The Replacement Principle

Jeroboam and Rehoboam were sons of Solomon, kings of Israel, or so I thought. I don't know when I started thinking that Rehoboam and Jeroboam were both brothers. I think it was probably when I was about 17.

It sort of made sense. They rhyme and they're close, they lived at the same time.

Rehoboam and Jeroboam, I thought, were brothers, and that was something I thought was true all the way through Theological College and then for the next 30 years, until I wrote something on the Kings of Israel last year, 4100, the book that's out

there, and all these people started saying to me, you said that Rehoboam and Jeroboam were brothers. They're not. And I looked in the Bible, and it's really embarrassingly clear. It actually says who's dad they had, and they weren't brothers.

What I thought was the truth was not the truth. Have you ever had that experience? Years ago, my blood pressure was going up, and my doctor told me that my good cholesterol was too low, and nonchalantly he said, John, you have drop dead syndrome.

I went, oh, that's a lovely thing to know. And then very soon after that, I started having some indigestion, and very quickly I had convinced myself I was having a heart attack, I was off to the emergency.

Not that that's a bad thing to do if anyone's got chest pain. But they did all the tests, and I found out, no, I had convinced myself that something was true, but it wasn't true. Google doctor will do that to you these days.

So beware. Have you ever experienced this in relationships? Somebody does something, and you perceive it to mean something.

And then something else is done, and you put the 2 pieces together and make all sorts of assumptions that they're out to get you. But they're not. You've just jumped to conclusions.

Essentially, maybe, you've believed a lie, a lie you told yourself. Anyone ever done that? Have you discovered that a lie believed as truth will affect your life as if it were true?

You can get all agitated. It's actually not true. What you've convinced yourself about, you're anxious and angry, and you might even build up walls around yourself.

And even sometimes develop phobias. You can produce all manner of dysfunction by believing a lie as though it was the truth.

And the effect is the same for your emotions and your body and your social interactions, because a lie believed as truth will affect your life as if it were true.

We are in the third week of our series called Wayform, Spiritual Formation in the Way of the Master, and we've looked at the great omission.

We know the great commission, Matthew 28, going to all the world and make disciples, but the great omission in many churches over the years has been teach that Jesus said, teach them how to live the way I said you could live.

Teach them all that I commanded you. And so we've been sitting in this challenge that Christianity is more than a ticket into heaven, though it's not less than that.

That's the most wonderful truth in all the world, that we can be forgiven because of the blood of Christ shed for us on the cross.

But he invites us into a way, a life, more than just a hope of eternity, but a way of life that is transformative for our lives and those we interact with by grace through the Spirit.

We also looked in the first couple of weeks at Matthew 11 28, and we were reminded how significant it is for spiritual formation. The way of the Master is an easy yoke.

The idea that Jesus says, I'm like the older oxen, and I'll put a wooden yoke around you, and I'll teach you the ways of the Master.

I'll teach you how to plow the field straight, not too fast, not too slow, in a cadence that you'll be with the unhurried rhythms of grace the Father has given you for your life. I'll show you, I'll help bear the load.

And that's what we've been invited into by faith as Christians, the easy yoke. And last week we saw how important it is to live this Master's way out of identity as a child of God, amen.

You can't do it without knowing that you know that it's all by grace. I belong. I've become a child of God by believing in Jesus.

And out of that secure place, again, by grace, I can behave christianly. And we've been referring to this diagram on the screen. It's a really helpful way to see our lives, our soul.

God gives life to our spirit right in the start, replaces our stony heart. We are regenerated when we put our faith in Christ. This empowers our will to live and make godly choices.

Not always. We're not going to be perfect, but we have this capacity to choose the right way. And then our minds are renewed, which affects our emotions and our bodily habits and how we interact with our social context.

And so that's where we've come to. And the next four weeks, Lord willing, we're trying to unpack the mind, because the mind is so important. It needs to be renewed and reframed as Christians.

Recalibrated in the ways of the master. Way form, spiritual formation in the way of the master. Jesus said in John 14, six, I am the way and the truth and the life.

