For a decade or so, Hitler had been allowed his way in Europe.
Meagerly resisted, he finally made a stronghold of the continent.
Until that day, and on that day the thousands of troops landing on the beaches, many of
them killed, began to destroy the stronghold of Nazism in Europe.
And of course, the rest is history.
In a year or so, the victory came and Hitler was defeated.
Today I want to talk about the strongholds that may be in our lives, that must be removed
for us to experience victory in spiritual warfare.
Would you open your Bible with me to 2 Corinthians chapter 10?
I'm going to begin reading in verse 3 of 2 Corinthians 10 where it says,
For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh.
For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction
of fortresses.
We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God,
and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.
Well you say, do I have strongholds in my life?
Only God of course can answer that question for each of us as he reveals the truth.
But I wonder if you might struggle with patterns of negative thought or sinful actions which
seem impossible to change.
Some addiction to sexual sin or pornography.
Addiction to substance abuse, eating disorders, or gossip.
Attitudes of inferiority, anger, bitterness, a lack of forgiveness, envy.
Or is there a slavery to materialism and to workaholism?
These kinds of attitudes and actions when controlling us may be described as strongholds.
Strongholds present formidable obstacles to our success in the Christian life.
I'm defining success as the development within us of a Christlikeness that honors God by
its proactive and reactive obedience to God's will.
Strongholds stand as contradictions to who we are and it represents territory that has
been captured by our spiritual enemies.
Strongholds must be removed for victory in spiritual warfare.
The ground on which those strongholds rest belongs to Jesus Christ.
Those strongholds do not rightly deserve a place in us.
Thus they must be removed as surely as those gun emplacements had to be removed on the
beaches of Normandy.
The ground of course on which they rest, the ground that I am referring to is the ground
of your life.
We can yield ground to our spiritual enemies by believing their lies and making wrong choices
based upon those lies.
The result can be the establishment, the erection of strongholds within us.
This word is translated to the New American Standard Version in verse 4, fortresses.
That's really what a stronghold is.
It is a fortress.
In some of the other Greek writings that were contemporaneous with the New Testament, the
same word is used of prisons.
And I think that pictures it pretty well too because we are talking about areas of our
life in which we are imprisoned, where we have not yet experienced the freedom with
which Jesus Christ has set us free.
Strongholds are that which has captured our thinking so as to control our lives.
For that matter, it can happen corporately.
There are strongholds that can be established individually in us.
There are also strongholds that can be established in churches, ways of thinking that enslave
the church.
Upon that, strongholds can be established in society when lies are believed and cultural
values and policies are built on those lies.
Those become strongholds in society.
At their very core, strongholds are ideas, philosophies, beliefs, arguments, all of which
resist or war against the reign of God within us and in His world.
These strongholds resist the simplicity of the Gospel, the good news of God, by the deception
of the mind so as to create bondage in the person.
Dr. Ed Murphy, writing in his book, The Handbook for Spiritual Warfare, says, it is important
to notice that deception involves erroneous ideas or ways of evaluating things, ways of
thinking.
There are ways of thinking and evaluating that are false, arrogant, and destructively
disobedient.
Here talking about our text, he says, such strongholds of evil refer specifically to
the attack on Paul's legitimacy as an apostle.
But they include as well any form of reasoning, any attitude, any way of thinking that exalts
itself against the knowledge of God or misbeliefs.
Strongholds are beliefs that are untrue about oneself, others, or circumstances.
They can become demonic strongholds against one's life, family, church, etc.
It is important to note that these ways of thinking can become strongholds within a church
through carnal leadership, whether clergy or laity.
But of course, the ultimate source for all such deception is Satan.
By application of what we are saying, strongholds are any area of life that is not free to respond
to Jesus Christ.
Dr. Murray Harris says, strongholds refer to any human act or attitude that forms an
obstacle to the emancipating knowledge of God contained in the gospel of Christ, crucified,
and therefore keeps men in oppressive bondage to sin.
I hope that that helps you understand what we are talking about, what strongholds are.
They are prisons that we allow to be erected in our lives in which we ourselves, at least
in part, are held captive.
They are fortresses of the enemy established within us that resist God and His knowledge
in our lives.
How do these strongholds form, anyway?
The simplest answer is that they form one thought at a time.
Just as a fortress is built one brick or one block at a time, so strongholds of the Spirit
are built one thought at a time.
An erroneous thought or belief is allowed to remain in the mind and to embed itself.
And thus it becomes a foundation stone for more erroneous thoughts.
I want to say it a different way.
These thoughts embed themselves into our minds and become infected so that the poison begins
to build and then to spread throughout our system.
And unless these erroneous thoughts are removed by sharpened repentance and then by a generous
application of what is true, our lives will be ruined.
These misbeliefs result in misbehaviors.
These misbeliefs lead us to wrong response to temptation.
Even that response that is wrong becomes a routine.
It becomes an action that controls our practice.
And it results eventually in a stronghold which Satan uses then to launch broader offensives
against us.
We may develop these strongholds individually, as I've said.
We can develop them corporately as a body of people, whether it be a body of people
in a family or a body of people in a church or a Sunday school class or a Bible study
or a college.
