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I. FORTRESSES DEMOLISHED. Many things are opposed to the knowledge of God. Some are garrisoned against it by the feeling —

1. That they do not want to know God. The masses of our fellow-countrymen are not so much opposed to the gospel as indifferent to it. "What shall we eat?" etc., are far more important questions than "What must we do to be saved?" This entrenchment has to be carried, and the gospel arouses apprehension, and so storms the stronghold of indifference.

2. That they know already. Trained from their childhood in false doctrine, they hold fast to it, and defy the gospel to reach them. How the Holy Spirit casts down this imagination when He makes men feel that they are blind by nature.

3. That if they do not know God they can find Him out without His help.

4. That they know of something better already; that the gospel is outworn.

5. That they never can know. In this despair the rebel entrenches himself as in a very Malakoff, and becomes desperate in his resistance to the gospel. Yet even this rampart is cast down by mighty grace.

II. PRISONERS ARE MADE. "Bringing into captivity every thought." The mind is like a city, and when it is captured the inhabitants which swarm its streets are the thoughts, and these are taken prisoners.

1. The gospel comes with power to the heart of a man, and he begins to fear the wrath of God and the judgment. Christ has captured his thoughts of self-security.

2. He cries, "I am guilty; I have broken God's law, and I am condemned!" The Lord has captured his thoughts of self-righteousness.

3. Now he begins to pray, "God be merciful to me a sinner," and his ideas that he could do without his God are made prisoners.

4. His thoughts of pleasure in alienation from the Great Father are now slain, for he desires to draw near to the Most High.

5. A little hope begins to dawn, he hopes that there may be salvation for him. His thoughts of rebellious despair are led captive.

6. The Spirit of God encourages him, and he comes to believe in Jesus; his self-trust is a prisoner.

7. Hear him as he sings, "I am forgiven, because I have believed in Jesus! Oh, how I love His precious name!" His inmost heart is captured.

III. THESE PRISONERS ARE TO BE LED AWAY INTO CAPTIVITY. Monarchs of old, when they subdued a country, removed the people to a distance. Now, when the Lord captivates the thoughts of our mind, He leads them to another region altogether. The offspring of the mind He guides into the spiritual realm, wherein they delight in the Lord, and bow themselves before Him.

1. He who, being made conscious of his sin, believes in Jesus Christ, submits all the thoughts of his judgment and understanding to the obedience of Christ, and this is a great point gained. His prayer is, "Lord, teach me, for else I shall never learn."

2. The same power leads captive the will. It remains a will still, but the will of God is supreme over it.

3. Human hopes also are spellbound by grace. These winged things were wont to flutter no higher than the tainted atmosphere of this poor world, but now they find stronger pinions and soar aloft to things not seen as yet, eternal in the heavens.

4. The man's fears too, now ennobled by grace, cover their faces with their wings before the throne of God, while the man fears to offend against the Father's love.

5. His joys and sorrows are now found where they never went before; he rejoices in the Lord, and he sorrows after a godly sort.

6. His memory also now retains the precious things of Divine truth, which once it rejected for the trifles of time, and his powers of meditation and consideration keep within the circle of truth and holiness, finding green pastures there.

7. This done, you shall see the same enthralment cast over the Christian man's desires and aspirations. He has flung away his old ambitions, and aspires to nobler things.

8. The same blessed servitude binds the man's plots and designings. He plans still, but it is not for his own aggrandisement; his grandest design is to bring jewels to the crown of Christ. Does this sound rather like sarcasm to you? If it does, stand convicted, for every thought is to be brought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.

9. The renewed man's love and hate are both held captive by the power of grace. He loves Jesus truly and intensely; he hates sin with his whole soul.

10. It is a fair sight to see Christ's sacred bands worn by our tastes, which are so volatile and hard to constrain. The fancy, too, that impalpable cloud, painted as by the setting sun, that will-o'-th'-wisp of the spirit, even this is impressed into royal service, and made to wear the livery of Christ, so that men even dream eternal life.

(C. H. Spurgeon.)

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KJV: 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;

WEB: throwing down imaginations and every high thing that is exalted against the knowledge of God, and bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ;