When my friends, you, God's children
from other places around the world, come to me with heavy
hearts, things that bother them greatly, cause them anxiety,
fear, and depression, knowing that I can't be of any help, my common recommendation is,
Bury yourself in Christ. Bury yourself in the book of
God. I know nothing else that will
help, nothing else. When I have things that bother
me, I try to talk about them very, very little, no more than
I have to. The more painful they are, the
less I discuss them with anybody. because nothing ever good comes
of it. I've never found any benefit from it. Have you? Bury yourself
in the book of God. Bury yourself in Christ, casting
all your care upon the Lord, for he careth for you. With that
in mind, I have been trying to bury myself in this book and
bury myself in my Redeemer. and I found some things to help. My subject is heavenly places.
If you want to be turning to my text, it'll be found in Ephesians
chapter six. Heavenly places. Now listen carefully. God the Holy Ghost always focuses
our hearts and our minds, the hearts and minds of saved sinners
on Christ, upon heaven and upon heavenly things. God the Holy
Ghost always focuses the hearts and minds of saved sinners upon
Christ, upon heaven and upon heavenly things. He always, always,
always draws our attention away from ourselves away from our
cares, away from the earth, away to Christ, away from time to
eternity, away from earth to heaven, away from self to Christ. And he focuses everything upon
him. Having said that, be sure you
understand it. Anything, anything, anything,
any doctrine, any thought, any teaching, any experience that
turns you away from Christ is not sin of God. Anything that
focuses your attention on something else is not of God. Anything
that focuses your mind and your heart on anything less than Christ
himself is not of God. Now let me see if I can make
good on that in the scriptures. Just listen. You don't need to
turn to these passages. Philippians chapter four, verse
eight, the apostle says, finally, brethren, whatsoever things are
true, that's Christ. Whatsoever things are honest,
that's the gospel. Whatsoever things are just, that's
God's salvation. Whatsoever things are pure, that's
the love of God in Christ. Whatsoever things are lovely,
that's the altogether lovely one, our blessed Savior. Whatsoever
things are of good report, that's the person and work of the Lord
Jesus. If there be any virtue, that's
our Redeemer. If there be any praise, that's
the triune Jehovah, His mercy, His love, His person, His grace,
His work, His providence, His goodness. Think on these things. Why on earth are we so inclined
to think on everything evil and nothing good? Why are we so inclined
to be occupied with ungodliness and not with righteousness? Why
are we so inclined? I'm talking now to you and me
who are believers, to regenerate folks, to men and women born
of God. Why are we so horribly inclined to think of everything
except Christ when we could be thinking of Him? To talk about
everything but Him when we could be talking about Him? meditate
on everything but Him when we could be meditating on Him. Listen
again, Colossians chapter 3, If ye then be risen with Christ,
seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right
hand of God. What's that? Righteousness and
peace and forgiveness and grace, mercy and love, goodness, kindness,
temperance, forbearance. Seek those things which are above,
where Christ sits on the right hand of God. Set your affection. He didn't say affections, he
said affection. Set your heart on just one thing. Set your heart
on just one thing. Set your affection on things
above, not on things on the earth, for ye are dead. You're crucified
to this world. You're crucified to this world.
