Heavenly Realms: A Believer's New Address

If you can turn this morning to John chapter 14. And also to Ephesians chapter one. And while you're turning there. I just wanna thank the Lord for the privilege of being able to be here with you.

I actually get the privilege of sitting in most of your services, nearly every week through the podcast. And I'm not sure what's happening. Through your podcast ministry, I, I guess I sit on the back row of that ministry and get to enjoy the preaching that you enjoy. And, and I've been able to keep up with the series on the book of John.

Am I doing something wrong? So And, and I'm almost all the way caught up with you. So I, I've been enjoying Milton's ministry through that book and, as, as I've listened through the years to that preaching, And, and I, I don't always get to see your faces. I often hear your responses to his preaching.

but being able to be here with you in person, to see your faces and, and get to meet so many of you is really a joy for me. most of you probably are not aware of the previous pastoral ministry that Milton. had even prior to his conversion. it was even long before he met Donna.

He was already preaching. it actually dates all the way back to his elementary years. And his congregation back then was not very grand. In fact, many times I was his entire congregation.

Sometimes my sister would accommodate and be part of the congregation too. And it was my specific responsibility to listen carefully to what he was saying. And then always be prepared at the end to respond to the invitation. And that was whether I had the day before or the last dozen times that he had preached, but I always needed to make sure that I responded.

But I really have been grateful to sit under Milton's ministry for for a long time. I have been sitting under his ministry for more than 50 years and, so very, very thankful for that blessing. But even as I was a little brother to him and growing up with him. I was often amazed at the, the unique abilities that God favored him with.

we had a, a neighborhood bully by the name of Jeff who lived one street behind us. And he would often play in our yard or in our carport. And it just seemed like invariably that whenever he would come around, it would end up that he and Milton would get into a debate that would result in an argument. And then Jeff would, would then end up giving Milton a full right-hand smack across the face.

And in those days, Milton was smaller and, less stately than he is right now. And he would, he would then, a loud high volume cry would go in and inform my mother of what had happened and my mom would be the one to have to kinda come out and, and rescue the situation. And Jeff didn't seem very afraid of Milton, but he seemed very afraid of our mother. And by the time she got outside, he was usually long gone.

So one day, we're probably 89 years old, and Milton makes a, a startling discovery. He, he discovers that he knows karate. And, he's He, he's got it down. And, and he, he decides that this is actually something he's able to use against the bully Jeff.

And I remember observing that stunning development. It was instantaneous, spontaneous. And one of the next times that Jeff came over, an argument developed like normal. And Milton, I remember, gave a smug little smile my way, like I know it's coming.

And so sure enough, the argument escalated and sure enough, the opportune moment, Jeff was on his way to giving Milton a, a firm right hand across the face and Milton And blocked it. And the shock in that moment on Jeff's face was, was memorable. I still remember it all these years later. And this little wry smile of victory that just started to come over Milton's face in that moment.

And alas, it was all too fleeting. Because at that moment, Jeff remembered that he had a left hand. And I think Milton forgot that he knew karate. You remember that, yeah, so.

So my mom had to come to the rescue again. But I thought if he ever announces to the man forum that he wants to. Institute karate as part of that. I would just encourage you to skip that.

And maybe go ahead and just call my mom in the first place. But having a brother really is a gift and being a little brother. It is a wonderful gift. And in God's providence, I have two older brothers.

So thankful to be Milton's little brother. And I have been abundantly blessed. It is a wonderful thing to have a brother who was with you on the first day of life. And to have that same brother who will be with you in eternity.

that is a precious privilege. This morning, I would like to turn our attention to the book of Ephesians, but I wanna just go through the passage, the other passage I've had you turn in John 14. I know that this is a passage that you have begun to study together, and it is a rich and wonderful passage here in the Gospel of John. And in verses 2 and 3 of this chapter, verses that you covered together last week.

You see this assurance from Christ that in his father's house are many rooms, many dwelling places. And if it were not so, I would have told you, for I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself, that where I am. There you may be also.

