United Church of God

God's Sermon to Principalities and Powers

You are here

God's Sermon to Principalities and Powers

Downloads
MP3 Audio (21.71 MB)

Downloads

God's Sermon to Principalities and Powers

MP3 Audio (21.71 MB)
×

Are we in the Laodicean era now? Discover how we should be preaching a live sermon to the world.

Transcript

[Jorge de Campos] Brethren, did you know that God, through us – the Church, as His people – is effectively giving a sermon to principalities and powers in heavenly places? Turn with me to Ephesians, chapter 3. We will look at Ephesians, chapter 3, starting in verse 8. It says:

Ephesians 3:8 – To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ…

So here Paul is saying, “I am nobody but I have been given this opportunity and gracious gift to be able to serve God and to be able to preach the Gospel – and particularly the unsearchable riches of the Messiah, Christ.”

V-9-10 – and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery – the fellowship of the mystery. He has a mystery and there is a fellowship. There is a partnership. There is a job that you and I have in there as a fellowship – as doing our part in that mystery – which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ; to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places.

So, our fellowship and our job – together – we are part of revealing this mystery, which shows God’s great wisdom, through – the church – and therefore, it is showing God’s great wisdom to principalities and powers in heavenly places – in other words, to the angelic realm.

The church is the body of Christ. It is us – we, the Church – the body that Jesus Christ founded. So what is our participation? What is our fellowship in this mystery? And what is the mystery? Why was it hidden, even from the angelic world? How is God making it known to the angelic world today, through us, through our participation? Put it another way: We are a live sermon by God to the angelic world. My purpose today is to show you the mystery of the gospel which is being preached today to all, including the angelic world, by us.

So here in Ephesians, chapter 3, we are going to go back a little bit and start in verse 1:

Ephesians 3:1For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you Gentiles…. So Paul is saying, “I am committed to this gospel even though I am here in jail.” And look at verse 3:

V-3 – how that by revelation He made known to me the mystery (as I have briefly written already, by which, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ).

So, Paul was deeply committed to the gospel, and he is saying that here is a mystery that he is understanding now – or part of it, or an element of that mystery – and that, he says, in verse 6:

V-6 – that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel.

So the gospel, which is the great mystery that you and I would be sons of God and daughters of God, includes not only those of the seed of Abraham, but the whole world. And how is this possible? How is God going to do that? The angels desire to see how that would be possible, because they could not comprehend. They knew that, many years before Christ came, before the Word became Christ in the flesh.

You see as we see in Galatians, chapter 3, verse 8, it says:

Galatians 3:8 – And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand saying, “In you – that is in Abraham – all the nations shall be blessed.”

But how? The angels could not understand. How would that be possible? They could not see it. They could not comprehend it. Look a little bit further in verse 16:

V-16 – Now to Abraham and his Seed – Abraham’s Seed – were the promises made – through his Seed. He does not say, “And to his seeds.” He does not say to his descendants, but to his descendant – one descendant.  He does not say, “And to seeds,” as of many, but as of one. “And to your Seed,” who is Christ.

Christ was the descendant of Abraham, and through Christ was that promise made. So God predicted that through Abraham’s Seed – Christ, the Messiah – the promise of people, human beings, to be sons of God would be extended to all of mankind.

How is that possible? Because God adheres to His laws, and all sin, and all have the due salary of death because of sin. You can read that in Romans 3, verses 10 through 12 – all sinned – and in Romans 6, verse 23, that the salary – or, the wages of sin – is death. So how could God do this? And put another way, why did God keep these important details, why did He keep these important details of His plan of salvation, hidden? Why?

Understand brethren, that you and I have a part, have a participation, have a fellowship in this mystery. Look with me please to Ephesians, chapter 6, verses 18 and 19. And here he is talking about the armor of God, and then after he is describing the armor of God, he says that we need to:

Ephesians 6:18-19 – praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints;  and for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel.

Paul, here, is saying we need to pray that God’s ministers are able to have the right words so that the mystery of the gospel is preached effectively to the world. You see brethren, we as ministers, we need God’s help to give us the right words at the right time as ministers, because we might just say the wrong word in a sermon, inadvertently, and may offend some people and may hinder people from coming to the truth. So we need to be asking God…and then he says, “Please pray for the ministry, so that we can preach this hope of the Kingdom of God, and that we can do our part – so that we as ministers can preach the gospel. But brethren, it gets extended beyond that, because you and I – we all, in a way, as members of the church – we are preaching the gospel by our deeds, by our light, by our example, by how we speak and how we talk to other people. And that is part of our job of preaching the gospel by being a light and an example.

