Pulling Down Strong Holds
Text: 2Co 10:3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh:
4 (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)
5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;
Intro: I want to talk about tree things; 1. Strong Holds, 2. The Effects of Strong Holds, & 3. is Deliverance from Strong Holds.
1. Strong Holds: to fortify, a castle, or citadel.
In the North Pacific lies the little island of Iwo Jima. Its dry surface of volcanic ash has been likened to a landscape on the moon. For this tiny but vital piece of land we paid the price of some 21,000 casualties in our war with Japan.
On that Island is a mountain call Mount Sarabochy, it was a strong hold for our enemy, and most of the lives we lost were in the battle for that strong hold.
Our enemy seems at times to be untouchable. Here are some examples.
Og King of Bashan; his bedstead was a bedstead of iron, nine cubits long.
Goliath; And the staff of his spear was like a weaver’s beam; and his
spear’s head weighed six hundred shekels (25 lbs) of iron.
The Iron Furnace; God said that Egypt was like an Iron Furnace.
He also said that the enemy would put “a yoke of iron upon thy neck, until he have destroyed thee” because of your sin.
Peter found himself behind The Iron Gate of prison.
Ac 12:10 When they were past the first and the second ward, they came unto the iron gate that leadeth unto the city; which opened to them of his own accord: and they went out, and passed on through one street; and forthwith the angel departed from him.
2. The Effects of Strong Holds
Man in the Iron Cage.
In John Bunyan’s book The Pilgrim’s Progress, he tells us of a character, known only as a man in an Iron Cage. This man’s character comes from the verse in Lu 8:13 “They on the rock are they, which, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, which for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away”.
The Pilgrim’s Progress
Now, said Christian, let me go hence. Nay, stay, said the Interpreter, till I have showed thee a little more, and after that thou shalt go on thy way. So he took him by the hand again, and led him into a very dark room, where there sat a man in an iron cage. Now the man, to look on, seemed very sad; he sat with his eyes looking down to the ground, his hands folded together, and he sighed as if he would break his heart. Then said Christian, What means this? At which the Interpreter bid him talk with the man. Then said Christian to the man, What art thou? The man answered, I am what I was not once.
CHRISTIAN: What wast thou once?
THE MAN: The man said, I was once a fair and flourishing professor, Luke 8:13, both in mine own eyes, and also in the eyes of others: I once was, as I thought, fair for the celestial city, and had then even joy at the thoughts that I should get thither.
CHRISTIAN: Well, but what art thou now?
THE MAN: I am now a man of despair, and am shut up in it, as in this iron cage. I cannot get out; Oh now I cannot!
CHRISTIAN: But how camest thou into this condition?
THE MAN: I left off to watch and be sober: I laid the reins upon the neck of my lusts; I sinned against the light of the word, and the goodness of God; I have grieved the Spirit, and he is gone; I tempted the devil, and he is come to me; I have provoked God to anger, and he has left me: I have so hardened my heart, that I cannot repent.
CHRISTIAN: For what did you bring yourself into this condition?
THE MAN: For the lusts, pleasures, and profits of this world; in the enjoyment of which I did then promise myself much delight: but now every one of those things also bite me, and gnaw me like a burning worm.
3. Deliverance from Strong Holds.
Our Text says;
2Co 10:3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh:
4 (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)
5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;
Isa 54:17 No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD.
Our Weapons for pulling down strong holds are: The Blood of Jesus, the Authority of Jesus’ Name, the Power of the Holy Ghost, the Word of God, and Persevering Prayer, just to name a few.
The story of Peter in Prison Acts 12 is ones of victory over the gates of hell that were holding him and the devil that wanted to destroy him.
Gates of Hell shall not Prevail
Mt 16:18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
Bars of Iron Destroyed
Ps 107:16 For he hath broken the gates of brass, and cut the bars of iron in sunder.
Samson a type of the Church
Jg 16:3 And Samson lay till midnight, and arose at midnight, and took the doors of the gate of the city, and the two posts, and went away with them, bar and all, and put them upon his shoulders, and carried them up to the top of an hill that is before Hebron.
David
Ps 18:29 For by thee I have run through a troop; and by my God have I leaped over a wall.
