 The title of our sermon this morning is a declaration of war, and we are in 2 Corinthians chapter 10 verses 1 through 6. So this morning now as we enter or we come to this text, we're entering the final section of Paul's second canonical letter to the church at Corinth. There are three major sections to this letter, each dealing with a primary subject. In chapters 1 through 7, we see Paul dealing with the Christian ministry. In chapters 8 and 9, Paul is addressing Christian generosity, and now in chapters 10 through 13, Paul is dealing with apostolic, his apostolic authority. So now in chapter 10 verse 1, Paul moves on from Christian generosity and begins what is a rigorous defense of his apostolic authority before closing out this wonderful, beautiful, enriching letter. So as we come to chapter 10 now, Paul has in mind, thinking of chapter 10, and as he writes chapter 10, Paul has in mind a future visit to the church, his third visit to the church that he's about to embark on. In chapter 8, we met the three-man delegation under the leadership of Titus, that three-man delegation that was sent ahead of Paul to prepare the collection. Now Paul intends after that three-man delegation goes and prepares the collection. Paul intends now to follow sometime later to pick up the collection, spend some time with the church, and then accompany the team back to Jerusalem and deliver the gift. And so as Paul now turns his attention to this future visit, his third visit to the church at Corinth, his thoughts, his mind, his heart drawn once again to what he's going to face there, to who he's going to face there when he goes. Now as much as the church at Corinth needs to have some time to prepare their hearts and prepare the collection before Paul's arrival, the church at Corinth needs to take some time and to get their spiritual house in order before Paul's arrival as well. Paul says in verse 1, listen, I am pleading with you, Corinthians, verse 2, I beg you. And as though Paul begins this section with a plea for peace, Paul even now in his heart and mind is preparing for war. He's preparing for battle. The church has made some encouraging progress. We've seen that progress as we work verse by verse through this letter. Now this is only the second letter to Corinth that we have in our Bibles. But we know that it's at least the fourth letter that was written to the church at Corinth by Paul. And we come to that conclusion through a careful reading of the text. The third of those four letters is described as the severe letter, a severe correction, a severe rebuke on the part of the apostle Paul, a scathing rebuke to the church, pleading with them to turn from sin and to deal with the problems that were plaguing the church. The church was beset by problems, okay, beset by difficulty. And that letter, the severe letter, proceeded by a very painful and a very sorrowful visit that we read about in chapter 2, where Paul was apparently publicly opposed by a rebellious and outspoken member of the church of all things, right? The progress was made though, when that matter and the circumstances that precipitated the severe letter were brought to a resolution with godly sorrow, repentance that we read about in 2 Corinthians chapter 7, verses 8 through 12. In other words, there's a reconciliation that takes place, right? Despite all the problems, this one person apparently opposing Paul to his face when he visits the church, there's a restoration of the relationships. Those wayward saints in Corinth prone to wonder from Paul, prone to wonder from the apostolic message were brought back, brought back by genuine repentance, godly sorrow, and affections are renewed. Relationships are restored. And so Paul rejoices in chapter 7, verse 16, that now he has confidence in them, in everything. However, right? However, although the majority responded well to Paul's letter of correction, although the majority have dealt biblically with the one among them who publicly opposed Paul, the difficulties in the church are far from over. The difficulties in the church are far from over. The church at Corinth is under vicious attack. The church is deceived by an insurgency, right? It's under a vicious assault. In chapter 11, verse 13, Paul describes an enemy insurgency made up of false apostles and deceitful workers. Those Paul calls ministers of Satan that transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, right? So the stakes are high and the circumstances are sobering and serious. These false teachers, these ministers of Satan attacking the gospel that Paul is preaching, and in order to undermine the gospel, in order to undermine the message that Paul is preaching, these false teachers take it upon themselves to attack the man himself, to attack Paul. And so to add insult to serious injury, there remains now in Corinth, persuaded by false teachers, persuaded by error, persuaded by these attacks, there remains a vocal minority, even among the membership of the church, that seems to be sympathetic to the claims of these false teachers. A rebellious, unrepentant group, tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine, and Paul is concerned about the spreading 11 that threatens this young church. Now he says in chapter 11, verse 3, he says, I fear. I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For he who comes, preaches another Jesus whom we've not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you've not accepted, you may well put up with it. Paul is concerned, and we're talking about infinitely high stakes that could be deceived, persuaded to the shipwreck of their souls away from the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now Paul isn't going to allow the enemy to run amuck in that church without a fight. He's not going to allow them to have their way in the