Did you know that about ninety-nine-and-nine-tenths of the problems that confront people is because they have that same problem--they have a clinker in their thinkers? We laugh this off as not being important, but God sees the way people think as being very important.
Illus: We see this in the story of how God actually wiped out a whole civilization of people because of the way they thought. Look at Genesis 6:5. We read, “And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the THOUGHTS of his heart was only evil continually.”
The Bible tells us that before Christ raptures His church men will be as they were in the days of Noah. How were men then? Their thoughts were of “...ONLY EVIL CONTINUALLY.” This is the way it is today.
Illus: Did you know that if people knew what evil thoughts were being thought about them as they walked down the street they probably would not walk down the streets. For example:
-YOU WOMEN - If you knew what some men thought about you as you walked down the street, you would be scared to walk down the streets. Some men have such evil minds that every time they look at a woman they undress her in their minds, and they lust after her. If you could take the lid off of their minds you would see it full of filth, as a filthy sewer.
-YOU YOUNG LADIES - That young man that goes from girl to girl and tells you everything you want to hear does not do that because he loves you. If you could only open his mind you would see his mind is like a dirty trash can and you would not let him come within ten feet of you.
-YOU MEN - If you could open the minds of some women and look in you would be shocked! Some women fill their minds with the garbage of the Hollywood slop operas, movies, and gossip magazines day after day. If you could lift the lid off of their minds, it would be like looking into a vile pit.
We all know there has always been evil in this world since the “fall,” but we also know it is constantly growing worse. Today it seems that this world in which we live has gone berserk. Why? For the same reason as back in Noah’s day. THEY DID WRONG because THEY THOUGHT WRONG. We must not forget, when Noah’s generation THOUGHT EVIL CONTINUALLY, no one could see the evil thoughts in people’s minds, BUT GOD COULD! And finally God saw the thoughts of people were so wicked He chose to destroy them!
Again, men today are thinking wrong. For example...
Illus: Many of our young people are piping into their minds some of the most vile and corrupt stuff imaginable. They listen to songs with lyrics that explicitly encouraged young people to involve themselves in drugs, the occult, homosexuality, suicide, etc. Why do you suppose teens become involved in such things? We do not need to guess. God tells us, “For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he...”
We are told that the average teenager pipes this garbage into his mind at the rate of 10,500 hours between grades 1 and 12. That is only 500 hours less than they spend in the classroom from grades 1 to 12. People today wonder why young people are involved in such things as DRUGS, ALCOHOL, THE OCCULT, PREMARITAL SEX, ETC. It is because they give their minds to such things. Again, God’s Word is true -- Proverb 23:7, “For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he...”
Illus: We are told that the average child, from grades 1 to 12, watches 22,000 hours of television, viewing 18,000 murders. That is over twice the time spent in class from grades 1 to 12, getting their basic education. Again, people wonder why children carry guns to school. They wonder why they shoot at each other as they drive down the streets! It is because what God says is true. The young people give their minds to those things -- “For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he...” People are raising a generation of children, allowing thousands of hours of some of the most ungodly things that could be pumped into the human brain, to be pumped into their brains. And we haven’t seen the worst yet! The evil thoughts in their minds will one day cease to be thoughts; they will become their deeds! “For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he...”
Scripture teaches Christians that WE NEED THE MIND OF CHRIST. When the scripture says we are to have the mind of Christ, notice, we are not talking about the brain of Christ. There is a difference between having the mind and the brain of Christ! You nor I could ever have the intelligence of Christ, but we can have “the mind of Christ.”
Illus: The brain and the mind go together as a person and a piano. They are separate, yet go together. The brain is the piano. The mind is that person, causing it to work.
HOW WE THINK is a result of the working of our mind. The brain is WHAT WE THINK WITH. What the Lord wants us to have is “the mind of Christ.”
WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO HAVE THE MIND OF CHRIST? Because ALWAYS the thought is the father of the deed. For example...
Illus: Before this building was built, someone had to think of it. Every time something good is done, someone had to think of it first. Before any evil is done, someone has to think of it
You will never change your life until you change your mind. The apostle Paul shows us FOUR THINGS clearly, in the scriptures. For example, he shows us:
I. THE CARNAL MIND MUST BE CONVERTED.
Why? Look at II Cor. 4:4. We read, “In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not...” Notice the world, “blinded,” this refers to those who have not been saved. When we talk about God and godliness it does not make a bit of sense to them. Why? Because they are spiritually blind.
