The Christian's Hope

Introduction: Returning to Philippians and the Context of Warning

0:03 This sermon was preached on Sunday morning, December 13th, 1981, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. Now, after a digression of One Lord's Day, we return this morning to our studies in Paul's letter to the Philippians, Philippians chapter 3, and I would urge you to follow in your own Bibles as I read, beginning with verse 17 of chapter 3, and conclude the reading with verse 1 of chapter 4, Philippians 3 and verse 17.

0:59 Whose end is perdition, whose God is the belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things. For our citizenship is in heaven, whence also we wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall fashion anew the body of our humiliation, that it may be conformed to the body of His glory, according to the working whereby. He is able even to subject all things unto Himself. Wherefore, my brethren, beloved and longed for, my joy and crown, so stand fast in the Lord, my beloved. Now let us again seek the face of God for the help of His Holy Spirit, as we seek to understand the mind of God in this portion of His Word.

2:04 Our Father, as we bow before You and before Your Word, we remember that Word which comes to us through the writer of the Proverbs, that if we would seek for Your truth as for hid treasure, if we would lift up our voices and cry for knowledge, then we would understand Your fear and come to the knowledge of Yourself. And, O Lord, we do now come, lifting up our voices, crying for light and for understanding, praying with the psalmist, open our eyes, that we may behold wondrous things out of Your law. And yet, O Lord, having cried to You and confessed our dependence upon You, we do pray now for grace that we shall give ourselves with undistracted attention to searching out the way of the Lord. Searching out the meaning of Your Word, knowing that light and understanding will not come to us in a way of mental indifference or of mental distraction. Help us then to concentrate all of our faculties upon Your Word, and by the Spirit give us that light and understanding which no amount of human concentration and endeavor could ever bring to us. Hear us, Lord, and meet us as we seek,

3:33 to deal with Your Word in the way of Your own appointment, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. As we attempt this morning to open up verses 20 and 21 of chapter 3, let me take just a moment to remind you of the specific setting of these words. Having concluded his warning against the evil influence of the Judaizers, the Apostle goes, on in verses 17 to 21, to give an equally sober warning about another equally dangerous group of people whose influence could be tragically detrimental to the spiritual well-being of the Philippians. Now these people are described in verses 18 and 19 in terms of their primary character traits, and those traits are sensuality, whose God is the belly, shamelessness, they glory in their shame, and worldliness, they mind earthly things. And then their true influence is set forth in these words, they are the enemies of the cross of Christ. While professing to be its friends and recipients of its saving grace,

4:56 they are in reality enemies of the cross, for anyone whose character is dominated by sin, sensuality, shamelessness, and worldliness, while claiming to be a recipient of the Christian message, is an enemy of that message itself. For the cross has come to destroy sin, not to encourage men to go on in sin with no fear of judgment and of punishment. Now against this dark backdrop of the presence and influence of these sensual, sensual, sensualists who nonetheless claim adherence to the Christian faith, the apostle exhorted the Philippians to follow the example of his own life and of himself and his companions and all who pattern themselves by those norms. And so in verse 17 we have the words, be imitators together of me and mark them that so walk even as you have us for an example. Now the connection of all of this with verses 20 and 21 seems to be this. I'm giving you a kind of a paraphrase to show that connection.

The Christian's Homeland: Citizenship in Heaven

6:15 The apostle says, follow me and all those who live as I live. I give this admonition because of the bad example of those who walk in a manner opposed to all that we have taught you and shall not do. The crowning mark of these evil men is that they mind earthly things. Such a perspective and lifestyle is the exact opposite of what it ought to be for as true Christians we are citizens of heaven.

6:54 So you see the transition from the warning about the sensualist is very naturally made after the apostle gives as the, the crowning expression of their character that they mind earthly things. He states by contrast for our citizenship is in the heavens. And from that point goes on to amplify those things which characterize the true people of God. And in these two verses we have basically two categories of thought.

