In that passage of scripture
I just read, we have a New Testament picture of Christ. Now this is
given to speak of Paul's Roman citizenship, and Paul was born
a Roman citizen in God's providence and in God's purpose. Everything
about you is a part of God's providence and God's purpose. And Paul, being a Roman citizen,
was enabled to appeal to Caesar, and the gospel was preached in
Rome because of his Roman citizenship. Now, the Lord said, you search
the scriptures, and in them you think you have eternal life,
and they are they that testify of me. When he said that, the
New Testament had not yet been written, but it would be written. And this is just as inspired
as the Old Testament. And there are events, several
events in the book of the Acts that provide us just like an
Old Testament type of Christ. And this is one of them. And
I pray that the gospel will be preached very clearly from this
passage of scripture. Now, if you were a Roman citizen,
you had rights and privileges that other people did not have. you were treated differently. If you were a Roman citizen,
the Roman empire was so vast and powerful. And some of the
peoples that it conquered were given Roman citizenship, even
though they weren't born in Rome, they were given the privileges
of Roman citizenship. And if you were a Roman citizen,
you were protected by the Roman government. You were protected
by the Roman armies. You couldn't just be brought
into a trial and condemned and done away with. No, you were
protected by the Roman court system and you were given special
privileges. And we read that with regard
to Paul. Look in Acts 23 verse 24. The chief captain commanded him
to be brought into the castle And they then that he should
be examined by scourging. Now, what that means is you're
going to be beat with the cat of nine tails, scourged until
you say what they want to hear. It was a form of torture. And as they bound him with thongs,
Paul. said unto the centurion that
stood by, is it lawful for you to scourge a man that is a Roman
with all the privileges of Roman citizenship and uncondemned? Look back in Acts chapter 16. Verse 36, and the keeper of the
prison told this saying to Paul, the magistrates have sent to
let you go now there for depart and go in peace. But Paul said
to them, they'd beat this openly and uncondemned being Romans.
and have cast us into prison. And now do they thrust us out
privily? Nay, verily, but let them come themselves and fetch
us out. And the sergeants told these
words unto the magistrates. They feared when they heard they
were Romans, we could be in real trouble out of this mistreating
a Roman citizen. Now in this passage of scripture,
Verse 25, as they bound him with thongs, Paul said to the Centurion
that stood by, is it lawful for you to scourge a man that's a
Roman and uncondemned? They knew they could go to jail
for doing that. They would be in real trouble. Verse 26, when
the Centurion heard that he went and told the chief captain saying,
take heed what thou doest for this man is a Roman. He has the
privileges of Roman citizenship. You can't treat him this way. Then the chief captain came and
said unto him, tell me, are you a Roman? Are you a real Roman
citizen? He said, yes. And the chief captain answered,
well, with a great sum obtained I this freedom. I mean, he paid
a whole lot of money to become a Roman citizen. And he said,
I obtained this privilege, this right with a great sum of money. And Paul said, and I can just
kind of imagine the way he said it, I was born free. I was born
that way. Then straightway they departed
from him, which should have examined him, which should have tortured
him. They had to get out. And the chief captain also was
afraid after he knew that he was a Roman. and because he had
bound him. Now this story is a beautiful
gospel type. And I hope the Lord will give
us the grace to see this and that his gospel will be preached. Now the details here of the privileges
of Roman citizenship are not recorded just so we would know
the customs of ancient Rome and what a benefit it would be if
you were a Roman citizen. But we're going to learn the
gospel as clearly as I know how to preach it from this passage
of scripture. Now, Paul did say our citizenship
is in heaven, didn't he? We have a citizenship. and our
citizenship is in heaven. We have, every believer has a
citizenship that the natural man does not have. If you are not a Christian and
the person sitting beside you is a Christian, they have privileges
that you do not have. There is a big difference. Now, the believer is a stranger
here. My citizenship is not of this
world. That's why I don't get too upset
over what happens or what doesn't happen. I'm not a citizen of
this world. I'm a citizen of the heavenly
kingdom. The writer of the Hebrews said,
we have a city whose foundation and builder and maker is God. And he said, here we have no