Illus: It is impossible to describe the beauty of a red rose to a person who was born blind. He has no way of comprehending what you are talking about.
It is impossible for the sinner to understand the beauty of the plan of salvation. Why? Until he accepts Christ he is spiritually blind. God’s Word says it this way, “In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not...”
What darkness the lost world walks in every day! They have been blinded by the god of this world. Their mind, which controls them, needs to be converted. This was why Jesus said, Luke 13:3, “I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.” The word, “repent” means “a change of mind.” In other words, unless one changes his “mind” about sin, he is going to perish! A saved person is one who has accepted Christ as his Savior. He has changed his mind about sin, that is, he has turned from sin. If the lost person does not change his mind, the Bible says that he will perish. THE CARNAL MIND MUST BE CONVERTED.
II. THE CONVERTED MIND MAY BE CORRUPTED.
Paul says, II Cor. 11:3, “But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.” Paul is addressing Christians in this passage of scripture. He was apprehensive because he was afraid the same thing that had happened to Eve so long ago might happen to these new Christians. We see several tools the devil used very cleverly against Eve in Genesis 3.
(1) The tool of DOUBT. He asked, perhaps in a sneering way, in verse 1, “Yea, hath God said...?” Notice, he put a question mark where God put a period!
(2) The tool of DENIAL. He said, in verse 4, “Ye shall not surely die.”
(3) The tool of DECEIT. He said, in verse 5, “For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.”
Through the use of these three tools Satan very cleverly corrupted the mind of Eve. Paul said that he was afraid the devil might be able to do the same thing to these new Christians, that is, Satan would take God’s Word out and put his word in. How? Through their minds. A saved person can have his mind corrupted. We may have some here today who have been washed by Jesus’ precious blood, but who have listened to some of Satan’s lies and allowed your minds to be as corrupted as some who do not even claim to be saved.
III. THE CORRUPTED MIND MAY BE CONQUERED.
Look at II Cor. 10:3-5. We read, “For though we walk in the flesh, WE DO NOT war after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) 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.” Look with me at several words in these precious verses.
A. The word, “IMAGINATIONS.”
The word this is translated from is the same word we get our word “logic” or “logistics” from. This deals with reasoning. Did you know that you can pick your thoughts just as you can pick your friends? If we could not, then why would God’s word tell us:
- “Casting down imaginations (thoughts)...” (II Cor. 10:5a) that exalt themselves against the Word of God.
- “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.” (Phil. 2:5)
We choose what we think the same way we choose our friends. If you want to, you can choose to associate with the worst people on earth, or if you want to, you can choose to associate with the best people that walk on this earth. Likewise, if you want to, you can entertain the most rotten thoughts in your head a person can have. On the other hand, you can choose to have the purest thoughts a person can have. In a few minutes you can see how. First, let us look at another word-
.B The word “STRONGHOLDS.” This word is translated from a Greek word that means: “To make firm.” That is, the enemy of God has been allowed to so entrench himself, become so embedded, in the minds of some that they have given up all together of ever being able to get him out. Take heart! You can get him out! You can pull down those strongholds! What are some of the many strongholds in the lives of some believers?
1. The stronghold of HATE. Some look for someone to hate, this has become a way of life.
.2 The stronghold of WORRY. Some look for something to worry about, this has become a way of life.
3. The stronghold of APPETITE. These are looking for something to eat, this has become a way of life for them.
4. The stronghold of MATERIALISM. These are looking for something to buy, this has become a way of life for them.
The devil has built these “strongholds” in the minds of some believers, it has become a way of thinking for them. This is the age of instant gratification. People have been geared to fulfill every evil thought instantly. If you are one in whom Satan has built a “stronghold” you first must recognize you have allowed this to happen! Then, with God’s help, you must get rid of him. You will never be what God wants you to become until you change your way of thinking. You MUST LEARN TO SAY “NO” TO SIN! God wants you to pull those “strongholds” of Satan down!
How can we do this? We must use weapons. There are two sources from which we can get our weapons, but only the ones from the right source will work.
(1) WE COULD USE THE WEAPONS OF THE WORLD. What are these? They are education, psychology, psychiatry, etc. These things may have a place in our lives, but not one of these will tear down a stronghold of “Satan.”
Through the years, as a pastor, I have seen people shackled by Satan’s “strongholds” who turned to the world for help, but they are like the woman who went to Jesus who had been to many physicians but had only gotten worse.