7:29 We have what I am calling the Christians homeland. Designated and secondly the Christians hope described first of all then the Christians homeland designated and it is designated in these words for our citizenship is in heaven. Now the word translated citizenship in the 1901 edition and in most modern translations is found nowhere. Nowhere else in the entire New Testament and so if we are to ascertain its meeting meaning it is difficult to do so by comparing scripture with scripture for the simple reason the Holy Spirit nowhere else moved another biblical writer to use this precise word. Now in the family of words of which this is a part we do have several usages in the New Testament. In fact we have the verbal form of it in chapter one in verse twenty seven where Paul says to conduct yourselves as citizens in a manner that is worthy of the gospel but there is no other usage of this particular word and so though we cannot be dogmatic or as certain

8:48 as we can be with respect to the meaning of other biblical words we are quite safe in assuming that citizenship conveys the proper idea because of its common use in certain secular literature and in the light of the fact that as a Roman colony the Philippians would probably quite readily grasp its meaning. For many of the Philippians Rome was their homeland as free born Roman citizens their homeland was Rome and they understood the concept of being foreigners who were in a land of Rome. And so they understood the concept of being foreigners who were in a land of Rome. And so they understood the concept of being foreigners who were in a land of Rome.

9:33 And so they understood the concept of being foreigners who were in a land of Rome. And so they understood the concept of being foreigners who were in a land that was not their homeland they understood what it was to be citizens of another realm and Hendrickson commenting on this very fact writes very perceptively and I want to read just a paragraph do citizens of Philippi think of Rome as their native land to which they belong in whose tribal records they are enrolled whose dress they wear whose language they speak by whose whose laws they are governed whose protection they enjoy and whose emperor they worship as their savior that of course would be the non-Christian Philippians well in a sense far more sublime and real these Christians dwelling in Philippi must realize that their homeland or commonwealth has its fixed location in heaven and so Hendrickson underscores. This principle that coming from Rome many of these Philippians would understand the concept of having a citizenship in a homeland that is not presently one's place of dwelling but a citizenship nonetheless which

10:52 colors one's whole perspective on life and so the Christians true homeland is described in our text as heaven. The Christian is a citizen of heaven here and now and the apostle to underscore this does not use the simple to be verb our citizenship is in heaven but he uses a form of the verb which underscores that it presently has real subsistence we have a real homeland and that real homeland is heaven as surely as a Philippian who had been born in Rome. And had been transported to the colony at Philippi had a real homeland called Rome and real and powerful and extensive relationship to that homeland and so the identity of the homeland of the people of God is nothing other than heaven itself they have been born of heaven's grace they are endued with heaven's power. They.

12:05 They are governed by heaven's laws and they are marked for heaven's glory and the people like that are described in our text is those who citizenship is in heaven and this has always been the true citizenship of the people of God in every epoch of God's dealings with his people with all the limitations of light and revelation in the old economy. And even before the unusual amount of revelation given at the time of Moses the writer to the Hebrews can say of our brothers and sisters in faith reading now Hebrews 11 13 through 16 these all died in faith not having received the promises but having seen them and greeted them from afar and having confessed that they were straight.

13:05 They were strangers and pilgrims on the earth they knew that earth was not their true homeland they were strangers and sojourners well what was their true homeland for they that say such things make it manifest that they are seeking a country of their own and if indeed they had been mindful of that country from which they went out they would have had opportunity to return but now they desire a better country. That is a heavenly one where for God is not ashamed of them to be called their God for he has prepared for them a city and here the writer tells us that God is not ashamed to own as his true people those who acknowledge that this world is not their home that their true citizenship is.

The Christian's Hope: Focus on the Savior

14:05 In heaven and so we have first of all then the Christians homeland designated and it is nothing other than heaven but then he launches into what I am calling the Christians hope described and in this description of the Christians hope there are two major and dominant ideas we have first of all the focus of his hope look at it in the text. What is the. Focus of the Christians hope for our citizenship is in heaven whence or from which place also we wait for a savior the Lord Jesus Christ what is the focus of the Christians hope is described in this passage well it is nothing less than an eagerly awaited and longed for.