And the world to you, you're dead. And your life is hid with
Christ in God. One more text. Paul says in 2
Corinthians 4, verse 17, our light affliction, whatever it
is here, Big as it seems to be now. And it sometimes seems like
you're carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders with
no one to bear it but you. Our light affliction, which is
but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal
weight of glory. Whatever the trouble is that
you're enduring now, It is sent by God to work for you a far
more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. In other words, heaven
will be more glorious, more blessed, more delightful than it could
otherwise be were it not for this affliction. Our light affliction,
which is but for a moment, is presently working for us a far
more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. How is that? look not
at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not
seen. For the things which are seen are temporal. They just
don't matter. They just don't matter. But the
things which are not seen are eternal. They matter. They matter. They matter. So God, the Holy Ghost, if he
will enable me, I beg of him that he'll give me grace to talk
to you a little bit about heavenly things. And really, I'm not gonna
do much preaching. I'm just gonna have you turn
to some scripture and read. Let's begin in Ephesians 6. Ephesians
6. The whole book of Ephesians,
the whole book is about our union with Christ. That's what Paul
keeps driving, driving, driving, and driving, and driving home
to our hearts. Throughout this epistle, God
the Holy Ghost is addressing God's saints. He's telling saved
sinners about their union with Christ in eternal grace, in the
experience of grace, in the life of grace, and in the warfare
of grace, as is described here in Ephesians 6. The believer's
life life union with the Lord Jesus Christ, God the Son, our
God made mediator. It is a life union with Christ
in heavenly places. Here in Ephesians 6 verse 10,
the Apostle Paul begins to draw the epistle to its conclusion
by urging us to be strong in the Lord. Finally my brethren,
be strong. Be strong. Be strong. You often hear folks say, you
just got to be strong. That's not what Paul's saying. He said,
be strong in the Lord. Be strong in the Lord and in
the power of his might. That is in the vigor of his force,
in the vitality of his omnipotence. If we would live for God, if
we would honor God, If you and I would serve the cause of God,
his glory, his gospel, and his people in this world, we must
get our strength from him. Now don't just casually read
that and forget it. If God the Holy Spirit has given
you life and faith in Christ, you cannot be a stranger to the
horrible, horrible, horrible conflict in which God's people
are constantly engaged, the warfare of our souls. And if we would
wage a good warfare, we must know where our strength lies. Our strength, not in our tears,
not in our brokenness, not in our repentance, not in our resolutions,
not in our determinations, not in our skills and our abilities,
Our strength is not to be found in anything in ourselves, but
rather in Christ alone. You remember Paul's experience
as he describes it for us in 2 Corinthians 12. He said, I
found out when I'm weak, then am I strong. But when I foolishly imagine
that I'm strong, I'm not just weak, I'm utter weakness. Christ
alone is our strength. His grace alone is our sufficiency. We have no sufficiency of ourselves. Our strength is His righteousness,
His blood, His grace, His intercession. Listen to the psalmist, David.
The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is
the strength of my life, of whom shall I be afraid? But the salvation
of the righteous is of the Lord. He is their strength in time
of trouble. In God is my salvation and my
glory, the rock of my strength. My refuge is in God. I will go
in the strength of the Lord. I will make mention of thy righteousness,
even of thine only. All right, look at our text again,
Ephesians 6. In verse 11, the apostle Paul tells us that we
must put on the whole armor of God, as he describes it in this
chapter, that we may be able to stand against the wiles of
the devil. Now frequently in the scriptures,
we're admonished to behave as the soldiers of Christ, the church
of God, required of God to take the gospel of God's free grace
in Christ and assault the very gates of hell. But that's not
what this passage is talking about. In this specific place,
Paul is talking to us about being assaulted. He's telling us to
always be prepared to withstand the wiles. What a word, the wiles,
the crafty, subtle, deceitful, serpent-like ways of the devil. The wiles of the devil. They're
never open. They're never open. They never
just run up to you and say, I'm fixing to smack you in the face.
But rather, they come up to you like Joab and hug you with one
hand and stab you in the back with the other. The wiles of
the devil. That we henceforth be no more
children. tossed to and fro and carried
about with every wind of doctrine by the slight of men and cunning
craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive. Now look at
verse 12. Here Paul tells us with whom
we do battle and where. For we wrestle not against flesh
and blood, We're not talking about something like the Olympic
games, though that's what Paul obviously is making a comparison
with. We're not talking about the physical
fleshly warfare of men. No, no, we wrestle not against
flesh and blood, against mere mortal man who soon shall perish
from off the earth. But rather we wrestle in our
souls as Jacob wrestled when the Lord graciously conquered
him. We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities,
against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world. Not just political, civil powers. Not just heads of state. No, no, no, no. These principalities
and powers are the rulers of the darkness of this world. We
wrestle against spiritual wickedness in high places. What on earth
is he talking about? He's talking about Satan, the
demons of hell. All Satan's messengers who transformed
themselves into angels of light, that they might turn you and
turn me away from the simplicity that is in Christ. Our warfare,
as it's described here, is against spiritual wickedness. Spiritual wickedness. That's
not talking about immorality. That's not even talking about
