Let us turn to God's Word and
I want to turn back to the portion we were considering on the Lord's
Day here at Salem in Philippians chapter 3. In Philippians 3,
the end of the chapter, I'll read again from verse 17. Philippians 3.17. Brethren, ye
followest together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye
have asked for an ensemble. For many walk, of whom I have
told you often, and there tell you even weeping, that they are
the enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose
God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who
mind earthly things. For our conversation is in heaven,
from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ,
who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like
unto his glorious body according to the working whereby he is
able even to subdue all things unto himself. I really want to
center your attention on the words of verse 20. For our conversation
is in heaven from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord
Jesus Christ. Here then in Philippians 3 20. We were considering those previous
verses that we've just read on the last Lord's Day, and I remarked
on the fact that verses 18 and 19, as we see in Bibles, form
a parenthesis, bracketed verses. And we did look in the evening
at what Paul is saying in those particular verses. He speaks out against those who
we might say are the abusers of the sovereign grace of God.
He makes mention of such who mind earthly things. We thought then of the danger
of the carnal mind, the carnal mind He says elsewhere, is enmity
against God. It is not subject to the law
of God, neither indeed can be the fleshy mind, the natural
mind, those who mind earthly things, the carnal mind. To be
carnally minded, he says, is death. And here really we have
some of the perverse reasonings of that carnal mind. whose end
is destruction, whose God is their belly, whose glory is in
their shame, who mind earthly things? And elsewhere doesn't
Paul speak of such who with their minds they reckon, well, doesn't
the Bible say where sin abounds, grace doth much more abound?
Well, that's indulging sins. The more we know of sin, the
more we will know of the super aboundings of the grace of God. That's the foolish reasoning
of those who possess nothing more than a carnal mind. And
Paul exposes the folly of that sort of thinking there in Romans
6. What shall we say then? Shall
we continue in sin that grace may abound, And the answer, God
forbid, how shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein? Or there are those who say, let
us do evil that good may come. But Paul says that their most
damnation is just. And so those who are spoken of
here in verses 18 and 19, we might say they're libertines,
they're licentious people, they're loose livers. and they have a
carnal mind and they think foolish thoughts and they imagine that
they are free to indulge all their basic lusts and imagine
that because grace superabounds all will eventually be well with
them. But we said also on the Lord's
Day that on the other hand or the other extreme at the beginning
of the chapter He speaks of those who have a very legal mind. And
then he speaks out against them in verse 2 and verse 3. Beware of dogs, beware of evil
workers, beware of the concision. For we are the circumcision which
worship God in the spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have
no confidence in the flesh. The legalists who want to bring
these Christian believers, as it were, under the yoke of the
Old Testament law. They want them to become Jews,
as it were, to submit to circumcision and make themselves debtors to
all the law of God. Well, he says it's not a real
circumcision that they're contending for. He says, beware of the concision. And the word there has to do
with those illegal cuttings of the flesh spoken against in the
Old Testament. We are the circumcision. The
truly circumcised are circumcised in heart. They know the grace
of God. We are the circumcision which
worship God in the Spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have
no confidence in the flesh. All these legalists, they also,
just like the others here in the parenthesis at the end of
the chapter, they also, the legalists, abuse the sovereign grace of
God. Because salvation being by grace,
and that is the gospel. It's the gospel of the grace
of God. Salvation by grace excludes any idea of works. If by grace,
then is it no more of works, otherwise grace is no more grace.
If it be of works, then it is no more of grace, otherwise work
is no more work. Therefore it is of faith, says
Paul, that it might be by grace. And so, in this chapter we have
these two extremes. On the one hand, those who want
to bring believers under the yoke of all the law of the Old
Testament. On the other hand, those who
want to live the loose life. And what is the believer to do?
