## Stronghold of Bitterness:

## Hebrews 12:14-15

Soul: Our minds, wills, and emotions vs. spirit

Hebrews 4:12, "For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart."

Ground: Jurisdictional area ("place" in our souls)

Eph. 4:27, "Neither give place to the devil."

Stronghold: Mind-set and conclusions contrary to Scripture.

2 Corinthians 10:4-5, "(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;"

Tormentors: Afflictions allowed by God to teach us mercy.

Matthew 18:34, "And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him."

Principality: A ruler of evil over a jurisdictional area.

Ephesians 6:12, "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places."

I. How Bitterness Effects Our Souls:

A. The Problem: Bitterness defiles our souls.

1. In our pursuit of "peace with all men . . ." and "holiness" we are to watch diligently that no one resists the grace of God.

2. If we do not, there can very easily spring up in us roots of bitterness.

3. By this means, "many be defiled’’ (Hebrews 12:14 15).

B. The Consequence: Bitterness decreases our souls.

1. If we pursue that which is evil, God may allow us to have the evil desires of our hearts, but send leanness into our souls. (Psalm 106:15).

2. Leanness decreases the capacity of our souls to respond to God and to follow His ways.

C. The Solution: Lost "ground" can be regained.

1. The promise of Psalm 23:3 is especially significant: "He restoreth my soul.".

2. As the Lord is our shepherd, He leads us ". . . in the paths of righteousness" ...

3. And prepares ". . . a table before us in the presence of our enemies . . ." Ps. 23:3, 5

II. What is the significance of lost "Ground".

A. The Definition: A jurisdictional area of our souls.

1. We are warned that bitterness will give "place to the devil" (Ephesians 4:27).

2. The original word for "place" means an area of legal control.

3. In a kingdom the jurisdiction is determined by the ground under the authority of the king.

B. The Problem: "Surrendered aground" brings torment.

1. When the devil is given "ground" in our souls.

2. He has the legal right to build strong- holds on that "ground" and to use it as a "base of operation" to torment our souls in other areas.

C. The Solution: "Ground" is regained a step at a time.

1. Every time we allow the sun to go down upon our wrath, we give more "ground" to Satan. cf Eph. 4:26-27.

2. There may be many different individuals toward whom we are bitter.

3. In a warfare, "ground" that is surrendered to the enemy must be regained a foot at a time.

III. What About the Strongholds?

A. The definition: A false pattern of thinking.

1. God warns us not to be deceived by vain philosophies.

2. Those which are after "the world, and not after Christ" cf Col. 2:8.

3. Believing these philosophies will allow Satan to "spoil" (plunder) our souls.

B. The Consequence: Decisions contrary to God’s will.

1. When Satan constructs a line of reason- ing in our minds which is contrary to Scripture, he then influences our wills to make wrong decisions.

2. Wrong decisions produce destructive emotions such as fear, anger, depression, and worry.

C. The Solution: Strongholds can be pulled down.

1. We have been given mighty weapons by God "to the pulling down of strongholds" cf 2Co. 10:4

2. These weapons of truth are designed to cast down every false philosophy and every deceptive imagination and to bring every thought into line with the truth of Christ’s teaching.

D. Some examples of strongholds:

1. "My offender will never change."

a. Based on this false conclusion, Satan convinces husbands and wives to divorce each other, children to rebel against their parents, employees to quit their jobs, and factions to begin in churches.

b. Yet God states, "Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh: is there any thing too hard for me? cf Jer.32:27

c. God promises wives that they can win their unbelieving husbands by demonstrating a meek and quiet spirit and by learning how to show sincere honor to their husbands. cf 1Pe.3:1-2

d. God urges husbands to love their wives and not to be bitter toward them.

e. When they love their wives with agape love, their wives will become treasured "help meets." cf Ep. 5:25 & 33

2. "I must punish my offender."

a. God promises to punish our offender if he continues to reject the gracious appeals of those he offends.

b. It is not our place to bring retaliation but to allow the wrath of God to take its course.

c. ". . . Vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord" cf Ro. 12:19

d. When we take matters into our own hands in order to "get even" with our offenders, we miss out on the special blessing that God will give those who conquer by love, and we bring destruction to our own physical health, attitudes, and relationships.

IV. How God Uses Tormentors.

A. The Definition: Powers of evil that afflict our souls.

1. When the servant who had been for- given the huge debt refused to forgive one who owed him a little debt, he was rebuked by his lord and delivered over "to the tormentors" cf Mt. 18:23-34

2. The verb form of the word for "tormentors" in this passage means "to torture."

3. Its root word means "to cause pain and toil; to produce anguish and vexation of soul."

B. The Problem: God sends tormentors to bitter people.

1. In the parable of the unjust steward, the lord rebuked the servant who refused to forgive an offender:

2. Note: Matthew 18:32-34

"Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me: Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee? And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him."

