I promise tonight to not keep
you very long, and I will stick to that promise this evening.
Sometimes it's difficult to tell these things in 30 minutes. I
promised myself, and even wrote it in the back of my Bible, that
I would try to hold my messages to 30 minutes, and I don't think
I've preached a 30-minute message since. But it's difficult to
tell these things out in 30 minutes, Clarence. You just can't hardly
do it. But tonight I want to look at just one thing in Ephesians,
this book of Ephesians. Paul mentions this statement,
these two words, five times. He uses it. The first time he
uses it here in Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 3, heavenly places. He mentions that five times.
He mentions it if you want to write them down or you can go
to your concordance and look for them. He mentions it here
in verse 3. Then chapter 1, verse 20. And then in chapter 2, verse
6. Chapter 3, verse 10. And chapter
6, verse 12. And I want to look at those places
tonight. And I won't keep you very long. In chapter 1, in verse
3, he says this, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly
places. In heavenly places. All of these blessings that God
has purposed to bless His elect with, they're blessed with them
by putting them in this heavenly place, and then all of those
blessings are in that heavenly place, in these heavenly places. And here in verse 20 of that
chapter, and I want to compare these two, and I want to look
at this from two different aspects, these heavenly places. He says
here in verse 19 of chapter 1 that he prays for us that God would
give us the spirit of wisdom and revelation, that we may know
some things, and one is 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
and set Him at His own right hand in heavenly places. Now, we know that physically
speaking, Jesus Christ is in heaven. He is there in a body.
Hamel men see. A spirit hath not flesh and bones
as you see me have. So he arose physically and he
ascended physically. And Paul even says here that
he is sitting on the right hand of God. Peter said he entered
heaven and he sat down there on the right hand of God. So
he is in heaven in a body. But now with that in mind, this
is amazing what he says here in chapter 2 and verse 20. Look what he says. God hath,
in chapter 2 verse 6, I'm sorry, chapter 2 verse 6, and hath raised
us up together and made us set together in heavenly places in
Christ. Now when you compare those two
it becomes an amazing statement. Because Christ is in heavenly
places. He is in heaven. And yet Paul
said, God has raised us up and we're there in those heavenly
places. Now there's two ways to understand
these heavenly places. And the first one would be this,
that the believer in Jesus Christ has perfect union one with another. That union is real. And so real,
the Scripture teaches that what Christ did, the believer did. In Romans chapter 6, if you want
to see something about union, you can go there and read that
and study, but basically he's saying that we were crucified
with Christ, and we died with Christ, and were risen again
with Christ. And here Paul goes even further
than that, and he says we're seated in heavenly places in
Christ. Now, how could that be if Christ
is in heaven? How could it possibly be, while
you and I are definitely upon this earth, that we could be
said to be in heaven? Well, if we look at it in this
sense, it's because of this union. You are dead and your life is
hid with Christ in God. Now, where's Christ? He's in
heaven. So in this sense of spiritual union, so is the believer. He's in Christ and He's in heaven. Here's what the Lord Jesus says
about this. When He prays His highest priestly
prayer in John 17, verse 21, He said that they may be one
as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they may be also
one in us, I in them, and thou in me." So you have the Father
in Christ, Christ is in the Father, Christ is in us, and you and
I are in Him. And that's this union that He
declares. The church is the spiritual body
of Christ. We're members of His body, of
His flesh, and of His bones. And in this sense, in this spiritual
union, all the believers are in heaven with Christ. Now, if
I continued on with this, I'd put you to sleep with me. Because I'll be honest with you,
there's not another doctrine in the Scriptures that I cannot
get my hands around. This is so high, it's so rich,
it's so deep, to talk about this union with Christ. I think sometimes,
here's what I think, when we talk and when we read about the
union with Christ, I think it's something that has to be more
believed than understood. How can you get your hands around
it? That we're in Him and we are one in Him and with Him. So in that sense, if Christ is
in heaven, then the believers are in heaven with Him. That's
the first way to understand this, heavenly places. We're in Christ. The second way, and I think this
is the best way to understand this particular phrase that Paul
says, these heavenly places. And it is this way. Christ is
in a heavenly kingdom. He's in a heavenly realm. He's
in heaven, yes. But there in heaven, He's in
a heavenly kingdom. Now I want you to take your Bibles
and turn to some places with me. I want you to turn over to
Daniel chapter 2. Look at Daniel chapter 2. Christ is in a heavenly kingdom. You remember when the thief was
dying on the cross and he made this statement to the Lord Jesus,
Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom. And I don't understand all of
