Welcome to Reign of Grace. This
program is brought to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries,
an outreach ministry of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany,
Georgia. It is our pleasure and privilege
to present to you the gospel message of the sovereign grace
and glory of God in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that today's program
will be a blessing to you. Thank you for listening and now
for today's program. I'd like to welcome you to our
program today. I'm glad you could join us. And if you'd like to
follow along in your Bibles, I'm preaching through the third
chapter of the book of Philippians, the New Testament book of Philippians. That's where the Apostle Paul
wrote a letter to the church at Philippi. And today's message
is entitled Citizenship in Heaven. Citizenship in Heaven. I want
to start back at verse 14, just reading, and go to the end of
the chapter. Last week, I dealt with the subject
of the desire of the perfect. And let me show you where I got
that title from, where Paul writes in verse 14, I press toward the
mark of the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus,
and he's talking about final glory. He's talking about the
time in the final end of all things when every true believer
will be changed in the twinkling of an eye and be sinlessly perfect
in themselves to be like Christ. As we're on this earth, we fight
and war with the flesh. We have a warfare within. Nothing
we do is perfect in the eyes of God's law. We all fall short. Our best efforts even now as
believers, sinners saved by grace, are less than perfect according
to the perfection of righteousness found in the law, which can only
be attained and maintained and found in the Lord Jesus Christ,
who is God in human flesh, God manifest in the flesh, and who
went to the cross to die for the sins of his people in order
to establish a perfect righteousness that God has imputed charge to
His people, that righteousness upon which God is just to have
mercy on us, to just to justify as the scripture says. As Paul
wrote in Romans chapter four and verse six, blessed is the
man who describes the blessing of the man, the blessedness of
the man to whom the Lord imputeth righteousness without works. So I wanna make that clear. The
righteousness by which sinners are saved, by which I'm saved,
the righteousness by which I am justified, the righteousness
in which I stand before God, perfect and complete, is not
my works. It's not my faith. Listen to
this now. A lot of people think faith is
kind of like a replacement for righteousness. It's almost like
they think, well, we can't be perfect, And therefore God accepts
faith in place of that. No, sir. The Bible says faith
believes unto righteousness. What does that mean? That means
we believe in Christ who is the perfection of righteousness for
His people. For Christ is our righteousness.
Romans 10, 4. For Christ is the end of the
law, the perfection, fulfillment, completion, finishing of the
law for righteousness to everyone that believe it. So faith is
not, listen, faith is not my Savior. Christ is. My faith is
in Him. Faith does not make the difference
between saved and lost. Christ does. And if He's made
that difference for me, He'll give me faith to believe, for
by grace are you saved through faith. That not of yourselves,
not of works, lest any man should boast." It's the gift of God,
you see. So faith doesn't... I know there are times when the
Lord looked at, like for example, He looked at a woman that he'd
healed and said, Thy faith has saved thee. He's not talking
about her act of believing. He's talking about the object
of her faith, which was Him, Christ. And so Christ is the
Savior. Paul says, I press toward the
mark of the prize of the high calling. I want to be like Christ. And he says, verse 15, let us
therefore as many as be perfect be thus mine. And I explained
how that perfection has to do with our standing in
Christ. We're in Christ, and I'm gonna
prove that to you. Get that message from last week and listen to
it. He says, be thus minded. In other words, if in your thinking,
and this is the thing about the Bible, this is the thing about
Christianity, it changes our thinking, how we think about
things. And there are people, when you
hear the reality of God's grace, I mentioned this from 1 Corinthians
2 and verse 12, how if we are saved by the grace of God, we
know this because the Spirit has given us, the Spirit of God
has given us a true knowledge, a heart knowledge of all the
things that He has freely given. And what has He freely given?
everything that brings a sinner to salvation. None of it's conditioned
on me. It's all conditioned on Christ.
