Life in the Supernatural
2 Corinthians 10:3-5
This evening I want to take a few moments and talk about something that has been birthed out of our time on Thursday mornings. We are reading a book, a chapter at a time, by Evelyn Christenson, entitled, "Battling the Prince of Darkness." And this past week we read a chapter that referred to our text for the evening. And in my praying this week, God reminded me yet again of the incredible need to pray and to also realize that we are in a spiritual battle that is greater and more intense than probably most in this room realize. I could tell you of instance after instance where Satan is having a heyday with some folks in this room - and those are the ones that I just know about. How many more than that are betting chewed up by the enemy and placed on the sidelines because they've been rendered inoperative by him. Church Family, we must pray more than ever. We must pray more intently than ever. We must pray more specifically than ever.
Some of you are facing some major challenges in the work arena - and you need to pray more than ever in that area. Some of you students are facing some major pressures in school - and you must pray more intently than ever. Some of you families are in the midst of an all out spiritual battle - and the clarion call is to persevere in prayer. Church Family, we are on the frontlines of snatching people from Satan's oppressive kingdom and through Christ alone are placed into the kingdom of light - and we must pray. But will we be found guilty of sleeping in the hour of greatest need? Paul's letter was addressed to a group of believers guilty of sleeping in the midst of the battle. What we find as a result of Paul's writing is that they judged "Paul's ministry by the outward appearance, [hence] they completely missed the power that was there. They were evaluating things "according to the flesh" and not according to the Spirit. The Judaizers, like some "great religious personalities" today, impressed the people with their overpowering abilities, their oratorical powers, and their "commendations" from church leaders."1
2 Corinthians 10:3-5
10:3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh.
10:4 For the weapons of our warfare [are] not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds,
10:5 casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ,
Note some simple points:
-
There is a war that is supernatural v 3
-
We may often focus on the physical realm, but the battle takes place in the spiritual realm. Paul says that "though we may walk in the flesh…." That simply means that we have a physical body and we go around in the flesh. There's a difference to the use of the word flesh here in verse 3 as you compare it to verse 2. Instead of walking in the flesh, we see that Paul says that some walked according to the flesh. What does that mean? Let me put it to you like this. You see someone walk down the street - you see their fleshly body. When some people's mouths open up after something bad has happened to them - you see them responding according to their sinful and selfish flesh.
Paul's point for the Corinthian church is that they must realize that they are in a battle, and it's a battle that is spiritual. And Warren Wiersbe is absolutely right, "You cannot fight spiritual battles with carnal weapons."2
You see, we are in a world that would use weapons like "learning, personal influence, impressive credentials, rhetorical polish, and the like. But Paul said these would never win a spiritual victory. In fact, if you read Philippians 3:4-8, you'll see that he had discarded and discounted those as less than important. Paul makes clear that he did not wage war as the world does or use their weapons."3 We can't either, Church Family.
I want you to understand something that we've talked about before, but let's remind ourselves,
-
The war is never against flesh - other people. I have said on more than one occasion that an individual is not my enemy. As much as I may get uptight over a Jimmy Carter, a Ted Kennedy, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals - none of those are my enemies. Even closer to home when someone may try to criticize what's going on here - they aren't the enemy. Our enemy is Satan and he will do everything he can to get us to fight others or fight amongst ourselves while he still has his way.
But what we see is that "Paul had a grand perspective of an entire battlefield. There was a heaven to gain, and there was a hell to shun. He was in a warfare that was spiritual and that required spiritual weapons."4 And this leads us to the second point,
-
There are weapons that are supernatural v 4a
-
Since the battle is not in the flesh, our weapons cannot be of the flesh. The word "warfare" in this text means "campaign." Paul was not simply fighting a little skirmish in Corinth; the attack of the enemy there was part of a large satanic campaign. Does that change your perspective some? Paul was always addressing the spiritual challenges, the spiritual battle wherever he went. He had a spiritual battle in Galatia, in Ephesus, in Rome. He warned Timothy, Titus and Philemon about the temptation to fall in the spiritual warfare, but not to do so.