this, But the Scripture seems to teach that when Christ rose
from the dead, He entered this kingdom. He said, Art not I to
have suffered these things, and entered unto my glory, entered
unto my kingdom? It's sometimes called the kingdom
of God, sometimes called the kingdom of God's dear Son. And
Daniel is telling us about that kingdom here. Look at this in
Daniel chapter 2 and verse 44. And in the days of these kings
shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never
be destroyed. And the kingdom shall not be
left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume
all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever." So here's a kingdom
now, and it's one that Daniel said God would set up, the God
of heaven would set up. Well, look over here now in Luke
chapter 1. Look in Luke chapter 1. And we're told of this kingdom,
the very same kingdom, Luke chapter 1. This is where the angel here
is talking with Mary. And look here what he says about
this kingdom. Look in Luke chapter 1. Look in verse 30. This is
where the angel appeared to Mary and told her that she had conceived
in her womb. And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary, for
thou hast found favour with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive
in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his
name Jesus. And he shall be great, and he
shall be called the Son of the Highest. And the Lord God shall
give unto him the throne of his father David, and he shall reign
over the house of Jacob for ever. And of his kingdom there shall
be no end." He has a kingdom. The Father has set it up, but
it's the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ. And he says of
that kingdom, he says this, my kingdom is not of this world. In other words, it's not physical. It's not meat and drink, the
Apostle said. It's not ceremonies. It's not
rituals. But it's a spiritual kingdom.
It's a heavenly kingdom, the kingdom of God's Son. And it
seems to me, and I'm not for sure about this, but the Scripture
seems to indicate to me, and I don't in any way say that the
saints in the Old Testament wasn't in the kingdom, but anyway, the
New Testament seems to teach that Christ entered this kingdom
when He rose from the dead. Remember me when you come unto
your kingdom. And notice this about this kingdom,
and I want you to turn to John chapter 17 for this one. It's
not confined to heaven. You think about the kingdom of
heaven, the kingdom of God, the kingdom of Christ, And you may
think it's confined to heaven, because that's where Christ is.
But you know it has no bounds. It reaches out of heaven, and
it reaches to this earth. It reaches in all regions, I
guess except hell. It's limited to the bounds of
hell. But look here in John chapter
17, what the Lord Jesus says about His kingdom. Look in verse
20. John chapter 17, verse 20. And
the Pharisees demanded of him, then demanded the Pharisees when
the kingdom of heaven should come. And he answered them and
said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation, neither
shall they say, Lo here or lo there, for the kingdom of God
is within you." So this is amazing, isn't it? Christ is in this heavenly
kingdom Himself, in these heavenly realms, heavenly places, And
yet this kingdom is in every believer. And you know something? Every believer is in this kingdom.
It has no bounds. It's a mysterious kingdom. It's
a spiritual kingdom. Look over in Colossians chapter
1. This is a very familiar scripture, but look here. Colossians chapter
1 and verse 13. This kingdom is in us. And we're
in this kingdom. Look what he says in Colossians
chapter 1. Verse 12. Giving thanks unto
the Father, which hath made us fit to be partakers of the inheritance
of the saints in light, who hath delivered us from the power of
darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear
Son. So that tells us there then that
Christ is in this kingdom. He's the head over the kingdom.
It's his kingdom that God gave to him, the kingdom of his dear
Son. And this kingdom is in us, and we are in his kingdom. And this kingdom is not divided
by space. There's a tremendous space between
earth and heaven, but it don't limit this kingdom to heaven.
It's in heaven and it's in this earth, the kingdom of heaven. And we're dead in sins, Paul
said, and yet God hath quickened us and raised us up together
and set us in heavenly places. He set us in this kingdom. He translated us into this kingdom. A new birth put us into this
kingdom. This kingdom, the kingdom of
Christ. So here Christ is in this kingdom. And we're in this
kingdom. Can you see now how we can sit
together with Christ? He's in heaven. Yes, but He's
in the same kingdom as we are. And this kingdom has no bounds.
It's not divided by space. And we're in the same kingdom
that He is. And being in that same kingdom, we sit together
in that kingdom. Now look here at another place,
and this is an amazing thing too. Look here. Look here at
some others who are in this same kingdom. Look here in Hebrews
chapter 12. I've never understood this scripture
except to understand it in the light of what I'm saying this
evening concerning this spiritual kingdom, this kingdom that knows
no bounds, that God has set up, that Christ is the head over.
Look here at what he says in Hebrews chapter 12. Paul began to speak there in
verse 18 that we've not come into Mount Sinai and into this
blackness and darkness and trumpets and the sound of these angels.