Not this is the way, but I am the way, the truth and the life. And he said the truth, he is the truth, the truth will set you free. If the mind is as important as we know it is, it's really important that we know what's a lie and what's truth.

Amen. It is just so important. And our passage today is profoundly impacting regarding these ideas of what to do with lies and how to access truth and the importance of truth.

Let me read again what Ophelia read in verse 3, 2 Corinthians 10. For though we live in the world, the apostle Paul writes, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world.

On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God. And we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

I think as we look at this passage, we're going to see that strongholds of deception exist, strongholds can be pulled down, and spiritual formation can establish new strongholds of truth. So let's start with that first idea.

Strongholds of deception exist. The Apostle Paul says that there are such things as strongholds which exist in our lives. Now, we might ask, what on earth are strongholds?

Well, he answers the question directly in the text, verse 5. He says, we demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God. Jesus is the truth.

Anything that opposes him as truth can be a stronghold of lies. Strongholds are, I would say, from this passage and what Paul is telling us, fortified thoughts built around lies. And these strongholds are in our minds.

Is that fair to say? It's not that strongholds can't be more spiritual in a way, like demonic strongholds are real.

But what Paul is talking about here, particularly, is fortified thoughts, pretensions, arguments that set themselves up in our minds and then our communities, right? They don't just live in our minds. We're social beings.

They live in communities that are based on that which is false. If you look at the original language, the Greek word here for stronghold is fortification.

And, you know, it's not hard to imagine what that's really talking about, a high ground position that is fortified, a fortress, really thick, reinforced walls, a structure from which the people inside would feel invincible.

It's very hard to take down a fortress, a fortification, a stronghold. Well, from the very beginning, if we look at our Bibles, what is this idea of strongholds of lies? Well, it's the essence of sin, isn't it?

Sin is a stronghold. Stronghold based on lies. If you think of Genesis 3, 1 to 5, when it all began, the serpent, the devil, came to Adam and Eve, our first representatives of humanity.

And he said, did God really say? He just started questioning, sowing a lie into their minds. Did he really say you mustn't eat from any tree in the garden?

And then the woman said to the serpent, we may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, you must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it or you will die.

And many of us know that wasn't true. That was a lie already. She was mixing up the commands.

God never said, you can't touch it. You will not certainly die, the serpent said to the woman, for God knows that when you eat from it, your eyes will be open and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.

Sin is built from the very start upon lies. I don't think I'm telling you anything new. It's just the way it was.

A lie believed as truth will affect your life as if it were true. Adam and Eve distrusted God. Their relationship with him was fractured because of a lie, and it led them, that fracture, that environment led them to act out the first disobedience.

Proverbs 23, verse 7 in the King James says, for as he thinks in his heart, so is he. I think what that's saying is our thoughts will dictate our destination. Have you found that to be somewhat true?

They will shape, our thoughts will shape in a very large part our emotions and our body behaviour externally and internally, and our thoughts are going to influence how we interact with our social context.

Strongholds are established over time, aren't they? Liars believed build strongholds around them, and if you put a space in strongholds, it's true as well. Liars get a strong space hold on us.

Anyone heard of Ivan Petrovich Pavlov, apart from Stuart? Look at you all, history buffs. He was a Russian physiologist in the 1890s.

He did an experiment, we know it as Pavlov's Dogs. He put little test tubes in the cheeks of dogs and brought food to them. And he wanted to see what happened with their salivation.

Not salivation, but salivation, which is an odd thing to talk about in a church service. I know, dogs salivating. But what he found was, as you'd expect, dogs salivate when they see potential food.

But he did something tricky. What did he do? He rang a bell at the same time as they were given food.

And so, they got used to hearing the bell, and they associated the bell with food, and then he took away the food and rang the bell. And the saliva glands did exactly the same thing. They believe to lie, these dogs.

They may have heard a bell salivated and found food somewhere, but they can't eat the bell. And brains that we found are like that. It's called classical conditioning.