My works have absolutely no part in the ground of attaining or
maintaining salvation. My works have absolutely no part
in the merit how I earn salvation. I don't earn it. I don't deserve
it. You don't either. You may not
realize that. My works have absolutely nothing
to do with the righteousness in which I stand before God complete. But my works are important. They're
the fruit, the effect, the response of a sinner saved by grace, thanking
God for that grace. They're the fruit. Christ said,
I'm the vine, you're the branches, and you'll bear fruit, the fruit
of faith, the fruit of repentance, the fruit of perseverance, all
by the grace of God. Do you understand that? You see,
the reason most people have such a hard time understanding that
is because that doesn't motivate them. to do good, to try to be
good, to press toward the mark, to be thus minded. See, the motivation
comes from the grace of God. And that's what it is. And we
don't produce fruit. We don't bring fruit. We bear
it. Christ is the one who produces
it. but we bear it, bearing the fruit of God, the fruit of faith,
the fruit of righteousness. And so our works do not, they
do not cause, they do not attain or maintain our salvation, that's
all Christ, but our fruit, our works, our response is the fruit
and the evidence of salvation. Ephesians 2.10 explains it. where
after he'd said, for by grace are you saved through faith,
that not of yourselves, it's the gift of God, not of works,
lest any man should boast. In verse 10, in Ephesians 2.10,
he says, for we are his workmanship. Do you understand that? In other
words, what I am as a sinner saved by grace, it's by the grace
of God. It's by his works, it's by his goodness, it's by his
power. I'm his workmanship. And how did he create me? Created
in Christ Jesus. Christ is the builder of the
church, he's the builder of his people, he's the savior of sinners,
he's the righteousness of God. Created in Christ Jesus, and
look at the next phrase. Unto good works, not because
of good works, but unto good works which God hath before ordained
that we should walk in them. So walking in good works is not
trying to make ourselves righteous in the sense of our justification.
We look to Christ for that, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher
of our faith. But walking in good works is
the fruit, the response, the result of God's grace, which
he gave to us before the foundation of the world. And so Paul writes
in verse 15, let us therefore as many as be perfect, complete,
Be thus minded, and if in anything you be otherwise minded, God
shall reveal even this unto you. If you're a true believer and
you're not thinking right, God will reveal it to you and he'll
bring your thinking and submission to Christ. And that's what he
says. Let me show you a verse over
in 1 John 4. This is really important for
us to understand. In verse 16 of 1 John 4, He says, and we have known and
believe the love that God hath to us. And what kind of love
is that? It's divine love. It's powerful
love. It's unconditional love towards
us. Salvation, which is the product
of God's love, is unconditional towards the sinner. There are
conditions for salvation. There are conditions based upon
God's love, that brings God's love. But we don't meet those
conditions, Christ did. Now just break up that verse
a little bit, just look across the page to 1 John 4 10. Verse
10, he says, herein is love, not that we love God, but that
he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our
sins. What was the condition of God's
love? The propitiation. God loves His
people, but He must be just. He has mercy on His people, but
He must do it truthfully. We're sinners. We can't deserve
mercy. God is gracious. but he must
be righteous. And so what did he do out of
his love? Sent his son to be the propitiation, that's Christ,
as a sin-bearing sacrifice who brought satisfaction to God's
justice. God must be just when he justifies. He must be just and right and
true to himself when he forgives. He must be a righteous judge
who deals strictly according to the law as well as a loving
father. He's got to be both. And the
only way he can be both is based upon the work of the God-man
as surety, substitute, and redeemer of his people. So go back over
to 1 John 4, 16. And we have known and believed
the love that God hath to us in Christ now. God is love, and
he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. Now look
at verse 17. Herein is our love made perfect, or love with us,
perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment, because
as he is, as Christ is, so are we in this world. Now there's
several things about that verse. What does he mean, how our love
is made perfect? Does that mean I love perfectly?
No. But it means my love is perfected
and cast out fear, as he says in the next verse, because I
can have boldness in the day of judgment. Now, how can I,
a sinner, stand before God and have boldness in the day of judgment?
It's because as Christ is, so am I in this world. Now, how
is Christ? He's the righteous Lord God of heaven. Well, I'm
righteous too, just like Him, except His righteousness imputed
to me. And so the Apostle said, God
forbid that I should glory, boast, save in what? Except in what?
The cross of Christ. That's how. And if the love of
God has been shed abroad in my heart, The completeness of that
love doesn't come from any perfection that I express in trying to love
my neighbor and love my enemies, love my brethren. It comes from
driving me to Christ for all righteousness, you see? And that's
what gives me boldness in the day of judgment. Now look back
at our text in Philippians chapter three. He says in verse 16, Nevertheless,
whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule,
let us mind the same thing. Let's think about, if we're sinners
saved by grace, let's think about what we've already attained.