church at Corinth, right? With those dear people corrupting the message that's being preached, leading them astray, Paul's not going to give that up without a fight. So Paul's coming to Corinth, and when he comes, he is coming with apostolic authority, and he's coming with a weapon of our warfare which are mighty in God for pulling down strongholds. So he petitions them in verse 1. He petitions them. He pleads with them. He begs them in verse 2 for the sake of love and for the sake of peace, and he says this interestingly enough in chapter 12, verse 14. Now Paul says, for the third time I am ready to come to you, and I'll not be burdensome to you because I don't seek yours. I don't seek what is yours. I seek you for the children, not to lay up for the parents, but the parents for the children. And listen, verse 15, I will very gladly spend and be spent for your souls, even though the more abundantly I love you, the less I'm loved. Now Paul knows, Paul has an awareness of the difficulties that are facing him in Corinth. He has an understanding of what he's about to get himself into. Verse chapter 12, verse 20, he says, for I fear, lest when I come, I shall not find you such as I wish, and that I shall be found by you such as you do not wish. That is certainly no veiled threat. There's no veil. He delivers the warning with penetrating clarity in chapter 13, verse 1. Paul says again, this will be the third time that I'm coming to you. By the mouth of two or three witnesses, every word shall be established. I have told you before, and I foretell as if I were present the second time, and now being absent as I write to those who have sinned before, and do all the rest, that if I come again, I will not spare. Paul is making a declaration of war. Paul is making a declaration of war. It's a war for the souls of those dear people in Corinth. We're not playing games here in the church, amen? This is no entertainment. We don't just show up on a Sunday morning to hear some guy talk and rant on about something and swat it flies, right? We're not here for entertainment purposes. This is not just a motion that we go through. This is serious business. Your soul is at stake. The souls of those people that you'll meet with out there, their souls are at stake. This combat that we're involved in has eternal ramifications, life and death, heaven and hell, right? This is no veiled threat that Paul makes. Paul is making a declaration of war. It's a war for the souls of those people in that church. And brothers and sisters, lest you be lulled into a sense of complacency, we're involved in a war, right? The Christian life is a battle. It's a battle for your soul. It's a battle for your soul. It's a battle for the truth of the gospel, okay? It's a war against sin and error. It's against arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. It's a spiritual war against those who will not repent, against the rebels, against false teachers, against false apostles, against the dominion of Satan. Paul is ready in verse six to punish all disobedience when the obedience of the church is realized in all its fullness. Paul is making a declaration of war. Paul makes it very clear we're not playing games, right? Listen to John Owen. John Owen says this, brethren, while it is well with us through the grace of God and our own houses are not in flames, pray, do not let us think that the times are not perilous. When so many turn into pernicious errors and fall into swift destruction, will you say that the time of the public plague was not perilous? Remember the black plague that swept through Europe killing millions? Was that not perilous? Because you were alive? Would you say that it's not perilous? No. Was the fire not dreadful because your houses were not burned? No. Will you then notwithstanding say it was a dreadful plague and a dreadful fire? Of course we would. And pray, consider, it's not just a perilous season when multitudes have an inclination to depart from the truth and to depart from God in just judgment has permitted Satan to stir up seducers to draw them into pernicious ways and their poor souls perish forever. Reckon upon it that in such times as these are, all of us will not go free. There are many who will say to me in that day, the Lord says, Lord, Lord, and many will not enter the kingdom of heaven. You'll find, Owen says, you'll find no mention of this perilous season in scripture, but it follows some shall have their faith overthrown. Others shall follow pernicious ways. Others shall turn aside. Brethren and sisters, how do you know? But you or I may fall. Let us double our watch. Every one for the season has come upon us wherein some of us may fall. Sometimes we think, don't we? We slip into this dull-hearted, what is sinful and neglectful complacency, not only concerning our own souls, but the souls of others. And just because you may think to yourself that your house isn't on fire, doesn't mean that a flicker can't begin there, one. And two, doesn't mean that there aren't millions out there whose houses are on fire. And we need to be preaching the gospel to them, amen? The Christian is involved in warfare. The Christian is involved in warfare. The Christian life is a life of battle. It's not a life of arrest right now. Our rest is coming, brethren and sisters. Our rest is coming. Right now, we're to be employed in the Lord's work, good soldiers of the Lord Jesus Christ. So consider the example of the Apostle Paul with me from this text. Let's get in the fight, amen? Let's get in the fight. Paul begins in 2 Corinthians chapter 10, verses one through six, with one, a plea for peace, in verses one and two, a plea for peace. And then he prefaces the battle that he fights in chapters 10 through 13 of this letter with a declaration of war, a declaration of war in verses three through