We can believe a lie associated with some truth, and then all of a sudden, we start completely believing that which is utterly false, because a lie believed as truth, like the saliva glands of the dog, will affect your life as if it were true.

Paul said in 2 Corinthians 11, a little bit further on from our text, something that is so powerful. He writes to the church in Corinth, I'm afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent's cunning, she believed a lie.

I'm concerned that your minds, you see the connection, the deception and the minds, I'm concerned your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ.

Beware, Paul is saying, your pure, sincere walk with the master, the essence of Christianity, is at stake if you start believing lies. It's really important to get rid of the lies and believe the truth. Eve was deceived and it ruined everything.

So, the question, and we're going to get very practical. I hope that's all right. We made the ex...

It's not an excuse, but the explanation that this is a topical series. So, it's quite practical. And I think it's really important, really worthwhile.

On this journey of spiritual formation that we are all on at various stages, what are the lies that you've believed? Because we're not immune to getting fed a lie and believing it. I thought Ray Balm and Jeroboam were brothers for years.

They couldn't have not been brothers, but they're not brothers. What are the lies that have found a way in there? I've believed about myself and my relationships, my past and my future.

What are the lies that maybe have actually established strongholds in my life and my family, my relationships? Well, strongholds exist, but they can be pulled down, the Bible says. Hallelujah.

They can be pulled down. Paul says, the weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.

There is a power available to us to do amazing things with these strongholds. You know, when we talk about strongholds, it is about my mind and my heart and my internal stuff.

And so I could easily think that this language of dealing with strongholds is framed like a self-reflective, time-alone, contemplation, introspection. And that's what it is, isn't it? But it's not the language of this passage.

This is battle warfare language. Just I thought it's an interesting idea. Just wait on.

I just need a quiet place next to a running stream and just everything nice. Oh, Lord speak to me. And that's part of how we do the battle, but don't lose the image.

This is battle language. This is we wage war, 1 Corinthians 10. We demolish strongholds.

There's a commitment. There's an intentionality about, I'm not staying with this. I'm not putting up with it.

I'm not just laissez faire about this process. I'm Ephesians 6 in my attitude. Finally, be strong in the Lord and his mighty power, Paul writes in Ephesians 6.

Put on the full armour of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. It's like gird up your loins ready for battle. There's a struggle to take on.

There's a battle to remove thought strongholds that oppose the truth. How do we do it through the gospel and the kingdom of God manifest in our lives? Do you think, try this on for size, if this is true.

We cannot change what we cannot confront. What do you reckon? It's not scripture, but I think it's true.

We cannot defeat what we can't define. If you don't know where the stronghold is in your life, the devil's plan is working out well. Amen.

If I'm just going on gladly with my life, I don't even know there's a stronghold that's a lie. It's hard to remove that. So this is where we get practical.

What lie have you been believing and I've been believing such that it has become a stronghold in your life? Here are some possibilities. I'm not good enough, that's a stronghold.

Powerful lie that many people hold on to. I am spoiled. Something happened to you that you didn't choose in your life.

And there was this agreement. Yeah, I'm less than, I'm less than. Some have this idea that's not true, but they believe it is.

I'm unwanted. I don't belong anywhere I go. I'm under attack.

I've felt this, this one. I'm under attack, always. They're out to get me.

But they are not defined. Some of us believe a lie that says I must elevate myself. In any conversation I'm in, I've got to grab on my way to the top.

That's a lie. Or I must win. I just must win.

I must earn more and save more and collect more. I must have the praise of people. I can't express myself because I might not be accepted.

I must not fail. Anyone believe that as truth? Because I can't fail.

I can't stop working because poverty is always at my door. Maybe it is. Maybe it was your grandma that poverty was at their door, but that was passed on.

Or maybe it is at your door. Some of us believe I'm better than everyone else. It's the spirit of hubris.

Many believe I am guilty. I am ashamed. What a terrible lie to believe, which is a stronghold that many have.

God hates me. God is harsh. I can never rest.

A lot of people believe this. I can't achieve anything worthwhile in life. I just can't.

