Now in verse 1, the Apostle Paul
said, Now I, Paul, myself, beseech you by the meekness and gentleness
of Christ, who in presence am base among you. Now picture this. Picture Paul stepping into the
pulpit and suddenly he wields weapons. Suddenly he wields a
sword. And he begins to strike those
in the pew. And he begins to pull down all
their defenses. And they themselves, all their
thoughts are pulled down and they're taken into captivity.
It sounds like that would be a preacher engaging in warfare. And it is. But it's a pulpit
warfare. That's exactly what every God-sent
preacher does every time he steps in the pulpit. But it's not exactly
what it sounds like. Paul said in verse 3, For though
we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh. For the
weapons of our warfare are not carnal. God's preacher is not
going to war using carnal weapons. He's going
to war, but it's not using carnal weapons. He's not using philosophy. He's not using the excellency
of speech and the wisdom of men. You can tell the difference when
you hear God's preacher preaching and you hear men of this world
preaching. He's not using titles and impressive
resumes. He's not using what they call
so-called contemporary worship. He's not speaking politics and
civil rights and those things. Verse 4, For the weapons of our
warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God. God's preacher is
strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might. He has on
the whole armor of God so He can stand against the wiles of
the devil. Because we wrestle not against
flesh and blood, but we wrestle against principalities, against
powers, against rulers of the darkness of this world, against
spiritual wickedness in high places. And so he stands therefore
having his loins girt about with truth. These are the weapons.
He has his loins girt about with truth and he has on the breastplate
of righteousness. He has his feet shod with the
preparation of the gospel of peace. I come here this morning
by God's grace with my feet shod, ready to run with the gospel
of peace. And above all, God's preacher
takes the shield of faith, wherewith he'll be able to quench all the
fiery darts of the wicked. And he takes the helmet of salvation. His mind is set on God's salvation. And he takes the sword of the
Spirit. He has a sword. But it's not
a carnal sword, it's not a fleshly sword, it's the sword of the
Spirit. It is the Word of God. And He prays always with all
supplication for God's saints. He's praying that He may speak
as God would have Him to speak, as He ought to speak. And He's
praying that God would make the Word effectual in the heart of
His people. These are the weapons of our
warfare. And our chief weapon in this warfare is the gospel
of Christ and Him crucified. That's our chief weapon. The
gospel of Christ and Him crucified is the power of God unto salvation. I'm talking about the preaching
of the gospel of Christ and Him crucified. It's the power of
God unto salvation. Now, here are our divisions.
I want you to see how powerful this weapon is by God's power. First of all, he says in verse
4, this weapon pulls down strongholds. And then secondly, this weapon
casts down imaginations and every high thing that exalteth itself
against the knowledge of God. And then thirdly, By this gospel,
he brings into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. And then fourthly, having in
a readiness or making willing, he makes sinners willing to revenge
all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled, when he has fulfilled
obedience in you. Now first of all, let's look
at these four things. First of all, as the gospel is
preached, it's used of God to break down the gates of hell. When the gospel is going forth,
when it's the time for God to quicken a sinner, God breaks
down the gates of hell. He says in verse 4 that this
weapon is mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. Now what is a stronghold? You
remember Jericho? Jericho was a stronghold. Jericho
was a city that had walls all the way around it and the walls,
Scripture says, were reached up to heaven. There was no going
in Jericho and no coming out of Jericho except by permission. The man ruling Jericho had to
give you permission to enter and he had to give you permission
to leave. That was a stronghold. That's
a stronghold. Now the strong walls of the sinner's
stronghold is his sin, his pride, his self-righteousness, his refuge
of lies. That's the strong walls that
make up the believer's stronghold. The sinner thinks he is wise. This is so of every sinner. This
was so of me. This was so of you before God
called you. This is so of those right now who are in this stronghold. The sinner thinks he has wisely
built his stronghold. He thinks he's built up these
walls by his wise arguments against the gospel. And by his wisdom,
his walls cannot be broken down. He won't be like these pitiful,
poor, weak, Christians around him. He looks at them like they're
just weak. They don't have the stronghold
he has. He can't be persuaded. He can't be convinced of these
things. But the sinner doesn't realize
this, that he's the one who's been deceived. He hasn't built
that stronghold all of himself. He's in the devil's stronghold. He's in the devil's stronghold.