continuing city. And don't you know that you're
a stranger and a pilgrim here? Now a Roman citizen had rights
and privileges that other men did not have. A difference was
made. Is that obvious? They couldn't
punish Paul because he was a Roman citizen. A Roman citizen had
rights and privileges that other men did not have. And a great
difference was made between a Roman citizen and everybody else. Now the same is true of heavenly
citizenship. Now, who are the citizens of
heaven? Well, turn with me to Hebrews
chapter 12. This is a real easy question to answer. Hebrews chapter
12, verse 22. But you are come unto Mount Zion,
unto the city of the living God. The heavenly Jerusalem, to innumerable
company of angels, to the General Assembly and Church of the Firstborn,
which are written in heaven." Now, who are the citizens of
this city? The elect. It really is that
simple. The elect. Those whose names
are written in the Book of Life, of the Lamb slain from the foundation
of the world. God, and this is what the Bible
teaches, God, before time began, chose a people, and He made a
difference with them. These people are the elect. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 4,
verse 7, who are the elect? Those God chose before the foundation
of the world to be saved. Now, it really is that simple.
The elect are those God chose before the foundation of the
world to be saved. 1 Corinthians 4, 7 says, who
made you to differ? If you're a believer, if you're
a citizen of this heavenly kingdom, if you have these glorious privileges
of salvation, who made you to differ? And what do you have
that you did not receive? What a difference God has made
for the citizens of this city. God chose them before time began. Christ died for you. Your sin became his sin. He willingly took it upon himself
and he put away your sin and made it to where you don't have
any sin. And God the Holy Spirit comes in time and gives you life,
spiritual life that was not there before he did this. God has done things for these
citizens and given them privileges of grace that he has not given
to the world. Now, I want to be careful when
I say this, but I want to say it right. The Christian is true
royalty. Peter put it this way. You are
a chosen generation, a Royal priesthood. A holy nation. A peculiar people. Loved and saved by God. Let me show you how the Lord
makes the difference with these people. Turn to Romans chapter
9. Talking about Jacob and Esau.
Twins. in the same womb. Verse 11, for the children being
not yet born. Now, all this took place before
they were born, neither having done any good or evil. That the purpose of God, according
to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth. It was said unto her, the elder
shall serve the younger as it's written, Jacob have I loved,
but Esau have I hated. That is God's word. That is the truth of God. That is not up for debate, but
Paul understood what every one of us will naturally think. When we hear this, you thought
this, if you don't, now you used to, if you do now, I hope this
will be helpful. Paul anticipated the objection
men would make. He knew he made the objection
himself. He said, what shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness
with God? Is God unfair? Is it not right
for God to make a difference with one over and above the other? Is that wrong on God's part? Is it fair for God to give his
grace to some and not to all? Now that's what the scripture
teaches. He doesn't give his grace to everybody. Is that fair? Because our natural response
is, and this was my natural response, that is not fair. Well let me give four answers
to that. Number one. Me and you don't want fair. If God is fair, and that's all
he is, you and I will burn eternally in hell. That is fair. So you do not want fair. When you make that objection,
that's not fair. Watch out. God may give you what
is fair. You do not want what is fair. Secondly, since when are you able to sit
in judgment on God and declare what you think is fair and voice
your disagreements with him? He's God. He's holy. He's other. You're not fit. I'm not fit to
sit in judgment on him and say, I don't think that's fair. Nay,
but who are you, O man, to reply against God? Shall the thing
formed say unto him that formed it, why hast thou made me thus?
Now listen to me, you and I, I'm not just talking about you,
I'm talking about me and you, we have no right to sit in judgment
on God and say, I don't agree with that. You lack the ability
to do that. You're a sinner. You can't see
things as they are in the first place. No man has the ability
to sit in judgment on God. So number one, you don't want
fair. Number two, you don't have any way that you can stand in
judgment. You judge God? That's ridiculous. That's offensive, isn't it? Number
three, God is not giving people what they don't want anyway.