3. A bitter person becomes a prisoner of his own making; he is angry, discour- aged, depressed, disillusioned, and unable to concentrate on his respons- ibilities or to enjoy the relationships which God designed for him to have.

C. The Solution: Understand the meaning of mercy.

1. In the parable of the unjust steward, the debtor did not plead for mercy; he simply asked for an extension of time.

2. "Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all". v 26

3. The lord delivered him to the tormen- tors so he could come to the realization that he would never be able to pay back his debt.

4. If he would then plead for mercy, the lord would forgive him the entire debt.

5. Then having experienced mercy, he would be able to show mercy to his offenders.

V. How to Tear Down the Strongholds of Bitterness.

A. Preparation:

1. If we have given "ground" to Satan, we are under the influence of his principalities, powers of evil, and rulers of darkness.

2. The same book that warns us not to give "place to the devil"..

3. Also reminds us of who we are doing battle with.

4. ". . . We wrestle not against flesh and blood, hut against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places". cf Ep. 6:12

5. Scriptural steps by which we are able to conquer Satan and destroy his strong- holds are given in Re. 12:11.

"And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death."

B. They Overcame Him By:

1. The blood of the Lamb.

a. Satan and all his hosts were present at the crucifixion of Christ.

b. At the time Jesus was nailed to the cross, He snatched the legal document that Satan held in his hand.

c. That document had given Satan authority over every person in the world.

d. Jesus nailed the document to the cross and blotted out the hand-writing on the document with His own blood.

e. Then He made an "open show" of Satan in the heavens.

This expression refers to the practice of triumphant generals from Rome parading their conquered enemies through the city streets, in order to demonstrate that these foes no longer had any authority or power over the people because they had been conquered and disarmed.

f. Based on what Christ did on the cross, the only authority that Satan has today over us is that which we give him through rejection of what Christ accomplished or disobedience to His Word.

g. These powerful truths are presented in the following passages:

Colossians 2:13-15, "And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it."

Revelation 1:5, "And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,"

2. The word of their testimony.

a. We appropriate the powerful work of Christ by placing our faith in Him and repenting from the works of the flesh that have dominated our lives.

b. Our way of giving testimony to this truth is by confessing our sin of bitterness, by asking God to regain the ground we gave Satan, by tearing down strongholds of unscriptural ideas, and by showing mercy to those who offend us.

c. We forgive others because God for Christ’s sake has forgiven us.

VI. Steps of Action:

A. Confess bitterness as sin.

1. Many of us excuse bitterness.

2. We continually rehearse the damage done to us by our offenders, and in so doing we justify our guilt with blame.

3. We also redefine bitterness, by saying: "I’m not bitter; I was just deeply hurt."

4. The fact remains that we have closed off our affections to our offender.

5. But God says, "He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now" cf 1Jn. 2:9.

6. Darkness is Satan’s realm; thus the one who is bitter is living in sin and is under Satan’s power.

7. However, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteous- ness". cf 1Jn. 1:9

B. Ask God to regain surrendered ground.

1. According to Ephesians 4:26-27, we surrender "ground" to Satan every time we let the sun go down upon our wrath.

2. For each of these times, we must ask God to regain the "ground" we gave to Satan.

3. We have the assurance that God will hear our prayer in accordance with the comforting statement of Psalm 23:3, "He restoreth my soul."

4. The Hebrew word for "restore" means "returning to the starting point."

5. We should ask God to rebuke Satan in the name and through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ and gain the ground that Christ won by His death, burial, and resurrection.

C. Tear down strongholds with truth.

1. It is God’s responsibility to regain the ground we surrendered, but it is our responsibility to tear down the strongholds that Satan built on the territory.

2. God has given us powerful weapons of truth to accomplish this task.

3. "For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal [bitter retaliation], but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds". cf 2 Co.10:4

4. We must purpose to search out and destroy every false idea or conclusion have accepted from Satan and to build up towers of truth by reading, memorizing, and meditating on Scripture.

D. Show mercy by forgiving your offender.

1. Now that we understand the spiritual destruction that comes with bitterness and how forgiveness is an aspect of mercy, we should have the motivation to fully forgive our offenders in the same way that we have been forgiven by Christ.

2. "Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: and be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you" (Ephesians 4:31-32)