And what is remarkable to me that in this section of scripture beginning here in John 14, if you'll turn over to John 17, And this section concludes with this lengthy prayer of Christ that occupies all of John 17. But if you'll remember these words with which Christ opens this address on this historic occasion. And then in verse 24, see the concluding request that he makes of his father. Father, I desire that they also whom you have given me.

Be with me where I am. So that they may see my glory which you have given me. For you loved me before the foundation of the world. And what's evident is that the thoughts that are contained both in that introductory.

assurance that Jesus gives and in this concluding request, they condition and govern all of the content in between. It is Christ's desire for his people to be with him where he is. And there's certainly a long term and eternal view of this reality, a time when God's children will be with Christ and will be with Him forever. But in the book of Ephesians, we actually see a a down payment that God gives to his children that is on the way to this grand and glorious fulfillment that is prophesized here in John 14 verse 17.

On the way to that eternal presence with Christ and being with him where he is in keeping with his desire. Christ does something for his own. That is truly more than any of us ever could have imagined. And if you'll turn now to the book of Ephesians.

One of the delights of this book is that Paul is extolling what God is doing through Christ in the church, and it's the work of God that is going to ring on through eternity. In this great work, Paul punctuates throughout this book with an expression that he repeats 5 different times. It's an expression that reads heavenly places. It occurs in chapter 1, twice in verse 3 and verse 20.

It occurs again in chapter 2 and verse 6, and chapter 3 and verse 10, and then again in 6 and verse 12. And this is one of the threads that ends up tying together all that Paul is presenting in this letter. And the topic for us this morning is rooted in that expression heavenly places, and our title for this morning is Heavenly Realms, a Believer's new Address. And of course, these passages form a a mosaic for us, a picture of what these heavenly places are like.

This is probably not exhaustive here in the book of Ephesians, but nonetheless, it's going to go a long way toward giving God's people a window into what heavenly places are and the blessings that are for us there. It's also helpful for us to remember that Paul is introducing this glorious reality to us in this terminology. While he is in the depths of prison. Paul, humanly speaking, is confined, constrained, limited, oppressed.

But his mind is in heavenly places and he wants to take the minds of his readers with him to these heavenly places. Several weeks ago, our family. On Monday night at our home, we call it education night and we try to do something that helps us think we'll be a little smarter for it. And sometimes we succeed, often we don't, but we watched a couple of presentations on both the Hubble telescope and the Webb telescope.

And I don't know if you're familiar with those, but the Hubble telescope was launched, not a land-based telescope, but a satellite telescope back in the 90s and it began to send back pictures to Earth far beyond anything that our astronomers had ever seen before. Startling discoveries, astronomical discoveries that enlightened and developed our understanding of astronomy. But almost as soon as Hubble was launched in the 90s, plans were already underway to launch a bigger and better telescope that could do far more.

The Hubble telescope had a seven, almost an 8 ft mirror for taking pictures.

The Webb telescope, which was launched just a little more than 18 months ago, has a, a lens or mirror on it that is over 21 ft in size. The idea that it can take in a whole lot more and send images back to Earth showing us the glories of what is out there in space. And as this satellite, both satellites are actually out there sending back pictures to us, astronomers marvel at how easily they are accumulating new information. And it's not just that they're accumulating new information, they're accumulating new information that is standing the old information on its head.

In fact, one of the articles that I read afterward is entitled The Most exciting thing in Science is when we find out we were Wrong. One astronomer said the observations that we are seeing just make your head explode. This is a whole new chapter in astronomy. It's like an archaeological dig and suddenly you find a lost city or something you didn't know about.

It's just staggering. And I was amazed as they talked to one astronomer. And with a very humble spirit, he said, what we have realized through these advances. Is that we who've given our lives to understanding the heavens, we probably know maybe 4% of what is out there to be known.

That there is 96% more still to be discovered. Or when We were reflecting on that. I thought of this passage and the parallel that is there for us as believers. When you think of this experience of what they are discovering about the glories of space, the heavenly places, the physical heavenly places.

