Intro– There is so much bad or immature teaching that goes on regarding the devil and his work to harm us that it is difficult to know where to begin a sermon like this.  People fall into the ditch on both sides of the road.  I have heard people teach that you don’t want to talk about Satan or you will give him glory, which make no sense to me.  Certainly we don’t want to give Satan too much credit, but neither do we want to be ignorant of our enemies tactics.  Most of you who are over 40 years old grew up ignorant of the reality of the heavenly realm.  You grew up hearing about God the creator and Jesus the redeemer, but heard nothing about angels or demons and their effect on the world.  The ditch on this side of the road is to ignore the reality of Satan and his demons and their effect on us.  In the ditch on the other side of the road are some of our more charismatic brethren, who I have heard rebuke all the demons in China, which is an absurd prayer.  I have prayed with Christians who begin to scream when they pray against demons, as if demons are hard of hearing.  I have seen Satan blamed for the sinful choices of people– “the devil made me do it” kind of statements– to which I respond, “No he didn’t!  You chose to participate with him perhaps, but he didn’t make you do anything.  You are culpable for your own choices, according to the Scriptures.”  So, how does the evil one work, and how are we to enter into this battle as those who belong to Jesus Christ? 

This morning, we are continuing in our sermon series on the purpose and vision the Lord has given to us as a church. First, we are called to be a group of Christians who seek Him with our whole heart!  Second, for the last four sermons we have been talking about the truth that God has called us to worship Him in Spirit and in Truth.  This morning we are looking at a related theme.  I am convinced from the Scriptures that one of the keys to us becoming the powerful, life transforming church that God desires for us to be is in learning how to pray and practicing prayer as it is outlined for us in the Scriptures.  Every Christian knows that he or she should pray.  Very few Christians are satisfied with their prayer life, however.  Personally, I am convinced that one of the reasons we do not pray more powerfully and more often is because we do not understand the dynamics of spiritual warfare which is taking place all around us.  For this reason, I want to spend two sermons looking at prayer and the dynamic of spiritual warfare in which we are to be engaged to bring about Christ’s kingdom.  I am seeking to lay out for you the Bible teaches about the heavenly realms, without falling into the ditch on either side of the road.
With all this in mind, we will look at the theme God has blessed us with everything we need to be engaged in the battle in the heavenly realms, which will bring His Kingdom in and through His church.

I. The reality of the heavenly realm. (1:3)

After Paul greets the Christians in Ephesus, he jumps right in to speak about the blessings that they have received in Christ.  He describes these as blessings ‘in the heavenly realms’.  This statement assumes that these believers already understand the dynamics of the heavenly realms.  What are the heavenly realms?  What blessings have we received there and what difference does that make in our lives?

In the Bible, reality is defined as those things you can see and touch in the world around us, and also spiritual beings who have their existence in the invisible world around us.  The invisible world around us is every bit as real as the physical world which we can see.  Those of you who are older grew up with the mentality that the only reality is those things you can see; but the Bible teaches that the things in the spiritual realm are just as real as those things in the earthly realm.  This is important to embrace, because if the spiritual realm affects the world around us, then we must understand how it affects us so we can be the agents of change which God desires for us to be.

A Christian once said to me, I don’t want to think about or deal with angels or demons, so I am going to ignore them.  Ignoring reality does not change reality; it simply keeps you out of touch with reality.  More than this, ignoring the reality of the spiritual realm will hinder both your walk with Christ and how God is able to use you to bring change to the world around us.

What blessings have we been given in the heavenly realms?  The blessings we have been given are described in the verses that follow.  We are elected by the Lord to belong to Him.  We are adopted as His children.  We have been freely given His grace.  We have been redeemed by the blood of Jesus and forgiven of all our sin.  We are recipients of His will, because it has been revealed to us.  We have been gathered together under Christ.  We have been given an inheritance as His children.  And we have been sealed in Christ with the promised Holy Spirit who dwells within believers in Jesus Christ.  I could preach a whole sermon on each of these blessings, but that isn’t our point this morning, so we are pressing on.  But please believe and embrace Paul’s point here– Christian, you lack nothing you need to live the Christian life in a manner which will glorify God.  Christ has already accomplished everything needed.  Our response is to walk in faith, believing His promise, and doing what He has asked us to do.

