Our text for today is taken from 2 Corinthians chapter 10, and I think it's helpful to begin with if we'll keep in mind why Paul was led to write this letter to the Corinthians. False apostles who sought to undermine Paul's authority and to discredit the gospel he preached and made charges against him and his ministry. So Paul thought it was necessary to vindicate both his message and his authority before he visited Corinth. Forgive me for my raspy voice. I can't seem to clear it these days. Well, here when we get to chapter 10, he's primarily refuting the malicious accusations that these false teachers had made against him and against his ministry. And in the process of addressing these accusations, in verses 3 and 5, which are the verses we're going to concentrate on, He gives a clear description of the nature of a true gospel ministry, a description, see, which showed that their accusations would have no bearing on the effectiveness of his ministry, because he depicted his ministry as, one, being engaged in a spiritual warfare, two, describing the weapons of this warfare that are employed in the warfare, and three, at what those weapons are targeted. And in so doing, Paul provides us a stark contrast of the nature of a true gospel ministry with the nature of false ministries, ministries that compete, so to speak, all vying for the souls of men, seeking to win converts to their way of thinking. So you can think of this as a spiritual warfare waged in contrast to a carnal warfare being waged. And that kind of results in a religious battle of sorts between the two, especially when you consider as we look at the nature of a true gospel ministry. On one side of this battle, we have true gospel ministries supported by true believers, ministries that set forth God's one true gospel of God's sovereign grace. wherein we see all of salvation's conditions being set forth as having been fully met by Jesus Christ and him alone. And without fail, all these true believers, they previously had been engaged in this war, if you would, on the other side. on the wrong side with the multitudes of religious people who, unlike true believers, have yet to be given the gifts of genuine faith and repentance. And that's the reason God calls on all men everywhere to repent, Acts 1730. And that repentance in Acts 1730, that's not a call to repent of our sinful behavior, our immoral thoughts and behavior, although we are called to repent of those things, but there in Acts 1730, it's a call to repent of religious people's initial religious notions. And that's because all true believers initially were engaged in this warfare believe in what's natural to us in that unregenerate state in which we all began, spiritually dead, spiritually blind. So knowing we all start out with notions that are aligned with Satan's ministers, the title of today's message is in the form of a question, have you switched sides? Or another way of putting it would be, which side are you now on? The scripture clearly teaches that the God, as we naturally and initially imagine him to be, is in fact not the one true and living God of the Bible, but rather it's an idol of our own imagination. And that's an imagination that typically has been fed by the various false preachers under which many of us once sat. We're taught, we're taught in keeping with our natural notions, typically. So let's begin here with our text in verse three, where we read, for though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh, or as the previous verse suggests, according to the flesh. When Paul says we walk in the flesh here, in this context, he's referring to the physical body and our physical existence in these bodies in which we walk around in our respective lifetimes. But he says our warfare is not physical. See, Paul is saying, even though I'm in the flesh, I'm a physical body in a physical world, with all of Paul's physical weaknesses and infirmities, weaknesses that his accusers had been quick to point out, some of which, as we'll see, Paul conceded to be true. He says, but I do not war accordingly, not after the flesh. So he's asserting here that his ministry, the ministry of the true gospel, is a spiritual warfare. And that's in contrast with that of his accusers and their ministries that promote a false gospel, a gospel which stands in opposition in this battle vying for the souls of men. And then Paul proceeds in verses four and five, to describe, one, the nature of the weapons that are to be employed in spiritual warfare on God's side of the battle, and two, at what these weapons are to be targeted. Verses four and five. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God. Two, the pulling down of strongholds, casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ." So we see the contrast right away, warring after the flesh versus the spiritual warfare, using carnal weapons versus spiritual weapons. So the language here presupposes the concept that there's a war of sorts going on. And it's interesting that God calls it that. You know, we can relate to that to physical wars in the physical realm. People engage in war to defend the rights of men and women. They do it to defend property or territory, sometimes to seize territory. They do it in defense of liberties. They do it to weaken an enemy's power, sometimes to dominate an enemy. Likewise, we can see in the spiritual waging of this war, we see the defense of the truth and the glorious liberty of the gospel. And that for the weakening of Satan's kingdoms as in a gospel ministry, false ministries are exposed to be just that, false. And that on the basis of what God's word tells us, this word of truth. And this takes place by liberating captives from the bondage of sin and Satan, from the dominion of the law, or of sin, the dominion of sin, not the presence of sin, but that bondage of sin, brings them instead into captivity to Christ and God's way of salvation. So you're captive to him in that it's a way that's exclusively by and through the Lord Jesus Christ, based on his person and his finished cross Turn to Romans 6, or look with me on the screen