six. But consider with me first, Paul's plea for peace in verses one and two. In verse one, now I, Paul, myself, am pleading with you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ, who in presence and lowly among you, but being absent and bold toward you. But I beg you, verse two, that when I am present, I may not be bold with that confidence by which I intend to be bold against some who think of us as if we walked according to the flesh. I want you to notice from verse one, the character of the plea, the character of the plea in verse one. Paul says, I, Paul, myself, am pleading with you. The word means urging, exhorting, right? He's no longer speaking for the team, as he was, by using the word we, as he had before. This is a personal and a heart-wrenching me, right? I, Paul, myself, this is urgent. This is a heart-wrenching pleading. I, myself, am pleading with you. I'm begging you in verse two. In other words, he's saying to the Corinthians, listen, you know me. You know me, how I've labored among you. I've shed tears among you. I've worked. I've preached the gospel to you. I've sat there and cried with you over your sin and led you in repentance, right? Paul knows them and they know him. I am pleading with you, he says. You know my character. You know my labor, how he preached the gospel to you. I am deathly serious. Please, please, he says. There's even in that, in there, a sense of authority that comes along with Paul's pleading here, because Paul is an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's no longer the team that's pleading. Paul, an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ, is pleading with them. And notice it's not just personal. It's urgent. It's urgent. Not just urgent. It's authoritative. And not just personal, urgent, or authoritative. Look at verse one. Paul pleads by the meekness and gentleness of Christ. Words mean really humility, humility. Meekness is often characterized as strength or power under control, strength or power under control, often associated with humility, gentleness, gentleness associated with forbearance, patience, this word, kindness, an absence of anger or wrath or outburst, right? Not emphasizing or pointing to the Lord's work in this case, right? But emphasizing here, the Lord's character by the meekness and gentleness of Christ. The Lord says, doesn't he, take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am what? Gentle, right? Gentle, lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Paul even uses that same word that the Lord uses when he says in presence, verse one, I am lowly, same word, I am lowly among you. Now, Paul, just like the Lord Jesus Christ, can conduct himself with loving meekness among them and gentleness and lowliness. And as he does, Paul doesn't sacrifice one shred of authority, not one shred of apostolic authority. In fact, it's that very humility, that very gentleness, that forbearance, pouring his heart out for the Corinthians, it's that very character that serves to bolster his authority among them. Do you see? That character bolsters Paul's authority and also comes from or imitates the Lord Jesus Christ himself. The prophet Zechariah describes the coming messianic king in Zechariah chapter nine, verse nine, when he says, behold, your king is coming to you. He is a king, right? Your king is coming to you. He is just and having salvation and how does this king come? He comes lowly and riding on a donkey, right? Lowly, riding on a donkey. The prophet Isaiah, listen to this from Isaiah, the prophet says, behold, God says through the prophet, behold, my servant whom I uphold, my elect one in whom my soul delights. I have put my spirit upon him. He will bring forth justice to the Gentiles, but he will not cry out nor raise his voice, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. A bruised reed he will not break and a smoking flax he will not quench, right? The Lord was meek. The Lord was gentle. The Lord was humble. The Lord was lowly among them. So Paul now comes in this humility, the humility of the Lord Jesus Christ. He comes by the meekness and gentleness of Christ. He acknowledges the weight of his mission with a sense, certainly of his own dependence upon God, his own weakness. And he says that is much in first Corinthians chapter two, verse three. He says that I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. And he comes to the church at Corinth and he pleads. He pleads with them. Now, sadly and absurdly, it's that very lowliness, that very gentleness that is exactly the character trait that Paul is excoriated for by the false teachers in Corinth. That's the thing that they attack him with. That character of the Lord Jesus Christ that Paul is emulating, the false teachers seize upon that to attack and assault to accuse the apostle Paul. This notion of power, a notion of authority, exercise with humility, exercise with love and gentleness and meekness cuts against the grain of conventional worldly wisdom. We see that today, don't we? Someone who comes in humility, someone who's gentle. They're instantly labeled as weak. They're seen as weak. Meekness is seen as weakness, right? We see that in our world today. And the false teachers use this as a pejority, a pejorative. They use the word lowly in verse 10 as an insult. Paul's opponents paint him as weak, paint him as timid, even cowardly in person. You know, when he's away from you, he's absent and he writes letters to you, Paul will be hard, Paul will be direct, Paul is bold, right? He's even harsh, brash in his letters. Listen, when he's with you in person, look how two-faced Paul is, right? When he's with you in person, he's weak. He's timid. He won't call you out. I want you to be called out for. He won't say what needs to be said, right? Calling Paul essentially a coward. In chapter 