15:05 Person look at the text from which place all see wait not for this blessing or that blessing or this commodity or that commodity we wait for a person and so the focus of the believers hope is nothing less than this eagerly awaited and longed for person now this. Word we wait is a word which means to wait with full attention with perseverance and with great desire it's the word used three times in Romans eight with respect to the eager awaiting of the redemption of our bodies it's the kind of thing we often see if we watch any kind of a newscast in which we are given a clip of what happened when an unusually dignified.

16:08 Person was coming to a specific place and crowds were gathering waiting for the arrival of that person now it may be poor deluded and I say that without meaning to be pejorative I said with a broken heart poor deluded young people who've made Mick Jagger their God or some other rock star and I could weep whenever I see the film clips of how the crowds will wait sometimes literally through the entire. Night hoping that when their God their wicked lawless with drugs God comes they can get up on their tiptoes and just be close enough to see him and you see the eagerness the longing the yearning that counts the loss of a whole night's sleep as inconsequential or it may be someone who's utterly taken up with a certain political figure or a man of great eminence and someone worthy of that.

17:14 Kind of adulation from the human side but we've all seen that where people are up on their tiptoes and their neck stretched out eagerly looking and waiting and longing that's the picture of this verb. The focus of our hope is this eagerly long for an awaited person and notice how he is set before us he is set before us as savior which points to his gracious work. And. As the Lord Jesus Christ which points to his glorious and dignified identity and in the language in which Paul wrote this matter of his being the savior is thrown forward for emphasis he does not say from which place we eagerly await a savior he says from which place a savior we eagerly await. In other words.

18:15 All of the attention is upon the one who is coming but coming primarily in his capacity and function as a savior and the word savior as many of you know means a deliverer one who rescues from danger and secures the safety of the one whom he has rescued and so the apostle says in essence. Having known him here on earth. As a mighty savior and we think back through the chapter the one who has delivered us from that terrible oppressive notion that by our own doings we can somehow hope to attain a righteousness before God the savior who has brought us to rest in his own perfect righteousness the savior who has clothed us in that righteousness which is his own. That one.

19:15 He says is the one whom we look for we are on tiptoes stretching out our necks and concentrating our attention upon that one who will come out of the place of our citizenship who will come out of heaven with the voice of the archangel in the trump of God and he will come in his gracious capacity as a savior. Now that's an amazing thing for in other places. It is evident that when he comes he'll come not only as a savior but as a judge with feet of brass to tremble underfoot all of his enemies and utterly to crush them or in the language of second Thessalonians one he'll come in flaming fire to take vengeance on his enemies and yet Paul says for us who are the people of God. Our hope is that he will come.

20:14 And when he comes we who have known him here and now as a savior will know him then as one who will accomplish his climactic saving work even the full redemption of our bodies well having pointed to that person in his gracious work with the use of the word savior then he identifies him in his glorious person by his full title the Lord. Jesus Christ and that title Lord points always in two directions the dignity of his divine personage Jesus is the Jehovah of the Old Testament and the New Testament is full of the Jehovah ism of Jesus and then it also points to the exaltedness of his position. He is born Lord unto you is born.

21:14 This day in the city of David a savior who is Christ the Lord and he is Lord in virtue of the dignity of the fact that he is Jehovah incarnate and yet Peter can say this same cry Jesus God has made him Lord and Christ and there is another dimension of Lord ship to which he comes by virtue of his humiliation and his obedience unto death. And. And that is messianic Lord ship the Lord ship of that position given to him as the reward of his sufferings in which all things have been placed under his feet and so this eagerly awaited person is our savior yes but our savior in all of the dignity and glory and power of his Lord ship but he is the Lord Jesus that name pointing to the reality of his incarnation.

The Christian's Hope: Fruition in a Gloriously Transformed Body

22:14 To the historicity of his saving acts it is Jesus who died who was buried and who was raised again from the dead on the third day and he is the Christ the anointed one God's great and final prophet priest and king who fulfills all that God has promised with respect to the mission and the activity of Messiah. So then the focus. Of the Christians hope is the eagerly awaited person but then he tells us something about the fruition of this hope fruition meaning something coming to its fulfillment look at the language of the text verse twenty one who shall fashion a new the body of our humiliation that it may be conformed to the body of his glory according to the work.