there if you want to, where Paul is also speaking of this. Here in Romans 6, he's expressing his thankfulness for other believers who have been taken captive under the spiritual warfare of the gospel. As he says to them, beginning in verse 17, he said, but God bethink, now he's talking to believers, that you were the servants of sin on the other side of this battle. But ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine, speaking of the gospel of God's grace, which was delivered you, or literally that would read to which you were delivered, being then made free from sin, liberated from its bondage, its dominion. Ye became the servants of righteousness. See, that's your thoughts, having been brought into captivity to righteousness. That's the obedience of Christ, even unto the death of the cross. That's his righteousness which believers are brought to trust solely in as the ground of their eternal salvation. They're brought captive to the, as the scripture says, the simplicity of Christ, that singular hope of salvation in and by Christ Jesus. Let's look back at our text at verses four and five again. As you look at verse four, it says the weapons employed by a true gospel ministry are not carnal. They're different from that which carnal men. When I say carnal men, I'm talking about those who lack the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. They haven't been born again, at least not yet, by the Spirit. So they're different from what they would fight with. It's obvious that spiritual warfare doesn't involve physical weapons such as guns and swords. Christ's kingdom is not of this world. so it's not to be defended and propagated according to the ways of this world. But in this passage, the distinction is made in contrast to the weapons that these false accusers used in their ministries, their fleshly wisdom, their natural reasonings, their eloquence and their persuasiveness, which they accused Paul of lacking and which he conceded, as we'll see in a moment. And those carnal weapons are consistent with their false doctrine. And the false refuges are strongholds that they promote. You know, after all, salvation is presumed to be conditioned on some response from the sinner or something he or she does. If it's based on that, you being a less obstinate sinner or a more cooperative sinner than those that are presumed to remain lost. In other words, if that's the real difference maker, something that proceeds from you, the sinner, something other than the finished work of Christ alone, his righteousness being imputed, being the only ground of salvation, as Paul preached, well, if it's anything other than that, then it stands to reason that the persuasiveness of these false apostles would effectively win converts in belief of a false gospel. I think, when I think of that, I think of, I've been in some large churches where there's beautiful music and very eloquent speakers. Think about how emotions are stirred by the beautiful music and the pageantry of their services, the entertainment aspect, if you will. Well, in contrast, you see a true gospel ministry, the weapons are said to only be effectual toward achieving their end because they're mighty through God. As Jonah put it, salvation is truly of the Lord. The weapons of a gospel ministry, see, are not powerful of themselves. They're passive instruments. They're only effective or efficacious when the ministering of the gospel is attended with what Paul calls in 1 Corinthians 2, the demonstration of the Holy Spirit and of power. Look at that with me in 1 Corinthians 2. Beginning verse 1 it reads, And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom. I came declaring unto you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you save or except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling. It's as if Paul's saying here, if I were to use the carnal weapons such as you use in my ministry, it'd kind of be like me bringing a knife to a gunfight. I mean, because he concedes these weaknesses himself, as he goes on to say in verse four, and my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the spirit and of power, that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God. In Romans 1, we often quote, we're told the gospel is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth. Verse 17 tells us it's because therein is the righteousness of God revealed. And that revelation of faith, that's a mighty work of God. It's His blood-bought gift of faith, given to each and every one for whom Christ lived and died. So when the gospel ministry, its teaching and its preaching, when it's attended with a demonstration of the Spirit and of power, well then, and only then, is it effectual to achieve the objective stated here, to the pulling down of strongholds, as we read in verse 4. A gospel ministry is not aimed at closing what I'll call an easy believism deal, as in if all you have to do is just repeat Franklin Graham's prayer or accept Jesus into your heart. No, see a true gospel ministry is aimed at the sinner's repentance. It's aimed at tearing down the strongholds of false notions about how God saves sinners. Strongholds here is another word. It refers to fortresses. The fortresses being the walls of a man's heart, his mind, his affections, his will. And we get that from the context, the wording, casting down imaginations, bringing thoughts captive. And we can see from that the battleground is indeed the heart of sinners. And it begins with our minds, our understanding of things. The scripture says, God gives an understanding to those he saves. So we see then the preaching of the gospel in a true gospel ministry, it's aimed at the understanding. And it calls on sinners to reason with God based on his word. Reveal truth, as the Lord said in Isaiah 1. Come, let us reason together, saith the Lord. It involves the casting aside, the pulling down, the destruction of the strongholds of the mind. That's those preconceived notions and imaginations that we all by nature will assume or presume about God, about Christ, about His work, about the way of salvation as typified by