We as God's children have an opportunity to train our eye on heavenly places as such that Paul describes for us here in the book of Ephesians. There's a spiritual parallel, a correspondence between the two. There is a spiritual realm that is every bit as inexhaustible, unsearchable as the physical heavenlies. And the more inexhaustible we come to realize the earthly heavens are, perhaps that will help us to see how inexhaustible the spiritual heavens are as well.

And such a, a gaze, a helpful, up, upward, penetrating gaze really is good for us as God's children. Down here on Earth, sometimes it may seem. That our faith is really constituted by the things that we give up. But scripture holds out a more complete picture for us.

It's not just what we give up, that is part of the road to eternal life, but when we're on that road, we actually see so much of what we receive in Christ. In the heavenly places, that expression is one of the ways that God actually holds out to us, to give us a handle on what we receive from Him. Like the astronomers, sometimes it may surprise us what we find. But if we point our telescope in that direction, God will fill our eyes with the glories of heavenly places in Christ Jesus.

This morning we'll try to move quickly and I want to just give two preliminary assumptions before we move through the observations this morning. But the first of the assumptions that I'll make is that these heavenly places are a present spirit spiritual reality. What Paul's talking about here is not something that's primarily future. He's talking about something that is immediately present for God's people.

It's something that we don't see with our physical eyes, but it's something that we are enabled to see with the eye of faith. Because we see it through the words that are given to us in Scripture. So, the first assumption is that these are a present spiritual reality, and the second is that the language is always upward. And this seems to be an elevated place, OK, in Paul's understanding.

The very first, especially if you receive the notes as you came in. The first time that the apostle Paul is going to use this expression shows up in chapter 1 and verse 3. Let's read this together. Paul, writing to the church at Ephesus, he says, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

And here's what he wants us to know about God, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing. In heavenly places in Christ. A heavenly is an adjective and, and you can see that translators have supplied places to go along with it, to give it some, some substance to fill that out, but Paul wants us to know. About God that He has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in Christ Jesus in heavenly places.

When we peer into the heavens to see these privileges. New Testament saints have blessings that are invisible and that are eternal, that are connected with these heavenly places and these are realities that are true of all of God's people. These are realities that are not true just for some that we might highly esteem. These spiritual blessings, every spiritual blessing in heavenly places, all of this is true for every one of God's people.

If that is true. And it's amazing. We'll read through this in just a moment, but think of who we were. We were dead, impoverished, without God, without hope, no inheritance, no forgiveness.

And yet in Christ. God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing. In heavenly places. What blessings are these?

Chapter 1 and verse 4, you can just let your eyes scroll down through this, but God has chosen us in Christ. Christ, the object of his dearest affection. The Father chose us in Him. To be objects of his eternal sovereign, pure and holy love.

In verse 5, We have been predestined and appointed to be sons with all the rights and privileges that pertain to that new status. Grace, verse 6 has been graciously bestowed on us in Christ. And we have been redeemed. We have redemption.

We were purchased out of the slave market of sin and not just purchased, but granted forgiveness. You see in verse 7. And all of that enables us to be accepted in the beloved one, to be accepted before God in Christ. We're becoming members of this great family of all the faithful in heaven and earth.

And there are privileges. Yet we have this inheritance. An inheritance that other passages tell us that is incorruptible and undefiled and will never fade away. That is now ours through what God has done for us.

And then in verses 13 and 14, we have this seal, this down payment, the Holy Spirit is given to those who are God's children. And what Paul wants his audience to know is that all of these spiritual blessings, glorious as wonderful as they are, They were granted to us by the Father. In heavenly places in Christ Jesus. All of these realities take us broken, feeble, frail, sinful.

People who were dead in our trespasses and sins, if we were ever to stand before God, we would have no hope and no security. And all of these blessings are granted to us by the Father. And, and what they established for us, this would be the main point, heavenly places constitute for us a place of privileged security. We stand before God with these blessings, and these blessings can never be taken away.

They're blessings that are good for this life and also for the life to come. Now these are not all of the blessings. That constitute heavenly places. But it's, it's a wonderful constellation that is marked out for us here of some of the most prominent of the blessings that we've received.