Now what have I attained? And I attained it not by my works
now. When he talks about attainments,
he's talking about our standing in our state. This is what I
am. I was this, but now this is what
I am. How did I attain that? Not by
my works or my efforts, but by God's grace. Well, I'm saved
by the grace of God. That's a given. That's been attained. I didn't do it. I didn't work
it. Christ did. And how did he do it? By his
death on the cross. I mentioned this last week, Hebrews
10, 14. By one offering, he hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified. His one offering washed away
all my sins. That's attained, okay? I like to think about that. How
about you? If you believe. All right. The perfection of
righteousness of the law. That's what God requires. Has
that been attained? Well, I can assure you it hasn't
been attained by my works and efforts, because I fall short.
I'm a sinner saved by grace. But it has been attained. By
whom? By Christ. For Christ, Romans
10, four. For Christ is the end, the attainment,
the finishing, the completion, the perfection of the law for
righteousness. to everyone that believe it.
So he says in verse 16, nevertheless whereto we have already attained,
let us walk by the same rule. Let us mind the same thing. What's
the rule that he's talking about? Well, he's talking about a sinner
saved by grace, glorying in Christ, boasting in Christ, having confidence
in Christ, just like he said back up in verse three. of Philippians
3, where the circumcision, that's born again by the Spirit, which
worship God in the Spirit and rejoice, glory, boast in Christ
Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. Now based upon
that, from that vantage point, having been blessed of all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ, not trying to earn
my way, but because it's already been attained in Christ, Let's
press forward to the mark of the high calling, which is in
Jesus Christ. Mind the same thing. And then
verse 17, he says, brethren, be followers together of me. Now Paul's not setting himself
up as the savior or the prime example. What he's saying here
is like he told the believers in Ephesus, in the Ephesian church.
You follow me as I point you to Christ. That's what he's saying. Now, if I stop pointing you to
Christ, don't follow me. You know, too many people today,
they follow preachers. They're not following Christ.
They latch onto one preacher, maybe a couple. And they said,
well, he said, I never forget, my old pastor was talking to
a woman and she didn't like what he was preaching. And she said,
I don't believe what you're preaching. And he said, well, what do you
believe? And she said, well, I go to such and such church
and I believe what my preacher preaches. And he asked her, he
said, well, what does your preacher preach? And she said, I'm really
not sure, but whatever it is, I believe it. Now that sounds
silly, doesn't it? But you know, that's kind of like, there are
people who are like that. They go to a church and they've
really not considered what does this church believe? What does
that preacher preach? What does this denomination stand
for? Things like that, that's important. All they care about is they like
the people that they go to church with and they're friends and
they have social interaction and all of that. But the man
from behind the pulpit might be preaching a lie. You better
check him out. That's why the Bible says test
the spirits. And so Paul says, you follow
me as I follow Christ. I love to read about John the
Baptist. If you go through John, the first
chapters of the Gospel of John. And you know, when John the Baptist
came on the scene, he was baptizing, the baptism of repentance, he
called it. And when Christ arrived, what did John do? Immediately.
He said, behold, the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sins
of the world. The world there being God's elect,
Jew and Gentile, not everybody without exception. But John pointed
to the Lamb of God. He pointed them to Christ. Later
on, he told them when they questioned him about who he really was,
and he said, look, I am not the Christ. I'm not the Messiah.
