Good morning. Let's open this
morning service with hymn number 18. Number 18. Now, thank we
all our God. Let's all stand together. Hymn
number 18. How thank we all our God, with
hearts and hands and voices, Who wondrous things hath done,
in whom his world rejoices. who from our mother's arms hath
blessed us on our way with countless gifts of love and still is ours
to O may this bounteous God through
all our life be near us with ever joyful hearts and blessed
peace to cheer us and keep us in his grace, and guide us when
perplexed, and free us from all ills in this world and the next. All praise and thanks to God
The Father now be given The Son and Him who reigns With them
in highest heaven The one eternal God whom earth and heaven adore,
for thus it was, is now, and shall be evermore. Please be seated. Good morning. We're going to continue our study
during the Bible study hour and second Corinthians chapter 10,
second Corinthians chapter 10. Let's bow together and ask the
Lord's blessings on his word. Our merciful heavenly father,
we're thankful that we have an advocate before the Jesus Christ,
the righteous one, one in whom we have our acceptance, one in
whom we have all our salvation. We ask, Lord, that you would
cause us to set our affections on him. We pray that you would
send your Holy Spirit in power, that you would enlighten the
eyes of our understanding that you would increase our faith.
And Lord, for those of your sheep that are still lost and strangers
to your grace, we pray, Lord, that you'd be pleased to bring
them into your fold, make them to be sinners, cause them to
see their complete dependence on the accomplished work of thy
dear son. Lord, it's in his name we ask it. Amen. Isaiah said in Isaiah chapter
40, well, the Lord said to Isaiah, comfort ye, comfort ye my people,
saith the Lord. Speak ye comfortably, speak peace
and hope to Jerusalem. and tell them that their warfare
is accomplished and that their iniquity is purged, forgiven,
taken away. And that they have received of
the Lord a double blessing for their sin. That double blessing
is the righteousness that the Lord Jesus Christ imputes to
the charge of His elect and the justice that he has satisfied
before God. So he's taken away our sin and
he's imputed to us a perfect righteousness before God so that
in the Lord Jesus Christ our warfare is accomplished. It is accomplished. Now I know
what the child of God is thinking right now. Boy, this life just
seems to be a continual warfare for me. spirit warring against
the flesh and the flesh against the spirit my life is a continual
spiritual warfare it is that's my experience and the Lord tells
us what the weapons of that warfare are in 2nd Corinthians chapter
10 so the warfare is accomplished In the Lord Jesus Christ, he
got the victory. He crushed the head of the serpent. He put away the sins of his people
once and for all. He established a righteousness
on behalf of his people before God that God will honor and save
his people by. And yet we're left in this life
We're left with a body of flesh, a body of death that's ever with
us. And as a result of that, our
warfare is very real to us. It's our experience in this life. Pam said to me right after Brian
went home to be with the Lord on Tuesday, She said, I'm so
happy for Brian. His warfare is over. No more
conflict. No more trouble. No more tears. No more sickness. No more sorrow. No more warfare. How do we reconcile
this thing that Christ has gotten the victory. He has won the battle. And we're still engaged in a
spiritual warfare. Well, the two do come together.
And I think that the scriptures are very clear here in 2 Corinthians
chapter 10 as to how these two experiences, these two realities,
these two truths are reconciled. Beginning in verse 1 of 2 Corinthians
chapter 10, now I, Paul, myself, beseech you by the meekness and
gentleness of Christ. I love the way the Lord inspired
the heart of the Apostle Paul to approach his people. He doesn't come mean-spirited. He doesn't come with condemnation
or condescension. He comes with the meekness and
the gentleness of the Lord Jesus Christ, knowing that that's what
we need. We need to be wooed to our husband. We need to be spoken to gently. and lovingly. And that's what
Isaiah chapter 40, speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem. Speak to their
hearts. Don't stand in harsh judgment
of them. Don't beat the sheep. They need
to be encouraged. They need to be loved. And I
made this statement recently and I think about it often. The
Lord Jesus Christ never intimidated sinners. The self-righteous,
the Pharisees, were intimidated by him, and he spoke to them
very harshly. But he never intimidated a sinner.
