Pulling Down Strongholds in Believers
PPT 1 Sermon Title
Intro: In this message we will demonstrate from a prominent example of a believer with a stronghold, the pain strongholds cause, and strategies for breaking strongholds.
PPT 2 Main Text
Ac 8:13 And even Simon himself believed; and after being baptized, he continued on with Philip; and as he observed signs and great miracles taking place, he was constantly amazed.
Ac 8:23 "For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and in the bondage of iniquity."
In our last message on strongholds we talked about strongholds in unbelievers, in this message we will talk about strongholds in believers.
In our previous message on strongholds we talked about how unsaved people will not endure sound doctrine. Part of the reason for that is that they have spiritual strongholds that prevent the word from getting through. I used the illustration of a spiritual bug zapper or mosquito netting that they have around them that hinders them from hearing the truth. In the same way netting keeps mosquitoes out, strongholds of darkness work to keep the word from getting in. Proof of this concept is found in the parable of the sower where the birds (defined by Jesus as satan) immediately steal the word that is sown into their lives.
I don't believe Christians can have demons, but I do believe they can be under the control and influence of demons and or strongholds.
Let's try to define a stronghold.
A stronghold is a fortification from which territory is controlled and protected. It has special attributes that give it an advantage in its own defense. It usually involves a mindset and pattern of thinking that keeps a person in sin or theological error.
Strongholds evolve, they aren't built in a day. Because they evolve the strategies that keep them in existence evolve and become stronger. Even as bacteria learn to adapt against antibiotics they adapt against deliverance strategies. As they grow, they grow more impervious to being torn down. But the very gates of hell... Our weapons are better than theirs. Our allies are stronger than theirs. Our truths can tear out their lies.
3 Types of strongholds
Mental, physical and spiritual. These represent ideas, desires, addictions, and people and spiritual entities that have sway over a person, they sway the person in an unbiblical, ungodly way.
Review key text
Ac 8:23 "For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and in the bondage of iniquity."
KJV uses the phrase gall of bitterness. NAS says the same and the NIV says full of bitterness.
KJV and NAS are literal interpretations and the actual Greek word means bile, excrement, crap. Simon was enmeshed in the excrement of bitterness, and bound in sin. That understanding of the meaning of the word bitterness should be enough to make believers flee from bitterness and yet the very opposite is often true and many are caught in the bile of bitterness. Bitterness should have no place in a believer and yet many like Simon are bound, and have a stronghold of bitterness in their life.
Chapter 8 v. 13 makes it clear that Simon had become a believer and so much so that he was baptized. It may be that Phillips interaction with Simon led him to the very thorough questions of the Ethiopian Eunuch in the next story, or this was his normal practice to refuse baptism until he was convinced a person was genuinely a believer. (Acts 8:37 though some manuscripts leave this text out.) Whatever the case Philip was sufficiently convinced of Simon's faith enough so that he was baptized as a believer.
Though a believer the apostle Peter when he shows up perceives by the Holy Spirit that Simon is caught in bitterness and bound in sin. For me that is a clear example of a believer who has strongholds in his life. Peter recognized the extreme danger and makes a statement that shocks us to read:
Ac 8:22 "Therefore repent of this wickedness of yours, and pray the Lord that if possible, the intention of your heart may be forgiven you.
If possible, the intention of your heart may be forgiven you. If possible?!!!
It seems strange that Peter spoke of forgiveness as a remote possibility when the bible is clear that if we confess our sins God is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9). The only reasonable conclusion we can come to concerning Peter's doubts about Simon being forgiven is that the nature of the stronghold of bitterness in Simon's life was so pervasive that if Simon repented it might only be lip service, and Simon Magus' repentance would not be true and sincere. That seems to be the case as we see Simon's response to Peter.
We can learn some important truths about believers and strongholds from this story.
When a believer has a stronghold of the enemy it usually means they are subjecting themselves to a different ruling authority.
Note Peter the apostle tells him he is in bondage and Simon's response is to tell Peter to pray that nothing like that happens to him! (V. 8:24). Simon clearly is not listening to the voice of God expressed through the apostle Peter, he is deferring to his own beliefs about himself.
"Bondage comes to believers when they trust more in a voice/opinion/belief more than the word of God."
This is one of the most common type of strongholds in believers, and I want to illustrate it from a passage in the Old Testament:
High places not taken away.
1Ki 22:42 Jehoshaphat was thirty and five years old when he began to reign; and he reigned twenty and five years in Jerusalem. And his mother' name was Azubah the daughter of Shilhi.
1Ki 22:43 And he walked in all the ways of Asa his father; he turned not aside from it, doing that which was right in the eyes of the LORD: nevertheless the high places were not taken away; for the people offered and burnt incense yet in the high places.
