I'd like for you to take your
Bibles and turn with me to Philippians chapter 3. My subject this morning is a
heavenly citizenship. A heavenly citizenship. conversation is in heaven, from
whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like
unto his glorious body." How's he going to do that? according
to the working whereby he is able to subdue all things unto
himself. There's four things in this text
that I believe we can learn from, I believe we can find comfort
in, and by which we can examine ourselves if the Holy Ghost is
pleased to teach us. And the first thing that I see
in these verses is a reference to our present state. That's
where we have to begin. You can't begin in dreams and visions. You can't
begin with false ideas. You have to begin where you are.
Where you are. And so I find it interesting
here He speaks of our present state. And it's of the utmost
importance to us to know that salvation and all of its benefits. We're going to be talking about
salvation. We talk about righteousness. We talk about redemption. We talk about anything that we're
talking about concerning salvation. It's of the utmost importance
for us to know that salvation and all of its benefits are restricted
to God's elect. God's elect. If you can't find
a reason, if you can't find a reason to identify yourself with God's
elect, then you have no right to claim the promises. He's not talking, he's not saying
here that everybody is a citizen of this heavenly city. So we're
going to have to deal with our present state. And I believe it's of the utmost
importance that we know that. The redemption of Christ is particular
redemption. When he died, he bought, he purchased. What he died for, he bought.
It's his. It's his. It's not his if. It's his. They're not redeemed if they're
redeemed. Their sins are not put away if
their sins are put away. His redemption is particular.
He died for a particular group of people or individuals which
were chosen in Him before the foundation of the world. He died
for them. The only way that these people
are considered in a universal sense in the scripture is where
they're found. He takes them out of every tribe
and nation and kindred and tongue under heaven. Now if you want
to talk about this world in relation to His redemption, that's the
only way you can do it. And that's why He uses that world.
Over there in John chapter 3 verse 16, that canon of the Arminians
that they always try to prove universal redemption, the only
reason He put that word world in there is because of the Jews.
It was because of the prejudice of the Jews who believed that
nobody else on the face of the globe was going to be saved.
That was the common thought. God is the God of the Jews. He's
the God of the Jews. He didn't save Canaanites and
Hittites. He killed them. He didn't save
Egypt. He destroyed it. You go on and
on and on. This world thought that this
salvation that these Jews talked about had to do only with them,
and the Jews believed it without question. That's what they told
Christ. We've been not born of fornication.
We have one God. Why? Because they were Jews.
They were Jews. And so he uses that word world
to counteract that prejudice of the Jew because the true Jew
is taken out of every kindred, nation, tribe, and tongue under
heaven. They were chosen and redeemed
as such. Now the only way for any man
Boy, girl, the only way for you to know your election of God
is by the effectual calling of the Holy Spirit. There's no other
way to know it. There's no mark on your forehead. It doesn't come to you in the
middle of the night in some kind of a dream, well, I'm God's elect.
No, that's not how it comes. It comes by the effectual calling
of the Holy Spirit. And that effectual calling begins
with a conviction of sin. He begins to convict you of sin. He begins to show you what you
are in the sight of God. He calls men to repentance, to
see their sin and convince them of it and turn them from it and
cause them to seek the Lord. And then having convinced the
sinner of his sin, he brings him to the Lord Jesus Christ
through the preaching of the gospel and reveals to his seeking
heart a good hope through grace. Only sinners seek grace. Only
sinners seek mercy. You can't get a self-righteous
man to seek mercy. He's not going to seek mercy.
He might talk about it, but he don't even know what it means.
You ask the average person sitting in the front pew in a suit, been
in that church, taught Sunday school there for 30 years, ask
him what grace is, he can't tell you. But you ask the lowliest
sinner, the most uneducated man in the church, ask him what the
grace of God is and he'll tell you because he experienced it
in his heart. It's the unmerited favor of God. And that's how He brings us.
He brings us to Christ and gives us a good hope through grace.
And these are those precious souls called saints in Christ
Jesus. Almost every letter Paul opens
up, he talks about the saints. The saints of God in Christ Jesus. Sanctified ones in Christ. These are those that he refers
to as the true circumcision back here in Philippians 3. Circumcised
with the circumcision, he says over in Colossians, not made
with hands. Those who worship God in the
Spirit. And then notice back here in
verse 3 here in Philippians. Notice back there in verse 3,
this word Spirit doesn't have a capital S. When he says they
worship God in the Spirit, he's not talking about worshiping
God in the Holy Spirit. He's talking about worshiping
God with a spiritual understanding. The true Jew understands who
God is. He worships the true God. Our Lord, that woman at the well
said, you worship in Jerusalem, we worship out here in the mountains.