abortion. That's not talking about murder. This is talking
about something far, far, far worse. Spiritual wickedness in
high places. Those words in high places are
used five times in the book of God. times. All five times they are used
by the Apostle Paul and they are only used in the Epistle
of Ephesians. They are not found anywhere else
in the Word of God. Those five statements in high places. In every other place they are
translated in heavenly places, in heavenly places. Now let's
look at these things. Remember, Paul is telling us
in this blessed epistle about our union with Christ. And five
times in these six chapters, it's described as a union with
Christ in heavenly places. Come back to chapter 1, Ephesians
5, or chapter 1 rather, verse 3. And here the Spirit of God
tells us that our union with Christ is an eternal union of
blessedness, love, acceptance with God, delight with God, a
union, a blessedness, a love, an acceptance, a complacency,
a delight before God. So that God is from eternity. God is eternally. delighted in us, complacent with
us, and blesses us, has blessed and forever blesses us in Christ
in heavenly places. Let's see, Ephesians 1, 3. Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath,
hath, oh, I love those words, who hath blessed us with all
spiritual blessings, Everything that God has to give to give
to man. Everything that God can convey
upon man for good. Everything that's for the benefit
of your soul. Everything for your everlasting
happiness, peace, and security. Everything for your good. Everything
for his glory. God hath blessed us with it in
heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Oh, what a word. He did this
according as he had chosen us in him before the foundation
of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before
him in love. in love having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according
to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of
his grace. Watch this now, wherein, that
is in his grace in Christ in these heavenly places, by these
blessings, by election and predestination and adoption, he's made us accepted
in the beloved, favored in his sight. made us the objects of
his constant delight, his complacency, his satisfaction, so that God
looks on us as he looked on his son as the lamb slain from the
foundation of the world and said, this is my beloved son in whom
my soul is well pleased. God says, hear me now, children
of God, I am well pleased with you in Christ from everlasting
because we are one with him. so really and truly one with
Him, that God Almighty, the triune Jehovah, can no more disfavor
us than He can disfavor His Son. He can no more cast us off than
He can cast off His Son. He can no more disown us than
He can disown His Son. That's what it is to be in Christ,
in union with Him. To the praise of the glory of
His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted into beloved, in
whom we have, we have this possession, redemption through his blood.
What does that mean? The forgiveness of sins. How
is that? According to the riches of his
grace. How is that? Wherein he hath abounded toward
us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known unto us the
mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he
hath purposed in himself. in the dispensation of the fullness
of times, he might gather together in one all things in Christ,
both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even in him.
in whom also we have obtained, we have obtained, we have obtained
an inheritance being predestinated according to the purpose of him
who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will,
that we should be to the praise of his glory who first trusted
in Christ. God has done this for us in heavenly
places Christ before the world began that we should be to the
praise of His glory. That we should be to the praise
of His glory who first trusted in Christ. Alright, look at verse
20 of Ephesians 1. Here the Apostle is inspired
of God to speak to us about a resurrection union with Christ. We have an
eternal union with him. The pastor explained that. When I can explain God of what
he does, I'll quit preaching and let you take it up. Who can
explain God? Who can explain what God does?
We simply declare what God says. We have an eternal union with
Christ. I haven't seen your face, Don
Martin, in a while. An eternal union with his. Now it's either real or it's
fake. It's either real or it's imaginary. It's either real or
it just ain't so. An eternal union with him and
a resurrection union with him. Look at verse 13. In whom, that
is in this Christ that God trusted, the triune God trusted before
the world was, is our surety. In whom you also trusted. After
that ye heard the word of truth. What is that? The gospel of your
salvation. Now, I've read every commentary
I get hold of on that statement in the last 50 years. I've read
all the good ones. The bad ones I generally don't
pay any attention to. But all of them that I thought might
have something good to say, I've read them on it. And I haven't
read one yet that says anything that really explains it. I can't
begin to explain it to you now. But I know it means this much.
It's not just after you heard that there's such a thing as
salvation. Not just after you heard somebody preach salvation
by Christ. Not just that you heard that
Jesus provides salvation. Oh, no. But when God comes in
saving power, God speaks to you the word of your salvation, and
you know it. You know it. He comes and gives
the same testimony to you that he gave to Enoch, for he's translated,
you please God. You please God. If you need me
to tell you that, it ain't any good. That's the reason I won't
tell you that. I get calls almost every day,
or emails, one of the two, almost every day. Somebody wanting me
to tell them that they're saved. And I tell them all the time,
I can't tell you that, and I wouldn't tell you that if I could. Only
God can tell you that. He comes by the preaching of
the word and suddenly speaks peace to your soul after that
you believe. That is, believing on his Son,
God, the Holy Spirit, giving you faith in Christ, sprinkles
your conscience from dead works by the blood of his Son, purging
you from dead works. Read on. In whom also, after
that ye believed, ye were sealed. with that Holy Spirit of promise.