As a body of people corporately in society, we also can develop strongholds of misbelief.
These strongholds then become fortresses of sin.
Time doesn't allow me today to illustrate some of these in society or in churches or
individually, but we're going to return to that idea in weeks ahead.
How are strongholds destroyed?
That should be a key question to us because which of us really wants to live in a prison?
Who of us would like to be captured and held in bondage?
Who wants a fortress of the enemy square in the middle of his life?
I would hope none of us would.
So then if one is there, how is it destroyed?
We can say that if one exists in our own lives personally, it begins to be destroyed by personal
repentance of the lies that lie at the foundation of that fortress of sin.
Recognizing those lies for what they are.
Here is someone, for example, who just cannot make friends, who is alone, someone who feels
separated from others.
And this has become a stronghold in his life and the way that he thinks.
And perhaps at the bottom of this person's stronghold of loneliness, this prison in which
he dwells are lies like, if I get with other people I'll ruin their lives, other people
don't want to be around me, I'm not worthy of having friends.
There are all kinds of lies that can be at the bottom of that.
Some of them come because of the way people are raised in their homes.
Others happen because of circumstances and experiences of their lives beyond home.
But those lies have to be isolated and repented of.
And then there needs to be a renewal of the mind with the truth of God.
So that those lies are not only exposed and repented of, but they are washed out of the
mind by the truth.
When that happens then the stronghold will tumble of its own weight.
Those strongholds that exist outside of ourselves, in society or in a church, how do we destroy
those strongholds?
Paul gives us the real answer here in 2 Corinthians 10 when he says that we need to use spiritual
weapons.
He says our weapons do not pertain to the flesh, to this world.
The weapons of the flesh would include things like boycotts, marches, picketing, legislation.
You're saying those things are wrong?
No.
In every case, those things can be a valuable tool.
But let me tell you something, they'll never remove strongholds of the spirit.
They will never remove strongholds in the way that people think.
You cannot legislate that.
You cannot boycott enough to accomplish that.
Other fleshly kinds of weapons would include academic degrees, thinking that if I have
a degree that's impressive enough then I will be able to accomplish great things and
destroy strongholds.
Not so, according to Paul.
Not even impressive rhetoric.
Not personal persuasion.
One of these things will work when it comes to destroying strongholds.
What does it take?
Well he says spiritual weapons that are powerful.
They are powerful for God.
They are divinely potent.
They are formidable.
They are effective for God.
What are these weapons?
Ephesians 6, which we looked at a few weeks ago, outlines it better than here, where Paul
actually names them.
But he includes the Word of God, the truth of God, and prayer.
Those are truly the weapons that can destroy strongholds.
That can pull them down.
That can cause every barrier that is raised against the knowledge of God to crumble and
fall.
The Word of God, the truth being proclaimed and lived, prayer being offered up by people
who believe.
Those are spiritual weapons that will bring human thoughts to surrender to the Lordship
of Jesus Christ.
How effective are you at destroying strongholds?
Have you ever tempted it?
Today is the time to look at that stronghold in your own life first.
And to say, oh God, I didn't even realize it, but there is in me, in me, in my attitudes,
in my thinking, this fortress of sin that I can't deal with.
Then to honestly and deeply repent, to change your mind about the lies that are at the basis
of all that stronghold of misbehavior and sin.
To change your ways, and to get into the Word of God, that spiritual weapon, and let it
eat away and wash away the wrong thinking.
To pray to God, and to experience then the release of His power in your life.
That's how to get at personal strongholds.
But what about strongholds in society?
Or strongholds in some other group that you're involved in, where there's a fortress that
is raised against the knowledge of God, and His way, and His will.
Begin to share the Word of God.
Begin to write the Word of God.
Begin to say the Word of God.
Tell the truth everywhere you can, and pray.
And as you pray, see that fortress.
See it standing there against the knowledge of God.
And then see your prayers putting pressure upon that fortress.
Throwing up ropes to pull down those turrets.
See your prayers as cannons shooting shells against the side of that fortress.
Until brick by brick and block by block, that fortress is torn down.
See that happening as you pray in the Spirit by faith.
And you'll be amazed at what can happen.
I do think that to some degree in the last 14 or 15 years that we Christians in America
have put too much emphasis upon the weapons of the flesh.
Thinking that if we could get certain people elected to office, then the consequence of
that would surely be the strongholds would come down.
And there's a lot of disillusionment among Christians because that has not happened.
If anything, the strongholds have become worse.
It is time for us to understand what God says the real weapons are.
I'm not saying there's not a place for political activity, for writing letters, or for boycotts,
and all of those things.
There may be a place for them.
But understand that they will not bring the strongholds down.
What destroys the strongholds according to the Word of God are spiritual weapons that
God gives to us to use.
The weakness is that too many of us have not used those weapons.
We have allowed them to simply sit around.
We need to pick up the weapons and go to war, spiritual war.
For 300 years, a stronghold stood as a testimony against God in ancient Israel.
From the time of Joshua on, the Jewish people lived in the land with this fortress right
in the middle of it, right on the border of Benjamin and Judah.
It was the mountain fort called Jebus.