He will save you if you'll just do your part. It can vary from different denomination to denomination, but it always involves some idea that it's something that you do to close the deal on your salvation. And that's a false gospel that we're naturally inclined to believe. The natural man will cry out, if it were any other way, it wouldn't be fair. You see, the natural man doesn't really need mercy as long as he's thinking all he needs to do is do his little part, as they call it. You don't need mercy, you just need to cut your end of the deal. But God brings his children to be mercy beggars. And if he brings you to be a mercy beggar, you're one of them for whom he lived and died. You can't do that without the power of God, the Holy Spirit. The Bible teaches we all start out as spiritually dead sinners, that we're all gone out of the way, Romans 3. So that unless a mighty work of God, a spiritual awakening, a new birth takes place, we'll remain allied with the enemies of God, thinking we're worshiping the one true God, but really on the other side of this battle. Inside the fortresses of our natural reasonings, reasonings the Bible tells us seems right to us, but the end thereof are the ways of death. And men hold these natural reasonings, they hold them in high esteem. But those thoughts are contrary to God in the revelation of who he is. As the scripture tells us in Luke 16, 15, that which is highly esteemed among men is an abomination for God. And these fortresses, they're indeed strong. They take a mighty work of God to be pulled down. They're strong because of what the scripture says about us by nature. We start out, we're depraved sinners. all initially strangers to and enmity with the true God of the Bible. Some commentators believe that this reference to strongholds or fortresses is an allusion to the walls of Jericho that fell at the sound of the ram's horns. See, that's a feat that must be ascribed not to those passive instruments, the horns, but to the power of God that accompanied the very means he instructed them to use as they walked around the walls of Jericho. See, God will use the means that he's determined to use. And he tells us in his scriptures, he's determined to save sinners by what the natural man calls foolishness, the foolishness of preaching. But God must do a mighty work. to make that effectual in the sinner's heart. And if it were any other way, who would get the glory? It'd be that decision maker. It wouldn't be the mighty God who saves his people. Well, how does this truth that, in contrast to the weapons being carnal, that instead their money through God, listen, to the pulling down of strongholds, how's that useful to religious-minded people such as you and me? Well, it's useful as a viable means of examining which side we're currently on in this warfare over the souls of men. From this passage, we can know that genuine believers should be able to identify that such a transformation has taken place in their own hearts, in their minds, affections, and wills. And it's a miraculous transformation. It requires a new birth, being born of the spirit, regeneration and conversion. And when I say that, I'm not talking about anything mystical or some vision or emotional experience, although emotions may be involved. But it's miraculous in that it causes those who are saved to completely reverse course, to change sides in this warfare, in this battleground of the understanding. if you truly consider yourself to have God-given faith, and yet the knowledge and understanding that you now have of God and how he saves sinners, your gospel, if it's not different from what you once imagined, if it's not a 180-degree reversal of what you formerly and naturally thought would commend you to God or find you in his favor, well, then these verses should cause you to ask yourself, Has God really visited me with his mighty power, so as to pull down my former strongholds? Those things I naturally, but erroneously, but unwittingly, not knowing I was in error, that I once thought would gain God's favor and remove his wrath. You know, like me, you might not be able to identify the exact moment in time when that took place. But if you've been converted under a true gospel ministry, Where in these spiritual weapons were aimed, you should be able to personally identify with what Paul's written here that you've come to see things radically different from that which at one time in the past you previously imagined. In other words, your former strongholds pulled down. You know, for some, identifying this may seem a bit more subtle than it was for someone like me who was brought up under the popular heresy, that God loves you all, that Christ died for you, and if you'll just do your part, you too can be saved. That it's really a disguised system of salvation by words. Though we called it grace, but admittedly, it was based upon the imagined free will decision of man. But you know, even those that are brought up under the sound of the true gospel, They have to confront those natural notions that all initially entertained prior to the new birth. You know, it's like that Philippian jailer when he was interested in salvation, but his first question was, sirs, what must I do to be saved? We all say, what do I have to do to find myself among the elect, to be sure I'm one of those for whom Christ died? It's a natural question. of the natural mind. And see, that too, as Paul and Silas corrected him, he said, when they gave him the answer, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved, they were saying, you've got to believe on the doing and dying of another. They were correcting the assumption embodied in that question, in that answer or question. So that's an imagination, too, that has to be cast down by the mighty work of God and true regeneration and conversion. As you find out, there's nothing you can do. It's all done by your Savior, the substitute Jesus Christ. Look with me again further at verse five. He describes here what the pulling down of strongholds involves when he says it's casting down imaginations. and every high thing that