Well, the believer is to walk in the right way, is to walk
in that narrow way in which Paul is speaking in verse 17. Brethren, be followers together
of me and mark them which so walk as ye have asked for an
example. And then he goes on of course
to speak of those in verses 18 and 19 who who walk in the wrong
way, in that broad way that only leads to destruction and death. The believer is to walk in the
narrow way between these extreme positions. And really what he
is saying in verse 17 is continued in verse 20. We have that little
aside, as it were, the parentheses. So he says, Brethren, be followers
together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for
an example. For our conversation is in heaven,
from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, as we come to look at these
words in verse 20 for a little while before we turn again to
prayer, we observe that this word that
we have, conversation, doesn't really refer to so much of their
behavior, or the manner of their lives, or the way in which they
conduct themselves. You might see, in the margin,
that we have the alternative word, citizenship. for our citizenship. That would
be a more literal rendering of the word because it's a word
that's derived from the Greek word for city. Our citizenship
is in heaven from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord
Jesus Christ. And so tonight I say something
about the belief of citizenship in heaven. It's a theme that
we have looked at on previous occasions but Having considered
those previous verses, I thought it would be suitable to examine
it a little again. The believer's citizenship in
heaven, whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus,
says the Apostle. So, our citizenship is in heaven,
and that is where Christ himself as the forerunner has now entered. And first of all to say something
then of the believers' union with Christ. The believers' union
with Christ, our citizenship in heaven. The Puritan Richard
Sibbes says, a Christian may be said to be in heaven first
as in his head Christ who is in heaven already. That's why
our citizenship is there because that's where our head is, even
the Lord Jesus. And that's not God raised us
up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ
Jesus. We read those words there in
Ephesians 2.6. And so our conversation, our citizenship is in heaven
because that's where Christ is. The Lord, in that sense, we might
say, lives in heaven. From whence also we look for
the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. You may have read Bunyan's autobiography,
the account that he gives of the Lord's dealings with his
soul. He's called by grace and so forth. Grace abounding to
the chief of sinners. And there, I remember, it's a
while ago that I read it, but I remember Bunyan describing
an occasion when he was obviously full of doubts and fears. He'd lost a great measure of
his assurance. He was, I suppose, a man of deep
passions in many ways, was John Bunyan. And one day he says he
went out into the field, burdened, troubled. and he looked up into
the sky and he said it came so sweetly to him that his righteousness
was in heaven as he looked up he thought that's where my righteousness
is because he was looking to where the Lord Jesus Christ had
gone and his righteousness therefore was even in heaven and before
the very throne of God and here of course doesn't Paul speak
of His great desire, verse 9, to be found in Christ, He says,
not having mine own righteousness which is of the law, but that
which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which
is of God by faith. And when we come to God in prayer,
does He not look upon that righteousness? He looks upon the face of His
anointed, the Lord Jesus. He now is there in heaven. And though is Christ there in
heaven, he is there of course, fundamentally, as the eternal
son of God. Because he is God. He is that
one who is one with his father. He says in Proverbs, I was by
him as one brought up with him, I was daily his delight, rejoicing
always before him. Father, Son and Holy Ghost are
one God. They're undivided, they're indivisible.
That's the mystery of real religion. The doctrine of God, the doctrine
of the Trinity. And what does God say? The heaven
is my throne and the earth is my footstool. Well, that's where
the Lord Jesus is. And then on the other hand, We
have those words in the prayer of Solomon at the dedication
of the Temple of the Lord. It's recorded twice in Kings
and also in Chronicles, in 2nd Chronicles 6.18. Heaven and the
heaven of heavens cannot contain them. Lord the great God is the
infinite one, the eternal one. The psalmist says our God is
in the heavens. he hath done whatsoever he pleased
what a comfort it is for the believer amidst all the confusions
then that we see all around us in this world against all that
sin the world lies in wickedness we're told that our citizenship
is not in this world our citizenship is in heaven here upon the earth
with strangers and pilgrims here we have no continuing citizen
but we're to be looking for one to come whose maker is God himself
and the Lord Jesus Christ is that God and as God he is there
in heaven but also we have to remember this that he's not only
there because he's the eternal son of the eternal father and
he's one with the Father and the Holy Spirit in the doctrine
of the Triniton But Christ is now in heaven as the mediator
of the new covenant. He came down from heaven in the
fullness of the time. God sends forth His Son, made
of a woman, made under the law. He comes down and in the great
mystery of the incarnation He takes into union with His divine
nature, a human nature. he is that one who is the God-man
he is God and he is man and of course Paul has spoken of this
previously here in the second chapter verse 6 he speaks of
Christ being in the form of God who being in the form of God
thought it not robbery to be equal with God he was he is equal
with God because he is God but made himself of no reputation,
and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the
likeness of man." Who is the doctrine of God, the doctrine
of the Trinity, a mystery? Well, here is a second mystery, the mystery of the Incarnation,