And so, when the ministry preaches, and when the brethren in the church follow their example and are a light, other people can look at it, and say, “Yes, indeed, these are God’s people.” We all collectively are doing the work, but there is an enemy. There is an enemy and that enemy does not want the gospel to be preached, because when it is preached, it affects the enemy’s outcome. You see, the enemy does not want people – more and more people – to be sons of God, so he is going to try to, somehow, negatively affect God’s plan. So how can he do that? Turn with me to 2 Corinthians, chapter 4. What is his game plan to prevent people from understanding the gospel? Look in 2 Corinthians, chapter 4, starting in verse 1.

2 Corinthians 4:1-4 – Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we do not lose heart. But we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God. But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age – of  this world – that is, our enemy, that is Satan – has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ – our Messiah – who is the image God, should shine on them.

The god of this world wants to blind people’s minds – wants to put a veil – so that we don’t understand, so we don’t see it. So, in first place, he doesn’t want it to be preached, but if it is preached, he wants to create some sort of a barrier in our minds so that we don’t get it.

So, in the first place, he is going to try and make and effort for it not to be preached – cause division in the church, whatever it may be – to lower the effectiveness of the work. But, if it is preached – even if people hear the truth – he wants to create something that they will not get it. Now how is it that, if you hear the truth, you are not going to get it? You just have to look at the example – how it is being put into practice today in the world of the news media. You hear certain things that are true, but the news media injects you so much truth with lies, so that you are so confused that after a while you don’t know any more who is telling the truth, and therefore you shut down, and you don’t want to hear any more. That’s a clever tactic that he has used – he is using now in the media – in news and things like that – but he is using it in the church with God’s truth! He creates so much versions and views and whatever, that people get so much – you get so much junk on the internet and this and that – and after a while you are completely confused and you shut down and you don’t want to hear it. Their minds are veiled.

You see the minds are confused, are disturbed, are unsettled – as we heard in the sermonette, are disorientated, like that pilot. G-force causes one to be disoriented. Look here at 2 Thessalonians – how Paul, in 2 Thessalonians, chapter 2, puts it – 2 Thessalonians, chapter 2, verses 9 and 10.

2 Thessalonians 2:9 – The coming of the lawless one – sothe coming of this deception that is going to come – and here he is referring, in context, about that specific false prophet that is going to come, but the principle is applicable to us today. The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan – so that false prophet will use the same tactics of Satan that he has used all the time – with all power, [with all] signs, and [with all] lying wonders. And you think about today’s news – they have all this power. They have all these things that are effective, but full of lies. So I am just using it as a principle here. …and with all unrighteous deception – all unrighteous deception! You listen to the news and things like that, and you see the deception there, and you can see a lot of it is unrighteous – among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth.

And yes, that applies in every angle. If you don’t love the truth, you are going to say something else, because you have other agendas, and you are going to confuse people. And that is exactly, as we heard in the sermonette, where people are deceiving and being deceived.

Brethren, the more people get mixed up – mixing truth with lies – or, in other words, syncretism – the more they can’t separate, the more they cannot discern, the more confused and muddled up they become. People then just give up. And you know mentally speaking – thinking about it – your thoughts become adulterated. In other words, you are no more mentally a virgin, because now your thinking is adulterated. And because of all this unrighteous deception, as it says here in verse 10 of 2 Thessalonians – because of so much wickedness out there – even those that kind of know the truth become a little bit more switched off – not interested – what the Bible talks about as lukewarm. And lukewarm is a danger.

Look with me in Revelation, chapter 3, verses 15 and 16. Brethren, we live today…brethren, we live today in the Laodicean era. The society today is a Laodicean society. People have a lot of things. They have technology. They have everything and whatever. And look at what verse 15 and 16 say in Revelation 3:

Revelation 3:15-16 – “I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot.” Verse 16: “So then, because you are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth.

Brethren, we live in an age of Laodicea. Fact. I don’t have to apologize for that. It’s there. The danger is, it can affect us. And brethren, if you and I become lukewarm, our conduct to God’s way of belief is like when you have indigestion, and you have eaten something, and you just want to vomit. And you know how you feel when you have that feeling of indigestion that you want to vomit – you feel really yuck! And brethren, if we are becoming lukewarm, that is what, spiritually speaking by analogy, we are doing to God. And that is not preaching the gospel. So we have to be careful.