exalted itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ." So here we see further where the weapons are targeting. They call on men and women to faith and repentance. Repenting of that which was false, so as to turn by faith to the only thing that will find a sinner acceptable before God. the obedience of Christ on our behalf in our place as our substitute. His righteousness imputed or put to the account of those he saves. The spiritual warfare or ministry of the gospel is described by Paul earlier in this same letter to Corinth back in 2 Corinthians chapter 5. There it's described as a ministry of reconciliation. Look at that with me in 2 Corinthians 5 beginning in verse 18. Again, he's speaking to believers here, and he says, And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation. To wit, or namely, God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself. That's not everyone in the world. That's out of the world, Gentile and Jew. reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them. This ministry's message has really liberated these sinners from their bondage to sin as they learned of being a people, not being charged with their sins. Boy, that's good news. And he hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. That's the engagement of God's preachers and those who support a true gospel ministry. in spiritual warfare through the preached gospel. He says, verse 20, now then we are ambassadors for Christ as though God did beseech you by us. We pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. How can I, a sinner, be reconciled to a God? Holy God. Verse 21, for he, God the Father, hath made him God the Son. to be sin for us, Christ, who knew no sin, not imputing their sins to them, having charged them to Christ, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. We know from going back to verse 19 and the non-imputation of sins to those who are saved, we know from the context that Christ being made sin for those He saves is the imputation of their sin to Christ. Because the scripture tells us he wasn't contaminated with our sins. He offered himself up, it says, without spot. Now, he was made sin by imputation. And instead of them being charged with their sins, they were charged to Christ. And not only are they not charged with their sins, he states likewise, in the same way, the merit of his work of righteousness That is, His perfect obedience unto death on the cross is made to be theirs. His very righteousness is imputed or accounted or credited to their account. Listen, this righteousness that is accounted to those who are saved is no less than the very merit of the sinless, the perfect, the finished work of obedience even unto the death of the cross that Christ rendered to fully satisfy the law and justice of God in their place. The law and justice of God being satisfied both in precept, His perfect obedience, and in penalties, His obedience even unto the death of the cross, whereby He paid the debt due unto the sins for which He died. A true gospel ministry directs sinners to look to Christ and to Him crucified. That's His work of righteousness. Well, that's the same as bringing every thought as it pertains to the ground of salvation into captivity to the obedience of Christ, His righteousness. So look back at 2 Corinthians 10.5. We know that bringing these thoughts captive can't be speaking of our every conscious thought being continually focused on Christ's work of obedience. We know that because, for example, the scripture elsewhere exhorts us to be good employees as we work for a living. Well, that demands your attention to the task at hand. But remember what the subject is here. It's a gospel ministry, a spiritual warfare. So what he's conveying is when it comes to that, when it comes to the basis of your hope for salvation, that the whole understanding is to be brought captive to this one work of righteousness, the obedience which Christ rendered, so as to embrace it as the sole ground of our salvation, of how we, those sinners in ourselves, are counted righteous. You know, in Colossians 1, it describes a saved sinner as holy and unblameable and unreprovable before a holy God. You, a sinner, the only way that can be is to have this righteousness, which you can't produce. The very righteousness of God freely imputed to you. And any other notion as to the ground of our salvation, that's an imagination or or high thing that exalteth itself against or in opposition to the knowledge of God as He truly is. Knowing God as He is, as both a just God and a Savior, as is uniquely revealed in the gospel of Christ and Him crucified, this is a big deal. It's essential, it's vital to our eternal welfare. Christ said as much in his high priestly prayer in John 17 3 when he prayed, and this is life eternal that they might know thee, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. So anything in opposition to the knowledge of God as he truly is, well that would be an idol. And it may be made evident by religious indifference, whereby we demonstrate a lack of the presence of God's spirit, neglect to even seek after the one true God. It could be being consumed with other worldly interests that would rival or displace our interest in Christ, through whom we come to know the one true God. But you know, more specific to this context, in which Paul is writing, this is referring to those sincere religious imaginations concerning God and how he saves sinners. Faults of being accepted by God based on anything other than, anything in addition to the imputed righteousness of Christ. And we know that because that's what Paul was addressing due to the accusations made against him by these religious accusers who were promoting a false gospel. The Greek word that's translated imagination there is those which are to be cast down. It's a word which simply means reasonings or thoughts. In fact, in Romans 2.15, the same Greek word is translated thoughts. But remember, as I alluded to earlier, what the scripture says about our thoughts, what we all naturally think. As we often quote from Proverbs, there is a way that