It's 2,000 years later, and I want to remind you that the "powers of hell are still trying to destroy the work of God, and it is important that we not yield any ground to the enemy, not even one church!"5 That's why it breaks my heart to read of such an event like this happening amongst these churches. That's why it breaks my heart to hear of church splits, pastors being run off because he wouldn't bend on his convictions, churches too lazy to move out of the category of the "Chosen Frozen" to the "Grateful Debtors to the Lord Jesus Christ". It hurts to hear of people getting into more of an uproar of words being put up on a screen than the Word not getting out into the street. It kills me to hear of some getting upset when folks that don't look like them, smell like them, talk like them come in and sit on "their" pew; when they should be excited that they were witness to a miracle of someone being snatched out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light!
Listen Church Family, as we go on each day from here, I know that we are going to face a myriad of challenges and changes. There will always be needs and folks will always express concerns. You know what? None of those bother me. What will bother me is when we, as a group or as a church, turn our focus off of our purpose of loving God, loving others and serving the world onto issues that, in eternity, really will not mean that much.
I've got some good news for us this evening. We have been given some incredible weapons that will help to keep us on track.
-
The supernatural weapons, unlike the fleshly weapons that are carnal, are mighty. John Walvoord wrote, "Neither the god of this Age nor his henchmen could oppose the knowledge (or power) of God on which Paul relied. No thought, including those of his opponents, is beyond the reach of the One who "catches the wise in their craftiness" and "knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile."6
So what are the weapons? Some time ago we looked at Ephesians 6 and noted that God has given us some defensive weapons as well as some offensive weapons. I want to note just a couple:
-
The Word of God. We need to have confidence in the Word of God. It is the sword of the Spirit. Paul could come to Corinth, that citadel of philosophy and religion, with the weapon of the Word of God. That is exactly the weapon that he used. Paul writes in Ephesians, "And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God" (Ephesians 6:17). Paul drew his trusty sword, and he depended upon the naked blade of it. He wrote, "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek" (Romans 1:16).7 I want to say to you again Church Family that it is of absolute and utmost importance that we hold to the authority and infallibility of God's Word. Jesus used the Word to resist the devil. And if He used it, then how much more do we need it!
-
The presence of the Holy Spirit. Thank God for the promise of and the presence of His Holy Spirit. Believer, how many times have you been dealt a raw deal by life, yet God's Holy Spirit spoke to you in that moment and reminded you that the best is yet to come? How many times have you sat puzzled by some events, yet God's Holy Spirit calmed your spirit with the peace that passes all understanding? How many times have you been at a loss of words or actions, yet God's Spirit spoke through you that which you KNOW did not come from you? Paul recognized his own human weakness. He knew that he was sealed by the Holy Spirit and empowered by the Holy Spirit,8 and so are we! But we have another incredible weapon,
-
Prayer. Thank the Lord for this incredible weapon! I am so grateful that there is incredible power in prayer. Yet, I fear that most believers today limit their praying to things that really are not that significant or important. "Lord, thank you for this food…." Not that food is insignificant or unimportant - but how many times are we really thankful for the food we have?
I'm grateful for the times of prayer, for the emphasis of prayer in all we do. I'm grateful that we have men praying through our services. I'm grateful for the men that meet early on Sunday morning and pray through this room - and we could use many, many more people in here. I'm grateful for our Thursday morning prayer times. I'm grateful for the prayer emphasis through the capital campaign. But I'm telling you that there is so much more that needs to be accomplished in the area of prayer. It's a weapon that is still under used. And it's an absolute necessity if we expect to experience this third point,
-
There is a win that is supernatural vv 4b-5
-
What are some battles that can be won? Paul lists three battles that I see:
-
Over strongholds v 4b. Paul says that the weapons of God are mighty in God for pulling down strongholds. In Paul's day strongholds were high military battlements thrown up in battle. Strongholds are mentioned numerous times in Scripture, 48 times to be exact, and the references would suggest that this was a place extremely difficult to penetrate or defeat. But Paul says that the weapons made available to us by our Lord are mighty in God for pulling down strongholds!
There are no doubt strongholds in people's lives today. There are strongholds that keep people from coming to Christ. There are strongholds that keep some people from living the victorious Christian life. There are strongholds that are hurts, habits and hang-ups. There are strongholds in communities and churches.
