Mastering the Thought Life — A sermon by Dr Peter Masters on 2 Corinthians 10.5

13th October 2026 • Sword & Trowel • Metropolitan Tabernacle

2 Corinthians chapter 10 verse 5, 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. Our subject this evening is mastering the thought life. This is a massive subject and yet I feel there's a great need to try to deal with the essence of it and to apply it in a single study so that it can really attach itself to us and to our minds. And it's also a subject in which it's possible to roam into some form of homespun psychology.

And I want to avoid that by dealing with it tonight by looking at a number of texts. A whole bundle of texts which relate either directly or indirectly to the management of the thought life or the thinking of the believer. And I'd like to approach it this way so that we only touch on things that flow directly from the word of God. So that we only look at the things that have the stamp of divine authority and are not the imaginations or thoughts of the human mind alone. So, a number of texts, one or two might seem indirect, but they're all highly relevant.

I don't know. I've chosen a dozen, and I doubt we'll make it through a dozen. So, there may be another study to follow, but who knows? This is such a vital and important topic. And we start here with the apostle speaking about himself and his own work and ministry. And the context goes all the way back to chapter six because there's been a digression in the preceding chapter about stewardship, about giving, and that was preceded by another digression. But really the context roots back to chapter six and it's all about the problem of false teachers, the problem of sinful views and conduct creeping in to the church.

And in that context, the apostle says that his work and his fellow preachers—he’s speaking of himself, verse five—is casting down imaginations. They are ideas, thoughts, opinions that are contrary to the word of God or to encourage something which is contrary to the word of God. So he's working casting down these ideas as soon as they strike the church, into the churches, into the minds of believers. And every high thing, these are high things, things that lift themselves up and challenge the truth of God and the gospel for our attention and our time and energy and application.

So it could be anything. Temptations, suggestions being made to us, inclinations and desires to make a super home or to own wonderful things or to soar high for selfish motives in your career or certain delights and entertainments. The hobbies, pursuits that grip and distract you and take so much time, money, and attention. Acts or plans which are essentially selfish to gratify me for my benefit. Or even complaints get hold of me, and murmurings and resentments against certain people who've done something or other which works out to my disadvantage. And so I work up a head of steam of resentment, or even develops into bitterness, and entertain these things. Could be any of these things, as well as the false teaching of the Judaizers and things like that and the passion which some Corinthians had for eloquence rather than truth from their preachers.

They wanted eloquent men, men versed in the philosophers, men who could impress the sophisticated and the plainspeaking preachers were regarded as nothing. Anything which lifts itself up against the truth and the true lifestyle of the Christian and distracts and becomes as important or more important than spiritual things, casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalteth—lifts itself up against the knowledge of God as being foremost and bringing into captivity. This is military language, you know, casting down imaginations. There's violence in the Greek. It's an enemy fortress or outstation and it has to be demolished utterly.

Casting down these alien complaints, ideas, covetous desires. And the military language goes on and bringing into captivity. Some translate it slavery, but captivity is the idea as in a military campaign. So you don't crush your imagination. But if your imagination is presenting things which are a distraction to the spiritual life and infusing you with those things, you bring your imagination under control, into captivity so that those things can be subdued and cast aside. It's a campaign. It's a war. This isn't a gentle exercise. The thought life is so important and we can let hours and weeks and months and years go by with scant control of the thought life which is brewing all the diversions and complaints or self-seeking or covetousness. And we should be dealing with these things in the element of the dream life, the thought life before they become actions. And that's the principle which comes through in this verse. So inclinations, desires, suggestions, delights, things that are essentially selfish and self-seeking, complaints and murmurings. All these things are under watch by us. Now I'm turning back to the Old Testament. I'm going to go rather faster to Deuteronomy and chapter 30. Chapter 30 is a great covenant of grace chapter. But if we go to verse 19, these are familiar words to you.

I call heaven and earth to record this day against you that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing. Therefore, choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live. Now, this is a verse about choice. It's addressed to the people of God notionally. So let us say we're addressing it to those who have come to Christ. This is not an evangelistic setting. This is here to believers if you like. It's a typical church which is addressed and the command is to choose. Now that's an essentially mental activity.

You only choose with the rational faculty. That rational faculty that marks you out from the entire animal kingdom is an activity of the mind. The mind is the location of choice and the palace of faith. So the command is choose an essentially thought activity. Now this is a special event and all the people are called to make a choice to follow God. “I have set before thee”—I’ll read it differently than it appears in your text—“life and blessing, death and cursing.” So life is spiritual life and blessing obviously means eternal life.