23:14 King whereby he is able even to subject all things unto himself as surely as the focus of the hope is an eagerly awaited person according to verse twenty one the fruition of our hope is a gloriously transformed body a gloriously transformed body. Now of all. All of the things glorious things which the Lord will do as savior at his return the one that is highlighted in this context is his activity in glorifying our bodies and if we find that a bit surprising it's only because we do not think biblically about the body and its place in redemption now the first thing you must notice in the passage is the marked contrast between.

24:14 What our bodies now are and what they shall become at the return of Christ look at the contrast how does he describe our bodies in their present condition who shall fashion a new the body of our humiliation now the old authorized translation our vile body gives an entirely erroneous concept as though the body were something intrinsically evil. Now we know that is not true for man as a body soul entity was made in the image of God and any demeaning of the body is a demeaning of God himself and so we must never think as the body or of the body as some vile end of a carcass that we want to throw off so that we can break out into the true liberty of true spirituality.

25:15 No no the proper translation is the body of our humiliation this word is the one that is used in Luke 148 and is translated the lowest state of thy handmaiden in the verbal form it's the constant word or your word constantly used standard word for being humbled and so it is the body of our humiliation. That is the body which is now marked by humiliation it is a body in this general state of weakness of suffering of sickness and the ultimate humiliation of death and of the grave in this present condition it is often the instrument not the seat but the instrument of our sinful acts and desires the Bible speaks of.

26:15 It speaks about our presenting the members of our body instruments of unrighteousness unto sin well you see the sin does not reside in the members or you could not present them unto it they'd be presenting themselves to themselves sin resides in the soul but when it makes its demands even in a Christian so often the members of the body come into play as the vehicle through which the sin is committed and that becomes the occasion of humiliation we're ashamed that a body that is the temple of the Holy Ghost purchased at the price of Christ redemption a body in which we long to serve him with all the heart mind soul and strength not only is it a body of humiliation because of its weakness but also so often a body of humiliation because of the sin that is carried on in that body that's what our body is.

27:15 These now are but now what will those bodies become look at the contrast fashioned or conformed to the body of his glory by a divine activity these very bodies of humiliation shall be conformed to the body of his that is Christ's glory now we know very little in terms of the specific details of what the body of Christ's glory is that body which he now has at the right hand of the father the body that is identified with his glorification but one thing we do know is that there is no weakness no suffering no liability to death that body is perfectly suited for the perfect life of that perfect life. 23.

28:25 24. 25. 26. 27.

28:37 28.

28:43 29. 30. 31. 32.

28:44 33. 34. 34. 35.

28:45 35. 36. 46. 37.

28:47 37. 38. 49. I simply mention that in passing for your own meditation and reflection.

28:53 Suffice it to say that glory will be the dominant reality in contrast with humiliation. That's why Paul can say in Colossians 3, 4, When Christ who is our light shall appear, then shall ye also be manifested with him in glory. Or in Romans 8, If we suffer with him, we shall be glorified together with him. And no little part of that glory is the glory of a transformed body.

The Power for Transformation: Cosmic Omnipotence

29:30 Now not only are we directed to note the marked contrast, what our bodies now are, bodies of humiliation, what they shall become at the return of the Lord, bodies of glory. But note the power. By which the change will be effected. You see, the biblical doctrine of the resurrection of the body is often a stumbling block to people.

29:56 They say, now wait a minute. Are you saying that the Bible teaches that this very body in which the people of God now live and weep and work and pray, the body that is laid in the earth, that that body is the body that shall be raised up, that there is some kind of identity and continuity between what goes into the ground and what is raised in glory at the last day? We say, well, that's the teaching of the Bible. Then they say, oh, but wait a minute.

30:27 What about that Christian who was eaten by the lions back in the early days of the Christian faith?

30:35 And his body was shared by ten lions. And later on, the lions died and were eaten by the vultures.

30:46 Fifty vultures. So now you've got one. One Christian, ten lions, fifty vultures.