There's a little poem satisfied and full of favor by my king, I stand, having blessings without number from his opened hand. Oh, the riches of his treasure. Oh, the greatness of his measure. Oh, the fullness of my pleasure.

As his gifts expand. This passage holds out for us gifts. That are given to us by the Father in heavenly places. We wanna mark that as one component of what constitutes heavenly places.

A second observation, if you look down in verse 20 of chapter 1, Paul is going to use this expression again. Just to give a very brief context, Paul, after going through those blessing blessings in verses 3 through 14, Paul is going to break out in prayer in verses 15 through the end of the chapter. And it's in his prayer that he is going to mention heavenly places the second time. And we'll break right into the prayer.

But in verse 20. We'll begin right at the beginning. Which he brought about in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places. And what Paul is, has led into this particular point, if you'll back up now in the verse.

Paul wants us to discover more and more of the reality of, of these heavenly places and that actually is constituting the request that is in his prayer. If you look at verse 17, he's praying that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, And this is what you need to understand more of the heavenlies, that he may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him. And Paul is praying that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened. So that you will know what is the hope of his calling and what are the riches of the glory of his inheritance and the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of his power toward us who believe.

Paul is earnestly praying that our understanding of these spiritual blessings that the eyes of our heart would be opened. To the reality of the. What I have for this 2nd point. Though captures the aspect that is given to us here in verse 20.

That heavenly realms. This is a place, not just where we receive these astounding spiritual blessings from God the Father. But heavenly realms are a place of divine communion. Look again at verse 20.

God was doing a great work in the earth. And he brought it about in Christ, and it culminated when he raised him from the dead. And seated him at the Father's right hand in the heavenly places. For wondering what these heavenly places are, they're not just a place of privileged security for us.

It's a place where there is. I divine communion between the Father and the Son. We have the mention here of the father's right hand. There's so much that we could say about that spot, that reality.

It's a place that signifies the completion of Jesus' work. It's a place of fellowship. It's a place from which the son can honor the Father and the Father continue to honor the Son. It's a place that suggests the father's satisfaction.

It's a place of exaltation of the sun. And it's a place from which their work can actually continue together. Christ is seated at his father's right hand. And we know that this is significant in scripture.

Christ in that John 17 prayer. In the early paragraph of that prayer, he says, and now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed. It is very much in the heart of Christ to be at his Father's right hand. At that moment, he is on the earth doing the work the Father had given him to do, but his eye was set on the joy that was before him.

And it was to be at the father's right hand. And we're told other passages like Hebrews 1 and verse 3 that Christ after he had made purification of sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high. When Peter is preaching in Acts chapter 2. He's preaching to that crowd on the day of Pentecost, and he's speaking of Jesus and he says, therefore, having been exalted to the right hand of God.

It's, it's an exaltation. It is Jesus sitting down, but it is God the Father exalting Christ and reversing the verdict that had been rendered by men on earth. God reaches down, reverses that verdict, and exalts Jesus. Far beyond the degree to which he was humiliated.

Jesus is exalted by his father. Later in the book of Acts, chapter 5 and verse 31, again, Peter is preaching and he's speaking of Christ. He is the one to whom God exalted to his right hand and here he adds this as a prince and a savior. Hey, this is quite an exaltation.

In Psalm 110, we have a little window into conversation that takes place between the Father and the Son. The opening verse, the father says to the son, sit at my right hand. Until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet. This is a significant place of divine communion between the Father and the Son.

If we keep reading verses 21 through 23, we see the delight the Father has to exalt his son. He exalts him far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and above every name that is named. Not only in this age but also in the age to come. And he put all things in subjection under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church.

Christ, head of the church, but Christ head over all things for the advantage of the church. Which is his body The fullness of him who fills all in all. Heavenly places. It's where the right hand of God is.

It's where God delighted to exalt his son. And his son is seated. In heavenly places at his Father's right hand. The third of the observations we'll make in this mosaic of passages is in chapter 2 and verse 6, and I'll go ahead and give you the point and then we'll try to fill it out, but heavenly realms is also a place of living union.