How then are we to respond to the reality of the heavenly realm? First, Christians are to seek a vital and dynamic relationship with God alone, through Christ alone, by faith alone.  Some people have gone off into heresy and into the demonic by seeking to interact with angels.  Jesus is the only mediator between God and men!  It is true that God often sends His angels to do His bidding, to do His work, and even to communicate with human beings at times.  But you never see anyone seeking a vital relationship with an angel.  God has designed us to have a vital relationship with Himself.  We enter this relationship through Christ, who is our only mediator.  We pray to the Father through the Son in the power of the Spirit.

Second, Christians should not fear anything happening in the heavenly realms.  If you belong to Jesus Christ, then you are covered by His blood and there is nothing any demon can do to change that fact.  I do not fear the demonic at all.  I respect the power of the demonic, I recognize the influence of the demonic on the earth, but I do not give in to fear at any time.  I have heard Christians say that the demonic cannot influence Christians.  This is false.  1st Peter 5:8 says, “Be self‑controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”  Peter is speaking to Christians when he states this.  He is telling you and me to be alert to the ways that the devil is trying to devour us.  I would love to spend time interacting with some of you about this important truth, because some of you are still confused about this important topic.  I would invite you to ask myself or other elders any questions you might have so we can help you understand, so that your prayer life can become much more effective.  We are not to be motivated by fear, but by loving trust in the One who gave Himself up for us.

II. Engaged in battle in the heavenly realm. (3:10)

We are going to deal with this topic more pointedly next week, but for now, I would like to point your attention to two texts from the book of Ephesians.  According to Chapter 3 verse 10, there are things being played out on earth as God sovereignly works in and through the circumstances and affairs of people.  The events on earth are a training class for the angels in the heavenly realms.  God’s purpose is that now, in this day and age, in the earthly realm, which means in and through Trinity Evangelical Presbyterian Church, His incredible wisdom would be seen and known for what it is in the heavenly realms.  What’s that talking about?  Apparently, the angels are watching what is happening in your life and in my life, in God’s work through His church, where He is still delighting to display His incredible grace and His incredible love, which are simply displays of His wisdom.  We are told in first Peter 1: 12 that angels want to look into and understand what God is doing on the earth.  Angels have not sinned, so have not experienced grace as you and I have.  This is part of what angels long to understand from what God is doing in our midst.
As we have talked about for the past several weeks, eternity will be about worship, will be about discovery of who God is in all His fullness.  It will take that long to begin to discover the character of God.  A part of that time will be testifying to angels about how God has worked and has poured His grace out on us.  This isn’t an afterthought by God, but lines up with His eternal purposes and plan.  So, when you experience some difficulty and then see how God works in your life through that difficulty, part of what is happening is that God is teaching you more about His very character so that you can have a role in testifying to angelic beings about the incredible grace of God.  This is a fascinating thought, isn’t it?

One of the reasons we struggle so much when difficulty arises, is because we still think “it is all about me!”  The truth is that it isn’t primarily about you, but it is about God!  Both things which happen in our lives and in His church are venues and opportunities for the grace of God to be experienced.  If we can get our eyes off of ourselves and onto the Lord in the midst of difficulty, then we can gain a fuller perspective from God’s point of view, and even pray the right prayers to the Lord– “Show me more of yourself and your grace in this present situation Lord.  Give me the strength to respond in a manner which will honor You Lord.” 

A dear friend of ours heard a Word from the Lord that they were to have a daughter and were to name her “Evangeline” because she would be used by God to evangelize others.  She shared this with us and we prayed with them.  When she became pregnant, there was great rejoicing at the expectation of what God would do.  When Evangeline was born, they discovered she had Downs Syndrome.  It was a shock, because what we thought and what God did were very different.  It was Evangeline’s older sister who said, “You know what mom?  I think the Lord allowed her to have Downs so that when she speaks to others about Jesus and they make fun of her, she won’t know it.”  Today, Evangeline is a precious little girl who loves her mom, her dad and her sisters, but she also loves Jesus.  She isn’t intimidated at all to tell others about Jesus who loves them.  And of course Down’s Syndrome kids have such a love which they express without inhibition.  She hugs her momma until she melts.  God’s grace is being played out through this family in God’s way, so they will be able to testify to the angels about the incredible grace of God!