He said, you worship you know not what. That's what you worship. True believers know who He is. They worship Him in truth. In
spirit and truth. in spiritual understanding of
truth, how God saves sinners, who God is, what that justice
is, what that righteousness is. They're the true circumcision,
and they worship God in the Spirit. And then all of these true Jews,
this true circumcision, they worship with spiritual understanding
and revelation, and they rejoice in Christ Jesus. They rejoice
in Him. They're not upset at Him. They're
not angry at Him. They rejoice in Him. They're
not running from Him. They rejoice in Him. And they
rejoice in His appointments and His offices, and they rejoice
in His accomplishments. They rejoice in His resurrected
glory. They rejoice in His authority
and government. They rejoice in His providence
and means, and they rejoice in His presence and power. They
rejoice. And they've got no confidence
in the flesh. No. No. As soon as somebody starts
talking about, well, it's all up to you. Well, you might as
well just exit off. Just take it off. Because it
ain't going to happen. Well, I've got no confidence in the
flesh. None. None. This flesh can't do anything. I can't prevent a cold. Can you? I've got no confidence in this
flesh. None. It falls apart at the drop
of a hat. The flesh. What good is the flesh?
Huh? The flesh. They've got no confidence
in it. Their desire, like Paul, is to
be found in Him, not having their own righteousness, which is of
the law, but that righteousness of Christ. And our present state
in this world is one of repentance and faith, being buried with
Him in baptism, and risen with Him to walk in newness of life.
Blessed is the Word. Blessed. They're blessed of God. That's what Paul said. They're
blessed. Blessed. And let me tell you something.
You say, boy, that guy's really blessed. No, there is no really
blessed. If you're blessed, you're blessed
with the whole outfit. Huh? Isn't that what he said? He blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. So if you're blessed, you're
blessed with the whole thing. You're heirs of God and joint
heirs with Christ. Huh? You see what I'm saying? Blessed, that's the word. Blessed
is the experience, and blessed is the immediate state of every
believing sinner who looks to Christ. And then, secondly, the
text speaks of our hope. Our hope is described as looking
for the Savior. That's our hope. Looking for
the Savior. Now, I want you to pay particular
attention to me on this point. The believer is one who looks
for his Redeemer with patience, yet anxious expectation. He looks for it. He Himself. We look for Him. We're not looking
for something. We're looking for Him. Unto them
that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto
salvation. It's He Himself who is our hope.
He was made a curse for us. He bore our sins in His own body
on the tree. He died for our sins, Paul said,
according to the Scripture. He was buried and rose again
according to the Scripture. He's our righteousness. He's
our intercessor. He's our surety and mediator. He is the way, the truth, and
the life. And I tell you this, it's Christ
in you, the hope of glory. Is He your hope? That's the believer's hope. Why
would he look for Him? Because He is my hope. That's why I look for Him. I've
got no hope apart from Him. You hoping that someday, like
these cartoons and things, that you're going to go up there and
meet Saint Peter at the gate and all that kind of nonsense?
No, you're going to stand before Him, not Peter. You're going
to stand before Him. You're going to see Him. You're
going to be brought into His presence. And He is my hope. I don't have anything apart from
Him. He's my righteousness. He's my sin offering. He's my
hope. I've got no hope. They put this
body in a box and bury it out here in a hole. I've got no hope
of coming out of that hole apart from Christ. If He don't speak,
Lazarus is going to stay in the tomb and stink. That's all He's
going to do. Christ is my hope. And He's in us. Christ in you,
the hope of glory. In you by the Spirit of revelation. In your speech and in your conviction
and in your walk. He's in your doctrine. He's in
your attitude and conduct. And He's in your thoughts and
motives. And He's in your hopes and desires. It's Him. It's a
person. It's a person. And it's by His
manifest presence in this world that God Himself is made known. We know God as we know Christ.
And it's through Him that our citizenship is in heaven. Were it not for Christ, we'd
have no desire, no reason to go there. Most people, if they
knew what heaven was about, wouldn't want to go there. Huh? I've had folks tell me after
I preached, well, my God wouldn't do like that. Well, you'd be
miserable there then. Huh? You'd be miserable there. Apart from Christ, we'd have
no desire, no reason to go there, no foundation to believe that
we could, apart from Him. God chose us in Him, made provision
for us in Him, redeemed us in Him, called us by His name. None
other name given under heaven among men, whereby you must be
saved. You're going to be saved under
His name, by His name, through the merits of His name, or you're
not going to be saved at all. And everything pertaining to
our present joy and happiness is in heaven. It's not here. It's not here. Our treasure, our glory, our
blessedness, all are preserved in heaven for us who are kept
by the power of God. Peter said we have a lively hope.