seemeth right to a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. In other words, the way that seems right isn't. In other words, apart from the mighty work of God making effectual to us the preached gospel of God's grace in Christ so as to pull down our former strongholds and cast down our former imaginations, what had seemed right to us will all remain mistaken. So that's why it's eternally vital that our imaginations or thoughts be cast down. It's because our natural thoughts or imaginations will have us worship an imaginary God, not the true and living God of the Bible. That would be an idol. So we aim our weapons at casting down that which is opposed to the knowledge of God, opposed to the gospel that teaches salvation is conditioned on Christ alone. You see, because it's that doctrine of Christ that uniquely reveals to us the knowledge of God. How all of God's attributes, they're not pitted against one another as if God has to dispense with one attribute in order to show mercy. That he has to dispense with his justice in order to show mercy. Just overlook your sins. No, they must be justly dealt with. And think of the injustice that we accuse God of when we imagine that Christ died for all the sins who lived, but most of them perish anyway. Christ, having paid their sin debt with His infinitely valuable blood, that would be an unjust monster. You see, no, that's not God as He's revealed in the Scripture. No, in the Gospel, we see how all of His attributes are brought together to behold His redemptive glory. He can be both a just God and a Savior. through the person to finish work of Christ. How God can justly punish sin and still show mercy to the sinner. Doesn't it make you love the doctrine of imputation? Any thoughts or reasonings, imaginations, any high thing that exalteth itself, that is, it places itself in rivalry with knowing God as he's uniquely revealed in the gospel. Well, by a gospel ministry, that's targeted to be discredited, to be proven vain. It's because we don't know what is right apart from having learned where we're wrong about God and how He saves sinners. If you think there's any merit or saving contribution derived from anything that proceeds from you, the sinner, that's exactly what you're doing. You're placing that which proceeds from you in rivalry with what it took. Christ and His bloodshed, His righteousness. So that needs to be cast down because it exalts itself against the knowledge of God and to persist there is to remain on the carnal or the worldly side of this battle. Well, I hope you've seen today from 2 Corinthians 10 the nature of a true gospel ministry, the ministry through which we see how reconciliation Peace can truly be made between God and all those he saves by the doing and dying of Christ and by that alone. To summarize this ministry or this spiritual warfare that God's people are to engage in, it's identified by two clear and vital truths that will have been applied, and this is my emphasis today, applied to all who have been or will be blessed by God so as to be saved under such a ministry. One, their natural refuges are strongholds. How we naturally would presume to be saved, it will be pulled down. And their natural imaginations cast aside, so as to bring their thoughts captive to the obedience of Christ. And you know, neither one of those occur apart from the other. So until both of those things happen, our God, little G, he's just a figment of our spiritually dead imaginations. But just as we cannot know what is right without knowing what is wrong, the reverse is true. We don't come to know what is wrong without seeing what is right. So therefore, faith, turning to what is right, is always accompanied by God-given repentance, turning away from what was wrong. By faith, we turn to the true and living God, which requires turning away in repentance from the former idol of our imagination. You know, we don't perceive that we're on the wrong side of this war. We think we're worshiping the true God, until by God's mighty power, through his gift of faith and belief of his gospel, we're shown what is right, the very righteousness of God that we must possess, the absolute necessity of Christ's work for us, whereby we come to understand and embrace how God reconciles sinners unto himself. by having imputed my sins to Christ and his righteousness to me. And until we're convinced of the impossibility of being accepted before a holy God any other way, we've not yet been brought captive to the obedience of Christ. Not captive so as to look to Christ and his righteousness alone. Have you switched sides? Which side are you on? You know, there's nothing more dangerous than to be steeped in religion only to find out too late that it had been a false refuge. Remember what Christ told the Pharisees in Matthew 23, 15. He said, Woe unto you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for ye accomplish sea and land to make one proselyte or convert. And when he is made, you make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves. To believe in a false refuge is promoted by the Pharisees, such as basing your hope on some decision you made. Your law keeping is a Pharisees promoted. Your determination to do right, anything that proceeds from you, well it's prone to keep you to stop seeking. From further examining yourself as to whether you be in the faith as we're all commanded to do. It's to have a refuge, see, which gives you assurance but it's a false assurance because it's a refuge of lies. If it's contrary to God's truth, it's set forth in his word. And given that false sense of spiritual well-being, it's in that sense that many such converts, and sadly, as many to the popular version of so-called Christianity in our day, they've been made two-fold more the child of hell as they're engaged in religious industries, unwittingly on the wrong sides. Have you switched sides? Well, that would be the prayer of this ministry in keeping with our Lord's command to repent and believe his gospel. Gospel wherein he gets all the glory, bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. Thank you.