Well, what about I must self-medicate with XYZ or else? Because if I don't give myself that replacement therapy from that which is good and life-giving, if I don't take it, I'm going to explode or something else is going to happen.

I can't let anyone get close to me. Stay away. I don't trust truth.

I'm cynical. I will always wrestle with unbelief. And then the really big one, God can't be trusted.

Now, I know we're doing the work of a therapist on ourselves in a group setting, and there's so much more work that could be done. Of course, and this is scratching the surface, and it can almost seem like, is there a point to this? I think there is.

It's just opening up doorways for exploration. We need to start a war against every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, which has been established within our personal world. We need to identify the stronghold.

So, how do you, will you reflect on your behaviour and thoughts and ask probing questions? The question is like this, why am I doing this?

If there's a habit, if there's a way of thinking, an emotion, a behaviour, a relational interaction that's just, oh, why do I do that? Ask the question, why am I doing this? When did it even start?

This is what a coach, a mentor is going to ask you. How does it make me feel when I act out in this way? Is fear driving this?

If so, what am I afraid of? Is there a certain trigger that prompts this behaviour? If so, why?

What need do I feel this behaviour is meeting? Does when I do this help me understand why I do it? I think that's a really good one.

Doesn't happen all the time, but when does it happen? What is different about this habit, this way of thinking and behaving that's different to other habits and responses that I've been able to get over?

What's the real need I'm trying to meet with this wrong thinking? So we're asking the question, how do we demolish strongholds, and it's not particularly biblical at present the last five minutes, but we're talking about what's required.

Identify the problem. What is the false narrative? What is the lie?

Ask probing questions, pinpoint the lie. And then, with divine power to demolish strongholds, we demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God. Apparently, this is what we can do.

And we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. And this is immensely important. This truth, we demolish strongholds in the name of Jesus because of what he has accomplished in the cross and in his resurrection.

We bring every lie into the light of the truth of who Jesus is and what he has accomplished. We bring it out of the shadows, out of the murky lies, and into the truth and light of Jesus in the gospel.

The gospel is the power of God under salvation for all who would believe, amen? And that is not something that we only come to when we become a Christian. But I think many of us think that.

It's like the gospel. Yeah, I know that I was a sinner. Jesus died for me.

And because of my belief in him, I'm born again now onto life. But we need the gospel every day, don't we? The gospel is the power of God unto salvation.

I need to be saved from the stronghold. I'm going to get saved through the gospel from that stronghold. I need the gospel.

And it's what we know in Philippians 2, but can I just present these amazing words to you again?

Christ Jesus, Philippians 2, who being in very nature God did not consider equality with God, something to be used to his own advantage, rather he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness, and being

found in appearance as a man. He humbled himself by becoming obedient to death and even death on a cross.

Therefore, because he died for the sin of the world obediently, God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every other name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow, every stronghold shall fall.

In heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Jesus has taken the punishment for your sin and mine, amen.

He's taken the curse, the curse of sin that Adam and Eve brought in. He took that. Cursed is he who's hung on the tree.

He died in our place to take the curse of sin. And he conquered the grave, rising again from it. And because of that, he's the Lord of Lords and he's the King of Kings.

Can I just encourage us with this? When we discover the lie, we preach the gospel at it. Amen?

Think about those words. When you discover the lie, preach the gospel at it. Like a good Southern Baptist preacher.

Preach the gospel at that thing. Don't let Billy Graham do all the preaching of the gospel. You and I preach the gospel at that lie.

And the truth of the gospel will affect us. Because as you preach the gospel at that lie, you're part of it, I'm part of it, and so repentance is part of the gospel.

So that lie is probably gonna point back at us and the gospel and the lie will bring out of me conviction for sin, and I have to repent again. Ask for forgiveness. Say, Lord, I didn't realize.

Oh, wow, could you forgive me? Of course, the Lord can forgive. And I might need to renounce the agreement and the allegiance to that lie, that stronghold that I've been feeding for years and years.