This is the testimony of God in you. God seals to you all
these things we read about in chapter one, telling you you're
Christ, which is the earnest, the earnest, the down payment,
the pledge money of our inheritance. How long? Until he comes to get
us, until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the
praise of his glory. Now watch Paul's statement next. Wherefore, in the light of all
this, in the light of all that God has done for you, in the
light of all God's grace upon you, I also, after I heard of
your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints,
cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in
my prayers. that the God of the Lord Jesus
Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit
of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him. The eyes of
your understanding being enlightened that you may know. I want you
to know what is the hope of his calling and what the riches of
the glory of his inheritance in the saints. And what is the
exceeding greatness of his power to us who believe according to
the working of his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ when
he raised him from the dead. Now watch it. And set him down
at his own right hand in heavenly places. What? The Lord God has
raised up Christ. Having finished His work as our
Redeemer and set Him down at His own right hand. And we are
seated together with Him in resurrection glory. Already. Already. It's not talking about something
that we're going to experience. This is what we already have
in Christ Jesus. Far above all principality and
power. Far above the spiritual wickedness
in high places. Might and dominion and every
name that's named not only in this world but also in that which
is to come and hath put all Things under his feet and gave him to
be head over all things to the church Which is his body the
fullness of him that filleth all in all Now I said this talk
about our resurrection union with Christ How do you know that? Paul tells us it took the same
power to raise Christ up from the dead that it takes to raise
you from the dead spiritually. The same power that put life
in Him puts life in you, for He is the life. Christ Jesus
was raised, the scripture tells us, by the power of God the Father,
by the power of God the Spirit, and the scripture tells us plainly,
by the power of Christ Himself. and it is the power of God, Father,
Son, and Holy Ghost, who comes and puts life in you, raising
you from the dead because you've been raised with Christ. Let's
see if that's not so. This is the third thing. Look
in Ephesians 2, verse six. Here the apostle speaks to us
about our experimental union with Christ. He tells us that
we have a blessed Experimental union with our Lord Jesus Christ. I mean by that a union that in
the time appointed by God is experienced by his people. Experienced by his people. And you hath he quickened, who
were dead in trespasses and in sins. Wherein in time past ye
walked according to the course of this world, according to the
prints of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in
the children of disobedience. Among whom also we all had our
conversation in time past in the lust of our flesh. We live
like hell like everybody else does. Fulfilling the desires
of the flesh and of the mind, and we're by nature children
of wrath just like everybody else. Oh my God, I wouldn't take all
the world for these next two words, but God. but God, who is rich in mercy. For his great love wherewith
he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, and hath quickened
us together with Christ. What does that mean? By grace
you're saved. And hath raised us up together, and made us sit
together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. When the Lord Jesus
stood before God in the everlasting covenant as my surety and was
accepted as the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world,
I was accepted in Him. I had life in Him. When Christ
lived on this earth and walked in obedience to God, I walked
on this earth in Him and obeyed God in Him. When Christ died,
I died in Him. And when Christ arose, I arose
in Him. But I didn't know anything about
it. until he came in marvelous free grace and raised me up from
the dead in the new birth, giving me life and faith in him, causing
me to sit with Christ at peace with God in heavenly places. Why'd he do that? Why'd he do
that? That in the ages to come, he
might show the exceeding riches of his grace in His kindness
toward us through Christ Jesus. God didn't do anything anywhere
at any time except to show His glory, the exceeding riches of
His grace in His kindness to poor sinners, saving us by His
grace through Christ Jesus. That's God's motive in everything.
That's God's reason for everything. For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves, it's the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. For we are God's workmanship,
God's masterpieces, the very best that God can do. The very best that God can do,
his workmanship. Look here. Oh, look here, listen
to me, listen to me. Look at this man right here.