But look what he says down here in verse 22. This is amazing. But ye are come unto Mount Zion,
unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to
an innumerable company of angels, And to the General Assembly and
Church of the Firstborn, which are written of heaven, you've
come unto God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men
made perfect, and to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant,
and to the blood of Spranklin, which speaketh better things
than that of Abel." Now who are these spirits of just men made
perfect? It has to be those saints that
are going on. And we've come into Jesus, the mediator, into
His blood. And how could it be said that
we've come there, except we've come there and we've been put
in the same kingdom as they are? We're all in the same kingdom,
and there's no space. When you and I think about heaven
and earth, my goodness, look what a space it's between. But
when we think about one kingdom that we're all in, there's no
divider between us. He said, Bruce, can we talk to
them? I never have. I never had one of them speak
to me. We sure don't pray to them. But he said, we've come
into the spirit of these just men. And the only sense I can
understand that is, we're in the same kingdom with them, this
heavenly kingdom. And look what Paul goes on to
say in verse 25. See that you refuse not him that
speaketh. For if they escape not who refused
him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape if we
turn away from him that speaketh from heaven, whose voice then
shut the earth. But now he hath promised, saying,
Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven."
And this word, yet once more, signifies the removing of those
things that are shaken as of things that are made. Everything
that is made is going to be shaken, he says. But those things which
cannot be shaken, they will remain. What is it that cannot be shaken?
Verse 28, Wherefore, we receive in a kingdom which cannot be
moved. Let us have grace, whereby we
may serve God acceptably, with reverence and godly fear, for
our God is a consuming fire. This kingdom that we are in here
upon this earth, they call it the church militant. And that
kingdom that they're in there in heaven, they call them the
church triumphant. That kingdom can never be moved. Daniel told us that, didn't he?
God shall set up this kingdom. And Christ is the head over this
kingdom. And it's an everlasting kingdom.
And it can't be moved. The old top lady, he said, more
happy, but not more secure, glorified saints in heaven. More happy
because they're there. They're free from sin, and we're
not, but they're not more secure. Why aren't they more secure than
we are? Because we're in the same kingdom. If you destroy
this kingdom upon earth as it extends to this earth, then you've
destroyed the kingdom in heaven, and that's impossible. This kingdom
shall never be removed, and as far as I know, it's going to
increase. It's going to increase in number. It's going to increase
in graces until the end comes. Because the zeal of the Lord
has spoken it. That's amazing. Here's another
place in Scripture this is mentioned. Look back over here in Ephesians
chapter 3. Look in Ephesians chapter 3.
And it's mentioned two more times here. The first place it's mentioned
is talking about these spiritual blessings. To be blessed. to be blessed with forgiveness
of sin, to be justified, to have the righteousness of Christ,
to have God as your Father, to have the Spirit of adoption,
all these blessings, then you have to be in the Kingdom of
God. That's where these blessings are. Natural men, lost men, do
not enjoy these blessings. You have to be born again. Being
born again, I guess you could say, is the first blessing, couldn't
you? Forgiveness of sin and all these other blessings. That's
why the Lord Jesus said, if you're not born again, you can't see
this kingdom, you can't enter this kingdom. You've got to be
born, and that's where all the blessings of God is. Then He
said, we're in the same kingdom as Christ is. That's why we sit
with Him in heavenly places. And now in these next two places,
He talks about angels in this heavenly kingdom. Look here in
Ephesians chapter 3 and verse 9 and 10. Paul said he's a preacher
and here's what his ministry is all about. He's going around
preaching Christ, the riches of Christ, and to make all men
see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning
of the world have been hid in God, who created all things by
Jesus Christ, to the intent that now, unto the principalities
and powers in heavenly places, might be known by the church
the manifold wisdom of God. And what he's saying here to
me, and all the commentators that I've read on this, says
that he's simply saying this, that these principalities and
these powers, these are angelic beings, the angels, the elect
angels. And he says they learn from the
church. They learn from the church. And Peter tells us that these
angels desire to look in them. Salvation. They desire to see
the gospel and hear it and see the effects of it. Because in
learning from the church and looking at the church and listening
to the church, what do they see? What do they learn? The wisdom
of God. How can God take our humanity
to Himself? and redeem us. How can God be
just and justify the ungodly? Well, here it's seen in the church.