30:52 Oh, and people do talk this way. Oh, they say, wait a minute. What about that person who died at sea? That Christian who died at sea and was thrown overboard and was eaten by ten sharks?

31:06 And ultimately the sharks as they died were eaten by other sharks. You mean to tell me you actually believe that there will be some kind of continuity between the body that was thrown overboard and the body given at the last day? That is impossible!

31:25 Paul anticipates such objections and notices language. This will be done literally according to by the measure of what? By the measure of the working whereby he is able even to subdue all created reality to himself. In other words, there is cosmic omnipotence committed to bringing this to pass.

31:57 Cosmic omnipotence. He is able to subdue all creation. This galaxy is under his power.

32:16 So that's why a Christian is not shaken when someone comes up with his story about the body to the lions or his body to the sharks. Let me illustrate it this way. Suppose we had in our congregation this morning a famous mountain climber. The most famous mountain climber alive today.

32:37 And we were told on good authority that this man had conquered the highest and the most difficult peaks by the most difficult routes of every strategic mountain in the Himalayas, in the Alps, in the Pyrenees, in the Rockies, and that all of those famous mountain peaks which came down from the mountains which can count up into the dozens noble, adventurous souls who've lost their lives in the pursuit. He's conquered them all.

33:12 How do you think he would feel if someone told us they were going for a picnic tomorrow over to South Mountain Reservation just a few miles from here. And some of you who've been there know it's got a hill that goes up about 200 feet, a gradual slope, a lovely hill to slide down on with a toboggan. Can you imagine how you would feel if someone got nervous taking him for the picnic when someone said, let's walk up the side of the hill? Well, I'm not quite sure our friend can make that.

33:38 You know, that's a pretty big hill. You know, I mean, that goes up all of 200 feet over a course of about a quarter of a mile. You'd say the man would be absolutely insulted if he didn't think you were a fool.

33:52 A man that's known to have conquered all of the mighty mountain peaks by all of the most difficult routes. What is it to climb up a 200-foot hill in South Mountain Reservation? You argue from the greater to the lesser. If he has done the greater, surely he can do the lesser.

34:09 And that's what Paul is doing here. Don't let this assertion of the believer's hope being one of having this body of humiliation transformed into the body of His glory, conformed to the body of His glory, don't let that stumble you, because this is the Christ who by the working of His own power is able to subjection, all created reality to Himself. And in the language of Colossians 1, in Him all things hold together. It's by His power that all that holds the galaxies together is held together.

34:50 It's by His power that the entire universe is governed. And for Him to do something which will result in continuity between this body of humiliation, long after its disintegration and the absorption of the cells that then were into a thousand other things, that is no stumbling block to a man of faith. I know standing here today, I'm told, and I take it in faith because they seem to know what they're talking about, that I don't have in this body right now one cell that was present even ten years ago. They've all been replaced.

35:29 And yet I look at that scar on my wrist and I remember as a ten-year-old, when I got that scar. Now you tell me that's not the same scar I got when I got cut ten years ago. I'm ready to fight.

35:40 That's my scar in the same place where I foolishly cut myself with a razor blade at age ten. So kids, don't play with your daddy's razor blades.

35:50 And that nose is the same nose I've had from the first time I was conscious that I had it.

35:59 Anyone want to argue that? No. There is continuity. There is a body that is real and undeniable to our consciousness.

36:08 And yet it's an entirely different body. I can't explain that. Well, if I can't explain what I can see and live with, then I'm not under any pressure to explain precisely how this body of humiliation will have continuity with the body that shares in His glory. It is enough to know that that job is in the hands of a Savior who is able to subdue all things, and that's all I need to know.

36:38 If there's a Savior who could penetrate the darkness of my sinful mind, who could penetrate the adamant, the stony-like state of my sinful heart, who could come to me in my rebelliousness and pride and without doing any violence, as a creature with moral consciousness and the consciousness of choice, if He could so work on me, as to change the judgment of my mind and the bent of my affections and the set of my will to make me an utterly... in a manner I cannot begin to explain, then surely that mighty power that worked in me to give me spiritual life can work in me and in you, child of God, to transform the body of your humiliation like unto the body of His glory. Well, so much for...

