Running To Win

Dave McAllister: Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and proctor of our faith. Terror attacks across the globe. War, it seems, is never far away. But there's also a greater war, a cosmic conflict of the ages being fought by Satan and his legions against the plans and purposes of God. Today we lift the veil on the invisible war. From the Moody Church in Chicago, this is Running to Win with Dr. Erwin Lutzer, whose clear teaching helps us make it across the finish line. Pastor Lutzer, as this series begins, give us an overview of what you'll be teaching.

Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer: You know, Dave, this series is going to introduce us to the fact that indeed there is an invisible war. And of course, in the book of Ephesians, what we find over and over again, the expression in the heavenly places. And the heavenly places, well, those are places of conflict. You know, I've often thought to myself that if our eyes could be open to the spirit world, we would be shocked at the amount of activity that goes on there because, of course, it's the world of demons and angels. Actually, also God is in the invisible world.

We don't see him, but he is there. I hope that all who are tuned into this ministry today get on the phone, call your friends, invite them to listen to this series. I think it'll be a blessing. It will give them insight, but most of all, it will give them deep appreciation for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who won a victory in heavenly places. Let us rejoice in him. 100 million Americans are coming to the conclusion that there is indeed a spiritual realm to the universe. The problem is that many of them simply assume that the spiritual realm is always a friendly place.

And that if you open up your life and you connect with this spiritual realm, it will always do you good. But we shall see today is that the spiritual realm is actually a friendly place, but an also a very evil place. It is both. The scripture says that when we are saved, we are translated from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of his dear son. The kingdom of darkness is characterized by lies, lies, lies, lies. In Bunyan's book entitled The Holy War, he said that that would be the strategy he discusses in there in an imaginary way, the way in which the demons are talking and they say lies, lies, lies, lies, lies, lies, lies.

The kingdom of light is a kingdom of truth and righteousness and holiness and absolute purity and we're translated from one to the other, but we struggle because we still are in both. When I speak of the spiritual realm, a couple of comments. First of all, keep in mind that just because it is unseen, that doesn't mean that it is unreal. Demons, angels, the body of Jesus Christ that was raised from the dead and taken to heaven, that body exists somewhere and you and I can't see it, but it is real. Let's not think that only that which we see has reality.

There's a story in the Old Testament of Elijah. He was your member there sitting at a tell or a city, I should say, a Dothan. And his servant is very afraid because there are some people coming against him and Elijah says, oh Lord, open up his eyes that he may see. And the servant's eyes are open to the spirit world and he saw around the horizon all kinds of beings that were coming to rescue them. Those were angels. And if you and I could see, if we could see in our homes, in our churches, in our office buildings, if our eyes were open to the spirit world in a physical sense, we would be shocked at the amount of buzz that takes place there.

Also, we need to keep in mind that this particular battle that we're going to talk about takes place indeed in the atmosphere, but the atmosphere is huge. We're not sure exactly where all of this resides, but there is God in the atmosphere and beyond the atmosphere in the whole universe and Satan and God still interact and you and I are a part of that interaction. That's what happens, you see, when the physical world encounters the spiritual world, when the world of light encounters the kingdom of darkness. Take, for example, the 19th chapter of Acts. Would you turn there for a moment, please?

Acts chapter 19. Here we have a remarkable story of the kingdom of light encountering the kingdom of darkness and it alone would be worth a message, but I'm going to only use it to introduce another passage that we'll get to in a moment. In Acts chapter 19, Paul is in Ephesus and he enters into the synagogue and for three months he speaks and he reasons. He actually spent a couple of years there in total, but it says in verse 11, and God was doing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul so that even handkerchiefs or aprons that had been touched by his skin were carried away to the sick and their diseases left them and the evil spirits came out of them.

Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists undertook to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits saying, I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul proclaims. Seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva were doing this, but the evil spirit answered them, Jesus I know and Paul I recognize, but who are you? And the man in whom was the evil spirit leaped on them, mastered all of them and overpowered them so that they fled out of the house naked and wounded. Then no wonder the next verse says, and fear came upon all and this was known.

I would think so. Here there were men who said, oh, you know, Paul is casting out demons in the name of Jesus. We'll use the name of Jesus, too. And they had no authority over that demon, whatever. Why? Because the name of Jesus isn't just a name. It's not a magical formula. You can't exercise the authority of Jesus unless you are under the authority of Jesus. Only those who are under authority can exercise authority. And they thought, we've got the formula here that will work. Just use the name of Jesus and people will be delivered.

What a surprise they had. By the way, sometimes those who are demon possessed have tremendous, tremendous human power. Sometimes the police takes a number of officers just to subdue a small person if he's demon possessed. And here you have an instance in which there was no deliverance, but under Paul there was. Under Paul there were the miracles. Here we have, you see, the clash of the two kingdoms that I 'm talking about. You have the kingdom of darkness. You also have the kingdom of light and you and I in one way or another are all involved in what I'm calling the cosmic conflict.