10, verse 10, the false teachers accuse for his letters, they say, are weighty and powerful, but his bodily presence is weak and his speech contemptible. So now Paul, understanding this, right? With great wisdom, already taking a jab at his opponents, in verse one, he mocked their accusation. He said, I, Paul, here I am in this letter. I'm writing this letter to you and here I am with you, pleading by the meekness and gentleness of Christ. In other words, it's not absent or separated from the example of the Lord Jesus Christ himself who was meek and gentle and lowly. And he says, I'm the one they say is cowardly when I'm away from you. And here I am writing this letter to you in meekness and gentleness. I'm hard on you in my letters, they say, but now I beg you in meekness, verse two, so that I'm not compelled to be hard on you when I come. And Paul flips the accusation, doesn't he? So that I'm not compelled to be severe when I'm present with you. That points us to the purpose of the plea. We see the character of the plea. That points us to the purpose of the plea in verse two, the purpose of the plea in verse two. He says, but I beg you so that when I am present, I may not be bold with that confidence by which I intend to be bold against some who think of us as if we walked according to the flesh. But the purpose of the plea then is to warn them. This is Paul's declaration of war. When I come, Paul says, I intend to be bold against some. I intend to be bold against some. So he's saying with his plea in verse one, begging them in verse two, he's saying, please, Paul is saying, please allow me to come to you in meekness, in gentleness, in joy, in love. Respond to my entreaty. Respond to the word of God. Obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Get your spiritual house in order so that please I can come in meekness. I can come in joy and I don't have to come to you with severity. Calvin said this, it is the duty of a good pastor to allure his sheep peacefully and kindly that they may allow themselves to be governed rather than to constrain them by violence. Severity, it is true, is, I acknowledge, sometimes necessary. But we must always set out with gentleness and persevere in it so long as the hearer shows himself tractable. Severity must be the last resource. For as we must, insofar as in our power, draw men, rather than drive men. So when mildness has no effect in dealing with those that are stern and refractory, rigor must of necessity be resorted to. Otherwise it will not be moderation nor equableness of temper, but criminal cowardice. That's a balance between the two, right? Pleading, imploring with meekness and gentleness and humility and love, pleading and imploring, pleading and imploring. When that fails, when that fails and the wolves are not held at bay, when error is gaining a foothold, Paul says, severity is required. Severity is necessary. To not deal with the wolves, to not deal with the error, Calvin says, is criminal cowardice. Another has said, a good soldier takes no pleasure in using deadly force. A noble warrior's power is constrained by his compassion and exercised only when there is no other option. Paul is pleading for peace while warning of war. Now notice with me, notice with me, the sum in verse two. Paul says, I intend to be bold against some. The sum of verse two certainly refers to those false teachers, those false apostles that are spreading lies and quarants, those that think of him verse two as if he walked according to the flesh or walked according to fleshly whims, fleshly desires, as if Paul ministered for self-indulgent ends. Worse yet, they were accusing Paul that Paul ministered without the Spirit of God, without the Spirit of God. He walked, ministered according to the flesh. Now Paul intends to deal. He says in verse two, I intend to be bold against some. Paul intends to deal decisively with those wicked men and with their accusations. Paul must, for the sake of the gospel, for the sake of those dear people, their souls. Paul must deal decisively with error and false teaching and quarants. But also notice with me in verse two that Paul addresses the Corinthians themselves. He's pleading with members of the church when he says, I beg you, right? I beg you. It's very apparent as we read through this text that there is still at least a small group of rebels in that church, a rebellious, unrepentant, disobedient minority that must turn from their sin and rebellion. Paul says to them, I plead with you. I am ready to deal with you when I get there if you do not turn from your sin. Chapter 13 verse two. He says, I've previously said, when present the second time, and though now absent, I say in advance to those who have sinned in the past and to all the rest as well, that if I come again, I will not spare. Now this should serve to remind us that although the faithful minister here, Paul, is earnest and is pleading for peace, the faithful minister is also prepared to go to war, prepared to go to war. Brothers and sisters, as we worked through, especially Paul's, the second part of this letter, when Paul was dealing with the Christian ministry, we established the fact that every true believer is appointed to ministry in the Lord's church. You're not here merely to listen. This is not a spectator activity, a spectator sport, right? You are engaged in Christian ministry. Every faithful minister is earnest and is pleased for peace. You plead for peace. You beg for peace. As Paul does here, by the meekness and gentleness of Christ, you plead with others to turn from their sin and rebellion. But the faithful minister, that faithful brother, that faithful sister engaged in the battle to which we've been appointed, that faithful Christian minister is prepared to go to war when necessary, to go to war when necessary. Now in