What's he mean? A living hope. He lives. Our hope is a person. He lives
and he's seated at the right hand of God. And He's our treasure and our
glory and our blessedness. And He's preserved in heaven
for us who are kept by the power of God through faith to an inheritance
incorruptible, undefiled, that fadeth not away. Now here's the
heavenly citizenship. It's of them who look for the
Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now this word, look, is a strong
word in the Greek. It's a strong word. And it's
a mysterious word, and no one word in the English language
can really translate what this word means. This word look. It's mentioned in the original,
that original word is found seven times in the New Testament. Five
of the seven times, it's not translated look, it's translated
wait. Wait. And it means to wait. and to expect fully. To wait and to expect fully. Now listen to this. In Romans
8 verse 19, he said, waiting for the manifestation of the
sons of God. Every time he uses this word,
it's in relation to this last day. It's in relation to that
time when Christ winds things up, comes back to this earth,
calls His elect, It raises us from the dead and takes us up
to be with Him in glory forever. And it's waiting, he said, all
creation is waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God. That's the
same word as that word look. All creation is waiting. It's waiting for this. It's looking
for this. It's being preserved to this
end. In Romans 8.23, it said, waiting
for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our bodies. In
Romans 8.25, he said, then do we with patience wait for it,
if we have this hope. In 1 Corinthians 1.7, it said,
waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. And in Galatians
5.5, it said, we wait for the hope of righteousness. And then
he uses it again, and he uses it with this word, look, in Hebrews
chapter 9, verse 28. It said, unto them that look
for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation. So this word, look, is a strong
word. Now, let me ask you something. Are you looking? Huh? Are you expecting? Do you look with fascination
and wonder? Are you ready for Him to come?
Do you look for it? Do you desire it? Is that where
your hope is? To whom do we belong? Who do we belong to? Oh, I tell you that. Do we live
with a looking expectation? Is it a deep-seated, abiding
expectation? Does this hope spill over into
your thoughts? God gives you full measure. He
said, press down and run it over. When it runs over, does it spill
over into your thoughts? This hope, this expectation.
Does it spill over into your daily affairs? Does this hope
spill over into our thoughts and deeds and attitudes and characters? Does it have a quickening effect
on you? Don't you feel alive when you
think on Him? That's that quickening effect
of the Gospel. Does it have a purifying effect
on you? Peter said, John said, every
man that hath this hope in him purifies himself even as he is
pure. We're talking about a deep-seated
looking with fascination, with expectation for Christ. Does this looking separate you
from this world? Does it keep you calm in the
midst of trouble? Does it leave you with a new
view of life? Does it expose to you the vanity
of self-righteousness? Does it expose to you the emptiness
of legal reform and worldly philosophy of man's reasoning and logic?
Does it cast a glorious light over you, turning everything,
all these troubles in your life, into sunshine? Does it bring purpose and reason
to every circumstance? Does it tranquilize you and make
you calm in spite of trouble? Do I look with expectation unto
heaven to my Lord, or is my citizenship here?" You're beginning to get
some understanding what this thing of citizenship means, don't
you? Our state right now is a blessed
state, and our hope is all together in Christ, and it's of the heart. And then thirdly, the text speaks
of a great change. There's already been a change,
hasn't there? But he talks about a great change, don't he? There's
already been a change, a change of mind, and a change of heart,
and a change of manners, and a change of authority, a change
of direction, and a change of understanding. But, oh, what
a glorious change he talks about here. He's going to change these
bile bodies. Let me give you about four things
here about this change. First of all, he tells us what's
going to be changed. He said he's going to change
these vile bodies and fashion them like unto his glorious body. He will in that day change these
vile bodies because it'll be the only thing left that needs
changing. Because we're going to see him
as he is. We're going to close our eyes in death and await in
His presence. And in that day, the only thing
going to need change is this old tent. And He's going to change
it. He's going to change it. And
then secondly, we've got a nature. We have the nature of the change
here. Transformed, transfigured. Our Lord went up on that mountain
and was transfigured before their eyes. And He become white and
glistening. They looked at him and they said,
oh, they're looking at Moses and looking at Elijah and looking
at Christ. And they said, let's just build
three monuments and stay here. We don't want to go back there.
Oh, what a change. What a change. And while it might
be the same in its outward appearance, this body will undergo a great
alteration. Everything that's poor, we're
poor and needy anyway. Everything that's poor and needy.
