? [00:32:38] Do you walk with him? [00:32:40] Do you listen to him, hear his voice and fellowship with him? [00:32:45] He says, I have written unto you fathers because ye have known Him. That is from the beginning. I've written unto you young men because ye are what? Strong. What does that mean? And the Word of God abideth in you. And ye have overcome the wicked one. See that you're strong. And the word of God abides in you. You know what that means? That means if you're going to be a strong man, not only you know the Scripture and you're able to teach the Scripture, but you also live by the Scripture. You abide in the word of God. It is a part of you. [00:33:18] It is the guiding force for the decisions that you make. [00:33:24] Is that your life, gentlemen? [00:33:28] Is that your life? [00:33:34] Look at Proverbs 24. [00:33:38] Proverbs 24, verse number five. [00:33:45] Proverbs 24, verse number 5. [00:33:52] If you're going to be a strong man for the Lord Jesus Christ, you need to be wise in the use of application of the Scripture. Proverbs 24, verse 5. Look at what this says. [00:34:08] A wise man is what? [00:34:12] Strong. [00:34:13] See that? [00:34:15] A wise man is strong. [00:34:18] It's not muscles. [00:34:21] This is spiritual strength. [00:34:24] Yea, a man of knowledge increaseth strength. You see, by you knowing the Scriptures, the Scriptures abiding in you, by you living by them and knowing God through them, you know what happens you become strong. [00:34:43] You become a strong man for the Lord Jesus Christ. [00:34:47] You become a strong man that is able to confront the ones who have their eye on your wife and your kids. [00:35:00] You have strength. [00:35:01] But the last way you can be a strong man is. And we've already covered it, so I won't cover it again. But in Ephesians, chapter 6, Be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. And he tells you to put on the whole armor of God that you might be able to withstand in the evil day. [00:35:18] So to be a strong man, you need to be able to resist with all your spiritual might satanic efforts to. To influence yourself or your family. [00:35:28] You're going to have to have some strength. You're going to have to know the Word and know the God of the Word. [00:35:33] You're going to have to not only know it, but live by it. [00:35:36] Grow in, be the whole of your value system and your worldview. This is your life. You're a man that is mighty in the Scriptures. [00:35:47] If you're going to be the strong man for your family, you don't have a chance. I don't have a chance, otherwise. Your family doesn't have a chance. Otherwise. [00:35:56] Look at Romans 15, if you would. [00:35:59] Romans chapter 15, Romans 15, verse 1. [00:36:20] I want to give you a warning, though, about being the strongman in your family. [00:36:24] The Lord says to be the strongman, right? He tells you to. [00:36:28] There's a warning because sometimes people misunderstand that, take it to unhealthy and unbiblical extremes. [00:36:36] So I want to give you a warning to beware of your attitude toward the weaker ones in your home, your wife and those little lambs. [00:36:47] In 1st Peter 3:7, the wife is called what? The weaker vessel. That means her strength doesn't match yours. And that can have various facets of meaning. It can touch on various aspects of her life and your life. But it does say she is a weaker vessel. That means your strength is greater than hers. You have to keep that in mind, right? That's part of being the strong man. You know, you see a guy who's these sometimes I've seen videos on the Internet and things where these bodybuilders, you know, they'll be going to a bodybuilding convention and they are just absolutely ripped. But it's amazing how gentle these guys can be right now. If strength is needed, they have it. But gentleness is also something that characterizes a lot of these guys. [00:37:30] And so it is with someone who's spiritually strong. [00:37:34] Romans 15:1 says this we then that are strong, that's you, that's what you and I are supposed to be, ought to bear the infirmities of the weak and not to please ourselves. [00:37:46] Let every one of us please his neighbor for his good to edification. For even Christ. There was none stronger than he, right? There was none stronger than the Lord Jesus Christ. [00:37:56] There was none stronger than the Lord Jesus Christ. And he was the most compassionate. He was the one who condescended the most. He was the one who bore the burdens of others the most. Yet he was the strongest. So certainly we can do that if we're going to be the strong man for our family, right? [00:38:13] We can bear their burdens, he says, for even Christ pleased not himself. But as it is written, the reproaches of them that reproached thee fell on me. You can be that as a strong man. You can be the servant to your family, you know that. [00:38:28] Be the servant to them, all of your desires. Part of that spiritual strength is, you know, people talk about. People talk about strength as a man, you know, physically speaking, all the things he can do, he can do this, he can do that, he can do this, he can do that. When you're spiritually strong, you know what that means? It means you have the ability. God is his grace is so active in your life that you can say no to