essence here, Paul is making a very unveiled threat. It's unveiled. What we'll see is that it's a militant threat, a combative threat, a combat that is not according to the flesh, but it's certainly a declaration of war. We see that in verses three through six. Paul explains the contrast now, this contrast that he's establishing. He explains this in verse four. Four, he says. Four because the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, for casting down arguments, casting down every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled. Paul is essentially saying, isn't he? Not by might nor by power, but by my spirit says the Lord of hosts. Amen. And so Paul says, not by might, not by power, but by my spirit says Paul. Paul's not going to fight with fleshly weapons. He is going to fight with mighty weapons in God, mighty for pulling down strongholds. I want you to notice three characteristics of our warfare from verses three through six. Three characteristics of our warfare. One, I want you to see the nature of our warfare in verse three. Secondly, I want you to see the weapons of our warfare verses four through five. And lastly, the consequences of our warfare verse six, the nature, the weapons and the consequences of our warfare. First, the nature of our warfare in verse three. The nature of our warfare is not fleshly, but spiritual, not fleshly, but spiritual, verse three. For though we may walk in the flesh, though we walk according to the flesh in this life, as Paul's earlier said, we walk in this earthly tent, right? We walk in this weak and frail clay pot. We're fleshly in this life, but although we walk according to the flesh in this life, we do not war according to the flesh. We do not war according to human strength. And then Paul sets up and explains the nature of that contrast further in verse four, because he says the weapons of our warfare are not carnal. Weapons of our warfare are not carnal. They're spiritual and mighty in God for pulling down strongholds. Carnal, that word linked to fleshly in verse three, and implies a contrast with weapons or a fight or a combat or a war that is spiritual, not fleshly. It's not carnal. It is spiritual, mighty in God for pulling down strongholds. S. Lewis Johnson on this text illustrates this from the story of David and Goliath. You remember that story from 1 Samuel? David struggles to convince his brothers that he's going to take Goliath on the field of battle, right? He's going to go and take down this uncircumcised Philistine. And so he has difficulty convincing his brothers. He's got men around him. He's trying to convince of that. Essentially, David's saying, listen, don't judge according to the flesh. I'm not warring. I'm not battling here, according to the flesh. If David were battling according to the flesh, Goliath is like three times his height, outweighs him by roughly a ton. He's got a spear that weighs more than David does, but he's not battling according to the flesh. So the men hear this talk on the part of David and they report it to Saul. David said to Saul, listen, Saul, we don't war according to the flesh. David said, listen, when I kept sheep for my father, a bear or a lion would run out after the sheep. And I would go and grab that bear, grab that lion by its beard. He said, and I would miserably treat that poor creature. I would cast that thing down. This uncircumcised Philistine, David said, we'll be like one of them. Seeing that he has defied the armies of the living God. David is saying, we don't battle according to the flesh. We're not warring here according to the flesh. So what's the first thing the men do? What's the first thing the men do? They put Saul's armor on David. Now, Saul was also bigger than David was. So when they put Saul's armor on David, David can't move. He can't walk. And they hand him his sword. He can't swing it. David's response was, I can't do this because I haven't tested it yet. No, David, it was too big for David. Too heavy for David. We're not battling according to the flesh. We don't wage war according to the flesh. So what did David do? David took his swing. He took five smooth stones, which everybody knows is the five points of Calvinism. That is a joke. David took his five smooth stones and he struck down the Philistine. He struck down the Philistine, cut off his head with his own sword. Similarly, brothers and sisters, we do not ultimately war according to the flesh. Our battle is a spiritual battle. And the weapons of our warfare are mighty in God for pulling down, powering uncircumcised Philistines, pulling down arguments, pulling down fortresses and strongholds in every high thing that lost itself, that presumed to stand opposed to the knowledge of God in Christ. Ours is a spiritual battle. We do not use fleshly or carnal weapons. We use spiritual weapons, mighty in God. Now, having described the nature of our warfare, Paul then moves on to describing the weapons of our warfare. And in learning about the weapons of our warfare, we learn more about the nature of our warfare. Look at verse four. The weapons of our warfare, these weapons are not carnal. You can't win a spiritual battle with fleshly carnal weapons. These are weapons not forged by human hands. These are spiritual weapons employed with divine power, not only defensive weapons like the breastplate of righteousness, the shield of faith, or the helmet of salvation and Ephesians chapter six. These weapons are also offensive weapons with which you wage war against an enemy. The sword of the spirit, an example of one of those, which is the word of God, truth, faith, prayer, evangelism, preaching the word of God, divine wisdom. In chapter six, verse seven, they are the weapons, same word, hapla, the weapons of righteousness on the right hand, the weapons of righteousness on the left. Now