He never spoke harshly to them. He always encouraged them, and
they were always drawn to him. And so his penman of Scripture
says, I beseech you, by the meekness and the gentleness of Christ,
Though Paul speaks of himself, he said, who in presence and
base among you, but being absent and bold toward you. Now, Paul
was criticized, and he's going to go on in this chapter to describe
this criticism, by some who were accusing him of not being spiritual. He was just a man of flesh. He wasn't to be He wasn't to
be regarded. He wasn't to be respected. He
wasn't really a spokesman for God. His gospel wasn't reliable. And so Paul says, he's sort of
using a little sarcasm here when he says, in your presence I know I'm base
among you, but my letter is bold toward you. But I beseech you
that I may not be bold when I am present with that confidence
wherewith I think to be bold against some which think of us
as if we walked according to the flesh. I know there's some
there that think we're walking according to the flesh. I know
there's some there that think that we're not spiritual and
that we don't have a message that's true and faithful. But I'm going to tell you the
truth. And I know that God's people
will hear it. It's the same today. There's
some that will stand in judgment of God's Word. There's some that
will criticize. There's some that will doubt.
Then there's others who, by the power of God, will receive it
without question. Without question. They'll know
this is the Word of God. I mentioned yesterday at Brian's
funeral service that we don't try to convince men that the
word of God, that the Bible is the word of God. That's the work
of the Holy Spirit. And when He convinces you, you'll
know it is. You'll know every word of it
is the Word of God. And you won't have to be taught
of a man. You'll have been taught of God.
And so that's what Paul's saying. He's saying, I know I'm base
among you with some people who think I'm walking according to
the flesh, but that's okay. God's people are going to hear
it. For though we walk in the flesh, we do experience this
life in this fleshly body. The flesh is weak. The flesh
is prone to wander. And our walk in this world is
a walk done in the flesh. But the warfare that we have
against the flesh is not done by flesh. Look what he says. For though we walk in the flesh,
we do not war after the flesh. We don't fight fire with fire.
We don't fight flesh with flesh. For the weapons of our warfare
are not carnal. Now the natural man, that's all
he's got. The natural man has a conscience, he knows that he's
got a problem with sin to some degree. Though God has not made
him to be a sinner, he doesn't understand that everything about
him is sin. He does know that there is a
God with whom he must do, and he knows that he's got a problem
with that God in terms of his obedience. And so he tries to
control his flesh with carnal weapons. What are
some of those carnal weapons? I've listed a few of them. The
first one you'll find in Colossians chapter 2. Colossians chapter 2. Verse 20. Wherefore, if you be
dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though
living in the world, are you subject to ordinances, touch
not, taste not, handle not, which are to perish with the using
after the commandments and the doctrines of men? So one of the
weapons of warfare that are carnal are the doctrines of men. The
things that men say you shouldn't, you know, you touch not, taste
not, in other words, rules and regulations that men put on themselves
that God's not given. And that's all man-made religion
is. And the only difference between one flavor of religion and another
is the rules and regulations that that particular group says
you have to keep in order to be right with God. And so the
Lord's saying, if you be in Christ, why do you go back to the rudiments
of the law? after the commandments and doctrines
of men, which things have indeed a show of wisdom." A show of
wisdom. It looks wise, but God has made
foolish the wisdom of this world. Man by wisdom knew not God, 1
Corinthians 1. God, in the power of the gospel,
made foolish the wisdom of man. Man is trying to achieve his
salvation by human wisdom in will-worship. Now there's a carnal
weapon. So the rules and regulations
that men put on you are used by men in order to try to control
the flesh, the wisdom of man. Turn to me
to 1 Corinthians chapter 1, I'm sorry, at verse 20. Verse 19, for it is written,
I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and bring to nothing
the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the
scribe? Where is the disputer of this
world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For
after that in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not
God. It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching. Man sets up rules and regulations. He sets up human wisdom. He sets
up will worship. You know that was the temptation
that Satan gave to Eve in the garden. Satan said to Eve, God
knows in the day in which you eat of this fruit your eyes are
going to be open and you're going to become like God. Right now
you're just a puppet. Right now all you know to do
is just obey God. But in the day in which you eat
of that fruit, you're going to be given choice. You're going
to be given free will. And you'll be like God that can
choose right from wrong. And because he tempted her to
moral virtue, thinking, well, you're going to be able to make
right decisions, rather than being just a puppet from God,
you're going to be able to make your own choices. Free will was
the temptation of the garden. And Paul calls it in Colossians,
will worship. Man setting himself up on the
throne of God and worshiping his own will, believing that
his willpower is able to control the flesh. And in 2 Corinthians
chapter 10, God says that's a carnal weapon. Paul said, though we
walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh, for the
weapons of our warfare are not carnal. The weapons of our warfare
are not willpower. We're not trying to pull ourselves
up by our bootstraps and thinking, okay, I'm just going to try harder.