me and put others needs before yours and bear their burden. Because you're strong, you can bear your own and theirs. [00:39:00] Spiritual strength, right? [00:39:04] This is what God has called us to man. [00:39:08] This is it. [00:39:09] Bearing the burden of the family, being the strength and the source of instruction and knowledge for the family, being the example for the family. This is what the Lord has called us to back in Matthew 12. As we finish up here, I want to point out one more thing. So we've got the house, we've got the strongman. But there's one thing you have got to get and I've got to get. We've got to keep it in our minds. Verse 29, One more time says this, or else how can one enter into a strong man's house and spoil his goods except he first. What does it say? [00:39:47] Bind the strong man. You see, if you have a man in a house, the master of that house, the patriarch of that house, and he is a strong man, which is what we're saying we need to be. [00:39:59] But he's tied up, he's bound, he is useless to defend his wife and children. [00:40:08] So I want to tell you gentlemen that the target's going to be upon you. [00:40:14] Satan doesn't want you, he wants the goods in your home. He wants what's valuable. But he's going to target you to tie you up, which will then give him access to the goods. [00:40:30] He's not concerned with you, with the strongman himself, because that's not his goal. [00:40:37] So I want to tell you something, gentlemen. [00:40:40] When you as a husband or you as a father, you as a leader, when you are bound in sin yourself, Luke 11:22 says, overcome the strongman. When you are overcome with sin yourself, you are then powerless to oppose the spoiling of those under your care. Because you yourself have already been spoiled. [00:41:02] You're bound up, you're tied up. You can't help them. [00:41:07] In other words. Here's what I want to tell you gentlemen. In other words, where you stand with the Lord, whether you're involved in sin, whether your life is a wreck, whether your life is morally corrupt, whether you live uprightly or not uprightly, that is going to directly affect those that you are charged with being the strongman for. [00:41:32] How can you help your family spiritually when you need spiritual help yourself? How can you help them spiritually when you yourself are compromised? You can't. You're tied up, you're bound. [00:41:45] It is when a man is personally compromised that he is neutered and debilitated spiritually so that he is ashamed to lead his family. And this is how it happens. [00:41:59] A man gets compromised with sin. [00:42:02] And I'll tell you one right off the bat. Proverbs 7:26. Listen, listen carefully to this verse, gentlemen. [00:42:09] Speaking of the strange woman, it says this. For she, the strange woman hath cast down many wounded, yea, many. What's it say? Many strong men have been slain by her. [00:42:24] Beware. [00:42:26] Beware, beware. [00:42:32] You see, when sin gets into your life and you're compromised and you're not right with the Lord and your conscience is defiled, you're ashamed to lead your family. And so you know what you'll do? [00:42:47] You won't. You cannot credibly lead, lead your family and so you won't, you will not credibly provide the example. [00:42:57] The result of that will be these weaker ones, your wife, these little lambs who need listen now. They need your godly example, they need your godly strength, they need your guidance. [00:43:12] They need. God has so ordered the family that they need your clear vision of God's will. [00:43:23] They need your stone faced resolution to do what is right, to do God's will under all circumstances, without compromise and without slippage. That's what they need. [00:43:37] They need that. That's why you're. [00:43:44] But when you're not, they're left to figure it out for themselves. [00:43:47] And God has not equipped them to do that. [00:43:50] He's equipped you to do that and me to do that. [00:43:56] And the sad thing is, is they will reap the harm of it when we're not there. Because they're weaker. [00:44:03] They're weaker. [00:44:07] So I want to encourage you, strong man, be very careful of being bound by sin yourself, because it will fall out to your wife and to your little kids. [00:44:17] It absolutely will. [00:44:21] So my question to you, gentlemen is this. [00:44:25] Are you going to take seriously. Am I going to take seriously the charge God has given us? To be the strongman for our family? [00:44:34] To stand between our family and the spiritual influences and forces that are there to destroy them? And they will. If we listen, if we tuck tail and run, if we flee, if we wuss out, it's going to harm them. [00:44:55] Us, yes, but them. [00:44:57] Are you going to be the strong man for your family? [00:45:01] Are you going to be that guy who learns to walk with God and obey the Lord and do his will and have that resolution, spiritual resolution, that godly example, and be the one who's able to instruct your wife and your children in the ways of God in the scriptures? Are you going to be the man who's mighty in scriptures or not? [00:45:20] Make a decision. [00:45:22] Make a decision. Your wife, your family need you there. [00:45:28] They need you there to be that strong man. [00:45:33] Let's pray.