It's heard in the gospel. And they're in these heavenly
places. They're in this kingdom. In some
sense or another, they're there in it. The principalities and
powers in these heavenly places. John Gill wrote this on this
verse, and let me read it to you if I can. I'm always amazed
that I can read my scribble. when I write, but you go to print
something out like this and I can't hardly read it. But here's what
John Gill says about this. He talks about these principalities
and powers and being taught by the church. He said, this wisdom
that they learned was the gospel, which is the pure produce of
the wisdom of God, which is gloriously displayed in the several doctrines
of the gospel, as in election, in choosing men in Christ for
the security of their persons, in founding it not upon their
works, but upon His grace, for the security of His purpose,
and in pitching on such persons as He has, for the magnifying
of His grace, and in redemption, which is seen in the person of
the Redeemer, who is both God and man, and in the manner in
which it is effected. being both for the glory of God's
grace and mercy, and for the honor of His justice and holiness. Wherein Satan is mortified, sin
is condemned, and the sinner is saved. And in justification,
he says, the wisdom of God is seen. Whereby sinful man become
just with God. God is just, and yet the justifier
of him that believeth. The ungodly is justified, and
yet not justified in his ungodliness, but from it. And in the pardon
of sin, in which iniquity is forgiven, and yet vengeance is
taken on man's evil inventions, it is an act of mercy and yet
of justice. It is by price and yet of free
grace. And the lack may be observed
of all other doctrines of the gospel. It is called manifold
because of its various doctrines and promises, and because of
the various instances of wisdom in them, and the various persons
to whom it is made known, and the various times in which it
is displayed. And now under the gospel this
is more clearly known, and made known to the angels by the church
of God through the ministry of His word in it on which angels
attend, being desirous to look more diligently into the mysteries
of this great gospel, and the displays of the wisdom and the
grace of God which they see in his people in the assembly."
Now, that's amazing. They're there in these heavenly
places with us, and they're here tonight, and they're learning
as they listen and as they see God in this church. One more
place this is mentioned, I want you to look over in the 6th chapter,
and this is the last place. In verse 10, chapter 6, in verse
10, heavenly places. We see some more angels in these
heavenly places too, and look what he says here about them. Thyme, my brethren, be strong
in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole
armor of God that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of
the devil. 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 heavenly places." That word, high, I do not know why they
translated that. I am not about to doubt our translators. But everybody says it's the same
word, and I know I looked it up in Strong's, and he says it's
the same word as these other four places, heavenly places,
high places. But you notice who's there in
these heavenly places? These wicked spirits. Now, they
don't have an interest in this kingdom. That's for sure, because
Christ never took upon Him the nature of angel. He never redeemed
them. He never atoned for their sins.
But yet they invade this kingdom, as it were. And they invade this
kingdom to assault those who are there and wrestle with them. We're said to wrestle with them.
It's just like an invading army of aliens. Wicked alien people
would come into our country and we'd have to go out and fight
with them. Just like the Canaanites was left in the land, many of
them, and the children of Israel never could run them all out.
But it made them stronger. Taught them to fight and to war.
And devils, fallen angels, fallen spirits come invaded into this
kingdom that you and I are in. And we have to wrestle with them
and fight with them. But I tell you this, that's why
he told us here on in this passage to be sure and take unto us the
whole armor of God. Because you and I are in a kingdom,
brothers and sisters, that there's a battle going on in it. Well,
I tell you, you can't float downstream in this kingdom. It's a constant
swing. You found it so? Wicked spirits
in this place that we're in. We need armor. We need weapons. We need a sword. We need a shield.
And we need a breastplate. We need a helmet. We need shoes.
And we must put these things on or we can't stand against
these wiles of the devil. He's too wise and there are too
many. And they're too wicked for us. And that's what's going
on in our mind right now in this kingdom. You ever come here and
you just can't hardly concentrate? Even in the singing, you can't
enter into the singing hardly. Sometimes they get in your mind. And they keep you disturbed.
And sometimes you can't sleep. And they know how to take advantage
of us. They're smarter than we are. They're more experienced
than we are. Sometimes we even have trouble detecting if we're
in this kingdom. Here we are concerned and doubtful
sometimes if we're even in it, and then having to war with these
spirits who are in it, who invade this kingdom constantly with
their weapons, and you and I have to withstand them. It behooves
us, brothers and sisters, to be so diligent and careful to
add this armor, put it on, that we may war against these principalities
of power. And you know we're assured of
the victory. We don't have to be doubtful of the victory. Because
Paul tells us in Romans 8.38, I'm persuaded that neither principalities,
nor powers, or things to come, or life or death, or any other
creature shall separate us from the love of God. So we will stand. If we're in this kingdom, we
will stand. Therefore he says stand. And
having done all to stand, rely upon the Lord and the strength
of His grace. Well, I hope that I helped you
understand a little bit about these heavenly places and how
it's possible that we can sit with Christ in them because we're
in the same kingdom as he.