The gospel is being preached today by the church. Every member has got to do his part. That is part of our vision that every member does its part – as it is part of the joint working together. How? By living the way, by being a light, by doing what we know we must do. And through that – by being a light – we are preaching the gospel in a different way – not just as a mouth, but as a leg, and as a joint, as a hand – by doing things that are a light – not only to the world – physical world – but we are preaching the gospel to the angelic world.

So, the enemy has a tactic. Number one, he doesn’t want it to be preached. Number two, if it is preached he wants to confuse it by bringing many lies, and make it really muddled up. And, if then you still are understanding the truth, because of the sin around – because iniquity abounds – the love of many will wax cold. Because of that, he wants to make you lukewarm.

And we see it today. “Oh, I don’t need to go to church. I can just listen on the internet.” Now I know there are instances of health or whatever, where that is justifiable. But there are times when it might not be justifiable – and it is between you and God and not for me to say – but it is between you and God. Are we using that as an excuse to not to do our part?

Or, maybe are we using the excuse, like say on the holy days, when there is a double service, “Oh, I will only come to one service.” It is dangerous, brethren, because that is how that attitude starts creeping in. “Oh, I am very tired. I am really tired.” Now I understand brethren there is a time when you really are tired, and you really are ill, but there are times that you say you are tired, but you could actually make an effort. Because if it was a day to go to work, even though you are tired you’ll go to work.

I remember I attended Spokesmen’s Club for something like 15 years. So many nights, during the middle of the week, I was so tired I did not want to go to Spokesmen’s Club, and my mind would say, “I don’t want to go, I don’t want to go.” And I just had to grit my teeth and say, “Go.” And you know what? At the end of that, it was the best Spokesmen’s Club we had, and the content was exactly what I needed to hear.

Oh, people come with different excuses. “Oh, the Sabbath affects my routine.” Brethren, the Sabbath is supposed to affect your routine! Six days you work and the seventh you change the routine! Don’t use that as an excuse not to come to church. “Oh, the drive is too long.” Brethren, we have to make a sacrifice. I commend those of you that make the effort. But that is how it starts creeping in – that Laodicean attitude.

Now, obviously please, I know some of you have justifiable reasons, and I am not talking about that. Do not take offense. But what I am saying is, the enemy, that is Satan, and his cohorts – the demons – have a tactic to try and get you off the track, and me off the track – to get us off the track. And those tactics, even though, generally speaking, they are quite similar, they do change in the detail of the implementation – in the practical execution – depending on the time and place. For instance, at the time of Christ’s coming to earth, the world did not understand the mission that Christ was fulfilling in His first coming. And so, even the angelic realm did  not fully grasp how He was going to do that. They knew some of the details, but they could not grasp the whole picture. They could not understand how Jesus Christ was going to change the whole game plan by what He did on earth.

You see, that through just some simple key components of the gospel…and I am just going to mention some scriptures. I am not going to turn to them, just to give you…and Satan will use so many of these to distort and confuse. For instance, there is only one gospel of Christ and of the Kingdom of God, in which Christ is the central event, or person, or personage that is key to the fulfillment of the Kingdom of God. But you read in Galatians, chapter 1, verses 6 through 9, how that one gospel is just…it is not a different gospel, but it is just distorted. They just ever so slightly twist it. We know that part of the gospel is, you and I must repent. You read that in many scriptures – that there must be repentance. There must be fruit of repentance. Now Satan uses that, and twists that, to people saying, “No, you can come just as you are. You don’t have to change. You can accept Jesus Christ as you are.” Yes, you and I accept Jesus Christ as the Savior, and have faith in Him, but once we accept Him, He establishes the law. He amplifies the law. You have many scriptures that cover that. The law is not done away. God’s spiritual law is not done away. They say, “Oh no, you are justified by faith.” Yes, you are, but they quite often say, “Well, you are saved by faith.” Yes, you are saved by faith, but it requires you, once justified, to obey. Look in Romans, chapter 2, verse 13 – it says:

Romans 2:13 – the doers of the law will be justified.