these weapons, the weapons that are laid out for us here, are mighty in God to what end? To what end? Three ends, particularly, for pulling down strongholds, for casting down arguments, for taking thoughts captive, right? Taking captivity. In other words, we're not fighting flesh and blood. We're not fighting literal physical Philistines, okay? This is not a carnal battle. It's not a battle for land or earthly power. We're not spreading our influence at the point of a sword, which is a contrast with other world religions, isn't it? Especially in our day and age. We don't fight our battles at the point of a sword. Despite the history of inquisitions or crusades by godless, professing only Christians, Christians in name only, despite that wicked and deplorable activity, the genuine Christian, true Christianity never presses itself upon the point of a sword, upon the point of a spear. Spurgeon said, for the church of God ever to avail itself of force would be clean contrary to the spirit of Christianity. These weapons are spiritual weapons. Our battle is a spiritual battle. These weapons are mighty in God for pulling down strongholds. When Paul says there that the weapons are mighty for pulling down strongholds, the word literally means for destroying or tearing down fortresses. And this is language from siege warfare. Siege warfare would have been very common, very understood to people at that time and that location. Many of them had seen siege warfare. They soon, at the destruction of the temple and the siege of Jerusalem, they soon would experience for themselves siege warfare in AD 70. In the ancient world, when cities were built, often the cities would build as tall and as thick of walls as possible to surround the city and to protect the people who lived in it. In addition to the walls, they would also, in the center of the city, build a fortress or a stronghold. So as the people gave a defense of their city from an attacking enemy, a siege on their city, as they would retreat, they would retreat into the stronghold and mount a final defense. And Paul says that our weapons, not merely weapons mighty in God for pulling down the tallest and the highest walls, but weapons mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, for pulling down fortresses, everything that raises itself up against the knowledge of God can be pulled down by these weapons, right? These are weapons that are mighty in God. So no matter what the lost man erects in his heart and mind against the knowledge of God, God means God's weapons, God's word is mighty for pulling that fortress down, right? Mighty for pulling those concrete reinforced steel walls from around his heart. These weapons are mighty in God for pulling them down. Paul says, in the warfare of the Christian ministry, we who serve Christ are in the business of besieging enemy territory, right? The tearing down of defensive strongholds, the defensive fortresses of the wicked. Again, we're not talking about physical strongholds, amen? We're not talking about physical strongholds. And the indication of that, if it weren't obvious, is given to us as Paul continues, right? It's not just tearing down fortresses, but passing down arguments, passing down arguments. The word means speculations, reasonings. In every high thing, Paul says, that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. One commentator calls them citadels of argumentation. The thoughts, sentiments, arguments, justifications of self-vaunted reason. What is overthrown in the battle, if you notice, what's destroyed or what's torn down? It's not the enemies themselves. It's not the person. It's the way that he thinks, right? The argument that he's raised up against the knowledge of God. It's not the enemy themselves as in physical warfare, but the actions, the thoughts, the error of the enemies that is thrown down, the fortresses that they've built in opposition to the gospel. God says in Isaiah chapter 29, the wisdom of their wise men shall perish. The understanding of their prudent men shall be hidden. Proverbs chapter 21 verse 22, a wise man scales the city of the mighty and brings down the trusted stronghold. In other words, think, if you will, with me, outside of Christ, outside of Christ, before the conquering, efficacious grace of God entered your heart and made of you a new creature, such that you could not resist to see the glories of Christ and the heinousness of your own sin against him. Before that took place, you were in the business of fortress building. Everywhere the glory of God is displayed. The firmament shows his handy work and you, in your ignorance, build fortresses in your mind and in your heart against the knowledge of God. You stay in your heart, right? I will not have that man to rule over me. I am the master of my fate, right? I am the captain of my soul and so you erect towers and you reinforce them. You put concrete around them, feel around them and you guard off the stronghold of what you think is your own heart against the knowledge of God, that you are a sinner in need of salvation and that he is a holy God, the one who has created you in his own image and that he calls you to be holy as he is holy and you weaponize, weaponize your defenses against that knowledge because you rather have your sin than submit to anyone else. You want to live life for yourself, you think. You're in the business of erecting strongholds, erecting fortresses, but if you're in Christ, if you're in Christ, didn't all of that reinforced concrete, didn't all of that steel, all of that work, all of that labor, all of those defensive efforts, didn't they melt away in an instant when you have eyes to see and ears to hear the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, that God in mercy and in grace visited you with that mercy and grace to save