A place of living union, and you can add this component between Christ and us and with the Father. If you'll look in chapter 2. In verse 6, we're gonna break right in here for a moment, where we learn. That we have been raised up with Him.

God has raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. A part of God's great work that he does for us is actually to raise us together with Christ, so that we are seated with him and we just learned that he is seated at the right hand, we are seated right there with him as well. And this is, it's an astounding picture. Look earlier in chapter two, look at where we were.

OK, we were dead in our trespasses and sins. And we were formerly walking according to the course of this world, according to the prince and the power of the air, according to the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. That was our lot in life. That's what we were pursuing.

We were energized by, by, by satanic energy, as it were, before we belong to God. Verse 4. We have this wonderful transition. And read what God does to, to reach in and reverse.

But God being rich in mercy because of His great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ and raised us up with him. And seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ. Whatever else heavenly places are, it is a place where scripture lets us know that we said. And we sit together with Christ.

Who is in divine communion with his father. And it's a place where by faith, all of these privileges that we saw in chapter one, they are ours in Christ. It is a place of living union with Christ. And we are seated with him, and the right picture is not just to think of our sitting next to him.

The Bible terminology is, is much more intimate. It's much closer than that. OK, we are with him. But we are joined to him.

And Paul makes this so clear over 160 times in his letter, we're not just joined to Christ, but we are actually in Him. And he is in us. That is, we are seated so closely. Together with Christ in heavenly places.

Now for us, It is so helpful for us to realize the significance of that. If it is a place of divine communion for Christ to be there with his father and then delighting in each other. If we are seated in that same place together with Christ, This is really the culmination. Of, of what is promised to us in salvation.

We were alienated from God, separated from him, and now through Christ, we're actually brought into fellowship with Him. Intimate communion is possible for those who come to Christ. And this is a reality again that is not just for some of God's people. This is God's intention that we would fellowship with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ.

This is our privilege in these heavenly places. And God was so intent on getting this done that when we were dead, he actually made us alive and raised us together to sit with Christ in heavenly places. This opens up a whole new world for God's children. The 4th observation that we'll see.

We could look in multiple places here in the book of Ephesians, but we'll stay right here in chapter 2 and verse 6. If you look at that verse again and just let your eyes skim those words, there's a little two letter word. That would be so easy to overlook. He has raised us up together.

With Christ. This is not just a place of living union with Christ, but it is also a place of brotherly fellowship. If this is true for one believer. What Paul wants us all to comprehend is this is true for all of us.

And here's the application of that. If, if we know the Lord, we are all seated together. In heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Paul through the rest of his letter is actually going to end up drawing out more of the reality of this.

Both Jew and Gentile God breaking down the wall of partition between and Christ has made our peace. And we have one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God, one Father of all. We are united in these blessings and we all together are able to enjoy the reality by faith that we are seated there together. If it's a wonderful thing to me for me to be seated there.

What a wonderful thing that the person sitting next to me in the pew. The person to whom I'm married. The children that God may give to me, that he grows faith in their heart. People I may struggle with.

have difficulty getting along with, but yet they know the Lord and, and there's this reality that we are all seated together. In heavenly places in Christ. This address, this heavenly address, is indeed an address of privilege. It is an address where we observe the members of the Godhead in fellowship.

It's an address where we enjoy our blessing of being able to fellowship with God and with His Son, but, but there's this additional dimension that it really is to be a place of fellowship for us. That's to be a governing reality. That governs, that guides, that conditions the way that we relate to each other. God wants us to learn to see each other through the lens that if we know Him, we are seated together with Christ in heavenly places.

Many of that little adage. To live above, with saints above. Wouldn't that be glory? But to live below with saints we know.

Well, that's another story. so often that is the case. Where we struggle with each other. But God wants us to see each other as He sees us.

And let the fact that we have been raised together to sit with Christ, to fellowship with the Father in heavenly places, let that condition our conduct with each other. The 5th thing that we'll see about heavenly realms in this passage, if you'll turn to chapter 3. Early in this chapter, Paul is thinking biographically, he's marveling over God's goodness in his life. If you look down at verse 8, Paul is saying to me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ.