Death is spiritual death and cursing is final condemnation. That's the sense life and blessing, death and cursing. And you've got to make a choice. Yes, [unclear], by the grace of God, I was brought to make that choice at conversion. I was bound to make it once the spirit of God convicted me and showed me my predicament and my need of Christ. Yes. But the choosing goes on not only on the great day but throughout life. Every hour is an hour of choosing. Blessing and life or death and cursing. It's stark.

You'll be choosing tomorrow. From the moment the day opens, you're confronted with choices to make: temptations, suggestions, complaints, desires, entertainments of different kinds, and they've got to be evaluated. And you're choosing life, the word of God, and the way of God and the things of God and the service of God and holiness and heaven. You can't do that thing. Some of the things you'll reject aren't intrinsically sinful. But they're not conducive to life. They're conducive to death. They're simply selfish or worldly or meaningless. They’re not—they’re distracting you and diverting you from your primary objective to live for the Lord.

So you've got to choose. Oh, but I've not been doing this. I've not been thinking like that that life is presenting me every day with a sequence of things to choose between. But it is and once we start thinking about it, we recognise them and see them. And of course, we need the help of God, which we'll go on with. But look at this text. I call heaven and earth to record this day against you. And this applies to every day. You're being watched. Satan and his hosts, his demons of darkness are watching you to see your every slip, your every bad choice that you let go to see if you can be pushed further down that route.

The Holy Spirit is within you warning you, but maybe you're not listening to the prods of conscience. And so conscience has shut down. And Christ your Saviour who died for you is watching you, ever ready to help, surely pained at every misstep. I call heaven and earth to record this day against you that I have set before you. There were the choices. Choose life that thou mayest love the Lord. Obey his voice and cleave unto him. There's a three-point sermon in verse 20. We could have stayed with that for an evening.

The perfect three-point sermon on sanctification: love for the Lord, obedience to his word, and cleaving to him. And that's the basis of the choices we make throughout the day. So, it's a rich and a challenging verse for us. But I move quickly to Psalm 46. And there were far more verses than this on the mind and the management of the mind. But just some key ones for us tonight. Psalm 46 and verse 10. Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the heathen. I will be exalted in the earth.

Now, if you read superficially through Psalm 46, you might think it's all about God's ultimate victory over sin and over Satan and everlasting glory. He will one day be exalted over all his enemies. But it is not about that. It's an everyday psalm. So we start with verse 10 and you see the point. Be still. That means stop and think. It's about the mind. Reflect and know something in your reflection. Especially think about this. I am God. You are a child of God. He is God. He is all powerful and all knowing.

He is for you. You're his child. He is your father. He is watching over you. He desires your love and your service, but he will keep you all the way through. Now if in all the trials of life represented in the preceding verses and the tumult and the wars of life, if in all those you know how to stop and to be calm and to reflect and to think about the Lord and his power and his goodness and that you belong to him, He will be exalted because you're already winning a tremendous victory over all the things that would drive you downwards.

You're stopping. You're remembering you're a child of God. You're thinking on him. You're making the choices and you shine like stars in the sky when God looks upon the earth and sees maybe disobedience and so much arrogance and so much antagonism against himself. He is exalted by the lives that stand out: the people who are in communion with him and trusting him and proving him and love him and know him and they are the ground of God being exalted. It's a demonstration to the angels. It's a demonstration to God himself.

I will be exalted among the heathen. They're in the majority maybe. They're everywhere. But here in this household, there in that field, here in this workplace, all over the place, there are people like jewels who stand out because they're not swept along with worldliness and disobedience. And they bring everything to the Lord and they love him and trust him. And He’s triumphing through them. And when Satan says to God, as he appears to do at the beginning of the book of Job, Job doesn't trust you for nothing. This man, this woman, he or she doesn't trust you for nothing.

He only worships you for what he gets out of you, for peace and satisfaction and answered prayer, he thinks, and things like that. If you didn't bless his life or her life, he or she would abandon you immediately. But no, as life goes on, you are a demonstration of trust and love and cleaving to the Lord. And Satan is proved wrong. He's insisting there's no such thing as a sincere believer. And God is exalted. And that's really what this psalm is about. God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble as individuals proving him.

Therefore, will not we fear, you can read it right through. And then the great promise of verse four, there is a river. What's this? The streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most high. By this river, God is in the midst of her. She shall not be moved. No matter how much the heathen rage. What is the river? It's the word. It's the truth. And those people who hold to the promises and bring everything to the Lord and trust in him are like, as I say, shining stars in the firmament.

And they are the demonstration of God's saving power and glory in the world. And through them he is exalted. The Lord of hosts is with us. They say the God of Jacob is our refuge. Let me go on to Proverbs chapter 4 and verse 23. I've lost my own way. Chapter 4 verse 23. “Keep thy heart with all diligence”—and by heart, it’s your central core. It's your mind again. For out of it are the issues of life. “Keep”—the Hebrew is guard. Protect your heart. Protect your mind. Friends, we've moved from choice.