For Paul, he faced some community and social strongholds. There were people that vehemently opposed Paul's message. The Judaizers hated Paul. There were others that had a mental stronghold. Like what? "Reasonings that are opposed to the truth of God's Word. Pride of intelligence that exalts itself. Paul was not attacking intelligence, but intellectualism, the high-minded attitude that makes people think they know more than they really do (Romans 12:16)."9 A.T. Robertson writes that "Paul aims to pull down the top-most perch of audacity in their reasonings against the knowledge of God. We need Paul's skill and courage today."10
Going back to this meeting in Atlanta, I'm telling you that it will take these supernatural weapons to help people see that compromising the uncompromising truth of Scripture for the sake of inclusivity is a lethal mistake. And with our society less and less Christian by the minute; and with the leaders of the Church more fearful to offend others than before - it's going to be incredibly difficult to stand, especially if it means standing alone. As we inch ever closer by the year of liberals passing a law where it will be illegal to speak against homosexuality, but legal to defame Christ, there must be a tenacious commitment to fight with the weapons of Almighty God in order to pull down those strongholds and to stay the course.
-
Over arguments v 5a. If you go back to the first chapter of Paul's first letter to the Corinthians, you will find these words (1 Corinthians 1:20-25), "Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men."
And the arguments still continue today. Evolution is no longer taught as a theory (and a bad one at that). It's now fact. Homosexuality is no longer seen as an immoral choice that most are ashamed of. Now it is a coming out choice that should not only be wholly embraced but given the special status of a civil right. Sexual purity is no longer seen as an attribute, an expectation, a godly desire. It is now outdated and certainly there is going to be no one that would even consider be a virgin when they get married. And by the way, the very same psychologists and counselors and today's leading experts that say this are also the same ones that say our society is the most advanced and civilized society yet! Isn't there a contradiction here of major degree? If they think that students today are so absent of self-control and are going to act like animals; so let's let them act that way "safely" isn't there a contradiction?
Oh the need for believers today to stand toe to toe with those so-called experts and show that they are warped in their presentation! "What if they don't listen, preacher?" Then go to Romans 1 and see where Paul says that God has given some over to a depraved mind. But it still doesn't change the truth; nor does it change the fact that God has given us supernatural weapons that can bring about a supernatural victory!
Students, I want you to hear me. Even when you may be mocked, laughed at, scorned, ignored because you say that you are a Christian that still believes the Bible is true from front to back and that God is creator and that you're related to Adam and not Willie B; you stay at it. When your science teacher would choose to cram a theory down your throat and then say that creationism is only for the simple or foolish minded - just remember that you will never have to "rework" creationism as they will have to continually rework evolution because facts continue to disprove that faulty theory. Even though some may mock you and say that your beliefs are outdated and that you should compromise your values and let go of your sexual purity - just remember that at any time you can become like them, but they can never become like you. You'll still be free from guilt and fear and also have a gift they can never give their spouse on the wedding night -sexual purity.
There's a third area where we can win, and boy what a need for today,
-
Over a wandering and carnal mind v 5b. Paul said, "bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ." Wow! Every thought? Absolutely. Into captivity to the obedience of Christ? There's no one better to be held to! The main point of this in the context means those that may have held to beliefs contrary to the Word of God. And when a man comes to Christ, I'm telling you that his thought processes will change. But I think an argument can also be made for the believer who must always realize that there is a continual battle for the mind. And it is only through the weapons of God that every thought can be taken captive. Do you battle pornography, alcohol, bitterness, unforgiveness, inability to concentrate, insecurity, loneliness, distrust of others? A change won't come about until there is a change in the yearnings of our soul and in our thought process.
We say this too much today - but it really speaks more to our faith and trust in the One that saved us: "I just can't." "I just can't give up that habit…. I just can't forgive…. I just can't get past it…." I know there are some things that happen in life that are difficult, extremely difficult to get past. And I know that it may take a long time to work through some of those things. But I want you to understand that every thought must be taken captive to the obedience of Christ before there will ever be any progress made and a victory won.