Oh, they hide that scripture. Why? Because, lets say, for instance, you commit a crime and you go to jail. Now you’ve paid your penalty and you are out of jail. Does that give you freedom now to go on committing the same crime because you are free now? No, the law is still applicable and now even more the responsibility you and I have not to commit that crime again. It is the same with the law. We’ve broken the law. The penalty is there. We are redeemed – bought back, saved – by Christ, justified freely. There is nothing you can do. Now we are “out of jail.” We have life or the potential of eternal life. We don’t have it yet. We are working towards it, right? But now, because we are free, does that mean we can go on and commit sin again? No! The responsibility is greater now that the doers will be justified. We now have to do.

Look at baptism. People say, “Oh well, you just have to be baptized.” No, baptism is a commitment. It is a promise. It is a vow.

Then it says you will receive the Holy Spirit. People now change the whole thing about the Spirit – you know, different ideas about the Spirit. People change. God’s Spirit is what helps us to overcome. It gives us the strength. God gives the Spirit to those that obey Him – Acts 5:32. God gives the Spirit to those that obey Him. So you and I have to make a commitment and, therefore, we need to obey Him.

Now, are we going to fail? We are human beings. We all fail, but our intent, our motivation, our heart is to obey. Yes, we fail, we trip. Right. Christ, again, helps us to stand up and keep going. Now, we have to walk in a new life to become sons of God. We have to change from the carnal to the divine nature. And this applies to not only physical Israelites, but to all mankind, because
by faith we are saved, and therefore, we then become children of Abraham, spiritually speaking.

You see, so all this, it is kind of just components of the gospel. And, at the time of  Christ, one of the components of the gospel that became known is that, then, it also was extended to the Gentiles. And all this was a mystery that became revealed as it happened.

You see not even angels could put everything together. Yes, the prophets of old prophesied of the grace to come, that Christ would come. They prophesied of the sufferings that would happen and the glories to follow, but they did not understand what, how and when in detail.

Turn with me to 1 Peter, chapter 1, verse 10 through 12.

1 Peter 1:10-12 – Of this salvation, the prophets have inquired and searched carefully, who prophesied of the grace that would come to you – you see the prophets prophesied, but they could not understand it, so they searched carefully of the grace to come to you – searching what, or what manner of time – in other words, when will it be – they did not grasp it – the Spirit of Christ who was in them – it was God’s Holy Spirit that was guiding them – was indicating when He testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. To them, it was revealed that, not to themselves, but to us they were ministering the things which now have been reported to you through those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven – things which angels desire to look into.

Even the angelic realm was looking into and seeing how is this going to be fulfilled? How is this all going to be pieced together? This whole understanding was a mystery. And this mystery – because it is a mystery and they didn’t understand, and people did not know the details – it is a very, very wise act from God’s side. That is great wisdom – not only the way God did it, but to keep it confidential. And this is not the wisdom of man. It is the wisdom of God – how God has done it, how He has put all these pieces together of this chess puzzle to make it possible that you and I and the whole world can be sons of God.

Why does it need to be kept – some of the details – as a mystery, like prophecies today? There are certain details of prophecies that you and I do not know – exactly what it will be like. We know big pictures, big things – this is going to happen, that is going to happen – but how it will exactly fit together, we don’t know. Why don’t we know? And here it is important for us to understand that there is a real enemy that wants to thwart or destroy that plan. We were there a moment ago – in Ephesians, chapter 6 – so let’s go back to Ephesians, chapter6, but now a little earlier than where we looked at a short while ago – Ephesians, chapter 6, verses 10 through 12. It is talking about the armor of God and it says in verse 10:

Ephesians 6:10-12 – Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might – that is God’s Holy Spirit. Put on the whole armor of God – the full armor of God – that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil – that you and I may be able to stand against the tricks that the devil has against us. For – this is absolutely important for us to remember – for we do not wrestle against flesh and blood – we are not wrestling against the person that is fighting against us. We are not wrestling against the person that is arguing things against us. We are not wrestling against the person that is trying to trick us and crook us, and things like that, but we are wrestling against – but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Our real fight is against demons and Satan, not against people!

It is easy for us to lose the perspective of who the enemy is. The real rulers are beings, as it calls, in heavenly places, which are spiritual hosts of wickedness. They are the rulers of this age. Look at 1 Corinthians, chapter 2, verse 4 through 6:

1 Corinthians 2: 4-6 – And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. However, we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this world – of this age – nor of the rulers of this age.

Who are the rulers of this age? It is not the President of our nation. It is not the members of Congress. The rulers of this age are wicked beings in heavenly places. And they are stirring the pot and inspiring things in this world. The rulers and the leaders of this age are not the media and those things. The spirit beings are inspiring them and stirring them to say wrong things. And unless we keep in mind who the real enemy that we are fighting against – we are not fighting against flesh and blood. We are fighting against angelic beings that have become twisted and wicked.