your wretched soul, that God would forgive you of your sin in Christ and adopt you as a son in his own household in Christ, would seat you in the heavenly places in Christ, would redeem you and sanctify you and one day glorify you that you might worship and praise him forever, pulling down those strongholds. They are weak and powerless against the efficacious grace of Almighty God. Today, today, will you harden your heart against him? Will you presume to march onward toward your death with your weak and feeble defenses raised against him? You'll stand before him and those defenses will evaporate in the flames in an instant. Will you continue to fight? Will you give your heart to the Lord Jesus Christ? You can be forgiven of your sin. All of this has to do with submitting our thoughts to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, the one who made us. Casting down arguments, verse five, every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought, every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. That word, every thought refers to every kind of device, every scheme, every design, every thought that prevented people from the true knowledge of God. Paul is not merely concerned with his own ministry at this point, but ultimately, he's concerned with these satanic attacks that hinder the gospel in Corinth. You, brother, you sister, be concerned about the satanic attacks that lure you away from the truth as it is in Christ. Taking those godless, god-denying thoughts captive. It's interesting here that he's not specifically referring to our own thoughts, but how the faithful minister of God seeks to take captive the thoughts of that one who is trapped in their godless mind, right, in their godlessness. Taking those thoughts captive, taking those arguments captive with the truth of God's word. This has to do, again, with the Lordship of Jesus Christ. One said, if a man's natural condition and sin is that he has steeled himself in pretentious intellectual fortresses by which he aims to shield his thinking from God's truth, then the work of ministry entails not only the destruction of those fortresses, but capturing every rebellious thought and leading them as prisoners of war out of their native city and into subjection to Christ. If sin has fundamentally infected and corrupted the mind of man, as well as his heart, as well as his will, then conversion consists in part in the renewal of man's mind and bringing even his thinking into submission to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Consider the implications of this warfare then, the implications of this warfare. The unbeliever is not merely someone who has a different opinion. We're not battling here for opinions, merely to win an argument. We're trying to win their soul, right? It's not just about winning an argument. We're not trying to battle or combat between two valid belief systems as if both have equal footing or as if both were okay. We're tearing down arguments, tearing down strongholds, destroying fortresses, all those who do not worship the one true and living God in spirit and in truth. And the Lord Jesus Christ, the one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, they have fortified for themselves strongholds of justifications, strongholds of error in opposition to the truth of the gospel. And the faithful minister, that faithful brother, that faithful sister goes to that one with the intention of ripping down, tearing down those strongholds, doing so with the weapons of God which are mighty in God for pulling down strongholds. Paul uses a form of this word in Romans chapter one when he says of wicked unbelievers that even though they knew God, they did not honor him as God nor give thanks, but they became futile, futile in their speculations. There's our word speculations. Their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools. The nature of our warfare, the weapons of our warfare, consider with me the consequences of our warfare. Verse six, Paul says in considering our warfare, Paul says, and I am ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled. Those remaining unrepentant rebels, those in the church who persist in error, who persist in standing opposed to the gospel, those who will not submit themselves to the truth of God as it is in Christ, will find themselves on the wrong end of apostolic authority. Remember from Scripture, Paul in an encounter with a satanically charged sorcerer named Elimus in Acts 13 has already struck him with blindness, right? Peter in Acts chapter five proclaims the death of Ananias and Sapphira for lying to the Holy Spirit. So apostolic authority means something, right? But listen, that apostolic authority extends into the Lord's church through battling like church discipline. In the sense that when the church faithfully exercises discipline, as Paul is saying he's going to do here, what Paul intends to do, Paul intends to exercise church discipline on those that remain opposed to the gospel, that remain opposed to those dear people, he's going to put them out of the church when he comes. This is church discipline. And that act, doesn't it say? That act of church discipline, if you follow the steps Matthew chapter 18, for example, you go to that person one-on-one, if they don't hear you, you take two or three more with you and you go again, pleading with them as Paul does, begging with them to repent, to turn from their sin, and to trust Christ alone. If they don't, you take it to the church. And when you take it to the church, the church then, if they will not repent, if they refuse to hear, they put them out of the church, they treat them as a tax collector and a heathen. Paul says in 1 Corinthians chapter five, it is turning them over to Satan for the destruction of their flesh. The same power that killed