III. Walking in the victory that Christ has already won in the heavenly realm.

God’s desire is for us to live each moment by faith in Him, believing that we belong to Him and believing that He desires to use us, meaning His church, to bring His Kingdom.  What are we to believe?  We are to believe that Christ has already won the final victory over Satan and all his forces.  We already know the end of the story.  Christ won, and so we have won!  Let me remind you of two passages which clearly state this:  Colossians 2:15, “And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.”

And 1 John 3:8, “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work.”

Now, it’s true that life does not always feel like we have won the victory.  There are times when I feel like I’ve been beaten up by the enemy.  Christ has not asked us to live by feelings, but by faith.  I think about a recent newsletter I read from one of our missionaries, Iqbal Massey, who told the story of a Christian woman working in Pakistan.  She prayed everyday, and began to have so much influence in the factory where she worked that soon she was leading a prayer meeting with dozens of other women.  The Muslim owner of the factory called her into his office, and asked her about her view of Mohamed.  She said some things that could be construed as blasphemous in a Muslim country.  She could have been accused, brought to trial and put to death for blasphemy against Mohamed.  Because of her stance for Christ, and perhaps some unwise things she said, the owner of the factory had her brought into his office where she was gang raped by three Muslim men.  They ended this by throwing acid on her face.  When you hear a story like this, it forces you to count the cost of what it means to follow Christ.  If you were speaking to this Christian woman today, would you declare to her that Christ has won the victory?  Yes, because it is still true!  But there are times when we must live by faith and not by sight.  Christ has won the ultimate victory over Satan.  This Christian woman will be welcomed into Christ’s Kingdom.  There will be perfect justice at the judgement seat of Christ, which we may not experience on earth.  The sin of these men has brought great injury on a person.  They think they have gotten away with something, but they have not.  There is not a shadow of doubt in my mind that God will bring about justice and judgement, and will even use this terrible situation in this woman’s life to enable her to experience greater grace.  It is in times like these when we must live by faith, and learn to trust in God’s grace.

This reminds me of the story of the man named Bill, who was committed to Christ.  Bill went through many difficult things in his life, including losing a child and his wife.  The last hard blow came in the form of car accident, which left Bill almost completely paralyzed.  He was depressed for many weeks, struggling with a will to live.  He certainly was not living a victorious life in Christ.  This went on until a Christian woman from his church came into his room to visit and asked if he would mind helping her with a ministry to missionaries.  The missionaries of their church wanted certain songs and sermons taped for them.  Bill had just enough movement in his arms to push the record button, and as he listened to the music he was taping, which would be sent to the missionary, he would pray for them by name.  This became his ministry, and he figured out a way he could add a prayer through a microphone for the missionaries to whom he was sending the tape.  Bill did this pretty much every day for years.  One day, one of the missionaries was home on furlough and came into Bill’s room and fell on his knees beside Bill and said, “I had to meet the man who has been such a blessing to me.  Without your ministry, tapes and prayers, I don’t think I would have made it through.  But God has sustained me and I needed to personally thank you for making such a difference in my life.”  They hugged, prayed together, and the missionary left the room.  Bill thought to himself that he would never have agreed to do this ministry if he had any other choices.  He reflected on how God had spared his life and then used his life, even though he felt he had so little to give.  All he could do was push the record button on the tape machine and pray.  God had Bill in a place where he could be powerfully used in Kingdom events.  Bill learned to walk in the victory that Christ had won for him.

How about you?  Do you face difficulties in your life?  How might God desire to use these to teach you about His grace, so you can be used by Him to bring about His kingdom purposes?  Instead of getting angry or blaming God or others, maybe the Lord allowed a difficulty so you might be a trophy of His grace.  Somehow, and this is where our faith is tested, God is using everything He allows into your life to mold you into the image of His Son and to prepare you to be a blessing to others, either those on earth around you or perhaps one day in the heavens.  Please don’t ignore the reality of the heavenly realms.  We enter them by faith, through our prayers and declarations of truth. 
Next week, we will pick up right here, and look at how the Lord will use us, His church, as agents of change as we undertake to do the battle He has placed before us.  For now, offer yourself back to the Lord in worship.  Choose to set aside time to intercede.  You lack nothing, so use what you know and have been given by Christ to spread His Kingdom.