This text tells us that Jehoshaphat walked in all the ways of the Lord except for 1 area of his life. (His stronghold) He didn't take away the high places. High places are places in ancient Israel where the Jews would worship and sacrifice to God, sometimes the real God, sometimes to false Gods. Both were wrong in the eyes of God. He had stated the sacrifices should only be done at the tabernacle/temple. This was often inconvenient for people who lived far from Jerusalem, so they sacrificed where they felt like it.
That is the stronghold of serving God on my terms. They were following a moral code that was different from what the bible told them to do. Modern examples are people who don't tithe, or who give their tithe to whoever they feel like. People who regularly miss the church disregarding the commandment to neglect not the assembling of yourselves together. People who don't think they need to go to church at all. On and on we could show examples. This is an example of a mental stronghold. The high places were not taken away, they served God the way they felt like, not the way God said they should. The elevated their opinion over the word of God. One of the most telling phrases in the book of Judges that highlights the enemies continual assault over the children of Israel is, "In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes." (Judges 17:6)
So now that we have a basic understanding of strongholds in believers let's now move on to talking about the pain strongholds cause
First notice what happens to those who don't deal with strongholds:
When we have the power, with the help of God, to remove the workings of the enemy from our lives, and don't it is the seed bed of a very painful stronghold.
Joshua 17:13 Yet it came to pass, when the children of Israel were waxen strong, that they put the Canaanites to tribute; but did not utterly drive them out.
Nu 33:55 But if ye will not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you; then it shall come to pass, that those which ye let remain of them shall be pricks in your eyes, and thorns in your sides, and shall vex you in the land wherein ye dwell.
This is the continuing legacy of the Jewish nation, the failure to drive out all God's enemies.
It is also the story of many Christians, who get saved, but allow the Philistines to come back and build a stronghold in their heart, an area of willful disobedience that leads to addictions and other painful behaviors that cause much suffering and are very resistant to being removed. (The difficulty is not with God's power, but with the bound ones clinging to their stronghold.)
Several things are necessary to get rid of strongholds in believers.
A. Bind the devil
Mr 3:27 No man can enter into a strong man's house, and spoil his goods, except he will first bind the strong man; and then he will spoil his house.
Binding the devil is no substitute for personal repentance, but binding through prayer prepares the spiritual ground for deliverance and repentance to take place.
B. Cut off the enemies water supply through repentance.
Water is that which sustains life. Repentance is what breaks the power of the enemy to control ground in our life.
I want to show you an amazing portion of scripture in the Old Testament that shows a wonderful strategy to keep the enemy out of your life.
2Ch 32:1 After these things, and the establishment thereof, Sennacherib king of Assyria came, and entered into Judah, and encamped against the fenced cities, and thought to win them for himself.
2Ch 32:2 And when Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib was come, and that he was purposed to fight against Jerusalem,
2Ch 32:3 He took counsel with his princes and his mighty men to stop the waters of the fountains which were without the city: and they did help him.
2Ch 32:4 So there was gathered much people together, who stopped all the fountains, and the brook that ran through the midst of the land, saying, Why should the kings of Assyria come, and find much water?
2Ch 32:5 Also he strengthened himself, and built up all the wall that was broken, and raised it up to the towers, and another wall without, and repaired Millo in the city of David, and made darts and shields in abundance.
2Ch 32:6 And he set captains of war over the people, and gathered them together to him in the street of the gate of the city, and spake comfortably to them, saying,
2Ch 32:7 Be strong and courageous, be not afraid nor dismayed for the king of Assyria, nor for all the multitude that is with him: for there be more with us than with him:
2Ch 32:8 With him is an arm of flesh; but with us is the LORD our God to help us, and to fight our battles. And the people rested themselves upon the words of Hezekiah king of Judah.
Very quickly from that text notice:
1. Hezekiah and his men stopped the waters that would give sustenance to the enemy (Repentance)
2. They rebuilt the walls that were broken down. They reinforced their resolve to keep the enemy out. They took steps to make sure the enemy couldn't get in. Steps can include breaking off relationships that pull you down, avoiding places where your weaknesses are exploited, etc.
3. He invested heavily in his weaponry. Shields and darts. Ephesians 6 talks about the fiery darts of the enemy, we have more powerful fiery darts: We plead the blood of Jesus, we speak the word against the enemy, we claim the promises of God's faithfulness.
4. They encouraged themselves in the Lord. "There are more for us than with him." "With him is an arm of flesh, but with us is the Lord our God."
5. Finally they rested upon the words of Hezekiah. For us the spiritual parallel is to believe and rest in the word of God, and the promise that he who the Son sets free is free indeed.
Close; Pray for those who will admit they are fighting a stronghold, and pray for those who have people God has laid on their hearts that are battling strongholds.