Weak and carnal, dead and cursed, and obnoxious, they're going
to be taken away. Done away. Done away. No more crying. No more pain. No more sickness. No more ignorance. No more limitations. Immortality. No sin. This mortal must put
on immortality clothes. No sin. Unreprovable, Paul said
in his sight. Not even a chance of being reproved. Huh? Perfection of holiness. And then thirdly, we've got the
model of the change. He's going to change us like
unto Him. Like unto Him. I can't even imagine. I can't even imagine. Nathan,
standing right there. Just like Him. Just like Him. Like unto His glorious body.
Whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed
to the image of His Son. God has determined it. God has
predestinated it. And I guarantee you that's what
it's going to be. We'll be like Him, Paul said,
for we'll see Him. as He is. And then, fourthly,
the text gives us the author of the change. It's the Lord
Himself. The Lord Himself. He who made
this body is going to renew it. Don't you feel comfortable with
that? I mean, I go here to get operated on, I want to see credentials.
I want to see some D.D.' 's and B.D.' 's and whatever else they
got after their name. I want to see some credentials.
I don't want somebody to make a mistake and the janitor come
out in that little blue seat and start operating on them.
I want to know who's doing the operating. Christ does the operating
here. Up all my soul. He who took dust and formed man. is going to take that dust to
which we go back to and form us anew. Behold, he said. Boy, when he says that, you need
to take note. Behold, he said, I make all things new. I do. I do. I used to build houses, and somebody
used to ask me all the time, now when you come to this building,
he said, you going to farm that out? Christ don't farm this out. He does it himself. He does it
himself. There'll be a great change take
place in that day. In a moment, in the twinkling
of an eye, at the last trump, the trumpet shall sound and the
dead shall be raised incorruptible. And we shall be changed. Huh? Is that how you live? Do you believe that? Is that
what your hope is or we just talk about that because we feel
scared? Is that what we believe? I tell
you, if we believed that, we'd be chomping at the bit to be
there. Nothing could tie us down to
this world. I want to be there. There. Now, what's the power behind
this change? Look at this. It's the same power
manifested in the first creation. All of the change in the believer
is owing to the power of God. There's a strange power that
comes over a sinner when the Holy Ghost begins to convince
him of sin. We all have those momentary guilt
feelings. I've had them since I was old
enough to remember. I do something and then you get
that little guilty feeling on your conscience. God convicting
you of the sin. You get that. But it goes away.
It goes away and you do it again. And you do something else and
you get that guilty feeling, you know, and then it goes When
this comes, when conviction of the Holy Spirit comes, it don't
go away. It don't ever go away. The only thing that can quiet
that conscience is the blood of Christ. It's a strange power
manifesting in man. It comes over him when the Holy
Ghost begins to convince him of sin. And it might at first
seem like a troubled conscience, but the guilt don't go away.
Not something he can lay aside. Not something he can put off.
It stays there. It stays there in his sleep,
and in his wake, and in his work, and everything he does. He can't
get rid of it. Not something he can set aside. It's an irresistible
force, an invisible power, and it worketh him in him. That's
what Paul says. It's God working in him, both
the will and the do of his good flesh. It's irresistible. That's why we call the work of
the Holy Spirit irresistible, because you can't set it aside.
Paul prayed for the Ephesians to know the hope of God's calling
and to know the exceeding greatness of His power to us that believe. To be a believer is to be raised
from the dead, to see things that others cannot see, to have
affections others do not have, to be willing while others are
not willing. My people, he said, shall be
made willing in the day of my power." They're willing while
others are not. They bow to an authority others
will not acknowledge. They're moved by a force that
they cannot see. Having not seen Him, Peter said,
we love Him. Believing is not just acknowledging
some facts or making a decision or walking an aisle. Believing
is a work of grace in the heart. And it brings us to altogether
hope in Christ. It's to a heavenly citizenship.
Paul said he came and preached to them who were far off, talking
about those Gentiles. And he also preached to them
that were near, talking about those Jews. And through the Christ
he preached, he said, they both found access to the Father by
the Spirit. By the Spirit. Now, he said in
Ephesians 2.19, therefore, you're no more strangers and foreigners,
but you're citizens. Ain't that what he said? Citizens,
fellow citizens of the saints. You got rights in this country
if you're a citizen. Huh? You got rights here if you're
a citizen. You got promises here if you're
a citizen. You got liberty here if you're
a citizen. You see what he's talking about?
He made us fellow citizens with the saints and of the household
of God. Believers are a new creation.
It's not just a social change or a moral reformation or turning
over a new leaf. All their eggs have been put
in one basket. It's all in Christ. And Christ
is in heaven. And we look to Him because that's
where everything they hope in is. And when we worship, we worship
Him. When we pray, we pray to Him.