Choose every day various things. And we've come to guard, protect, look after your mind. I mentioned it's the palace of faith. For out of it are the issues of life, which means it's a kind of figure of speech. Out of it flows all your motivation and your energy. You want a warm heart as a Christian. You want a constant longing for the grace of God. You want trust to be alive. You want spiritual energy to live for him. It flows out of the mind. If you don't guard the mind and watch those choices, then you spoil the production, the flow of spiritual energy.

With the Holy Spirit indwelling, it comes out of you like a spring of water right out of the belly in the language of Christ. But it's from the mind. The mind has to be looked after. It has to be defended. Everything that comes in needs to be examined. The door of the mind always has to be guarded. You evaluate the things that seize your imagination or seize your feelings. Should I be thinking these thoughts? This terrible thing has happened to me, but I've got to ration my thinking about these woes and give my time to committing it to the Lord and seeking his help and uplift from him and strength from on high.

And if I just get on a treadmill and allow these recriminating bitter thoughts to go round and round inside me, well, they'll change me as a person. We'll come to that text in a minute. And they will. Keep thy heart with all diligence for out of it are the issues of life—the whole energy and motivation that drives you. And then I'd like to go down to Proverbs chapter 23. I'm passing over something I wish to deal with to move on because this is such a valuable verse. Proverbs 23:6. Eat thou not the bread of him that hath an evil eye, neither desire thou his dainty meats.

Well, an evil eye means one thing in ancient literature in this world. It's a curse from the gods. But in the Bible, it never means that. In the Bible, the evil eye always means a covetous, greedy eye. Eat thou not the bread of him who's covetous or greedy. Don't closely associate. Don't get into league with him. Verse seven, for as he thinketh in his heart, so is he. And there are three other Bible texts which build this into a principle. For as he thinketh in his heart, he's always grasping, always wanting more, always after something.

So is he. That becomes his character. And even we as Christians, we covet something. And the devil will try this on every single believer. Some more often than others. Some are more vulnerable. “You should have this thing. It’s very desirable.” Think about it. Plan it. Dream of it. It occupies your mind. It affects you. You think covetously, greedily. You become such a person. Verse seven. As he thinketh in his heart, so is he. Eat and drink my provisions, saith he to thee. But his heart is not with thee. He's not really a friend.

He hasn't any affection because there's no room for affection in his being. His being has been taken over by the desire lust, the must-have lust. So the covetous person becomes moulded by that, and isn’t even capable of friendship because his heart is always on his gain and what he can have, where he's going, what he's going to acquire. So friends, your thoughts fashion you. And then I go to Isaiah 26. Here we are. Isaiah chapter 26 and verse three. Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace. If you have a margin in your Bible, it'll tell you that the Hebrew reads peace.

Peace. And our translators have perfectly rightly called it perfect peace because that's no doubt the implication of the Hebrew. Thou wilt keep him in peace. Peace. Such great peace whose mind is stayed—propped. You lean upon him upon the Lord. And why will God keep you in perfect peace? Because you're trusting. The value that is put upon trust in the Lord. And if God knows you trust him, he will give you peace in your mind. The things that agitate you cause fear, anxiety—He’ll give you peace. Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind leans upon the Lord, because God rewards trust.

Trust ye in the Lord forever, for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength. They're marvellous words, and we think of them frequently. Now, I'm going to the New Testament to the Lord Jesus Christ in the Gospel of Mark and chapter 7. And here in chapter 7 and verses 20 to 23 the Lord says that which cometh out of the man that defileth the man comes out of your mind. For from within out of the heart, but the heart here stands for your central person, your mind, your affections, and your will.

For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. Think of pride and covetousness, such enemies of ours. All these evil things come from within and defile the man. Well, that's what we've been learning from the Old Testament also. And we could read on, but that’s the word of Christ. The mind needs to be kept. Romans chapter 7 verse 21. We'll hurry. I hope that so many texts won't be confusing, but you can see how the principles emerge from them.

Romans chapter 7 and verse 20. Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I find then a law that when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man. That's in the mind. You do delight in the things of God and you love him. But I see another law in my members. The apostle’s going to say this law is in the flesh. Yes, we know what he means, but it's in the mind because the flesh is the fallen nature.

When the Apostle Paul wants to say fallen nature, he uses the word flesh. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin, which is in my members. Oh wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? He's a Christian. But in the ongoing Christian life, he feels the weight of having a battle in his mind. The old nature and the new. The one which he calls the law of sin, the other which he calls rather the law of God and the other which he calls the law of sin in his flesh.