He's the captive in the devil's stronghold. Everything he thinks
is his wisdom, the devil encourages that wisdom, so-called wisdom. All these vain arguments he has,
the devil encourages those arguments. If he's a man who is in false
religion and thinks he already knows everything and yet what
he believes is a lie and that which he calls light is really
darkness, the devil loves him and encourages him to keep that
stronghold built up. Christ said this, when a strong
man armed keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace. The strong
man is the devil and his palace is the stronghold. that He's
built around that spiritually dead sinner. And that spiritually
dead sinner is His goods. That sinner can't get out of
that stronghold. But Christ promised His church
that not even the gates of hell shall prevail against us. Think
about the gates of hell. Think about those gates of Jericho. Those gates of Jericho, they
weren't there to be offensively attacking God's church. They
were there to be a defense and keep God's gospel from going
into Jericho. That's the devil's gates. The
gates of hell shall not prevail against this weapon, this gospel
of Christ. So we preach Christ. We do what
they did at Jericho. We march like they marched around
Jericho blowing a trumpet. We blow the gospel trumpet. We preach Christ and Him crucified.
And by the mighty power of God, remember what happened to Jericho? He made the walls fall down.
And by the mighty power of God, He pulls down all the walls that
make up the sinner's stronghold. He does it through this gospel. And then secondly, as His walls
fall down, the gospel exposes and destroys the sinner's inward
most imaginations of God. His walls are made to fall down
and God goes into this sinner with the gospel and He penetrates
to the imaginations of this man and He exposes them as vain and
He starts to destroy those vain imaginations and bring them down.
Verse 5, this gospel casts down imaginations. That's false vain
reasoning. cast down imaginations and cast
down every high thing that exalted itself against the knowledge
of God. You see, because we're conceived in sin, every thought
the sinner has about spiritual things is wrong. He doesn't have a right thought
about who God is or what God requires. or who Christ is, or
how God saves sinners. He doesn't have a right thought
about any of that. You'll hear sinners say, well,
this is what I believe. Well, if Christ had been made
your wisdom, you're wrong. That's just so. He doesn't have
any right thoughts about Himself, about His sin. In fact, every
thought is a high thing, exalting itself against the knowledge
of God. Every thought that a spiritually
dead sinner has is imaginary. Every thought he has about God
and about how God saves is imaginary because it comes from his corrupt
imagination. And you can test this if you
want to. You listen to the reasoning of
an unbeliever. You listen to his reasoning.
Or a man in false religion. You listen to his reasoning.
Listen to him speak. And you'll find out he has very
high thoughts of himself and his will and his works and his
abilities. And he has very low thoughts
of God and His Christ and how God saves sinners. Just listen,
you'll hear it. You that have spiritual discernment.
And so, through the gospel of Christ, the Spirit of God enters
in and exposes to this sinner his vain imaginations. Makes
him to know his imaginations are all vain. This is the sword
of the Spirit. This is the gospel of Christ
in him crucified, which is mighty through God. The Hebrew writer
said it's quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged
sword. It's sharper than any carnal
sword. Because this gospel pierces even to the dividing asunder
of soul and spirit. See, this is a spiritual sword.
It divides into the soul and the spirit. It goes to the joints
and marrow of a man's inner being. It's a discerner of the thoughts
and intents of his heart. And the thing about it is, it
discerns the thoughts and intents of his heart to him when God
begins His work in his heart. God uses the Gospel to begin
to expose to this man that his thoughts are all Imaginary. They're all vain. It's all vain
reasoning that he's thinking about God. Every proud, lofty
argument he had against God is exposed to him as utter folly. For the first time, he sees that
everything he thought about God is foolishness. God gives him
a true knowledge of God. Christ has made wisdom
unto you. God gives you a true knowledge.
And when He gives you that true knowledge, He makes you see you've
been exalting yourself against the knowledge of God. God makes
them understand what Christ said in John 17, verse 3. This is
life eternal. That they may know Thee, the
only true God. Before He was walking around,
He was reasoning. This is what main men always
do. They reason from man. up to God. That's backwards. God has to make you reason from
God down to man. What I mean by reasoning from
man up, man looks around at all the religions in the world and
all the gods that the corrupt imaginations of men have created,
and he says, well, they all can't be wrong. If one person's right,
then they're all wrong. The rest are wrong. And God makes
him see, this is true knowledge, to know There's only one true
God and to know that one true God and Jesus Christ whom He
had sent. That's true knowledge. And the
more God opens the scripture to him, the more that sinner
begins to see. and begins to understand that
all his imaginations are vain and they all become cast down.
Because like Paul told Timothy in 2 Timothy 3.15, the Holy Scriptures
are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which
is in Christ Jesus. God is making the sinner wise. And the way He is doing that
is first He is tearing down all that sinner's vain wisdom, all
his vain imaginations. that he used to exalt himself
against God. And as his imaginations and as
his high thoughts are brought down, God, one by one, makes
him take every one of those vain thoughts and those vain confidences
that he had and makes him take them out of the plus column and
put them in the loss column. He makes that sinner realize
everything he thought was salvation, everything he thought was making
him to be accepted of God, is all vanity. Till he brings him
to say like Paul, Yea, doubtless I count all things but loss for
the excellency of the knowledge. We're talking about bringing
down his vain knowledge, his vain imagination, his high thoughts,
exalting himself against God. God makes him to see that everything
he thought is vanity. And he starts counting it all
loss for the excellency of the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so he suffers. He begins
to suffer the loss of all things. But he doesn't count them loss.
