Finding Freedom From Your Strongholds Of Sin Series

“FINDING FREEDOM FROM YOUR STRONGHOLDS OF SIN”

2 Corinthians 10:1-6

FBCF – 2/19/23

Jon Daniels

INTRO – Martin Luther wrote these triumphant words in 1527:

“A mighty fortress is our God

A bulwark never failing

Our Helper He amid the flood

Of mortal ills prevailing.”

But most of us feel like this:

“A mighty fortress is my sin

A bulwark that I cannot defeat

My sins flow over me like a flood

Their vict’ry feels like it is complete”

So many times, we allow our sins continue to defeat us. We keep sinning & sinning & sinning. Keep thinking, “I’ll deal w/ it later…I don’t think it’s that big of a deal…It’s not hurting anyone…” And the longer we let it go on, the deeper its roots burrow into our souls. David Jeremiah: “Every Sunday, people attend houses of worship w/ other worshipers. They sing hymns, recite liturgies, pray prayers, listen to sermons. And they will leave feeling better about themselves than when they went in. Unfortunately, they will still be deeply rooted in their sins. If our religion, does nothing more than make us feel better about our sin, then that religion has doomed us, not saved us.”

Eventually, those deep-rooted sins develop into a stronghold of sin in our lives. And that’s what we are going to talk about today: “Finding Freedom From Your Strongholds of Sin.”

- We’ve talked about hiding the baggage of our secret sins

- We’ve talked about dragging the baggage of our past sins

- And today, we’re talking about the heavy baggage of our strongholds of sin, which very well may be secret sins that have been secret for a long time. Very well may be past sins that have been in our lives for years & years.

Secret sins – past sins – strongholds of sin – All can be devastatingly detrimental to our personal lives, our private lives, our public lives, our families’ lives, the church’s life, our community’s life. But they can all be deliberately dealt with through the power of the Word of God & the Spirit of God. We can all be decisively delivered from these secret sins, past sins, & strongholds of sin today! You can walk out of here today in freedom, no longer held captive by your sin – no longer held hostage by Satan – no longer held back in your walk w/ Christ!

EXPLANATION – 2 Corinthians 10:1-6

Church at Corinth was a troubled church. 1 Corinthians was written by the Apostle Paul to deal w/ some of the broad issues & struggles the church was dealing with – sexual immorality, misunderstandings about spiritual gifts, unspiritual observances of the Lord’s Supper, divisiveness & disunity in the church – to name a few.

In 2 Corinthians, he writes to address the more direct attacks on him personally. People within the church were attacking him personally, sowing seeds of discord by questioning his character, his credentials, his calling as an apostle. They questioned his leadership in the church, his love for Jesus, & his longing to see people saved, discipled, & growing in their walk w/ Christ. His response to these attacks & toward these individuals was to keep pointing to Jesus & the Gospel, encouraging the church not to lose heart (4:1, 16). He reminded them that they were afflicted, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; knocked down, but never knocked out (4:8-9). Basically, Paul bows up against his detractors in the power of the Spirit & the authority of Jesus & says, “Bring it on! You’re not going to win!”

Ch. 10 – Word “stronghold” – Only place in NT where this word is used. Literally “a castle, fortress.” There are positive meanings for stronghold.

- Psalm 9:9 – “…The Lord is a stronghold in times of trouble.”

- Nahum 1:7 – “The Lord is good; a stronghold in the day of trouble.”

It’s a good thing that our God is our stronghold in times of trouble b/c the stronghold that Paul is talking about in 2 Cor. 10 definitely brings times of trouble into our lives.

The stronghold that Paul is talking about is a place where we have given Satan permission to set up a base of operations in our lives – a fortified position in our lives from which he can wreak havoc in our lives & in the lives of so many other people, as well.

- It’s a place where Satan has his hooks in deep

- It’s a place where we are most prone to sin

- It’s a place where our mindset is most influenced by unspiritual, unscriptural, un-Christlike thought patterns.

- It’s a place where the roots of sin go way down deep & don’t want to be ripped out.