that there is one who is God-man one person and
yet in that one person two natures he is both divine and he is also
human and having come down from heaven he has no return to heaven and we read it didn't we in the
portion that we read there in Hebrews chapter 9 Verse 24, Christ
is not entered into the holy places made with hands, it says,
which are the figure of the true, but into heaven itself, now to
appear in the presence of God for us. He's gone back to heaven
as God-man. He's there in heaven in his human
nature. Again in that portion, the twelfth
verse of Hebrews 9, He entered once into the holy place, it
says, having obtained eternal redemption for us. He has entered
as that one who is the Redeemer. Oh, He has done all that is necessary
to pay the tremendous ransom price that was required of the
holy Lord of God, that the sinner might be acquitted of all the
guilt of his sin. Doesn't the Apostle speak of
his work also there in that second chapter? Being found in fashion
as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross. How he humbled himself. And how
God has now highly exalted him, giving him a name which is above
every name. He has now ascended into heaven
itself and it was a bodily ascension. Is it not spoken of by Luke in
the opening chapter of the Acts? We read of how the disciples
were favoured to witness his ascension in bodily form. There in Acts 1.9, they beheld,
it says, While they beheld, he was taken up, and a cloud received
him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly
toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them
in white apparel, which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why
stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus which has taken
up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye
have seen him go into heaven." And here, in the words of the
text tonight, from whence also we look for the Saviour, the
Lord Jesus Christ, because He is that One who is to return
again. But think of the significance
of His entrance into heaven, His ascension. because he has
ascended now as the mediator he has ascended there as God-man he has ascended there in a human
body a real body and because it's
a real body it can only be in one place the Lord Jesus is in heaven And here we see the awful blasphemies
of the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church and its doctrine
of the Mass and its teaching concerning what they say is transubstantiation
which means that when the Romish priest utters those few words
of the Mass he transubstantiates the wafer that he holds in his
hand and it becomes the body and the blood, and the soul,
and the divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's holding that
in his hand. But Christ is in heaven. And
I think the language that we have in the Church of England
articles, in article 28, is so right that that teaching of transubstantiation
is repugnant to plain words of Holy Scripture. Because Christ
is not upon earth now, he is in heaven. And that's where we
look for him from. Oh Christ is that one then who
we might say lives in heaven. And as Christ is there in heaven
so it means that the believer can live his life upon this earth
in hope. From whence also we look for
the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember those great words of
Christ, those comforting words that he speaks at the opening
part of John 14, as he begins those discourses concerning his
going away from them and how he's going to send the Holy Spirit.
It's expedient that he goes. If he doesn't go away, the Spirit
will not come. But have thou troubled, let not
your heart be troubled, he says. ye believe in God believe also
in me in my father's house are many mansions if it were not
so I would have told you 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 unto myself that where I am there ye may be also there is
the promise of the Lord Jesus Christ that he will come for
his people He will have them there with Him in heaven. And
He doesn't just preach those words, He prays. He prays for
them. In the 17th of John, that high
priestly prayer, Father, He says, I will that they also whom thou
hast given me be with me where I am that they might behold my
glory. the glory which I had from Thee,
for Thou lovest me before the foundation of the world, before
there was any creation. He was there with God in heaven.
The Father loves the Son, the Son loves the Father. And though
the Son there in His prayer prays as one equal to the Father, when
we pray, how I would to order our petitions were to say thy
will be done but the Lord Jesus Christ can
say to the Father I will I will that they also whom thou hast
given me be with me where I am that is in heaven that they may
behold my glory the glory which he had with the Father before
the foundation of the world and what is it that the Lord He's
speaking of here as we come to the end of this chapter. Well,
he's speaking of the great consummation of all things. In verse 21, "...who
shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto
his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is
able even to subdue all things unto himself." Oh, it's a great
consummation. Remember the golden shine of
Romans 8? Whom he did for know he also
did predestinate, to be conformed to the image of his Son. Whom
he did predestinate them he also called, whom he called them he
also glorified. And that's what we have here,
the glorification ultimately. He changes our earthly body,
that's what He's speaking of, all that we are, all that's associated
with the weakness of our flesh in this creation, that it may
be fashioned like unto His glorious body. Oh, it's a blessed consummation. And what does He say here in
the text? We're looking at verse 20. From
whence also we look, we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now, I know it's a simple verb,
to look, and yet, here we have one of those compound words that
we sometimes find in the New Testament. And literally, the
word that we have here means to eagerly expect. Looking, watching,
as it were. There's some earnestness in this
look. There's expectation here. And why so? Because, as Thomas