V-7 – But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery – verse 7 – the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory. Brethren, we need to understand that God has a plan – a mystery. This was planned long ago, And look in verse 8:

V-8 – ...which none of the rulers of this age knew. Who are the rulers of this age? I showed you in Ephesians 6 – those are wicked beings in heavenly places – which none of the rulers of this age knew. For had they known – so the rulers of this age, yes, are physical beings, but they are also spirit beings – and had they known [the plan], they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

Wow! That is why it is a mystery. Because, if God had published openly to the angelic realm this is what He is going to do, and this is how Christ is going to do, and that’s…they would not have killed Christ. Satan and his demons would not have stirred up the people to kill Christ. And then you and I would not have a Savior. If there had been a leak – there was no leak – if there had been a leak, the plan would have been impacted, and Satan would not have stirred people up to kill Christ.

See how Christ said it in Luke 23, verse 34:

Luke 23:34 – Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them for they do not know what they do.”

They were just pawns in a big chess game. These human beings were just pawns of angelic beings. The physical rulers of this age are just pawns of angelic rulers, which have gone bad. And God is preaching a gospel today, even through us – the church – to them.

You see, Satan needed to create a reason so that in the Jewish mind, it was justified to kill Christ. What was that reason? Blasphemy. They perceived Christ as blaspheming. You know the stories. I’m not going to go there, but it says…well, let’s just turn to Mark 14, verse 61 through 64:

Mark 14:61 – But He kept silent and answered nothing. Again the high priest asked Him, saying to Him, “Are You the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?” Jesus said, “I am. And you know, you just need to read in Exodus 2, and you see what “I am” means. He said, I am. And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven – the Son of man, quoting from Daniel! Blasphemy! Then the high priest tore his clothes and said, “What further need do we have of witnesses? You have heard the blasphemy!” – because they understood that Christ was making Himself equal to God. And Christ never sinned. You and I know. You can go into sections...look at it in John, chapter 5, verse 18:

John 5:18 – Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath…. No, He did not break the Sabbath. Christ never broke the Sabbath. In their minds – in their perception – with the additional Jewish things they had added to the Sabbath – in their minds, they perceived that He had broken the Sabbath, but He didn’t break the Sabbath. …but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God.

That’s why they wanted to kill Him. And therefore, that was the final accusation right at the point of His death. We read, for instance in John 8, many times Christ said, “I am. You see, brethren, this ended up causing them to kill Christ, but had they known, they would not have done that. You see, the leaders – both physical and spiritual demonic beings – were working towards killing Christ.

In fact, read the book of Esther – the book of Esther – Satan wanted to destroy the lineage, so that Christ would never be able to come to earth. Then, when Christ was born, he wanted to kill Christ. That’s why Christ had – or His parents had – to take Him to Egypt. Then he wanted to kill Christ by tempting Him to sin just after His baptism. You will read that in Matthew 4. Because, had Christ sinned, He could not be our Savior. So Satan tempted Him to sin, and again he failed. You see, he was trying to destroy Christ, and therefore, he waited for another opportunity, as you read in Luke, chapter 4:13, where it says he waited for an opportune moment. So he waited for another one. And the next opportunity was His crucifixion – to say, “I am going to kill Him.” But you know what? That was his check-mate – you know, in the game of chess. It was his check-mate. That was his big mistake, because Christ dying on the stake fulfilled the first step of the reconciliation of mankind.

2 Corinthians, chapter 5 – it talks here about the ministry of reconciliation – 2 Corinthians, chapter 5, verses 18 and 19:

2 Corinthians 5:18-19 – Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.

Had they understood that, they would have made sure Christ would not have been killed.

This is the wisdom of God. So, why are there so many details of events in the future, as well – of prophecy – that we don’t know? Because there is an enemy that wants to destroy the plan. And there are still a few other pieces to fit together and he wants to alter that plan. So a number of details have to be kept confidential. So God has to keep some of those details as a mystery. And so, if you or I or some person out there says, “Oh, I know it is going to be this day, that day, that day,” no man knows the day or the hour. Don’t listen to that, because those details are kept for a very good reason, secret.

