1.     The church in Corinth was a church with many problems.  For one thing, there were many carnal members in this church (cf. I Cor. 3:1-4).

2.     Furthermore, the church in Corinth was a divided church (I Cor. 3:3-9).

3.     The church in Corinth was a carnal church; it was a divided church; and it was a contentious church (cf. I Cor. 1:10-13).

4.     Apparently most of the members respected Paul’s apostolic authority, but there were a few trouble-makers causing problems.  It is this way in many churches.

5.     Now when we come to Paul’s second epistle to the church at Corinth we see that the first ten chapters were written to those who were not causing problems.

6.     This part of II Corinthians can be divided into two sections: Christian living (cf. II Cor. 5:17; 6:14—7:1) and Christian giving (cf. II Cor. 8:1-5, 9; 9:6, 7).

7.     Then there comes a major turning point in Paul’s second epistle to the Corinthians.  In chapters 10 through 13, Paul is addressing his critics.  And although he is speaking to trouble-makers, Paul is patient with them.  He writes, “Now I Paul myself beseech you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ…” (10:1).

8.     I would like to speak this morning on the subject of spiritual warfare.  According to the Bible, we are in a battle and “the weapons of our warfare are not carnal” (10:4a). 

9.     This is why Paul beseeched them “by the meekness and gentleness of Christ” (10:1).

I. THIS WAR CANNOT BE FOUGHT IN THE FLESH (10:3, 4).

1.     At this point, I should explain what we mean by the term “the flesh.”  The term “the flesh” is used different ways in the Bible.  One must look at the context. 

2.     It could mean the physical body (cf. II Cor. 12:7-10).

3.     The term is also often used to describe man’s sinful, fallen nature.  For example, in Romans 7:18, Paul writes, “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing.”  Here the flesh means man’s corrupt nature, which is not eradicated when people are born again.

4.     In fact, we have more problems with the flesh after we are saved.

5.     Here in our text, Paul is using the word “flesh” in two different ways (I Cor. 10:3).

6.     Paul said he was only a mortal man, in a body of flesh with all of its weaknesses and limitations.  Like the prophet Elijah, he was “a man subject to like passions as we are” (James 5:17).

7.     Paul had feet of clay just like you and me.  He put his pants on one leg at a time like any other man.  But Paul was a spiritual man.  He did not “walk in the flesh,” in the sense of being carnal.  In fact, Paul wrote in Galatians 5:16, “This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.”

8.     Paul wrote in Romans 8:1, “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”

9.     And then in Romans 8:5, “For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.”

10. So when Paul acknowledged that he walked “in the flesh,” (II Cor. 10:3), he meant he was subject to the same laws and limitations common to all mankind.

11. However, Paul did not walk “according to the flesh” (10:2b), i.e., he was not carnal.  He walked in the Spirit.  If Paul walked according to the flesh (as his critics charged – 10:2b), this would contradict everything Paul wrote, and everything the Bible says about Paul.

12. This brings us to the matter at hand – spiritual warfare.  Paul is saying that this is a spiritual battle and it cannot be fought in the flesh, but only with spiritual weapons (10:4).

13. And what are some of these spiritual weapons?  Cf. Ephesians 6:11-18.  Note Ephesians 6:17 – “the sword of the Spirit” (cf. Heb. 4:12).

14. These weapons may seem unimpressive to worldlings but the Bible says they are “mighty (powerful) through God” (II Cor. 10:4).

15. A newly elected Brooklyn judge, by the name of Margarita Lopez-Torres wants to remove a quote from the Bible that adorns her courtroom, saying she finds it too “patriarchal.” She told the NY Post she's thinking about getting rid of the quote from Deuteronomy 1:16 that reads, “Judge righteously between every man and his brother.”

16. “That's been there for a very long time,” she said. “I thought maybe we could explore getting some more appropriate quote that would be more inclusive, perhaps more gender-neutral.”

17. The newspapers refer to things like this as part of the culture war, but it is bigger than that. This is a spiritual battle; it is the ancient battle between God and Satan; between Christ and Antichrist; between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent; between light and darkness.

18. It is a war between the church which Christ established, which is pictured as the bride of Christ (cf. II Cor. 11:2) and the church which the devil has established, which is pictured in the book of Revelation, chapter 17, as a great whore. 

19. It is a war against evil and error and the powers of darkness. It is a war against the Gospel of Christ.  Paul’s opponents were attempting to undermine and subvert the Gospel, and that is why he needed to expose them (cf. II Cor. 11:1-4, 13-15).

II. THIS WAR INVOLVES THE PULLING DOWN OF STRONGHOLDS

1.     The United States of America has the greatest military in the world.  We have the greatest military intelligence and weapons and technology. However, we are in a spiritual battle.

2.     The satanic forces against which we contend are not forces of flesh and blood.  That is why Paul said in Ephesians 6:12, “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”

3.     Only spiritual weapons are powerful enough to overthrow the forces of evil at work in this world – “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal…” (II Cor. 10:4).

4.     Let me stress that a church which has accepted worldly music and worldly entertainment, and worldly wisdom and worldly philosophy can never be effective in warfare against Satan and his strongholds.