This is the best God can do. The best God can do. He made
me one with His Son exactly as His Son. And the same is true
of you who are His. Read on. His workmanship created
in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained
that we should walk in them. All right, look down just a few
lines in chapter three, verse 10. union that we have with Christ
is a displaying union. What do you mean preacher? God
the Holy Ghost here tells us that our union with Christ, this
union of grace is a union by which and in which the triune
God displays His infinite wisdom to angels and devils by saving
such things as we are. God says to the angels of heaven,
you wanna see my wisdom? You wanna see it? You wanna see
how brilliantly wise and prudent the infinite God is? And he says
to the devils of hell, you defy my wisdom? Watch it, I'll show
you what it is. Look at my workmanship. Ephesians
chapter three, verse one. For this cause I, Paul, the prisoner
of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles, If you've heard of the dispensation
of the grace of God, which is given me to you, have it by revelation. He made known unto me the mystery,
the mystery. Paul acts like it's the only
mystery there ever was. It is. All other mysteries are
wrapped up in this one and revealed by this one. As I wrote afore
in a few words, whereby when you read, you may understand
my knowledge in the mystery of Christ. which in other ages was
not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed
unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit, that the Gentiles
should be fellow heirs, and of the same body, and partakers
of his promise in Christ by the gospel." Gentiles, let's talk
about fellow heirs with the Jews. Yeah, yeah. Fellow heirs with
saved Jews. It's talking about us being fellow
heirs with Jesus Christ himself. partakers of the very promise
God gave to his son upon his obedience, whereof I was made
a minister. According to the gift of the
grace of God given me given unto me by the effectual working of
the power of his power Unto me who am less than the least of
all saints is this grace given that I should preach among the
Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ ain't nothing else
worth studying ain't nothing else worth preaching the unsearchable
riches of Christ why would anybody look for something else and to
make all men see What is the fellowship of the mystery, which
from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created
all things by Jesus Christ. Now watch this. To the intent. That is, this is the reason God
did all this. This is the reason He's done it all. That now, unto
principalities and powers in heavenly places. What's that
talking about? It's talking about the heavens
you can see, yeah. It's talking about the space
in the universe, yeah. It's talking about the third
heaven, yeah. Whatever heaven is, that's what it's talking
about. God's gonna display it everywhere, everywhere. What's
he gonna display? The manifold wisdom of God. Might be known by the church,
the manifold wisdom of God. According to the eternal purpose,
which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom or in whom
we have boldness and access with confidence by faith in Him. He said, well, I don't know anything
about that boldness and confidence that it's talking about. If you
come to God by faith in Christ, you do. If you come to God by faith in
Christ, you do. If you come to God leaning on this cane over
here, the righteousness of Christ, and on this stump over here,
your righteousness, or leaning on this little twig over here,
the blood of Christ, and on this tree over here, your goodness,
you can't have any boldness or confidence. But if you come to
God with nothing but Christ, you come to God with nothing
but Christ, not your experience, not your knowledge, not your
feelings, not your goodness, not your repentance, not your
remorse, not your conviction, Christ alone. Come to God by
Christ, you have boldness, freedom, and confidence before Him. Freedom,
freedom. How is that? That's not what it says. By the
faith of Christ. I don't even come to God trusting
my faith in Christ. I come to God trusting the faith
of Christ. His faithful obedience. Well,
I know I'm saying I can take you to the time and I can take
you to the place. But if you've got to tell me
about the time and the place, you ain't got it. You just ain't
got it. Our confidence before God is
Christ, not our experience. Read on. Wherefore I desire that
you faint not, and my tribulations for you, don't let that be too
much trouble to you, which is your glory. For this cause I
bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of
whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that he would
grant you, according to the riches of his glory, oh my, what a source,
to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man,
that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith. that you being
rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend with all
saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height and
to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge that you may
be filled with all the fullness of God now unto him that's able
to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think." What?
What did he just say? Is God able to do more than this? To cause you to be filled with
all the fullness of God? To comprehend with all saints
the length and breadth and depth and height of the love of Christ
that passes knowledge? He's able to do exceeding abundantly
above all that we ask or even think. He's able to do more than
that. according to the power that worketh
in us, that is by the power of his grace working in us, unto
whom be glory in the church, by Christ Jesus throughout all
ages, world without end, amen. Now look at chapter six, verse
12. Here, the apostle is inspired by God the Holy Spirit to tell
us that our union with Christ is a warfare union. A union that
constantly engages us in a war. A war in which we must always
be ready for battle. Always ready for Satan's hellish,
subtle, deceitful serpent-like assaults. He says we wrestle
not against flesh and blood. but against principalities and
powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against
spiritual wickedness in high, in heavenly places. This is a
warfare against spiritual wickedness, a warfare against sin, particularly our own. A warfare
against our own flesh. A warfare against our proud,
stubborn, obstinate flesh. It's a warfare against the rulers
of the darkness of this world. Who are those? The men who fill
the world with darkness. They are messengers of Satan
who transformed themselves into angels of light. So that when
they scattered darkness, they would convince you they're scattering
light. They are the rulers of the darkness of this world. The
prince of darkness and his messengers of darkness. Men who spew darkness
trying to convince you they're talking about light. 150 years ago, right here in central
Kentucky and central Tennessee, primarily through Tennessee and
Kentucky, there was a fellow by the name of Alexander Campbell.