I'll just grit my teeth and I'll be more committed and I'll rededicate
myself and I'll make some decisions and we'll get this worked out.
That's a carnal weapon. That's the weapon of the flesh.
That's fighting flesh with flesh. He says, I'm not going to use
the rules and regulations, the commandments of man to control
my flesh. That's just hypocrisy. Men in religion thinking, well,
if I abstain from this and if I do that, somehow I can win
this battle. That's a carnal weapon. Human wisdom is a carnal weapon. Man's attempt to keep the law
of God is a carnal weapon. Turn with me to Romans chapter
3. Verse 19, now we know that what
things soever the law saith, that saith to them who are under
the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and the world may
become guilty before God. So in another place the scripture
says that the law of God makes sin utterly sinful. The law is
holy, the law is just, and the law is good. But the law has
never made anyone holy, the law has never justified anyone, And
the law has never added any goodness to anyone. The law can only condemn
us. The law says guilty. The law
demands perfect obedience. And you and I have never been
able to keep one of God's... But men think, well, I'll just
keep the law. That'll be the way I'll fight
this battle and I'll win. Well, you've never been able
to keep any part of God's law. God makes you to be a sinner.
You'll know that his law stands in judgment of you. That's all
it does. That's what he said. Every mouth shall be stopped
and guilty before God. Therefore, by the deeds of the
law, there shall no flesh be justified in his sight. For by
the law is the knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of
God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and
the prophets, even the righteousness of God, which is by faith of
Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe there is
no difference for all of sin and come short of the glory of
God. I know you've heard me say this before. We've got some folks
here. Maybe they hadn't heard it. What in your life falls short
of the glory of God? What in your life falls short
of the glory of God? If the Lord's shown you His glory,
if you've seen Him high and lifted up, you know that everything
in your life falls short of the glory of God. And that's what
God calls sin. That's what a sinner is. A sinner
is one who has no righteousness. A sinner is one with whom everything
in their life falls short of the glory of God. And Paul is
saying, you can't, the law can't save you. All the law does is
expose your sin. But men will set up rules and
regulations and they'll pretend to keep the law. I was talking
to somebody the other day and I said they were afraid of dying
and I said, well what's your hope of salvation? And they said,
to keep God's law. That's what they said. That's
my hope. And I said, well how are you
doing? And they said, well I'm doing my best. Your best isn't good
enough. It's not good enough. You can't
keep God's law. There's only one who was able
to satisfy the demands of God's law. Christ is the end of the
law for righteousness to everyone that believeth on him. So what
is the weapons of our warfare? Let's go back to our text. Another weapon that the natural
man will use is comparing himself to himself convincing himself
that he's getting better or comparing himself to other men and uh... convincing himself that well
at least i'm better than them look at uh... second corinthians
chapter ten verse twelve For we dare not make ourselves
of the number or compare ourselves with some that come in themselves,
but they measuring themselves by themselves and comparing themselves
among themselves are not wise. Now that, that, that phrase are
not wise, literally translated means have no understanding. They have no understanding. So
those who compare themselves with themselves, those who compare
themselves to other men in an attempt to win this warfare are
using carnal weapons. So whether it's willpower, human
wisdom, the law, comparisons, and then Paul goes on in the
same chapter to say we're not, we have the, Paul had apostolic
authority. He could have commanded them
to certain things, and he refused to do it. He said, I beseech
you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ. He said, I've not
come to beat you with my authority. But you know what? That's another
carnal weapon that men use in religion to try to control the
battle of the flesh. I've actually heard elders say
to congregations, if I'm wrong, it'll be my fault, but your responsibility
before God is to submit to my authority. I've heard elders say that. Don't submit to a man's authority,
but that's a carnal weapon. That's a carnal weapon. The person
I just made reference to is trusting the Pope to save them. The Catholic Church has got to
be the right true church because it has survived for 2,000 years.