And to bring to light what is the administration of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God who created all things. And this is why, this is, this is the objective. Paul is preaching these unsearchable, unfathomable riches, and he's doing so, so that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church. To the rulers and authorities.

In the heavenly places. this is not the main point, but, but what we discover from this passage is heavenly places, it's more than just God and Christ and believers there. This passage is letting us know that there are other beings in heavenly places. And here they're identified as rulers and authorities.

So they're there in heavenly places. And they're there, but they are watching. And what they are watching is what God is doing through the church or in the church through his Son. And what God wants them to see is what Paul wants them to see, and he wants them to observe what God is doing and actually come away thinking, God is abundantly wise.

That as these heavenly intelligences observe what God is doing in the church, that it speaks to them of the wisdom. Of the one who unfolded this whole divine plan of redemption. And what Paul is doing in this passage is he is setting before us really an unfathomable responsibility. Because as those who constitute the body of Christ, What our opportunity is, is to so live and conduct ourselves here on earth so that our lives speak or observed by heavenly intelligences and they see the wisdom of God.

Think of the Queen of Sheba going to visit Solomon. Looking over his kingdom. And coming away from it all so deeply impressed at the beauty of Solomon's wisdom. That same opportunity God actually entrusts to us.

That we would so live, that we'd be so be guided by the reality of where he's placed us and the blessings and privileges that he's given us, that we would conduct ourselves here on Earth in a way that's consistent with what Paul is preaching. That our lives would display this unfathomable riches. We have this responsibility. It is entrusted to us to be messengers of the wisdom of God.

It really is an unfathomable responsibility. Think of heavenly intelligences, we don't know really a whole lot about them. But they're observing. And they're learning something about the wisdom of God by watching your life.

By watching you live together with other believers. We have this privilege of being able To say something right, something true about God. That really declares the glory of his wisdom. The final thing that we'll see this morning about heavenly realms.

This shows up in chapter 6, and this is a passage that is so familiar to us because of the content about spiritual warfare. And we'll begin in verse 10. Where Paul tells us, as he's coming to a conclusion, finally be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. And put on the full armor of God so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil.

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood. But against rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness, here it is in the heavenly places. OK, those heavenly intelligences, we didn't know from chapter 3 whether they were for us or against us. OK, it may well be that some of them are for us.

But we know from this passage that some of those heavenly intelligences actually are wrestling with us, or in spiritual combat with us. And what we learned from this passage, the final observation is that heavenly realms for God's children is a place of offensive warfare. Offensive warfare. To this point We could probably be excused if we were looking at all this information about heavenly places and coming away with this is just a beautiful rosy, easy picture.

A wonderful garden-like opportunity for us to be at ease and at rest. And it does have that, but it is also a place where we wrestle. And we are engaged in spiritual warfare. The reality that Paul sets before believers is living in heavenly places is not easy.

In fact, there are obstacles of all kinds. If you look back at chapter 4 and verses 2 and 3, Paul is calling us to walk worthy of our calling. But in verse 2, he says to do so with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another and love. All of those commands suggest That life isn't easy in heavenly places, and it's not easy because we are there together.

There are difficulties that come with being there together and we're called to live in a Christ-like way toward each other. The language that Paul uses in chapter 6 and verse 12, this idea of wrestling, it really is, it's a, it's a hand to hand a combat place. But it is also a place where the schemes of the devil, chapter 6 and verse 11, are able to work and we're needing to be prepared to withstand them. So heavenly places with all of its wonder, with all of its privilege, with all the fellowship, it is yet a place of spiritual warfare.

But what Paul assures us here in Ephesians 6 is that In that warfare we are not without help. We're not without divine help. There is help available to us in heavenly places through Christ Jesus. We have our privileges.

We have our relationship with Christ and with his father. We have our relationships with each other and all of those are means of help. It's a place where we can really receive help through the word of God. If you look up in chapter 6 and verse 2.