Even Daniel…you know Daniel wanted to know certain additional details. Turn with me to Daniel 12, verse 9…we’re going to read verse 8:

Daniel 12:8 – Although I heard, I did not understand – says Daniel – verse 8 – 12:8. Then I said, “My lord, what shall be the end of these things? Give me more details, more juicy stuff” – not that Daniel was asking in that way, but a lot of people say, “I want more juicy stuff. Understanding prophecy is the big thing.” No, understanding prophecy is not the big thing, brethren. Prophecy is there for you and I to repent and change. The big thing is living and practicing God’s way. That is the big thing – overcoming and changing ourselves, and being therefore a light. That is the meat. But Daniel asked, “Lord, what shall be the end of these things?” And you know what was the answer in verse 9?

V-9 – And he said, “Go your way, Daniel – cheers! Go! – for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.

Why? Because in God’s great wisdom, that is the right thing to do. And one such detail that people did not understand at the time of Christ, is how would that be extended to the Gentiles – to the whole of mankind – through that Seed? Look at Colossians, chapter 2, verses 14 and 15:

Colossians 2:14 – having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us – indeed! One of the requirements against us is, if we sin, we are going to die – which was contrary to us, and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. I understand that obviously the handwriting of requirements has additional meanings and understandings, like the certificate of debt, but one of them is definitely, the soul that sins shall die. So, there is this against us. So Christ took that away. And look in verse 15:

V-15 – Having disarmed principalities and powers – you know, when somebody has got a gun against you, and it is armed – it is loaded – but now what Christ has done is, He has disarmed them. He took their ammunition against them – gone. He has disarmed them. They never understood what Christ was doing. And so when Christ did it, Satan and his tactics were disarmed – disenabled. It is like a country having nuclear weapons. You go there and disarm them. You take their capabilities – gone – they are disarmed – …He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.

You see, the death of the sinless Messiah and His subsequent resurrection was the start of reconciling the whole of mankind. And once it happened, that’s it. Satan and the demons were disarmed. Checkmate. That’s it – gone. Now they can’t do anything against Him. The only thing they can do is try to have less people there – less people there – and that’s our part. Are we going to be moved in a way that we will not be there? God will always make us to be there. God is always be there. He will never leave of forsake us. The only one that can is if you and I give up – if you and I call it quits. So Satan is going to try and create situations that you and I say, “I want out.” So we have to be careful of that. That is why we have to be careful.

You see, God is calling average people. Not many wise, not many noble have been called to embarrass the wise men, because this shows God’s wisdom. As God guides you spiritually, and as God guides me  and guides us spiritually to obey Him – to grow in maturity – He is disarming – destroying – destroying Satan’s arguments and his demons against us. And therefore, God is preaching a gospel by us being weak, and the low, and abased, and the simple of this world. Through us, God is teaching them a lesson – giving them a sermon.

Hebrews, chapter 2, verses 14 and 15:

Hebrews 2:14 – Inasmuch then, as the children have partaken of flesh and blood – even as our children – our generations of people – are part of flesh and blood – He Himself – Jesus Christ – likewise shared in the same – flesh and blood – that through death He – that’s Jesus Christ – might destroy him – that’s Satan – who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.

So He has freed us from that bondage – the bondage of sin. And we must not fear death, because we have been bought back. So, even if we die – whatever trial you and I may have – whether it is health or whatever – He has given, if we die, we will live again, because He has freed us from that bondage of death.

God has disarmed Satan. God has destroyed him who has the power of death. And he’s no more got that power. He is destroying Satan’s arguments.

As God redeems us from our sinful past by a new and living way through Christ’s blood, as He changes our minds and thinking through the power of His Holy Spirit, so that we can be changed from carnal nature to divine nature, so that we can grow to the stature of Christ to be the sons of God, He is preaching a sermon to principalities and powers in heavenly places of this great miracle that He is doing through the Church.

And so to start we read Ephesians, chapter 3, verse 11. I want to turn to Ephesians, chapter 3, verse 11 again, as a conclusion, and it reads…sorry, it’s verse 10 – not verse 11 - let’s read from verse 9:

Ephesians 3:9 – the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ, to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Look at verse 10 being paraphrased.

God’s purpose – verse 10 and 11 – through the church – in other words, to make us sons of God through the church – is also to show His wisdom in all its rich variety to the rulers and authorities in heavenly realms. And that is to the ultimate glory and honor of God for ever.

What a wonderful message we have here and what a wonderful sermon God is preaching and teaching us – that you and I as God’s children in the church, are part of this fellowship of the mystery. Honor and glory goes only to God.