Now stay with me. God is not giving people what
they do not want anyway. Is that unfair? Well, I hate
God's way of saving. Actually, I hate him when it
comes right down to it, if that's the way he is. I won't worship a
God like that. I hate his grace. I hate his
way of salvation. I hate the way he saves in a
way where Christ gets all the glory and none goes to me. I
hate being saved by the righteousness of somebody else and mine, that
deviant in their end. I don't agree with that, but
what a shame that he's not giving it to me. That's unfair. Since when is that unfair for
him to not give you what you don't want anyway? And that is
the truth regard to every son of Adam. If you're not saved,
It's because you didn't want to be saved on God's terms. You
didn't want to be saved by his grace. You had no love for his
way of saving. And it certainly is not fair.
You know, in any other scenario, that kind of thinking just wouldn't
fly, wouldn't it? I hate you, but it's not fair
that you don't do this for me and you, we'd never think of
anything like that in any other scenario, but this, and here
we have, uh, people objecting to God, not giving them what
they hate and what they don't want anyway. And here is the
fourth statement I want to make with regard to this. Everybody
listen real carefully. God will meet you on the ground. You want to come. If you want to come on the ground
of your own works, he'll meet you there. If that's what you
want, he'll meet you there. If you want to come on the ground
of pure, free grace without having anything to do with your works,
if you want to come to him on that ground, he'll meet you there.
You see, there's never ever been anybody that came to him for
mercy that he turned away. It's not going to happen. Never
has happened. Never will happen. And God will meet you on the
ground you want. If you want to come to him based
upon what you think is fair. Okay. He'll meet you there. I
wouldn't recommend that. But if you come on the ground
of pure, free grace for Christ's sake, he will meet you there. Is there unrighteousness with
God? God forbid. Now, every citizen of this heavenly
kingdom It's free. Now we were not free by our natural
birth by nature. We're in bondage the way we're
born into this world. And this is real simple. We're
in bondage in two ways. We're in bondage to our sinful
nature, our evil nature, and we're in bondage to the law.
What's that mean? You've got an evil nature, I've
got an evil nature that we are in bondage to. And the very idea
of free will is ludicrous. Your will is controlled by your
nature, your sinful nature. To say that your will is free
is to say your will is unbiased and uncontrolled by sinful nature. And there's no such thing. No
such thing as free will. You are in bondage to an evil
nature that you can't change. You can't make yourself better.
Not only is the natural man in bondage to an evil nature, the
natural man is in bondage to the law. You know what that means? The law says everything you do
is sin. By the law is the knowledge of sin. Somebody says, I don't
agree with that. Well, it doesn't matter whether you agree with
it or not. So, you are in bondage to the law and you can't get
yourself out from under that. Why? I'm not gonna submit to
that law. Yeah, you are. either now or
later, but you're going to submit. And God's law has a demand over
me. And God's law has a demand over
you. It's God's law. This is not human
law. This is not some man-made law.
This is God's law. And all the law does is condemn
me and you. You say, well, I try to keep
it. Well, why didn't you do it? It's not enough to try to keep
it, you gotta keep it. You gotta be without sin. Somebody says,
how can I do that if I have an evil nature? You can't. You can't. And that's the way we're born
into this world under this twofold bondage. Bondage to our sinful
nature and bondage to God's law. We can't just up and say, well,
I'm not going to have that law over me. You don't have any choice.
It's God's law. This is not man's law, this is
God's law. A sinner by birth, a sinner by
nature, a sinner by choice, and a sinner by practice. You know what the Lord said in
John chapter eight, verse 36? Now here we are in bondage, but
the Lord said, if the son shall make you free. You are free indeed. What is freedom? No debts. I stand before God's law without
guilt. That's freedom. If you have any
sin, you're not free. The only way you're free is if
you are without sin, standing before the holy law of God without
guilt. Now that's free. Don't have anything
to worry about. I stand before God without guilt. And true freedom is getting to
do what you want to do. Not doing what you have to do.
