FOUNDATION FOR VICTORY

Introduction

-{2 Corinthians 10}

-At the beginning of the 20th century military strategy changed dramatically. For the longest time war had centered around horses and cavalry officers, close quarters, short gun ranges, and even hand to hand combat. But as technology changed, those forms of battle became irrelevant. Horses were no match for shells and machine guns. If a side were to win, they would need to adapt. If there was to be victory, they needed to found themselves on strategies of war that were appropriate for the times.

-And I believe that this is our way of thinking of the spiritual battles that we face. As I close my series on spiritual warfare, we need to conform ourselves to what it is that the Bible says is to be our strategy. We have a powerful enemy that battles against us, and what we need to learn from today’s passage is that our foundation for victory in spiritual warfare is to fight the battles God’s way. May it lead us to find victory in the battle we face.

2 Corinthians 10:3–6 LSB

3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, 4 for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the tearing down of strongholds, 5 as we tear down speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ, 6 and are ready to punish all disobedience, whenever your obedience is fulfilled.

-{pray}

-To give a bit of context to our passage this morning, there were false apostles who had penetrated the Corinthian church. They were without a doubt teaching false doctrine of some sort. But they were also attacking Paul himself—that he was weak, that he was powerless, that he was not teaching the truth. So, these false apostles were undermining the church’s confidence in Paul and were undermining the church’s confidence in the gospel.

-We could say that Paul was facing combat on two fronts—he was having to defend himself and his credentials on the one hand, and on the other he was having to defend the unadulterated gospel of Jesus Christ. This was war. And so Paul uses the imagery of war to describe what he experienced and to describe how God would have him battle the enemies. What Paul says about the conflict that he experiences very much aligns with the conflicts that we face. And what Paul says is God’s way of obtaining victory very much applies to how we will win the warfare that we face. I want us to understand this warfare and I want us to understand where victory lies. There are four lessons about how we battle that will lead us to victory in our spiritual conflicts. First, we need to:

1) Battle in the right field

-Notice in v. 3 that Paul admits that we walk in the flesh—meaning that we live life as corporeal bodies on this earth and we suffer from the weaknesses that it entails. We are here on this earth, living life as best as we can in cursed bodies on a cursed earth. And because of the curse, we are vulnerable to attacks of our enemy.

-But notice what Paul goes on to say at the end of v. 3—even though we walk in the flesh we do not war according to the flesh. Yes, we are fleshly creatures on a physical earth. But that is not where the battlefield actually is, and there is nothing within the realm of flesh and world that can help us to battle and win.

-Even though we are here on this earth and we see the physicality of it, the physical realm is not the battlefield and the world cannot help us in any way. The battlefield is in the spiritual realm. That is where the true enemy resides, that is where the war is actually fought.

-But you might say: Yeah, but Paul was facing actual physical humans. Paul had enemies on this earth and they were working against him on this earth, so the battle must happen in the flesh, in the world, on this earth. Paul says, however, that is not the battlefield. The world is not where we fight and it does not determine how we fight. It is spiritual warfare—the battle is in the spiritual realm and we fight in spiritual ways. If you decide to fight the physical realm and use fleshly means of doing it, you will not obtain victory. There is a spiritual power that is behind those physical enemies, and victory is found in battling and winning against the spiritual enemy.

-If your focus is here in the flesh, that in no way stops our spiritual enemy from just using a different physical puppet. Be it actual human enemies, or it could be a battle against temptation, or the battle against depression, or whatever. We need to battle against the spiritual power behind the curtain. The right field for our battle is spiritual, not physical. So, if we want victory, we have to battle in that field according to the rules of engagement in that realm.

-So, picture it this way. The war between Ukraine and Russia is still going on. Suppose that Ukraine rounds up a battalion of soldiers to join the fight. They load this battalion on a large cargo plane to take them to fight the Russians. The plane finally lands after an unusually long trip, and as the soldiers disembark from the plane, they notice that they aren’t anywhere near the front lines. Rather, they ended up in Brazil.

~This battalion will not win any conflicts, and Ukraine will not find victory over the Russians. Why? Because the soldiers aren’t even in the right field for battle. The war isn’t happening in Brazil. It’s happening around the border of Ukraine and Russia. If they want to find victory and win wars, they have to be where fighting is actually going on.

-Or, picture it another way. Think about your favorite college football team. Let’s say that they are supposed to be the visiting team going against Wisconsin on Saturday. So, they’re traveling on the bus. They get to the stadium, they get all their gear on, and run out onto the field, and once on the field they’re like: Wait a minute, this isn’t Camp Randall stadium in Madison, Wisconsin. This is Raymond James Stadium at the University of South Florida—the opposite end of the country. They can’t get the victory over Wisconsin at the wrong field.