But the battle is conducted in the mind. What hope have I? Verse 25. I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh, the law of sin. Well, this is good news. There's no condemnation after all. Chapter 8 works it all out because with the blessing and the help of God, I can put to death put away the sinful suggestions and desires and imaginations and complaints. It's all a battle fought in the mind. And the principles of Romans 7 and 8 agree perfectly with everything we've looked at.

Then Ephesians chapter—well, I’ll pass over this, I think, because—oh no, Ephesians 4, verse 32. Be very brief with it. I’ll read from verse 31. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamour and evil speaking be put away from you together with all malice. And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. It's choices going on here. I must choose to put away bitterness. Bitterness, it'll get hold of me. It'll take over the mind day in day out possibly.

And some people really stumble at this point. They become utterly bitter people. And they were Christians and they become unbearable. So choose to end it and to seek the help of God and to see things in proportion and to weigh the other side of things and to get the help of God and ration any unhappy thoughts very severely. Let all bitterness and wrath, anger, clamour. Wrath there really refers to the kind of anger which is passion where you're wholly taken up with something. Takes your whole being. It's more than just anger.

It's possible to follow the maxim be angry without sin. But this is anger with sin because it's been allowed to take over all your passion and feeling and evil speaking with malice. Put it away from you and choose to be kind, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, remembering that Christ has forgiven you. These are activities of the mind. Philippians chapter 4:8, which I dare not elaborate on. You can see it for yourself. Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, here's you writing your own thought agenda. Do you have daydreams? Do you have a vivid imagination and you dream about all sorts of things when you've got the leisure to do so or you're walking a distance?

And does the enemy come in and subtly make you the star of the show and the centre of all your imaginings and dreams? That's the time for serious choices. Whatsoever things are true and realistic and honest and just and pure and lovely and of good [report], switch your mind to those things that the unwholesome things are pushed out. If there be any virtue, if there be any praise, think on these things. Colossians chapter 3:2, very next book, tells us the same. Set your affection on things above not on things on the earth.

What a verse to hang before one's eyes. When one finds oneself liking something too much and wanting it too much, set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. A text to learn and to remember and a big help almost every day. “For ye are dead.” The old you is crucified in the mind of God. Unfortunately, you still have a fallen nature. However, in God's record book, the old you was gone and your life is hid. What a strange term. Hid with Christ in God. Yes, it is.

It's hidden. What does the apostle mean by hidden? It’s covered, is the Greek, concealed from human eyes. Unconverted people, even we converted people, we can't see the glory which clothes us in the eternal future. Our life as God plans it to be is hidden from mortal view. “He’s a Christian. He’s a feeble fellow, a religious fellow. No time for him.” It’s concealed from them that we are to be clad in glory and rendered holy and sinless and filled with knowledge beyond human understanding and glorified and brought into close contact with Christ our Saviour.

That’s concealed from present view. So we bear their disdain and their contempt but never be worldly, never be drawn in their direction. Your life is hidden from view but it's there and God will keep you and deliver you to that future glory. And hidden also holds the notion of protected, kept, sure, and certain. For your life is hidden. When Christ who is our life shall appear, then ye also shall appear with him in glory. Now I'm just going to give you one final text is second Timothy and chapter one and verse 7.

For God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. There is an argument as to whether spirit should be given a capital S or a lowercase S as in our translation here. It makes a huge difference. God hath not given us the Holy Spirit of fear, [unclear] of power and so on. Could be that or it could equally be God has not given us the disposition. Small S for spirit. Spirit meaning disposition. Whichever way you take it, the meaning that we're going to see in this verse is the same.

God has not given you either the Holy Spirit, or the disposition of fear and timidity, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. What's a sound mind? Sometimes the word sound in the King James translation simply means healthy. But it doesn't mean that here. The word sound translates the Greek for safe. God has given us the spirit of a safe mind. Do we aspire for a safe mind? Charismatic friends, they want the mind out of the way. The rational faculty and control out of the way so that you're uninhibited and you let yourself go and you fall on the floor.

Or glossolalia. You speak in tongues or you do things that are not fully under the direction of your mind or you get into a trance-like state and you see visions and things like that. Oh no, God has given you the spirit either the Holy Spirit who produces or the disposition of a safe mind. It's always operating. The mind of the Christian is always switched on. It's key. He keeps it. He looks after it. He uses it in the string of daily choices for the Lord. And God helps him and blesses him mightily.

Oh, if only we would be true to the spirit of a safe mind. So, we've thought of a whole number of things in connection with the mind just straight from the word of God. And I hope that will be a help to us all. It's a help to me.

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