I mean, I need to push that away and say, no, I renounce everything about that. And I announce the truth of who Jesus is over me as Lord of Lords and King of Kings. Amen.

That's what it means to break strongholds with the gospel. We identify the problem, ask probing questions, pinpoint the lie, and then remove the lie and replace it with gospel truth.

And if you want to say amen yourself, I do most of the amen-ing, but you can do it, Lindsay will help me. So what do you say? What does gospel truth speak to these lies?

I'm not good enough. I know, but Christ is, and I am in Christ. This is if you're a believer, if you've put your faith in Christ, all these things are true.

I am spoiled. What's the answer? I was, but Christ paid for my sin.

I'm perfect before the Father. That's the truth of the gospel. I am unwanted.

Maybe you've felt that, but the gospel shows me I'm eternally wanted. Jesus died for me. That's the truth of the gospel.

I'm under attack always. What greater is he that's in me because of the gospel? I must elevate myself.

Christ makes me important so I can be humble. Amen? I must win.

I've already won. I'm in Christ. I must earn more and save more and collect more.

No, I seek first the kingdom of God and Christ satisfies all my needs. I must have the praise of people. No, I live for an audience of one.

I can't express myself because I'm not accepted. Now, the gospel says that I am accepted already by my creator through Christ. I must not fail.

Wait a minute, there is grace for my failure shown in the gospel. I can't stop working because poverty is always at my door. No, God provides all I need and he is good.

I am better than everyone else. No, I'm not better than everyone else. Jesus is.

Amen. I'm guilty. No, I'm not.

Jesus took my guilt. I'm ashamed. No, I'm not.

Jesus took my shame. God hates me. Wait, on the gospel shows me he loves me and sent his son to save me.

God is harsh. No, he's not. God is loving and kind.

I can never rest. Wait, on we started this sermon by reminding ourselves, Jesus offers me rest. The easy yoke and he's the boss of the universe.

I can't achieve anything worth while in life. No, God has good things for my life. I must self medicate with X, Y, Z or else.

No, the truth is my life is hidden with Christ in God, and so is my well being. I can't let anyone get close to me. Wait, on I'm free to love because I am loved.

I don't trust truth. I'm cynical. I'll always wrestle with unbelief.

Well, the truth sets me free. So I need to find it. God can't be trusted.

What rubbish. All of his acts demonstrate to me that every word he says comes true. He promised a Messiah and he sent one.

Can you see? I'm no expert at this, but I know it's the truth.

It is through the gospel that we pull down every pretension and argument, and it sets itself up against the knowledge of God, which is through the gospel that we understand the knowledge of God.

Who he is, what he has done, who am I, and what is my role? These are the big questions that we understand and take in lies about. Who is God?

What has he done? Who am I? And what is my role on this earth?

Satan's primary weapon is lies. What's ours? It's the truth.

Ours is truth. Identify the problem. Ask probing questions.

Pinpoint the lie and replace the lie with truth. Remove the lie, replace with truth. Can you see going back to this picture of our lives, the circles?

You see how it's important that we renew our minds.

Because God has done something in the very inward part of who we are, and said, you're a child of the living God, you're going to live forever, you are forgiven, you're set free, I've cast your sins as far as the east is from the west, I've got to

get that in here. And then that will affect, it will affect my emotions and my body. It's exactly, this is exactly what Paul taught in Philippians chapter 4, verse 8.

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever's true, whatever's noble, whatever's right, whatever's pure, whatever's lovely, whatever's admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things as these.

Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, seen in me, put into practice, and the God of peace will be with you. You got your mind, think about these things. You got the body, put into practice, and you've got the peace of God, emotion.

It's a pretty nice verse, isn't it, for what we're talking about? Dwell on the truth. Act on the truth.

Experience what the truth does. Spiritual formation involves the replacement principle in the battle for the mind. Strongholds of deception exist.

They can definitely be pulled down. And you know what? Let's just acknowledge it's not always easy.

It's seldom is. It's a jolly fortress. But we can.

Spiritual formation can establish new strongholds of truth.

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