That was their reasoning to me. And so I'm just going to submit
to them and whatever they do, carnal weapons. The weapons, we are in a battle,
but the weapons of our warfare are not carnal. Go back with
me to our text, verse four. But are mighty through God to
the pulling down of strongholds and casting down imaginations. That word imaginations means
reasoning. It means opinions. Anything that
man comes up with that is contrary to the truth of the gospel is
nothing but an imagination. And the weapons of our warfare,
though they be not carnal, they are mighty. They are powerful.
God's given us some weapons. Through God, to the pulling down
of strongholds, and that every high thing that
exalts itself against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity
every thought Most of you know the last part
of this verse. Some of you may not. Look at it closely. To the obedience of Christ. There's your weapon. Are you engaged in a warfare?
You have a conflict between your flesh and your spirit? It's not
your obedience to Christ. It's not your willpower. It's
not your wisdom. It's not you submitting to some
rules and regulations of men. It's not you keeping the law.
Those are carnal weapons. It's not submitting to the authority
of another man. Those are all carnal weapons. They will not be sufficient. There is a weapon that is mighty
through God to the pulling down of strongholds and the bringing
into captivity every imagination that exalts itself against God
and it is the obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ. Look to Christ. Look to Christ. Turn to me to
Ephesians chapter 6. Ephesians chapter 6. We'll begin reading in verse
10. Finally, my brethren. I love the word brethren. I fear
sometimes in religion, you know, everybody's a brother. I'm very
careful about who I call a brother. I have religious people come
to me and they, you know, they want to call it. They want, they
call you brother and they want you to call them brother. I I'm,
I'm cautious about that. But those who are my brothers,
I'm in, I'm very thankful. to have that affectionate relationship
with him. This word brother means to be
birthed from the same womb. That's the literal translation
of the word. And that's how we come into this
world, birthed in Christ the same way. And we're brothers,
we're sisters, we're family together. And so he says, finally, my brethren,
be strong in the Lord. in the Lord, not with your willpower,
not with the law, not with rules and regulations, not with human
wisdom, not with the submission of the authority. Those are all
carnal weapons. The strength is in the Lord,
in Christ, and in the power of His might put on the whole armor
of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the
devil. Do you know what it's like? to
have the fiery darts of the devil shot at you. If you're a child
of God, you do. You know it very well. Very well. You know how weak your flesh
is. You know how strong this world is. You know how much you
hate. You hate how much you are attracted
to the things of this world. You hate it. And you want some
victory. How are you going to get it?
For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against
powers, against the rulers of darkness of this world, against
spiritual wickedness in high places. This is a spiritual warfare. You're not fighting your flesh.
Our weapons are not carnal. This is a spiritual warfare.
Satan himself is involved in this conflict. How are we going
to defeat him? take unto you the whole armor
of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and
having done all to stand, stand. The Lord told Moses, come here.
I have a place nearby unto me where you can stand. And it was
a rock. That's the only way we're going
to stand is to be standing in Christ. He is the weapon of our
warfare. Flee to Christ. Plead to Him
for mercy. Run to the Lord Jesus Christ
and trust His ability. The warfare is not yours. It's God's. And He gets the victory
and He's not going to share His glory with another. He's not
going to let us pat ourselves on the back and think, well,
I got through that one. He's going to get all the glory,
isn't he? The battle's his. So what does he mean when he
says, put on the full armor of God, stand there for having your
loins girt about with truth, with truth. Pilate asked the Lord, are you
a king? The Lord said, for this cause
was I born, and for this reason came I into the world, to bear
witness unto the truth. And Pilate said, truth? What
is truth? There are no absolute truths
in this world. Yes, there is. The Lord Jesus
Christ said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. So putting
on the weapons of warfare, having the spiritual weapons to fight
in this spiritual battle is looking to the Lord Jesus Christ as the
only one who is absolutely true and faithful. He himself is the
truth. And he's revealed as the truth
in his word. Look at the next one. Stand therefore having your loins,
verse 14, girt about with truth and having on the breastplate
of righteousness. All our righteousnesses are as
filthy rags. Abraham believed God and it was
accounted unto him for righteousness. the only righteousness that we
have. And he shall be called the Lord our righteousness and
she shall be called the Lord our righteousness. God made him
sin who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of
God in him. So putting on the breastplate
of righteousness is looking to the Lord Jesus Christ for all
your righteousness before God. That's the weapon. He's the weapon. he's the weapon looking to Christ
Paul said in Galatians chapter 2 verse 20 I am crucified with
Christ nevertheless I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me
the life that I now live I live by the faith of the Son of God
who loved me and died for me and in verse 21 he says I do
not frustrate the grace of God for if righteousness comes by
the law then Christ has died in vain We don't gain our righteousness
by the keeping of the law. Christ is our righteousness. What is the weapon of your warfare?