Now what I'd like to do is to ask you now to turn, if you would please, to the book of Ephesians. This is a letter that Paul wrote to that church, the church in Ephesus, that church that I just read about a moment ago. And by the way, it says after that people took all of their magical arts and all of the kinds of gadgets that they had to contact the occult world and they burned them. As a matter of fact, I think it says, if I may look at the text here, also many of those who are now believers came confessing and divulging their practices.

A number of those who had practiced magic arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all and they counted the value of them and founded to be 50,000 pieces of silver. So the word of the Lord continued to increase and to prevail mightily. Wow. You see, all of the magic that they had used to contact the spirit world, all of that kind of stuff, and it's be interesting to know how much they had in those days, must have had a whole pile of it and they burned it all. Number of years ago there was a great movement of the Holy Spirit in our college campuses.

I don't know if you remember that or not, but one of the things that they did during chapel services is that they brought in garbage bags and the students brought all of their pornography, all of their occultic, demonic music. And they all threw it in these garbage bags that were later on disposed of. It is amazing what happens when God cleans house and when the kingdom of light reaches the kingdom of darkness. I'm hoping that that will still happen in our generation even among us. What I'd like to do now is to take a peek into this spirit world.

And we're going to see that indeed it has it is a very friendly place. It's a place where you and I are blessed, but it's also a place where you and I experience huge conflict. Are you ready for the journey? In the book of Ephesians, the Apostle Paul now writing to this church that experienced such a great awakening, he writes one of the most blessed letters in all the New Testament. Today what I want us to do is to simply zero in on one phrase that he uses. And this phrase, as it is translated phrase in the English, occurs five times.

It's the phrase heavenly places. Heavenly places. I've introduced the realm now. It's the unseen realm. It's the realm of the spirit world where angels, Satan, and God all exist together. What's happening up there? Well, look at the text. Ephesians chapter one and if you're in the habit of underlining your Bibles, now is the time to underline that phrase as it occurs here five times in the book of Ephesians. And then we'll see how this relates to the cosmic conflict in which you are involved even if you think that you're AWOL, you're in it. Notice it says verse three, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.

There's the phrase, heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestinated us. As you know that this is one of the most theologically deep passages of scripture in all the Bible and we cannot do it justice except to revel in it. It's like swimming in a deep swimming pool and all that you can do is to enjoy it. I 'm talking now to believers as Paul is to the saints which are at Ephesus and he says, first of all, in the heavenly places we have been blessed with every spiritual blessing.

Notice that. What are the blessings? Well, that we were chosen before the foundation of the world in Christ. Jesus called your name before God said, let there be light. Before the universe was created, God knew you and chose you. That's what the text tells us. We as we go on, we discover we've been adopted into God's family. We've been blessed in other ways with the Holy Spirit and on and on. And he says we're blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. And we have been blessed. It is a done deal. When you receive Jesus Christ as your Savior, you automatically receive about 20 different blessings that I should list for you sometime.

And it is yours in Christ. It is finished. It comes with a package called Jesus Christ. What a blessed people we are. You say, well, Pastor Lutzer, I don't feel very blessed today. Well, feelings are sometimes deceptive, aren't they? And we're blessed with spiritual blessings, not physical blessings. Those will come in the future, but meanwhile we suffer with cancer. My wife yesterday attended a funeral of a young man who died of cancer, left a wife and two small children behind. We don't get all those physical blessings, but every spiritual blessing is yours in Christ. We don't even see the fulfillment of that in its completeness, but it 's there already.

I get up at 10 minutes to 6 every Sunday morning. I 've been doing this for more years than I can count and get dressed and have breakfast and then come to the church. But usually around 6:30 I sit and I turn on the TV just to see if there's been a terrorist attack or something has happened in the world that I should know about. And today I scrolled and I noticed that there was a TV preacher who was delivering his entire congregation from debt. And they went through a ceremony to deliver themselves from all their debts.

Well, God bless them, but I suspect tomorrow the bank will still want their money. But then he ended he ended the program by asking for money. And I put out my hand and I said, I won't send you any because I deliver you from all debt, my brother. Wow. No, we don't get all of our physical blessings in this life, but we do get every spiritual blessing is already ours to be experienced in this life and the next in Christ. You see, so much of our praying is for things that God has given us in Jesus.

If only we could meditate on this, it would help us in the conflict that I'm going to introduce you to in a moment. Remember that story of that little boy in Washington saying to a police officer, can I buy the Washington Monument? Police officer says, well, how much money do you have? Kid pulls out his money. Remember when we were kids, when we pulled out our pockets even to reveal the last little bit of lent? Well, that's what he did and he counted 37 cents. And the police officer said to him two things, young man, you should know.

Number one, you can't buy the Washington Monument for 37 cents. And secondly, you should know that if you are an American citizen, you already own it. My friend today, if you're a citizen of heaven, be surprised at what you own. In the heavenlies you've been blessed. Well, we must hurry on. Secondly, it 's a place of great power. Chapter one, verse 19, you'll notice it says Paul says that God raised Jesus up and it is there. Verse 19, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in there's the phrase, the heavenly places, the ascension of Jesus.