Boston says, heaven must be in you before you are in heaven. If heaven is in us, or will we
not be looking for heaven, longing for heaven? watching and waiting,
and certainly desiring the blessed consummation of all things, not
only to enter heaven, but that glorious general resurrection
at the end of time, when glorified spirits will be reunited with
glorified bodies. And Paul of course does speak
of these things in his epistles. the language that we have there
in 1 Thessalonians 4 verse 16 the Lord himself shall
descend from heaven with a shout with the voice of the archangel
and with the trump of God the dead in Christ shall rise first
then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with
them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and so shall
we ever be with the Lord wherefore comfort one another with these
words or there's comfort here you see but are we those who
are looking eagerly expecting that blessed that glorious day
if we are it's an evidence that we know something of union with
Christ we're already those who are sitting together in the heavenly
places in Christ who is our head but then also here we need to
think a little of communion with Christ not just union where there's
union and it's a real vital living union with the Lord Jesus Christ
there will be something of communion or fellowship and where does
it begin? where does it begin? well it
must begin with regeneration it must begin in the new birth a man has to be born again the words of the Lord Jesus to
Philicodemus in the third of John, except a man be born again. And the margin indicates that
literally it says, born from above, except a man be born from
above. He cannot see the kingdom of
God, he cannot see the kingdom of heaven. There must be a heavenly
birth. just as there was a natural birth. And that's really where any relationship
with the Lord Jesus Christ begins in terms of experience. It might
be an eternal union, because the saved are all chosen in Christ
before the foundation of the world. But that eternal union
must become a reality, it must be experienced in time. And it begins, I say, with the
new birth. Again, they're born from above. They're born of the Spirit of
God. We read in Galatians 4.26 of Jerusalem, which is above,
which is free, which is the mother of us all. That heavenly Jerusalem,
Not the Jerusalem that now is, that's the contrast that is being
drawn there in Galatians 4, the Jerusalem which now is, which
is in bondage with her children, and that's referring of course to
those Jews who were the rejecters of Christ. No, the Jerusalem
above is free, the mother of us all, he says. All believers
in Christ are born from above. And as I enjoy real fellowship
one with the other, because they are one in the Lord Jesus Christ.
There is where their union is, their union with Him, their union
is also one with the other. Ephesians 3.15 we read about
Lord Jesus Christ of whom the whole family in heaven and in
earth is nine. And you know, it's there in the
Apostles' Creed, isn't it? I believe in the communion of
saints. It's one of the great articles
of the Church. I believe in the communion of
saints. Well, that's the truth of that
verse there in Ephesians 3. Our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom
the whole family in heaven and earth is night. And even now, even today, are
we not those who are compassed about with so great a crowd of
witnesses? Remember how after going through
all those Old Testament believers in Hebrews 11, that tremendous
catalogue, the men, the women of faith, all that they endured. And then we come into chapter
12 and Paul It says that we're compassed about. They're all
about us. And we can have fellowship with
them even though they're in heaven and we're upon the earth. I remember
being at a minister's conference some years ago and one of the
speakers remarking on this communion said, you know, sometimes you
ministers when you sit in your study and you look at the books
on your shelves and you see all those great works of some of
the Puritan divines, you go back even further, you maybe have
volumes by the Protestant reformers, you go back even further, you've
got some books written by the Church Fathers. Is it not a truth
that when you come and when you begin to read the writings of
these men you are having fellowship with them? They minister to you.
Though they're in heaven. Oh, that's the blessing, is it
not, of communion. Compass abounds with a great
cloud of witnesses. What a precious thing it is,
Christian fellowship. But above all, of course, We
look to the Lord Jesus Christ as that one who is our mediator. And truly, says John, our fellowship
is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Oh, what a blessing it is to
be looking for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, and not just
looking for Him to appear then at the end of time when all things
are eventually wound up, The day will come. It's appointed
of God. When Christ came the first time,
it was the fullness of the time. And there'll be the fullness
of the time for His coming again. But we not only are to look for
that appearing, we want the Lord to appear to us. Certainly as
we come together as a church, as we meet together on the Lord's
day, or as we come together in this fashion, to turn to God's
Word and to turn to the Lord in public prayer subsequently,
all we want to know that our fellowship is with the Father
and with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. He has entered heaven
itself now to appear in the presence of God for us. Oh, we have not
an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our
infirmities. He's there as a man. He's there as a man. He's touched
with the feeling of our infirmities. He was tempted in all points,
like as we are, yet without sin. And what are we to do? We're
to come forward to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy
and find grace to help in time of need. Our conversation, our
citizenship, Can we say it's in heaven? From whence we look
for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, the Lord be pleased
in to come and bless us with his presence. Amen.