5.     Here is a quote from our friend David Cloud, “Rick Warren’s book The Purpose Driven Life is a No. 1 bestseller in both Christian and secular markets. It has sold millions of copies and at least two million people have participated in “40 Days of Purpose” campaigns. Warren’s The Purpose Driven Life and his earlier The Purpose Driven Church had sold 26 million copies as of September 2005…Warren is the senior pastor of Saddleback Community Church, a contemporary Southern Baptist mega-church in southern California. I attended a service in August 2003, and the ‘praise time’ reminded me of a night club, with a longhaired ‘worship’ leader, sensually attired women singers, pounding rock & roll, and swirling lights in the background” (RICK WARREN’S DANGEROUS JUDGE NOT ECUMENISM, updated and enlarged January 5, 2006; first published June 15, 2004).

6.     We cannot defeat the devil by using his methods and his music and his message.

7.     Furthermore, let me stress that this is a spiritual battle, not a political battle.  I am against homosexuality, and abortion and all of the other terrible liberal programs that are dragging our great country down to hell.  But politics cannot save America.

8.     What America needs is the Gospel of Christ.  I have noticed that many of these preachers who are actively engaged in politics have yoked up with those who preach a false Gospel.

9.     This Congressman Delay is in hot water now.  I knew it was all over for him when I saw that he went to the pope’s funeral. 

10. And our president never should have gone to the funeral too.

11. The devil’s strongholds must be pulled down, not built up!   “Pull down” means to demolish and destroy.  Do you remember that happy day back in April of 2003 when the US Marines pulled down that big statue of Saddam Hussein?

12. We must pull down Satan’s strong holds (II Cor. 10:4).  This is not as easy as toppling a big statue in a city square.  Satan has his strongholds everywhere. And Satan has an innumerable number of demons assisting him in his work.  Revelation 12:4 says one third of the angelic realm followed after Satan, but nowhere in the Bible does it say how many angels and demons are in the world.

13. Hebrews 12:22 refers to “an innumerable company of angels.”  And Satan has his fallen angels, which assist him in obstructing God’s work and hindering the Gospel from being preached.

14. Paul’s enemies were entrenched in the churches.  He identified them in II Corinthians 11:13 as “false apostles” and “deceitful workers.”

15. They substitute “doctrines of demons” for the real Gospel of Christ.   But we must fight them with the weapons God has provided (Eph. 6:10-18).

16. Back in the days of Mordecai and his niece, Queen Esther, Satan’s man was Haman the Agagite.  Haman wanted to destroy all the Jews in Persia.  When Esther heard the news she told all the Jews to fast. Within a few days, Mordecai was exalted and Haman was hanged on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai.

III. THIS WAR MEANS WE MUST CHANGE OUR WAY OF THINKING (II COR. 10:5).

1.     In Colossians 2:9, Paul refers to the “fleshly mind,” i.e. the carnal mind.   Romans 8:7 says, “the carnal mind is enmity against God.”

2.     Consider the phrase, “casting down imaginations” in II Corinthians 10:4.  I got out my concordance and looked up all the references to the word “imaginations” in the Bible.

3.     The first mention of a word in the Bible is always important (cf. Genesis 6:5).  Here the imagination of man is wicked and evil (cf. Gen. 8:21).

4.     Proverbs 6:18 says God hates a “heart that deviseth wicked imaginations.”

5.     Jeremiah 7:24 says, “But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, but walked in the counsels and in the imagination of their evil heart, and went backward, and not forward.”

6.     In fact, Jeremiah uses this term “imagination of their evil heart” eight times.

7.     Luke 1:51 says, God “hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.”

8.     Romans 1:21 says sinful men “became vain in their imaginations.”

9.     What are some of these “imaginations” that exalt themselves against God?  There are many.   There is a popular book today called the Da Vinci Code, written by a man named Dan Brown.  This book has sold 36 million copies and has been translated into 44 languages.

10. Hollywood is coming out soon with a film based on this wicked book.

11. This book is full of error and foolishness.  It teaches that our Lord was married to Mary Magdalene.  Mr. Brown says Jesus was, “a great and powerful man, but a man nonetheless.”  This is heresy and it is tragic that millions of people believe this garbage.

12. Unfortunately the shelves in the bookstores (even many so-called Christian book stores) are loaded with books like this. 

13. “Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God…” (10:5).  This includes deceptive books, human philosophies and psychology, false religions (including the proliferation of strange cults), evolution, communism, humanism, liberalism, atheism, and so on.

14. The Corinthians were steeped in Greek philosophy. The apostle Paul is stressing here that they had to change their way of thinking.

15. Today America is steeped in worldliness, political correctness, and immorality, and Christians need to be transformed by the renewing of their minds (Romans 12:2).

16. Christ must be exalted, and every thought must be brought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.  There must be complete obedience and submission to the will of God.

CONCLUSION:

1.     In this epistle, the apostle Paul is writing to church members, some of whom were not genuinely saved (cf. II Cor. 13:5).

2.     Are you genuinely saved?