Here Paul is giving admonition to children to obey your parents and the Lord, and then he encourages them right out of the word, verses 2 and 3, God's word ministers and strengthens and arms his people in heavenly places. But in verse 10, we see that the help, the greatest help that we receive is being able to be strengthened with might. In the Lord. Be strong, be strengthened in the Lord and in the strength of his might.

And we obviously don't have time this morning, but all of the weapons that are outlined for us, verses 10 down through verse 17, all of those are Christological weapons. They are weapons that are actually cited as being used by the Messiah back in the Psalms or in the book of Isaiah, and the Messiah is not waging defensive battle. The Messiah is on the move. He's in warfare himself.

He is a warrior. And he actually tells us that he fights for us. He goes before us. But also in our battles, he lends us his weapons.

We can use those very same weapons in our warfare. Now Quickly, in conclusion, Many of us have had experiences of moving. Moving from an old address and all of the challenges that come with uprooting from that old address. That's a pretty extensive process of extending, of ending all of our old connections with our former place.

And then on the other side, there are all of these challenges and, and difficulties that come with, with making the right connections in our new place, finding a place, moving in, transferring all of our data and address information. And then even more, there is the challenge now of learning to live in that new place. To live in the reality of where we are. The home we purchased, it has rooms, it has space, it has storage.

There's a laundry room, there's a neighborhood, there's a community, and we're, we're learning to live in that new reality. It's always sweet to come after a period of time to really being comfortable in a new place. Well, there's a natural question for us. What is God's anticipation in the life of a believer for this new normal?

For us in living at our new address. He wants us to learn what constitutes this new address, but he wants us to grow comfortable in living there. To learn how to be the right resident, as it were, at our new address. He not only gives us a new address, but he gives us new birth.

We are newly created in Christ. We have a new self. We're given a new name. We have new life, we have a new family, there are new teachings, there's a new covenant.

We have all of this at our new address. And what we find in scripture is God actually says, that's not just your new address. In Philippians chapter 3, Paul says, you're citizens. At that new address.

You, you actually belong there. You have a right to be there. Your citizens at that new address, Philippians 3:20. If you look at Philippians chapter 1 and verse 27, with the same terminology in mind, Paul says, now conduct yourself in a manner worthy of the gospel.

If that's your citizenship, conduct yourself as a citizen of heavenly places. And then in yet another passage, Colossians chapter 3, a well-known passage, since. You are risen with Christ. Seek those things, different terminology here, seek those things which are above.

Where Christ sits at the right hand of God. It's not easy. There'll be opposition. We'll be tempted to set our minds on earthly things.

But God's desire for us is that we would learn to set our minds. On above things. To literally take our minds. And fasten them down.

On the things that Paul reveals for us that are true of things that are above, of heavenly places in Christ Jesus. And really the whole tenor of scripture is such, we, we might actually feel like, I live down here and it's gonna be very awkward for me to pilgrimage up there to heavenly places by faith and to live in light of those realities. But Peter actually tells us, no, no, no, no, no. Your citizenship is so real.

It is so real to God. That his view of you is, you are seated there in heavenly places and you are just strangers and pilgrims down there on earth. Where your bodies are. OK.

We live here like we're strangers and pilgrims. We're to live and set our minds on the heavenlies, as if that's where our true citizenship really is. This morning as we've looked at this, it's just one of the places in scripture where God Lets us take our spiritual telescope and, and train it on what he wants us to begin to see. Realities we never could have seen before.

He enables us, as it were, to hang. A telescope by satellite. In heavenly places in scripture. And train it.

On what he identifies are realities through his words. As God's people, we have been granted so much. We have this new address. These heavenly realms that are ours right now.

That are to govern the way that we live here on Earth. Let's bow together for prayer. Our father We thank you for a man like Paul. To whom you show these things.

And you burdened him and enabled him. To point us to these things so that we could come to understand. To a greater degree, the depth of your love. Father, truly I have not seen nor ear heard the things that have entered into your heart.

For those who who love you. You have purpose to do so much more. Then we give you credit for it. We thank you for the blessings that you have given to us.

In heavenly places. We pray that all of us would be burdened. To deepen our understanding of these realities. And let them transform the way that we live.

And we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.