It's not carnal. It's not your willpower. It's
not the law. It's not the rules and regulations
of men. It's not the submission to authority
of a man. It's looking unto Jesus, who
is the author and the finisher of your faith. who for the joy
that was set before him endured the cross. He's the one that
kept the law. He's the one who's faithful.
You look to Christ. It is no doubt, the scripture
says in 2 Corinthians chapter 11 verse 15, that Satan's ministers
have transformed themselves into the ministers of righteousness.
But in the end, their righteousness leads to death. And so the false
prophets are telling you, you want to be right before God?
Follow these rules and regulations. They're giving you carnal weapons. The weapons of our warfare are
not carnal, but they are mighty through God to the pulling down
of strongholds. and bringing into captivity every
thought and imagination that exalts itself against God. You
look to Christ, your thoughts can't be against God. How are
you looking to Christ? Your imagination can't be running
wild with things that are contrary to things of God when you're
looking to Christ. He is the weapon. He's the weapon
of our warfare. God has made him to be for us,
our wisdom, our righteousness, our sanctification, and our redemption.
Look at the next one. Verse 16, above all, taking the
shield, I'm sorry, verse 15, and your feet shod with the preparation
of the gospel of peace. The gospel of peace. We walk
by faith. We have peace with God through
the Lord Jesus Christ. Now men think, well I'm gonna
fight this warfare of sin by letting God have his way in my
life. And that's as foolish as me striking
you in the face and while you lie on the ground, me saying
to you, I'm going to allow you to forgive me. It doesn't work
that way. The offended one is the one who
has full power and full authority and full right to have mercy
upon whom he will have mercy. The man thinks, well, I'll get
peace with God by allowing Jesus to do what I know he wants to
do. How foolish, how foolish men are. The gospel is the good
news that God has made peace with his people through the shed
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Our feet are shod with the preparation
of the gospel. We're looking to Christ and his
shed blood as the only hope of our peace with God. These are
the weapons. This is a spiritual battle. It's
not a carnal battle. How often we try to take up carnal
weapons to fight this battle with. We're fighting against
spiritual powers and principalities in high places and you need Christ. I need Christ. Look, look at
verse 16. Above all, take the shield of
faith. Oh Lord, I believe help thou
mine unbelief. Increase our faith. Faith is
the substance of things hoped for. Faith is a gift of God.
Faith is the only link that we have to Christ. And it's what
God gives us, enabling us to look to Christ, to trust Christ. God, give me faith. I can't fight
this battle without faith. Lord, I won't have faith if you
don't give it to me. Taking the shield of faith, wherewith
you shall be able to quench all the fiery dark, and take the
helmet of salvation. What's the helmet do? It protects
your head. That's where my problems are. Isn't that where your problems
are? I love what Paul said in Philippians chapter 4 when he
says, Finally, my brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things
are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are
pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good
report, whatsoever things are of virtue, if there be any good
thing in them, think on these things, that Christ Jesus the
Lord is the only one that those words describe. He's the one
who's virtuous. He's the one who's good. He's
the one who's holy. And the Lord, again, is telling
us the same thing He's telling us over and over again. Look
to Christ. He is the weapon of your warfare. And what is the last weapon that
He gives us? The sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of
God. In the volume of the book it
is written of me. This book is not a rule book
for Christian living. Men make it out that to be. The
Lord said to the Pharisees, you search the scriptures because
you think in them you have eternal life, but these are they which
testify of me. This is an autobiography. The
Lord wrote it himself about himself. And it's alive. And it's effectual. And that's why we spend so much
time in it. Because this is the sword of the Spirit. The Word
of God. And we don't separate the written
Word from the living Word. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
Word. And the Scripture says that He will not return unto
God void. And the Word of God will accomplish
the purpose for which I sent it. And that's not only speaking
of us preaching this word, but that's speaking of the person
of the Lord Jesus Christ, who was sent of God into this world
to accomplish the salvation of his people, and when he returned
back into glory, he took with him the names of those for whom
he lived and died, and he ever lives to make intercession for
them. He is the weapon of your warfare. Let's take a break. Thank you.