Relevance and Self-Evaluation: Heaven, Savior, Body

37:37 what the text says. And I trust I've been honest with the words of the text. It sets before us our true homeland and then our true hope is the people of God. Now, what is the relevance of all of this to us?

37:54 And as we bring the message to a focal point in your own consciences this morning, let me suggest that the message is this. As the Apostle contrasts the kind of perspective which regulates the thinking, the thinking of the true Christian from that of the sensualist and sets before us in a most amazing way three of the most significant elements of true saving religion, he's giving us a wonderful basis of personal self-evaluation. What are the three dominant ideas in verses 20 and 21? Heaven, the Savior, and our bodies.

38:35 Aren't those the three dominant ideas? Our citizenship is in heaven from whence we wait for a Savior who shall fashion our bodies. The three dominant ideas are heaven, the Savior, and our bodies.

38:56 And in a very penetrating way, the Apostle, in the use of these three dominant ideas, lays out the heart of what true biblical Christianity is all about. And I want...

39:10 I want to press some questions upon you this morning in the light of that. The first one is this. What is your actual relationship to heaven? What is your actual relationship to heaven?

39:23 In true biblical Christianity, heaven is not just our ultimate destiny to which we believe our Lord will bring us by His grace. Heaven becomes the dominating and regulating power for our lives here and now.

39:45 You see, He did not simply say our destiny is heaven. He said our citizenship is in heaven because where a man's citizenship is, there his ultimate loyalty lies.

40:01 The laws of his homeland are regulative wherever possible. The desires of his heart are in the direction of his homeland soil. That's why Jesus could speak of His own as those who do not lay up treasure upon earth where moth and rust are up, but they lay up treasure in heaven for where your heart is there, where your treasure is there, will your heart be also. You see the contrast with the sensualist.

40:31 If you were to come up to one of these characters described in verses 18 and 19 and say, you're going to heaven when you die? They say, sure. On what grounds? Oh, I trusted Jesus and His righteousness to take me there.

40:44 Oh, is that so? By what laws do you live now? Paul says they live by the laws of the passions and appetites of their flesh whose God is the belly. They live by the dictates of this present evil world.

40:59 They mind earthly things. In other words, though they said they were going to heaven when they died on the basis of what Christ did, there was no evidence that heaven had invaded their hearts while they lived. And a Christian, a Christian is a man who not only has heaven as his destiny, but heaven as the regulating power and principle of his life here and now.

41:30 Now, my friend, where are you? What is your actual relationship to heaven? Do the laws of heaven, do the principles of heaven, do the standards of heaven, do the realities of heaven, do these realities, do your heart, feet and hands and eyes and affections here and now?

41:56 Or is heaven just the place you think you're going to be whisked off to when you die?

42:03 If heaven is not in your heart now, it will never be your destiny then.

Relevance and Self-Evaluation: Personal Relationship to Christ

42:10 Then the second question I press upon you is this. What is your personal relationship to the Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior? You see, in our text, Paul indicates that the Christian's hope focuses on the Lord Jesus Christ. He focuses, on a person, an eagerly awaited person.

42:28 We eagerly await and anticipate a person. Why? Because whenever the Spirit brings a sinner to embrace the work of Christ, he always draws that sinner into a loving, believing attachment to the person of Christ. And you never have one without the other.

42:50 The Holy Spirit never brings a sinner into the position of possession of the benefits of Christ's work without bringing that sinner's heart into communion with Christ's person. 1 Corinthians 1.9 God is faithful by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son. You were called, yes, to obtain the blessings of His redemption, the wonderful benefits of His death and resurrection, yes, but you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Himself.

43:28 And now if we have this communion of love and attachment to Him, it is inevitable that there should be longing for Him. That's why Paul can so naturally describe the infant faith of the Thessalonians in this language. 1 Thessalonians 1.9-10 1 Thessalonians 1.9-10 For they themselves report concerning us what manner of entering, in we had unto you, how you turned unto God from idols, to serve a living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven.