He says, I just count them but don't that I might win Christ. This is what God begins to work
in the heart when He saves a sinner. And then the third thing this
gospel does, God's power that breaks down His walls and brings
low His high thoughts does this because through the preaching
of Christ, God reveals that Christ is the righteousness of God. This is where it all centers
right here. He's made to behold Christ and God reveals, Christ
is my righteousness. Christ is the righteousness I've
provided for my people. Look at verse 6. This gospel
brings into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. What does that mean? Now, when
God's begun to work this, all His thoughts are brought into
captivity. All those vain thoughts are brought
captive now, and He's made to behold that salvation is not
by His own obedience. It's by the obedience of Christ
Himself. His thoughts are brought to the
obedience of Christ, to behold Christ and His obedience. When
you hear the word, we preach Christ and Him crucified, what
you could be saying is, we preach Christ and His obedience. That's
what we preach. Because that's salvation. On
behalf of all God's elect, what does Philippians 2 tell us? It tells us that Christ was obedient
to God even until the death of the cross. That's the obedience
by which the law is established. That's the obedience by which
His people are justified from our sins. That's the obedience
by which His people are made the righteousness of God in Him.
His obedience unto the death of the cross. And the sinner
learns then from Colossians 1.14, in Christ we have redemption. through His blood, because He
laid down His life, He redeemed His people from the curse of
the law being made a curse for us. We have redemption through
His blood, even the forgiveness of sins. Past, present, and future. The forgiveness of sins. Because all our sins before God
were all under that first covenant. In Adam we sinned, in Adam we
rebelled, in Adam we fell and death passed upon us because
in Adam all have sinned. And so all our sins, past, present
and future are under that covenant and Christ is the mediator of
the new covenant that by death for the redemption of the sins
that were under that first covenant, He might give us this everlasting
inheritance. He comes and He teaches you that
in Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead. And you are complete
in Him, which is the head of all principality
and power. In Christ dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead. Everything God is going to teach
a sinner about Himself, about the triune God, is found in Christ,
because Christ is the fullness of the Godhead. And just as fully
as Christ is the fullness of Godhead, so He has made His people
complete in Him. That word fullness and that word
complete are translated from the same word. Just as fully
as Christ is the fullness of the Godhead bodily, so His people
are complete in Christ. That means there's not one work
to be added. That means there's nothing to
be done to make us any more holy, righteous, accepted with God,
once we've been born of the Spirit of God and brought to faith in
Christ. There's nothing else to be done. And he makes the
sinner to behold this. And for the first time, the sinner
knows. He knows the truth for the first
time. This is what he knows. Go to
Galatians 2.16. For the first time, this is what
he knows right here, Galatians 2.16. Knowing that a man is not justified
by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ,
by the obedience of Jesus Christ. That's how a man is justified.
Even we have believed in Jesus Christ that we might be justified
by the faith of Christ, by the obedience of Christ. We believed
in Christ because God brought all our thoughts into captivity
to the obedience of Christ. To behold that God's righteousness
is manifest by the faithfulness of Christ Himself, by His obedience
to God. Everything's been established.
And so we believe on Him. It's not by the works of the
law, for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.
A man doesn't understand this and believe this until God speaks
into his heart and teaches him this. He brings his thoughts
into captivity to the obedience of Christ. And then for the first
time, every thought. Go to Philippians 3.9. This is
what every thought is consumed with right here. Philippians
3.9. This is the tenor, this is the
rule of his life now, from now on. Philippians 3, 9. that I
might be found in Christ, not having mine own righteousness
which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of
Christ, that which is through the obedience of Christ Himself. That is the righteousness which
is of God. That's the righteousness God's
provided, and it's by faith of Christ. It's by the obedience
of Christ. That's how God gets all the glory
in making His people righteous. If you and I add anything to
righteousness, we can glory, but we can't because God won't
allow that. The righteousness of God is manifest
by the faith of Christ, the obedience of Christ. And this gospel, through
it God strips the sinner of all his vain thoughts, of all his
vain imaginations about what he's been told he's got to add
how that he's got to come to Christ and then run back to the
Law of Mount Sinai and start doing works to make himself holy.
No, sir. When God has made you holy, He's
made you holy. You can't be in darkness and
in light. You're either in light or in
darkness, one of the two. You're either holy or you're corrupt. When He's put a new man in you,
the Christ is formed in you, and He brought you to behold
the obedience of Christ, that His obedience is your righteousness. That's when the sinner's been
laid in the dust, and that's when the sinner quits boasting
about himself, and he himself is brought to be obedient to
God. And he starts saying, Lord, what will Thou have me to do? What will You have me to do?