Now some people ridicule the ascension. They say that if you go up from Jerusalem, that's actually down if you're in Australia or New Zealand. So where did Jesus go to? The correct answer to that is we don't know and it really doesn't matter because it is not a matter of travel. It is a matter of his triumph. It isn't a matter of the miles that he has, but the might with which he was raised in this heavenly realm. His physical body his physical body is in the spiritual realm and we don't know where it is, but he was able to appear to Paul on the way to Damascus and he has appeared to people on the battlefield.

We don't know where that is because that's a different dimension, but it has everything to do with the absolute authority of Jesus over all things. Does Jesus Christ rule today? Yes. He has delegated rule to his people and to the people of the world, I should say, but there's a sense in which still nothing happens without his approval, but he is waiting, the Bible says, until every enemy is put under his feet. And isn't he ever patient? He is waiting. When you go to Florence, Italy, and you see all of the art and you see Michelangelo's David and all of the other wonderful things there in the architecture and the culture of Florence, don't miss the spot which I could show you where there is a plaque on the floor where people are walking on the sidewalk really that says it is here where Savannah Rollo was burned to death.

Uh he was one of the early reformers and he was preaching the gospel there in Florence and got into deep trouble and then did some foolish things and ultimately was burned. That's a separate story. But I always remember what he said before he died. And when you think of it, I guess he'd have to say it before he died, right? Rather than after. I always like to take things slowly. He said these words, he who believes that Christ rules above need never fear what happens below. Wow. There's a man martyred for the faith. If you believe in the ascension of Jesus above every principality, above every power showing his absolute total triumph in the heavenlies, in the heavenlies, in that supernatural realm, that spiritual realm, that's where Jesus is and that's what happened there.

Well, we must hurry on. Third, it is also a place of honor. Now here's the shock. You say, Pastor Lutzer, I came to Moody Church to be encouraged today. I'm going to encourage you right now. The word of God is going to do the encouraging. It says in verse four of chapter two, speaking of us now, but God being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us even when we were dead in our trespasses, he made us alive together with Christ. By grace you have been saved and raised us up with him and has seated us with him in the heavenly places in Jesus Christ.

I just told you Jesus was there and now I'm telling you that you were there. That when Jesus ascended, he in effect took us with him, not physically, of course, because there is a great difference between where Jesus is and the city of Chicago. But we are in him. We are members of his body, of his flesh and of his bones. There's a metaphysical connection between us and Jesus that is so strong that we can already say that just as Jesus was raised, so we also have been raised and you are seated there also above the principalities of powers and every name that is named because we're sitting there with Jesus.

And by the way, Jesus is seated. Old Testament priests never sat down. Why? Because their work was never done. Jesus, the Bible says, when he has finished all things and completed all things, he sat down and says it's all been done. I've disarmed all principalities and powers and I made a show of them openly triumphing over them in it. And so we are there with Jesus in heaven. Why would Jesus be that generous? Well, look at the text. It says that he raised us up with him in the heavenly places so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Jesus Christ.

You know what? This is a huge subject, but let me put this idea into your pure mind today. There are many attributes of God that we would never know about, that would never be on display were it not for the fact that sin entered into the world. It is because of sin that God has been able to demonstrate his mercy, his grace and all of the attributes of kindness that we would never understand. We'd never see him as a redeeming God. That doesn't justify the sin. It just means that God has the ability to take the worst possible situation and use it to demonstrate his kindness, his grace.

But my friend, if you're a believer, positionally you're already in heaven. I love that. Just think about it for a moment. The Bible says that we are seated with Jesus Christ in heaven. And as I like to emphasize when the time comes for us to die, there will be no big hassle at the border because we've already established a residence in heaven. We will go from this life to the next safe in the arms of Jesus. I'm so thankful that we here at Running to Win have the opportunity of preaching the gospel, but also making other resources available for you to enable you to run the race of life successfully.

I've written a book entitled How to Break a Stubborn Habit. For a gift of any amount we're making it available for you. Now I need to emphasize that one of the chapters has to do with demonic activity, but also the intercession of Jesus Christ and other believers. It is my belief that it is Satan who wants to keep us trapped in our sins. And what we have to do is to take advantage of the resources that God has given us so that we can struggle, yes, but struggle successfully as we continue to serve the Lord.

Here's how you can get in touch with us. Go to rtw offer.com because remember for a gift of any amount we're making the book available for you, How to Break a Stubborn Habit. Go to rtw offer.com or call us at 1 888 218 9337. We are so appreciative of your support and your prayers. I always like to remind you that Running to Win is not the ministry of a man or a church or an organization. It is your ministry. Thank you so much for helping us and we want to encourage you even as you struggle in the Christian life, but as I've already emphasized, struggle successfully.

The title of the book, How to Break a Stubborn Habit, go to rtw offer .com.

Dave McAllister: You can write to us at Running to Win, 1635 North La Salle Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois 60614. Running to Win is all about helping you find God's road map for your race of life. Demonic forces wage a battle against the saints of God on a daily basis, a battle that won't end until we enter eternity. Our job to learn to use God's weapons that we may share in the ultimate victory. Next time on Running to Win, more on the cosmic conflict and the blessings we've been given in Christ. For Pastor Erwin Lutzer, this is Dave McAllister.

Running to Win is sponsored by the Moody Church.