44:13 Now remember, these were not people who'd been Christians for 20-30 years. They were baby Christians. But Paul says, wherever I go, I start to open my mouth and say, hey, have you heard the wonderful thing that happened in the few weeks we were at Thessalonica preaching the gospel? Paul says, no, the minute I go to open my mouth, they start telling me what happened.

44:33 And this is what they tell me. We've heard the news, how that they turned to the living God from their idols. And the whole posture of their life is now characterized by an eager awaiting of His Son from heaven. That's why Peter can say in 1 Peter 2.8, Whom having not seen ye love, in whom believing, wherever there is a believing attachment to Christ, there is a loving, a loving attachment to Christ. That's why Paul can say in 1 Corinthians 16.22, If any man loves not our Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema.

45:11 Now let me ask you the question, friend. What is your personal relationship to the person of Christ?

45:18 You claim to be saved by His work for sinners.

45:23 Is there evidence of attachment to His person in love?

45:29 Is there? He said, If you love me, you will keep my commandment. He has told us, He that loves me not keepeth not my sayings. You see, you cannot separate faith in Christ from the love that inevitably flows out of that faith and the obedience that flows out of that love.

45:53 So a Christian can be described as a believer in Christ, a lover of Christ, and a subject to Christ.

46:03 Now, do all three describe you? Do they?

Relevance and Self-Evaluation: Practical Relationship to Your Body

46:11 If they don't, you have no biblical grounds to take upon yourself the name of a Christian. And then we have the third question. What is your practical relationship to your body?

46:24 For this too is a telling question. Growing out of the former things, Paul described two Christians as marked by a practical relationship to their bodies that had two dimensions to it. On the one hand, they are humbled by it, by its present condition, but they are excited by its future prospects.

46:49 They are humbled by its present condition. It's the body of our humiliation. Now, you see, the sensualists, they didn't have a body of humiliation. Through their bodies, they gave expression to all forms of sensuality, and then instead of being ashamed of it, they gloried in it.

47:06 Oh, we are so free in Christ, we can indulge the body in all of its appetites. Didn't God give us these appetites? Didn't God give us these passions? Aren't we saved by the work of another?

47:17 What we do is of no account before the court of heaven. But you see, a true Christian, though he recognizes that his body is presently the temple of the Holy Ghost, he knows that that treasure is in an earthen vessel, and he groans being burdened using the language of 2 Corinthians 5. It's the body of his humiliation. It's the occasion of humiliation.

47:42 And yet at the same time, he's excited by its future destiny. It's going to be conformed to the body of his glory, whom he did foreknow, and this is the same word in the original, he did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son. That word conformed is the one used in our text this morning. Conformed to the body of his glory.

48:05 What will total conformity to Christ be? Will it be only moral, internal, conformity of the soul or the immaterial part of us? No, thank God for that. But it will find its glorious expression in conformity to the body of his glory.

48:29 Think what it will mean to have a heart that has no distracting elements carrying out all of its holy impulses in a body that never grows weary. Think what it will mean, child of God, to have fully sanctified ambitions and aspirations and longings and a body able to carry them all out without a moment's distraction or dullness or weariness. That's enough to make you want to pray. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.

49:04 From whence we wait for a Savior, oh, that he might come and do what? Fashion anew the body of our humiliation like unto his own glory. Glorious body. So you see, on the one hand, the Christian does not demean the body.

49:20 He knows it has inherent dignity, but he faces realistically the input of sin and the reality of sin and the present state of an imperfectly completed redemption and it's the body of humiliation. But unlike those who think in a pagan manner, he does not treat the body as though it were something unworthy, of care and consideration. He knows it's marked for this glorious destiny of being transformed like unto the body of his glory. And the scripture says, every man that hath this hope in him purifies himself even as he is pure.

50:06 The Christian says, look, this body is marked for the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. I dare not make it the willing instrument of sin. I dare not give it to the service of uncleanness. With such a hope, I must, by the grace of God, go on in the path of progressive sanctification.