-We can’t get victory if we’re trying to battle in the wrong field. So, yes, we do face enemies on this earth who are real and physical. We do face discouragement and temptation. But our victory is not won if we just concentrate on them and do battle against them using the ways of the world and the ways of the flesh. We find the victory when we battle in the realm of the spirit against the spiritual powers that are behind the physical enemies. But there is a second lesson regarding how we fight or what we fight with—so Paul tells us to:

2) Battle with the right weapons

-Notice in v. 4 that Paul says that the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh. You cannot use earthly, fleshly weapons against spiritual enemies. So, in one literal, surface-level sense, you cannot use guns or knives in a spiritual battle. They do nothing against spiritual enemies. Just like it is said that you don’t bring a knife to a gun fight, you don’t bring physical weapons to a spiritual fight.

-That in no way means that you cannot use physical weapons to protect yourself, your family, your property, or your nation. It is not taking some sort of pacifistic stance. Paul is just saying that fleshly weapons do us no good in spiritual warfare.

-But it goes much deeper than that—it’s saying that you cannot use human ways to battle the physical enemies who are under the control of spiritual enemies. You don’t try to use human trickery or deceit to try to win the battle. You don’t try to take advantage of someone. You don’t try to persuade with personal charm. You don’t try to use dishonest flattery to manipulate people. You don’t distort philosophies or you don’t distort truth thinking that it somehow leads to truth. You don’t use underhanded means to reach the goal. The end does not justify the means. So, Paul is saying that you don’t use human tactics to try to win the spiritual battles.

-Instead, Paul says in v. 4 that our weapons are divinely powerful. Some translations might say that they are powerful through God or mighty in God. We use weapons that are from God and contain the power of God. Paul mentions this, but he doesn’t expand on the thought and actually tell us what those weapons are. I can name a few (although the list is not exhaustive).

-The gospel of Jesus Christ is a powerful weapon that looses the hold of the enemy on human souls, and reassures believers that they belong to God. The simple gospel tells us that humanity is separated from God and lost from any goodness, peace, or hope. Human sin is to spit in the face of a holy, righteous, perfect God. God has every right to exact justice on lawbreakers. But God so loved the world that He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, who took on full humanity, lived the obedient life that humanity could not, died on the cross as our substitute, was buried, and raised again assuring us that we can have eternal life with Him. The truth of the gospel breaks the chains that they enemy places on humanity.

-Then there is the weapon of God’s Holy Word. Paul elsewhere calls the Scripture the Sword of the Spirit. It is a weapon. If we are to wield it rightly and effectively, then we need to know it—we need to know the Bible. Scripture is a weapon because it gives truth—God’s truth…the only real truth there is. Our enemy is the father of lies, and the only way to combat lies is with the truth.

-Then there is the weapon of prayer. Prayer is communing and communicating with God, showing our utter dependence upon Him. We come to Him in prayer realizing that He alone can bring victory in the spiritual battle—truly the battle belongs to the Lord. Spiritual warfare requires spiritual weapons.

-Imagine there is a war between two nations. One nation has tanks, jets, and machine guns. The other nation, to face their enemy, brings sticks and clubs and bows and arrows. There will be no victory for that last nation. They will be destroyed. They aren’t using weaponry that is fit for the battle.

-We can’t think we will win against our spiritual enemy with fleshly weapons. Our own cunning, our smarts, our ingenuity, are no match. If we want victory, we battle with the right weapons. And then Paul gives us a third lesson, it is to:

3) Battle against the right threats

-If we battle in the right field with the right weapons, what are the threats that enemy poses against us? What does the enemy do that we must battle against? At the end of v. 4, Paul tells us that our weapons are divinely powerful to tear down strongholds. The enemy sets up strongholds that if we don’t prevent him from setting up, then we need the power to tear them down if he does set them up.

-What do we mean by strongholds? Picture a fortified city. There is a city, and surrounding the city is a tall, strong wall, and on that wall are towers and other places for weapons to be installed for defense. Now, picture that an enemy comes to lay siege against the city. How is the enemy army going to thwart the wall and the defenses of the city in order to tear it down and utterly destroy it? They need stronger weapons and better tactics. They may lay a siege mound. They may use battering rams. But one way or another the wall will fall and the city will burn.

-Paul is saying that our enemy can create strongholds that we need to destroy. What does he mean by that? It is further explained at the beginning of v. 5 as tearing down speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God. These words are talking about the realm of the mind. Somehow Satan can build a stronghold in someone’s mind that will cause them to think wrong, act wrong, have wrong attitudes, or just be led astray from God’s will. Anything that goes against a pure knowledge of God.

-So, he might build a stronghold of a sin habit. Is there a sin that you just can’t seem to shake? It is a stronghold that Satan keeps in your mind that cripples you in your service to Christ. He might build a stronghold of some sort of lie that distracts you from who God truly is or what God can truly do in your life—and you think wrongly about God or His ways. He might build a stronghold of discouragement that so causes you to focus on yourself and your misery rather than on God and His ability. Another way of putting it is that a stronghold is Satan planting stinking thinking in your brain.

-So, a soldier comes back from war and becomes entrapped in fear and doubt and insecurity after everything they saw and did, and believes that it will haunt them all their days, and be the basis of their identity all their life. A young woman feels unworthy of God’s love because of her promiscuous past and doesn’t believe that God could truly love her.