Not doing what you're afraid not to do. True freedom is doing
what you want to do. If the Son shall make you free,
you are free indeed. Free from the law, free from
the curse of the law, free from the dominion of sin. Romans 6.14
says, sin shall not have dominion over you. And that word dominion
is Lordship. Somebody says, I feel like sin's
got a lot of dominion over me. Not if you're a believer, it
doesn't. Well, how, how is that? Well, there was a time when you
couldn't believe you can now. There was a time when you could
not love God. You do now. Why? Sin no longer
has lordship over you. Christ is your Lord. And sin
has no dominion over you. We have free and immediate access
to the Father. Paul said in Ephesians 3, 12,
in whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the
faith of Him. Let us come boldly This is every
believer. Let us come boldly into the throne
of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time
of need. We have all the promises and
blessings of God as our own because we have all of them. If the Son
has made us free. Now, understand for the Son to
make you free, He had to keep the law for you, give you his
righteousness so that you really have this perfect righteousness
before God. It's not pie in the sky. This
is your personal righteousness. And he's taken care of all your
debts. You owe nothing. And you serve
God because that's what you wanna do. That's what you wanna do. You see, he has changed your
want to. You still have an old nature
that doesn't want to, I realize that, but you have a new nature
that wants to. And you, your desire is to never
sin again, to be just like the Lord Jesus Christ. 1 John 4,
17 says, as he is, so are we in this world. Oh, he freely
serves God. He loves God. He stands before
God without guilt, without fault. He's altogether lovely to God,
his father. Oh, the glory of Jesus Christ,
as he is, so are we right now in this world. Now I am called upon as a free
man to believe the gospel, to believe that what Christ has
done has actually literally made me free. I'm called upon to believe
Romans 8 28, that all things really are working together for
my good, whatever it is. It's working together for my
good. Every aspect of the gospel is
the children's bread chosen of God, holy, unblameable, unreprovable,
justified, glorified. It's like this, if God be for
us, now this is what happens, this is what it is to be a heavenly
citizen. If God be for us, oh, who can
be against us? He that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all, has he not also with him freely
give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? Who is he that condemneth? It's
Christ that died. You see, this is the privileges
of heavenly citizenship. Now, what a privilege of grace
it is to have this heavenly citizenship. And don't anybody say, well,
it's not fair that I don't have it. You'll have it if you want
it. You sure will. If you come to
God for mercy and grace, you will be received. The Lord said,
him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. If you come
to Him, He won't cast you away. So don't anybody say, well, it's
a shame that I don't have it, that He hasn't given it to me.
If you want it, you'll have it. But if you want it, it's because
He's already given it to you. That's why you feel the way you
do. What a privilege of grace to
have this heavenly citizenship and shame on us that we could
be discontent murmur, complain, and be down in the dumps if what
I'm saying is true. You say, well, I murmur and complain,
so do I. So do I. But it ain't right,
is it? If God be for us, who can be
against us? Now let's go back to Acts chapter
20, 30. Or 22, I'm sorry, Acts 22. Are you a Roman? Yes, I am. Verse 27, then the
chief captain came and said unto him, tell me, are you a Roman?
He said, yea, I am. He's born one. You see God's
purpose in this. You see God's providence in this. So him being
born a Roman, he's going to be brought, if you go on later on,
he actually says, I appeal to Caesar. And he's brought before
the very court of Caesar because he was a Roman citizen. If he
was a Roman citizen, if he would have said, I appeal to Caesar,
you know what? They would have just killed him. Oh, you think
you can do that? I'll show you, you can't do that.