50:30 So I ask you those three simple questions this morning. What is your true relationship to heaven?

50:39 What is your personal relationship to the Lord Jesus? What is your practical relationship to your body? The apostle describes true Christians with respect to those questions in our text. They acknowledge their true homeland, their citizenship is in heaven.

51:01 And with that destiny before them, their hope is that the Lord Jesus will come and that when he comes, he will transform the body of humiliation like unto the body of his glory.

Addressing Objections: 'Pie in the Sky' and 'No Earthly Good'

51:20 Someone says, well, it sounds to me, Pastor Martin, that's nothing but old pie in the sky by and by religion.

51:30 Well, if it is, my friend, that's the only religion that will get you to heaven and you better not despise it.

51:37 You say, well, I'd like a religion that offers a little more pie here and now. Well, you'll have to make your own.

51:44 But it won't take you to heaven when you die.

51:49 You and I are not in a position to be dickering with God.

51:54 Some may say, but Pastor Martin, won't that make people so heavenly-minded they're no earthly good? Well, would you like to say that was true of the Apostle Paul? Did he do a little good while he was alive?

52:09 You bet your boots he did. I have not yet met a person who was so heavenly-minded he was no earthly good. But I've met thousands who are so earthly-minded they're no heavenly good now or in the world to come.

52:23 That's a big bugbear. That's something that doesn't exist. Because the more heavenly-minded a man is, and living in communion with Christ and contemplating the world to come, the more he's determined that here and now he will live in such a way as to bring glory to the God of heaven, to reflect submission to the laws of heaven, and to do all he can to prepare his many people to go to heaven with him. And you live that way, my friend.

52:55 And that's doing an awful lot. Oh, may God make us heavenly-minded in the light of this passage. Our citizenship is in heaven. Whence also we wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall fashion anew the body of our humiliation conformed to the body of his glory.

Call to Embrace Christ and His Hope

53:19 If that's not your hope, my friend, it can be yours. But it's only yours in the Lord Jesus. Amen. All of the blessings of his salvation are in him.

53:29 And you must have him, or you cannot have those blessings. But they are set before you in him, in the gospel. And God tells you that they are yours if you will have him. If you will turn from your pride and your rebellion and self-centeredness and embrace him, then all of these blessings that are in him will be yours.

53:54 My friend, you're going to die. You've got a body that ought to cause you humiliation. It's going to rot in the grave. But oh, how wonderful to face the inevitable rotting of the grave with the perspective of certainty that one day that grave will yield the remains at the return of the Lord Jesus Christ.

54:17 And a body sown then in humiliation will be raised in glory, sown in weakness, raised in power, sown a natural body, raised. A spiritual body. That's the language of 1 Corinthians 15. May the Lord grant that you will give yourself no rest until you know that that is to be your portion.

Pastoral Prayer

54:38 Let us pray.

54:48 Oh, our Father, as we contemplate the reality of sickness, weakness, and death itself, how grateful we are that we need not, as those in the world, to put these things behind us because we don't like to think of them or try to chuck ourselves under the chin with empty words and platitudes. But we thank you for the sure and certain hope of the resurrection of the dead, that because our great head has gone before us and conquered and has come forth with a body of glory, we thank you that he is the firstfruits of all who sleep in union with him. And it surely, as Joseph's grave no longer holds him, our graves will no longer be able to hold us when he returns. Oh, we thank you for the hope that is ours. We pray for those who have lost loved ones and who must face the reality of that frightening severance which death brings.

56:00 God, give them joy and confidence and renewed hope. As they meditate upon the things they have heard this morning. And we pray for us, your people. May it be evident that we are not only a people who claim to be on our way to heaven as our destiny.

56:20 But may it be evident we are true citizens of heaven now, living by its laws, under the government of its king. Our lives framed by its perspectives. Oh, our God, deliver us from becoming worldly. Either in a very obvious or in its more subtle manifestations.

56:42 We pray that your word will do its sanctifying work in all of our hearts. Hear our prayers and receive our thanks for your presence with us this morning. These mercies we plead in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.