And so lastly, By the power of God's might, as the sinner hears
the gospel, Christ makes the sinner willing to take sides
with Christ. Verse 6. And having in a readiness,
or having a readiness put in you, a new willingness put in
you, now the sinner will revenge all disobedience, now that his
obedience has been fulfilled, or that he's been brought to
the obedience of Christ. Now he'll take revenge on disobedience. What does that mean? He's now
made willing. He's made ready in the day of
Christ's power to take revenge on his own disobedience. He's willing now. He's no longer
ignorant of God's righteousness. He's no longer going about to
establish his own righteousness. But now he's been made ready,
he's been made willing to submit to the righteousness of God because
Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone
that believes. Can you show me a man? You show
me a man who thinks that salvation is by his works, by his doing,
by his law obedience, and I'll show you a man that hadn't been
brought to believe on Christ yet. Now there's a difference
when a man is in error and he thinks he ought to do this or
that, the other, but he's doing it because he's doing it to God.
That's one thing. But if you tell a man that I
don't believe we have to keep that, I don't believe we have
to eat that or do this certain thing or the other, and he rejects
you, he won't have anything to do with you anymore, didn't cause
you a heretic for that, he's revealing by that that he thinks
that's his salvation. He thinks those things he's doing
is his salvation. God brings his child to take
revenge on that disobedience and brings him to see Christ
is the end of all my doing. And he believes Christ. He trusts
Christ. And he takes revenge on his disobedience. He does it by repenting from
all his works. He does it by casting all his
care on Christ. He does it by confessing Christ
publicly in believers' baptism. He does it by uniting with Christ's
people in his church to promote the preaching of Christ and Him
crucified. He takes revenge on all his own disobedience. And
throughout his days, the Lord will continually, when he's fallen
into error, the Lord will continually teach him through this gospel,
and he'll continually take revenge on his own self. And now, he's
more ready to take revenge on his own self, where as he used
to, he was more ready to take revenge on others. He was always
pointing out the faults of others, and always won't use the law
against others. Now he realizes, I got enough cinnamon. He takes
sides with Christ against himself now. He hates that self-righteous
man within him. And he wants to be found in Christ,
not having his own righteousness, which is of the law. And not
only this, brethren, God gives him a readiness and a willingness
to take revenge against all Christ's enemies. But now listen carefully. Not using his former vain high
thoughts, not warring after the flesh like he used to. But he's
made the meekness and gentleness of Christ. Now he's ready to
use the weapons provided by God. Now he's been made to put on
the whole armor of God. that he may stand against the
wiles of the devil. Now he stands having his loins
girt about with truth and having on the breastplate of righteousness.
Now he has his feet shod with the preparation of the gospel
of peace. Now he takes the shield of faith
whereby he may quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. Now
he takes the helmet of salvation. He has his focus on Christ and
Christ alone. Now He takes the sword of the
Spirit, the Word of God, this Gospel of Christ in Him crucified,
and this is all He uses. Why? Turn to Romans chapter 1.
I'll show you why. Why has He renounced the hidden
things of dishonesty? Why has He stopped walking in
craftiness and using all the means and methods of false religionists?
Why has He ceased doing that now? Because by the power of
God, God has made him to declare this, Romans 1.15, So much as
in me is, I am ready. I have a readiness given me by
God. I have been made willing by God
to preach the gospel to you. Verse 16, For I am not ashamed
of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation. To everyone that believeth, to
the Jew first and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness
of God revealed. Therein is Christ, God's darling
Son revealed. From faith to faith. Because
it's written, the just shall live by faith. That's the pulpit warfare that
we're in. And that's the result of it.
When God uses this weapon, that's what he does. I pray God to do
that. I just pray, God, please, please
do this for our children. Please do this for our loved
ones. Please do this for anybody that comes out of this sound
of this gospel in this place. I ask God, please, according
to your will, use this weapon and conquer your people. Alright,
let's stand together. Our great God and our Savior,
we thank you for giving your precious darling son. We thank
you for him shedding his precious blood. Lord, we thank you that
you did this work in us by this gospel and made us to behold
that this is our weapon. meek and gentle to trust you
to do this work by your power, through your gospel, through
the blood of your son, through your spirit. And Lord, we ask
you now, please work this work in those that you're pleased
to work it in. We ask you, Lord, we beg of you to have mercy on
us, to continue to work this work in the hearts of each one
that believes and to work it in those that don't yet know
you. Bring them to join us in this
warfare. Bring them to see that the weapons
are not carnal, but they're mighty by Your power. Bring us to promote
Christ and Him crucified, to exalt Him and honor Him and glory
in Him before all men. This is our prayer, Lord. We
ask it in Christ's name. Amen.