But because he's a Roman citizen, he has all this protection. Now
the chief captain answered, with a great sum. Obtained I this
freedom. Now, maybe he had saved for years
and years, because if you had enough money, you could buy Roman
citizenship. And you were given privileges
that nobody else had. You know, this freedom that the
believer has, it was obtained with a great sum. And you didn't
have anything to do with paying this price. I love that song
we heard this morning. Jesus paid it all. All the debt I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain. He washed it white as snow. Now the Lord Jesus Christ paid
that debt. God the Father took my sin off
of me and put it in his son, who his own self bear our sins
in his own body on the tree. And what did he do with that
sin? Hebrews 1.3 says, when he had by himself, no contribution
on my part or your part, when he had by himself purged, made
purification for, put away, made not to be our sin. He sat down
at the right hand of the majesty on high. It was with a great
sum that my freedom was purchased, and I didn't pay a penny of it.
Christ Jesus paid it all. Then Paul looked at that fella,
and I can't help but think he was almost thinking, I got something
better than that. Not better than that, he was
talking to the Roman, not about better than the blood of Christ,
he was just talking about the Roman. You paid this great sum, I got
something better than that. I was born free. I was born free. He was born into the family of
Roman citizenship. The moment I was born again,
now this is how, we're talking about the work of Christ for
you and the work of Christ in you. The work of Christ for you
is he paid that great sum. You know when James said the
end of sin is death? Remember that in James chapter
one? He said, when you're tempted,
don't say, man, I'm tempted of God. A man's tempted when he's
drawn away after his own lust. And sin, when it's conceived,
bringeth forth death. Look at the death of Christ,
that sin, when it's finished. He died. He paid the debt. There's nothing left to be paid.
That's the work of Christ for us. And the work of Christ in
us is being born free. Now, the moment I was born again,
I was born free, born with a holy nature, not in bondage to sin.
birthed by God, born of the Spirit, made a partaker of the divine
nature. The second I was born, I was
made meat for the inheritance of the saints and light. And
you know what that means? Right now while I'm speaking, there's
a vast multitude of people called the saints and light. And they're
worshiping Christ right now, singing the praises of the Lamb.
Do you know that right now, present tense, they don't have anything
that I don't have right now. Now they don't have a sinful
nature anymore. That's been put away. But they don't have anything
that I don't have, the holy nature that I will have in heaven, I
have right now. Now I can't see it because of
my sinful nature. It's still there, I realize that.
But I still have this holy nature and right now I am fit. for the
inheritance of the saints in light. The Lord's free man. Now as citizens of the heavenly
Jerusalem, we confess that we are strangers and pilgrims here. The world in our home is it.
That doesn't mean we don't enjoy things in the world. I can't
tell you the joy I got when the Beagles won today. I'm ashamed
that it affects me so much. Something that stupid. But, you
know, we're stuck in this world, and there's things about this
world we enjoy. You all know what a sports fan
I am, and I realize how vain and stupid it is, but that's
me, so live with it. One of these days I won't be
that way. It's not saying there's not things
in this world we enjoy, but I'll tell you what, as far as the
world's religion, the world's maxims, the world's way of thinking. I'm not a citizen of that. I
don't believe it. I'm a stranger and a pilgrim
in this world. My citizenship is in heaven,
where Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father, and
I am there with Him. Now, being a citizen of the heavenly
Jerusalem, I've been saved from the guilt of sin. I stand before God justified.
I've been saved from the power of sin. That's when God gave
me life and I was enabled to do what I could not do before.
Believe, love God, repent. That's the actions of the new
nature. But I haven't been saved from
the presence of sin yet. Nor has anybody else walking
in the face of this earth. But one day I'll be saved from
the very presence of sin, perfectly conformed to the image of Jesus
Christ. Here we have no continuing city,
but we're looking for one to come and we are heavenly citizens. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for the
heavenly citizenship. Our Redeemer has purchased for
us. How we thank you for the. Nature
of the citizen you have given us in the new birth that causes
us to hear and rejoice in the gospel and causes us to look
to Christ only. And Lord, we look forward to
that day. when we'll be in the heavenly
Jerusalem, singing the praises of the lamb, not even being aware
of the presence that sin ever was, except for seeing the scars
of thy son and knowing we're there because of him. In his
name we pray, amen. Dwight.