Ananias and Sapphira, the same power wielded by the Apostle Paul to strike elements that are blind, is the power that stands opposed to you when you remain unrepentant in your sin. And that power, there's just a foretaste of that judgment, that accountability, there's a foretaste of that in the church discipline that Paul is speaking about here in verse six. God stands opposed to the wicked. The shepherd is coming here to drive away wolves from the flock. God will protect his people from error. God will protect his church from error. He gives the church the means of church discipline to provide the means in that. Now somebody might say, that sounds harsh, right? It sounds so harsh. It sounds hard, but to love the sheep necessitates being hard on the wolf. You can't coddle the wolf to protect the sheep. Paul says, when I show up, I'm going to discipline those who remain unrepentant. That's verse six. So someone says, listen, what happened to the meekness and gentleness of Christ? Thought you were supposed to be meek, Paul, gentle. Listen, meekness and gentleness are not incompatible with Christian warfare, with warfare. When the Lord went into the temple in John chapter two, the one who was meek and gentle and lowly, when he saw the temple given over to the money changers, making the house of God a den of thieves, what did the Lord do? The Lord took a whip in his hand and he cleared out the temple of the money changers, right? When the Pharisees in their hypocrisy were pontificating their religious expertise on an unsuspecting people, the Lord Jesus Christ in Matthew chapter 23 rebuked them with a scathing rebuke, right? Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. He pronounces curses of woe upon them, called them sons of hell, blind guides, fools, blind men, whitewashed tombs, full of hypocrisy, a brood of vipers. The Lord Jesus Christ was earnest in his pleas for peace. The Lord Jesus Christ was earnest in his meekness, in his gentleness, in his lowliness, but when it came to defending the truth against error, the Lord Jesus Christ, as was Paul, was ready for war. Even now in verse six, even now, Paul continues to leave room for compassion. He says in verse six, he says in verse six, he's ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled. In other words, when your obedience comes to its fullness, when everyone's had an opportunity to repent and when all those who are going to repent have repented, then I'm going to punish all disobedience. In other words, there's still time, there's still time, repent of your sin, repent of your rebellion for the one here who is not a Christian, for the one here who continues to persist in their sin, for the one here who has not turned from sin to follow the Lord Jesus Christ's heart, soul, mind, and strength. You remain an enemy of God. You are at enmity with an omnipotent God who made you and has called you to be holy. All the defenses that you presume to raise are hopeless against the accountability that is coming for you. God says he is ready to punish all disobedience. God is appointed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom he's appointed, and he has given evidence of this to all by raising that man, the Lord Jesus Christ, from the dead. You will be called into account and God, the omnipotent, is ready to punish all disobedience. We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ to give an account of what we've done in the body, whether good or bad, and God stands ready with recompense in his hand to punish all who are disobedient. Turn from your sin. Put your faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved. God has made provision of your sin. Turn to him in faith that your sins may be blotted out, that you may be forgiven, brother and sister, if you're here today. Listen, you've turned from your sin. You put your faith and trust in Christ. The depiction of the Christian life on the part of the New Testament, on the part of the Apostle Paul, is the life of battle. It's a life of warfare. In fact, that theme is common to the Apostle Paul. Paul speaks of those who labor with him in ministry as fellow soldiers. He uses that term of Epaphroditus in Philippians chapter 2 verse 25. He uses that term of archipelago in verse 2 of Philemon. In 2 Timothy chapter 2 verse 3, he exhorts Timothy to suffer hardship with me as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. And Paul reminds us that this is not a carnal battle. We do not war according to the flesh. In Ephesians chapter 6 verse 12, we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. And he calls it in 1 Timothy chapter 6 verse 12, the good fight of faith. He exhorts the people of God to wage the good warfare, brothers and sisters. We cannot be complacent in this battle. The spiritual well-being of your own soul depends upon you fighting, you battling. According to the means that God has given you, reading his word, praying, exercising faith, evangelizing, serving the brothers and sisters, loving one another, stirring one another up to love and good works, being fervent in good works. We cannot be complacent in the Christian life. The Christian life is a race. And we have to run our race with endurance, Paul says. Right? And there are those brothers, there are those sisters who need the Lord Jesus Christ. We cannot stand by, stand idly by while they suffer under the delusions of their own heart. Those fortresses, those defenses that they've piled up against the knowledge of God. We have weapons in our arsenal, brothers, sisters, with which we can pull down strong holds. We need to be in the business of tearing down fortresses. Amen. In May, the Lord Jesus Christ received the full reward of his suffering. All praise, honor, and glory to the one who has called us to this fight, called us to this faith. Amen. Let's pray.