It was the capital city, the Jebusites, one of the Canaanite tribes who were to be eradicated
and destroyed by the people of Israel.
They failed to do that.
They possessed the land, but in the midst of the land was a fortress.
For 300 years it stood there as a contradiction to the people of God.
It testified that God did not own this land, that God was not the victor.
They allowed it to be so until David became king.
David attacked this fortress of Jebus.
He had had enough of the contradictions that this fortress spoke of.
It says in 2 Samuel 5, 7, David captured the stronghold of Zion, that is the city of David.
That fortress, you see, he possessed.
It became his capital city and we know it today as the city of Jerusalem.
There are some fortresses of Jebus that have remained far too long amongst us in our lives.
It is time for us to rise up as did David of old and say enough, enough.
This fortress must go.
This area of my life too must come under the lordship of Jesus Christ.
This part of my life will be renamed Jerusalem, the city of peace.
Because the spiritual weapons God has given you and attack today and take the ground that
belongs to Jesus Christ.
Let's pray.
With our heads bowed, I don't know how God may use this message this morning which introduces
the concept of strongholds.
I don't know if your eyes are opened at this point to a stronghold you need to attack,
but if so, would you covenant with God to begin the assault?
It's time for the invasion of that land.
It's time to take that ground back.
No longer should that ground belong to the enemy.
Ask God to expose and to remove strongholds in your life.
They contradict who you are as a Christian.
They oppose the knowledge of God in your life.
They obstruct the will of God.
Will you at this moment repent?
Change your mind about it?
Determined by God's grace to change the actions of your life?
Will you turn away from the lies that are at the base of that foundation in the stronghold?
Ask God to show you what the lies are that brought you to this place of bondage.
You may not be able to see them at this point, but God can dig down and show you what the
lies are so that that foundation can be taken away and that stronghold fall.
Oh, may it be so.
As we come to the Lord's table today, may there be none of us who would partake of these
elements with a known stronghold in our lives that we refuse to assault.
Let us come to the table with our lives yielded to Christ's Lordship in fact and in principle.
If a stronghold is there, let us come to this table with a determination in our hearts that
we're going to take up the weapons and assault it and allow it no more.
Allow it no more.
Oh God.
Oh Lord of hosts, God of the armies, thank you for arming us for spiritual warfare.
Forgive us Lord when we, your soldiers, have allowed strongholds in our own lives, areas
of rebellion and resistance, patterns of sinful thought and behavior, addictions, impulsive
actions that contradict who we are.
Forgive us for allowing these.
And I pray that by the work of your spirit, you will begin the work of liberation.
I pray that we will do our part in that using the weapons you've given us.
Let's remain in a spirit of prayer and talking to the Lord as our servers come.
Let's allow our hearts to be fully prepared to partake of this meal of the Lord representing
the sacrifice that he made on Calvary for our freedom.
And let's determine that we will not partake of this sacrifice and allow areas of bondage
to remain unchallenged in our lives.
Sing hallelujah to the Lord.
Sing hallelujah.
Sing hallelujah to the Lord.
No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man.
But God is faithful who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able.
But with the temptation will provide the way of escape also that you may be able to endure
it.
Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.
I speak as to wise men.
You judge what I say.
Is not the cup of blessing which we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ?
Is not the bread which we break a sharing in the body of Christ?
Since there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one
bread.
I say that things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons, not to God.
I do not want you to become sharers and demons.
You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons.
You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons.
Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy?
Our lives belong alone to him and we dare not allow any spiritual enemy to possess part
of us.
To build within us a fortress that denies God.
We partake of bread and of wine, of grape juice, that speaks of the sacrifice of the
Lord Jesus Christ.
We profess in this act that we are his.
Let us therefore live as his and flee from the idolatry of our world.
And be sure that our lives are liberated in every part, that demons have no part of us,
that we are entirely surrendered to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
That's what it means to remove spiritual strongholds.
I'm going to continue on this theme for at least another week, possibly two, as we
think about some of the specific strongholds that we may need to repent of.
May God lead us in this and as a result of it, may our lives be liberated in brand new
ways as we understand what his Lordship means as is applied to us individually and to us
as a church.
We as a church have helped a number of families in need over recent weeks and the result of
that is that our fund for doing so, which we call the elders fund, is entirely depleted.
In the past we have taken a special offering at the time of communion to periodically replenish
that fund.
What we're going to ask you to do is to use a box at the back door if you would be willing
to give an offering toward the elders fund.
There is a wooden offering box and just slip it in there and what is in there loose will
be applied to that fund to help families who are going through difficult times.
Thank you for your participation in the fellowship that way.
Let's stand together now as we pray to our liberator and Savior Jesus Christ.
Lord we bless the day that you came and established in this world the beachhead of the gospel
by your birth in Bethlehem.
And you went on and penetrated to the very heart of the enemy's hold and you exploded
it at Calvary.
And at the empty tomb you rose from the dead to proclaim to all your victory.
We worship you as the victor and as our victor.
And we proclaim who we are in you victors in our own lives.
And so as we leave this place today it is with that sense of who we are and with a deep
desire that we may live it out.
In Jesus name, amen.