-Notice, that these are based and founded in lies. It’s as if Satan takes a lie, plants it in the ground of our mind, waters it, and if we don’t stop it’s growth, it grows into this stronghold. And the only way to tear down that stronghold is to tear it down with the spiritual weapons that we talked about earlier. And what is it we are battling toward? Paul gives one final (fourth) lesson as he tells us to:

4) Battle for the right outcome

-This is what we work toward to have victory in this spiritual battle. Paul says at the end of v. 5 that we take every thought captive to obedience to Christ, and in v. 6 we punish all disobedience so as to fulfill obedience toward God.

-So, here is the picture. Imagine that there is a kingdom, and one city in the kingdom decides to rebel against its king, waging war against him. What is the king going to do? The king is going to gather his army, besiege the city, use his more powerful weaponry and more advanced tactics to tear down the city, take these insurgents captive, and punish them for their rebellion against him.

-Here is what we are trying to do in the battle. Satan has planted the seed of a lie that has grown into a stronghold in our thoughts. With the weapons that God has given and empowered, we lay siege to that stronghold and we tear down the walls. We grab hold of those rebellious thoughts and we punish them (so to speak) to bring them back into alignment to obey Christ. We combat the strongholds of lies with the truths of God. And we fight tooth and nail until we get that rebellious city of thoughts back under control.

-So, maybe the enemy has built a stronghold of autonomy in our mind—meaning, we think that we somehow determine for ourselves what are our truths that we live by regardless of what God has to say about it. We don’t allow God and His Word to determine our worldview, instead we think we know better. So, even though God calls something sin, we try to justify ourselves and our enjoyment of that sin and say IT ISN’T SIN FOR ME. Through the truth of the Word, through prayer, through knowledge of the gospel we tear down that stronghold, we take those thoughts captive, we punish their disobedience, and we bring them into obedience to Christ.

-Maybe the enemy has built a stronghold of doubt in our mind—meaning that we doubt God’s character and/or we doubt God’s goodness and/or we doubt God’s ability or desire to fulfill His promises. So, our minds are like the waves of the sea being tossed to and fro—there’s no stability to what we believe about God. We have no peace and we have no assurance of salvation because we doubt God and His Word. Through the truth of the Word, through prayer, through knowledge of the gospel we tear down that stronghold, we take those thoughts captive, we punish their disobedience, and we bring them into obedience to Christ.

-I think of those who are lost—they don’t know God through Jesus Christ. You share the gospel with them and it just seems to go right over their head. You tell them of the goodness of God showing us mercy through Jesus, and they show no interest whatsoever. Earlier in 2 Corinthians Paul described it this way: 2 Corinthians 4:4 “...the god of this age has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” There is a stronghold that Satan has set up in their minds that prevents them from hearing and receiving truth.

-You ever wonder why the things of God seem so obvious to you as a believer but are completely foreign to unbelievers—it goes right over their head or they’re hostile to it? This is why. Satan’s stronghold blinds them. But since they don’t know God, they don’t have the weapons to fight. So we have to go to battle on their behalf, and batter the walls of that stronghold with the truth of the gospel, the truth of Scripture, and the power of prayer. So then they can take their thoughts captive, punish their disobedience, and bring them into obedience by believing in Jesus Christ.

-So, while the enemy tries to destroy us through his lies, setting up these strongholds in our mind (our spirit) we fight back—we do battle. We take those rebellious thoughts captive, punish them, and bring them in line with God and His Word, and live in obedience. And that is how we are victorious in spiritual warfare.

Conclusion

-I’ll close with these thoughts. So many people have false ideas about what victory in spiritual warfare means. Some think that victory means a problem-free life. They think that when life is going smoothly, that is victory. The problem is that if Satan isn’t bothering to battle against you and rock your world, that means he doesn’t see you as a threat. That’s not victory.

-There are some false teachers out there that try to tell you that victory means that you receive your every desire—money, fame, fortune, whatever. However, just because your are physically rich doesn’t mean that you have any spiritual wealth. That’s not victory.

-Too many people come to Christ for fire insurance, but don’t really expect much more than that. They just want to cruise along in life hoping to go unnoticed. Just live your life the way you want to, and then go to heaven in the end. There is no victory there because you’re not standing for anything or fighting for anything. We sing the Baptist national anthem VICTORY IN JESUS, but it’s all just smoke and mirrors.

-Imagine a soldier expecting to win a war without actually fighting any battles. Victory in Jesus doesn’t mean we somehow avoid conflict; it means we battle in the right field with the right weapons against the right threats so we have the right outcome. Victory leads to obedience to Christ.

-Spiritual warfare isn’t having some sort of power play against a demon possessed person. Spiritual warfare is fighting against the spiritual enemy so that Christ is made known, Christ is glorified, Christ is honored, Christ is obeyed. It means taking our thoughts captive, punishing disobedience, obeying His Word.

-Christian, maybe you are battling a stronghold right now. Come to the altar and pray that God tears that thing down so you can fulfill obedience in Christ and have real victory.

-There are some here today who have the stronghold of unbelief—you haven’t believed in Jesus. You actually are a pawn of the enemy that we are fighting against. But you can switch sides and come to the light. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved today...