Where's our desire? We know we're not going to be
here. I guess you know that. You don't be here very long.
If the Lord lets me live as long as my dad in 22 years, I'm history. I'm history. That ain't very
long. That ain't very long. We hope in Christ. The Sadducees'
doctrine of denying a resurrection penetrated some of the local
assemblies and courts. And the way Paul defended this
truth, it's very revealing to this thing I'm trying to teach
you this morning on this citizenship. He didn't use cunning arguments
or mysterious prophecies that lead men up to their own imagination. Well, that might be talking about
that, it might not, and they go over here to someone. That's
not what Paul said. Here's what Paul said. If there
be no resurrection, Christ not raised, because his hope was
in Christ. And his hope in Christ was based
on that resurrection. God raised him from the dead.
And he took those disciples out there to the hill, and they watched
him step up on the cloud with the angels and ascend into glory.
That's their hope. That's the Christian hope, is
the hope of the resurrected Christ. And he said, if there be no resurrection,
then Christ is not raised, because He is the resurrection. And if
Christ be not risen, my preaching is in vain and so is your faith
if you believe what I preach. And if Christ be not risen, our
faith is in vain and we're getting our sins because He was delivered
for our offenses and raised again for our justification. So if
He be not risen, John, I'm still my sins. And all those who have left this world, have perished
forever, he said, because he who is the resurrection is the
hope of their resurrection. The reason believers hope for
change in that great day is because they have the earnest of that
change already manifest in their heart. They've already experienced
the change. They have the earnest. We who
do believe have been sealed, he said, by the Holy Spirit of
promise. What promise? That promise of
quickening, that promise of eternal life, that promise of being with
the Father. You've already been sealed with
the Holy Spirit of promise. He causes us to affectionately
hope in Him, rejoice in Him, and see the glory of God in Him,
and find rest in Him for our souls. And he says in Ephesians
1.14, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption
of the purchased possession. That's that body. He purchased
it and he ain't going to leave it in the ground. He bought it.
And he's going to have what he bought. Unto the praise of his
glory. So I hope it's not in this frail,
fickle flesh, but it's in him who has brought us out of death
and darkness into his marvelous light. And those whose lives
are lived looking unto Him who is the author and finisher of
our faith and who have become strangers and pilgrims in this
world are citizens of the heavenly Jerusalem. John said, I saw,
I saw that holy city coming from God down out of heaven. I saw
it. You know why he saw it? Because he was looking for it.
He was looking for it. He works in us according to the
working He says in our text, whereby He is able to subdue
all things unto Himself. And as He called Lazarus out
of that tomb three days dead, He'll call all those who sleep
in the earth and change their vile bodies like unto Him. There's
three things that God gives us to drive away our fears, expose
our unbelief, and give us a strong assurance before God. He gives
us, first of all, the accomplishments of Christ. He accomplished redemption. He
accomplished it. He came. He did the work. God
raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand,
and now He dispenses the benefits. You're not going to get any benefits
unless the price has been paid. That's why I know the price is
being paid. He dispenses the Holy Spirit. He dispenses the
preaching of the gospel. And then secondly, He gives us
the gift of the Holy Ghost, the new birth. That's the earnest
of our inheritance, faith and repentance, the revelation of
truth, the preaching of the gospel, of good hope through grace. He's
already dispensed His mercy. Paul said, our gospel came not
unto you in word only, but in power, and in the Holy Ghost,
and in much assurance. And then thirdly, we've got His
Word. Think about that. Paul wrote to Titus and talked
about the faith of God's elect, which acknowledges the truth,
which is after godliness, and hope in eternal life. Now listen,
which God who cannot lie promised before the world. Glenn, you
can take God at His Word. Take Him at His Word. God's Word
is personified in Christ, and God cannot lie any more than
Christ could fail to do the work. For one promised to fail, God
would have to cease to be God. And we've got a glorious hope,
a living hope, a lively hope, whoever liveth to make intercession
for us. And He's our guarantor, He's
our surety, He's our Redeemer, and He's our God. God help us
to live like we believe that. Huh? To look for it, to hope
for it. If it's just fiction, if it's
just a thought, we're just wasting our time. But if it's true, then
let's lay the other aside and live like we believe it. God
help us to do that. Father, bless our time together
this morning. Take these words and make it
a comfort to our hearts. And for those who've never seen
your mercy and your grace, your goodness, who've never experienced
this sovereign power, this changing of the heart and the mind and
the soul, be pleased to do it this morning. For Christ's sake,
amen.