We have all around us in central Kentucky, what's called Christian
churches and churches of Christ. They came into existence by a
man who was raised a Scottish Presbyterian Calvinist, but he
wanted some name, and he wanted some influence, and he wanted
folks to remember Alexander Campbell. And he came preaching new light.
He had some new, it wasn't new light. Oh, no, no, no, Mr. Campbell would tell you in a
heartbeat. He came preaching restoration truth. He came bringing
back to light things men had ignored for years and suddenly
he alone saw the light. And as a result, we've got a
whole denomination of apostate folks who call themselves the
Church of Christ and the Christian Church who believe in salvation
by works and baptismal regeneration and all the nonsense that goes
with it. You see, when you embrace darkness as light, there's no
limit to what you will embrace. There's no limit to what you
will embrace. They come in subtlety, seek to corrupt you from the
simplicity that's in Christ. You remember the message Brother
Larry Crisp brought to us at conference from that passage
in 2 Corinthians 11, the simplicity that's in Christ? The word is
the singleness that's in Christ. They would, they'd tell ya, oh
yes, we believe in Christ, we believe the gospel, we believe
free grace, we believe in election, free destination, but there's
more than Jesus, you need to know something else, and here's
the vomit I'm gonna give you to feed on. And that's what it
is. Vomit for hogs, nothing else.
Vomit spewed from dead dogs, nothing else. If it turns you
away from the simplicity that is in Christ Jesus. This is a
warfare, however, that has already been won, a warfare that we shall
most assuredly win. Failure here is not even a possibility. Turn back to Zechariah chapter
12 and I'll wrap this up. Failure in this warfare is not
even a possibility. Soon, the Canaanite shall be
completely driven out of Zion. Holiness shall triumph in us,
and yes, by us, in union with Christ, the captain of our salvation. Failure is not a possibility.
Christ has already conquered Satan. He's already a defeated
foe. We're just waiting to get to
put our feet on his neck as the Lord Jesus tramples Satan beneath
our feet. The truth of God shall not be
in any way corrupted or in any way hindered. The purpose of
God shall not be in any way corrupted, altered, or hindered, but shall
always prevail. Lord God is seized to it. Zechariah 14 verse 20, In that
day, in that day when God makes a new heavens and a new earth,
there shall be upon the bells of the horses a Now, I don't
know whether they're gonna read literally bells and horses or
not. I just don't know. And I really don't care. I really
don't care. I don't care if you ride around
in a nice, beautiful coach drawn by horses and white stage with
bells or you ride around in a Cadillac. I don't care which it is. But
he's using picturesque language. There's gonna be God's people
riding around in this chariot, this coach, this princely, kingly,
royal coach, drawn by magnificent stallions with bells on the horses. And this is what they'll say,
holiness to the Lord. Don Fortner, how'd you get here? What are you doing here? What
makes you think you've got a right to be here? Holiness to the Lord! That's all. all. And the pots
in the Lord's house shall be like the bowls before the altar,
yea, every pot in Jerusalem. Well, that includes you. And
in Judah, you too, shall be holiness unto the Lord of everything and
everybody, the Lord of hosts, Not just the angelic host singular,
not just the host of men singular, but all host of angels, men,
creatures, events, and time. The Lord of hosts and all they
that sacrifice shall come and take of them and seethe therein. That is in these pots of holiness.
And in that day, there shall be no more Canaanite in the house
of the Lord of hosts. in heaven's everlasting glory,
when the present heaven and present earth are no more, when God our
Savior makes all things new, the blessedness of the righteous
will consist of the possession of everlasting life, described
by Paul as an eternal weight of glory. It will be an exemption
from all pain, sorrow, and suffering forever. A deliverance from all
evil, all evil influence, and all evil creatures. It will be
bliss without termination and fullness of glory and joy forever. The believer's heaven is not
only a state of everlasting blessedness, but also a place. A place prepared by Christ for
you in union with himself. A place we have already entered
with our forerunner. An inheritance we've already
obtained being predestinated one with Christ. Oh, my soul,
what shall those heavenly places awaiting us in union with Christ
be? I have not seen, nor ear heard,
and it's never entered into your wildest, widest, most sanctified
imagination. All we've got is the revelation
of the fact. It's so. It's so. Glory awaits us. The glory that Christ has earned
as our Mediator. The glory we have earned by our
Mediator's doing and dying in union with Him. Amen.