I am not the Savior. I'm just a voice of one crying
in the wilderness. And what was his cry? Behold
the Lamb of God, look to Christ. And when Christ came on the scene
and asked to be baptized of John, John said, I'm not worthy to
baptize you, you need to baptize me. But Christ insisted because
he was teaching a lesson in his own baptism, the lesson of his
death, burial and resurrection for the sins of his people. Later
on, John made this statement. He said, I'm not even worthy
to stoop down and untie Christ's shoes. You see what he's saying? Christ is the worthy lamb. And
he made this statement. Listen to this. This is John
the Baptist. He said, I must decrease. Christ must increase. And then there's another passage
there in John three where it says that John's disciples heard
John speaking. And then it says they followed
Christ. That's what I want. You who hear
me speaking, I don't want you just to follow me because I said
it. I want you to follow Christ,
the one whom I'm preaching because it's all about him. And so when
Paul says here in verse 16, Or verse 17, be followers together
of me. He's not just trying to gain
a following for himself. He's telling them to look to
Christ. So verse 17, brethren, be followers together of me,
and listen, and mark them which walk so as you have us for an
example. Mark them which walk so as you
have us for an example. In other words, understand, and
who's he talking about there, verse 18, begins a little parenthesis
here according to the King James translators. And it's true. He
says, for many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now
tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross
of Christ. Now he's talking about preachers
who claim to be Christian. But they're really enemies. And Paul said, it's my sorrow
to tell you that they're really enemies of the cross. Think about
the false preachers in Galatia. who claimed to be Christian,
but insisted on circumcision and keeping the law in order
to be saved. They're enemies of the cross, Paul said. The
cross offends them because the cross preaches righteousness
and forgiveness all through Christ. And he says in verse 19, whose
end is destruction. These aren't just different denominations. whose God is their belly, that's
their fleshly appetites. Could be their greed, could be
their need for fame and fortune. And he says, and whose glory
is in their shame, who mind earthly things. So Paul says, you walk
as we walk, looking unto Christ, looking unto Jesus, the author
and finisher of our faith, and don't follow those who walk contrary
to this. Don't listen to them. Test the
spirits, the Bible says. Well, here's what we're leading
up to, verse 20. For our conversation is in heaven,
from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now that word conversation is
not a word that just refers to our talk as if we're having a
conversation. It's their state and standing
in Christ. The word means citizenship. For our citizenship is in heaven. And so what Paul is saying here
is this. We're not of the earth. We're
not of the world. We're in the world. We're here
like missionaries. We live in this world. but we're
not of the world. Christ said that in John 17 in
his high priestly prayer, talking about his disciples that in their
future, he wasn't going to take them out as he ascended unto
the father after his resurrection. He wasn't going to take them
out with him. He was going to leave them here, but they're
citizens of another country. They're citizens of another world.
Their citizenship is in heaven. They're citizens of a spiritual
kingdom. The kingdom of God is not of
this world. This world is gonna be destroyed. This world is cursed
by sin and depravity and death. God's gonna burn this world up
in the end. But the kingdom of God is forever. What is that kingdom? It's the
kingdom of Christ, who is the king. He is the kingdom. And it's made up of all sinners
saved by the grace of God, all who believe in Christ, the true
Christ of the Bible, who look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus
Christ. And he says in verse 21, he says,
who shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned like
unto his glorious body, his body after the resurrection, spiritual
body. according to the working whereby,"
now listen to this, he is able, we're not able, Christ is able,
even to subdue all things unto himself. Do you doubt your abilities?
I don't just doubt my abilities, I know that I don't have the
ability, I don't have the ability to save myself, I don't have
the ability to keep myself saved. I don't have the ability to enter
glory. But I know who does. He's able,
Christ is able. He's able to save me, to keep
me, to bring me to glory. He's able to conquer this whole
mess. We look at this world and we
think everything's just going crazy, it's anarchy, it's a mess. There's no order to it. People
do this, people do that. They've always done this and
that. Sin pervades, it's always pervaded. But Christ is able
to subdue all of that, to bring it under His feet. Listen, every
knee's gonna bow and every tongue's gonna confess that Jesus Christ
is Lord. His people do it now under the
preaching of the gospel by the power of the Spirit when they
come to faith in Christ, when God gives them faith and brings
them to repentance of dead works and idolatry. But even his enemies
will do it in the end, they'll be forced. It won't be their
salvation, it'll be their damnation. Now, realizing that we've attained
by the grace of God what Christ worked for and has given to us,
we're citizens, believers are citizens of heaven. And so we're
to walk as missionaries in this world, not clinging to this world
as if it's the be-all and the end-all, but clinging to Christ,
the King of glory, the King of heaven, the King of kings, realizing
that we're citizens of heaven. Hope you'll join us next week
for another message from God's Word. We are glad you could join us
for another edition of Reign of Grace. This program is brought
to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries, an outreach ministry
of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany, Georgia. To receive
a copy of today's program or to learn more about Reign of
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today and may the Lord be with you.