Illus: How many times have we heard that education is an answer to the problems people have with drug addiction, pre-marital sex, homosexuality, etc.? Over and over we have been told, “We just have to educate these to cure their problem.” Many criminals are taken off the streets, educated with taxpayer’s money, given diplomas and turn out to be -- smarter crooks.
This world’s “weapons” will not pull down sin’s “strongholds!” Billions of dollars have been poured into programs to help people and very few people have received any degree of lasting help from them.
(2) WE COULD USE THE WEAPONS OF THE WORD.
What are the weapons of God’s Word? They are the blood of Christ, repentance, prayer, faith in God, authority of Jesus’ name, etc.
These are the powerful weapons that God has given to us to pull down the “strongholds” of Satan.
Illus: A woman invited a man to come live with her. She knew it was wrong, but she did it anyway. After a little while she became so convicted of what she had done that she asked him to leave. He refused. He told her she had invited him and he had all of his stuff there and he was not going to leave. She begged him to leave and he would not. No matter how she pleaded, he stood his ground. She went to a lawyer and he sent her to a judge and he gave her an injunction against him. She went back to her home and showed him the injunction and said, “Now leave!” He took one look at the legal document and he knew this was a different situation. He then begged her to let him stay. He cried and humbled himself before her, but she courageously stood her ground and he had to go!
If you want the evil, destructive thoughts that exalt Satan against the Word of God out of your mind and life, then you must:
- Confess the evil thoughts as sin before God.
- Repent of the evil thoughts.
- Go to God and get a “bench warrant” for the expulsion of Satan out of your thought life.
In our illustration the judge did not give the woman strength, he gave her what she needed - authority to evict him out of her house. But notice...
IV. THE CONQUERED MIND MUST BE CONTROLLED.
Look at II Cor. 5. We see it is not enough to just DETHRONE SATAN from our minds, WE MUST ENTHRONE CHRIST!
Once we get Satan out, we have to put Christ in or else Satan will come back. You can rid your thought life of every evil thought, but if you do not replace those thoughts with the right kind of thoughts you will never gain victory over Satan. What can we replace those evil thoughts with? Philippians 4:7-8 gives the answer. Here are listed six “soldiers” to “guard” our minds. Let us read, “And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Finally, 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; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, THINK ON THESE THINGS.” These are the six guards God has given us to protect us from thinking wrong.
Notice in verse 7 the word, “peace.” It says, “And THE PEACE OF GOD, which passeth all understanding, SHALL KEEP your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”
Someone has said that the “...peace of God is the umpire of the soul.” What did they mean by that?
Listen, anything that robs you of the peace of God should be rejected.
Illus: A pastor was addicted to the 11 o’clock news. He would not go to bed until he listened to it. After he listened to all the bad news of terrorists, unemployment, higher taxes, teen pregnancy, etc., he could not sleep. Then the weather man would add a final touch to his depression by saying, “Tomorrow there is going to be a 20% chance of rain.” He could not say there would be an 80% chance of sunshine; he had to say there was a 20% chance of rain. All of this finally depressed him so much he finally had to give it up!
Any time a thing robs our minds of the peace of God we should get rid of it. Run it through these six guards. If it can not pass the test, it needs to go. The peace of God is the umpire of our soul.
Illus: Well, what does an umpire do? He tells you when the ball is thrown if it is a “strike,” or if it is a “ball.” He calls the shots!
The peace of God does the same thing spiritually. You can not have the peace of God and have corrupt thoughts running through your mind at the same time. When the peace of God is no longer there, we know the devil has thrown us a “curve ball” and we have “struck out!” If you do not have the peace of God today, it is because you need to get your thought life cleaned out. You are thinking on the wrong things.
Illus: If you have ever been to an airport and gotten ready to embark on a flight, you had to be checked out to see if you have any contrabands in your possession. You pass through sensors that can detect metal objects. You must remove them so the guards can see they are harmless.
We Christians have “detectors” on our thoughts like that. God wants us to remove those evil thoughts from our minds and replace them with wholesome thoughts that will enrich our lives so we are at peace and can benefit others.
Conclusion/Summary:
I. THE CARNAL MIND MUST BE CONVERTED.
II. THE CONVERTED MIND MAY BE CORRUPTED.
III. THE CORRUPTED MIND MAY BE CONQUERED.
IV. THE CONQUERED MIND MUST BE CONTROLLED.
