Citizens of Heaven (Part 1 of 2)

If you've lived in the same place in the same place in the same place in the same place in his death and so somehow to attain to the resurrection from the dead? Not that I've already obtained all this or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it, but one thing I do. Forgetting what is behind and straining towards what is ahead, I press on towards the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenwards in Christ Jesus. All of us who are mature should take such a view of things.

And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. Only let us live up to what we have already attained. Join with others in following my example, brothers, and take note of those who live according to the pattern we gave you. For as I have often told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their destiny is destruction, their God is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame, their mind is on earthly things.

But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body. Therefore, my brothers, you whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, that is how you should stand firm in the Lord, dear friends.

Amen. And now, before we turn to the Bible together, a quote from John Newton, and then a prayer from John Calvin. Newton, writing in the eighteenth century, said, I count it my honor and happiness that I preach to a free people who have the Bible in their hands. To your Bibles I appeal, I entreat, I charge you to receive nothing upon my word any further than I can prove it from the Word of God and bring every preacher and every sermon that you hear to this same standard. Now let us pray together. We call upon you, our good God and Father, beseeching you, since all the fullness of wisdom and light is found in you, in your mercy to enlighten us by the Holy Spirit in the true understanding of the Word. Teach us by your Word to place our trust in you and to serve and honor you as we ought, so that we may glorify your holy name in all our living and edify our neighbors by our good example. May we render to you, O God, the love and obedience which children owe to their parents, since it has pleased you graciously to receive us in Christ as your children.

Amen. Well, it's not quite a tradition, but it is becoming increasingly customary for us to turn to this particular passage in Philippians 3 on or around the fourth of July. And particularly to one phrase that you will find in the twentieth verse—indeed, one sentence—that begins verse 20 of Philippians chapter 3, but our citizenship is in heaven. As thankful as we should be and as thankful as we are for all the benefits and privileges we enjoy as citizens, or at least as residents, of the United States, the Bible speaks of a citizenship that transcends all the ties that are earthly, that are geographical, or that are national. And my concern in coming to this morning, increasingly as the day approached, was to bear a burden that was on my mind, and the burden fell in terms of a question, and the question that came to me was, Do your people know who they are? Does your congregation know who it is? Do they have a sense of identity? And how, if asked, would they identify themselves?

I know that in the sixties it became customary to go in search of ourselves, and people still today talk about looking for themselves and so on. We're not thinking in those terms—not in terms of personal angst, my place in the universe—but rather, seeking to understand what it means when Paul writes concerning citizenship in heaven. When, in that phrase, he provides us with an indication of our identity, and in that identity a discovery of security, and in that security all of our significance and all of our dignity. We're going to employ those three words in just a moment, but for now let me remind you that Paul is writing from prison in Rome. He's writing to Philippi, to a church that he loves. We might actually say that he loves this church as much or more than any church that he was privileged to found. And Philippi is almost like a little Rome.

If we had been there, we would have discovered that architecturally it looked like Rome, linguistically it sounded like Rome, culturally its practices were marked by Rome. And Paul recognizes that there is a wonderful analogy in this, insofar as the people who lived in Philippi actually belonged somewhere else. And picking up on that as he writes to them, he speaks of those who, while living here on earth, actually belong to another place who find their citizenship in heaven. And the terms of endearment that run through the four chapters of this letter are hard to mistake. Indeed, the congregation would have to be pretty dead to fail to respond to their pastor when he addresses them with such endearment and such love.

Look, for example, at verse 1 of chapter 4. Therefore, my brothers and sisters, you whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, that is how you should stand firm in the Lord, dear friends. If you had a schoolteacher who greeted you that way on a Monday morning, and now class whom I love and long for, whom I have missed all weekend, who are my joy and my crown, whom I love to tell about everywhere I go, goodness gracious, the class would just be sitting up so tall in its seats! As opposed to some teacher comes in and says, You know, you are a miserable bunch. You never finish your homework. You never show up on time. I don't know what I'm going to do with you.

I don't think any of you will become anything at all, you know. And everybody just goes slower and lower and lower into their seats. Listen to how Phillips paraphrases this statement here. So, my brothers and sisters, whom I love and long for, my joy and my crown, stand firmly in the Lord and remember how much I love you.

Just remember how much I love you. Now, this is the relationship of pastor to people. This is as it should be. And so it is that we come this morning to the text of Scripture.

I have the privilege of addressing you in this capacity. I long to do so in the same measure and with the same deep sense of concern that we as a congregation, as individuals, might understand our identity, our security, and our dignity as being in the Lord Jesus Christ. That is the objective. If we succeed, then it will be time for a hymn and on towards lunch. Three words.

First word, identity. Now, it's important that you keep your Bible open and your finger in your Bible. And if you turn back a page in Philippians to the first chapter, you will notice that he has barely begun his letter before he employs one of his favorite descriptions or definitions of a Christian. Verse 1, chapter 1, to all the saints—and here's the phrase, In Christ Jesus.

In Christ Jesus. Here is the nature of the Christian's identity. Remember, classically, in 2 Corinthians 5.17, he writes, If anyone is in Christ, he or she is a new creation. And it is this phrase that Paul employs, as you read through his letters, some one hundred times or more. It is a parallel phrase to that which, for example, we find in chapter 2 and in verse 1, if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, when you go into chapter 3 and then into chapter 4, you will discover that he also employs another parallel phrase, and that phrase is, In the Lord.

Okay? So, In Christ Jesus, united to Christ, in the Lord. All of this speaks to the question of the identity of the one whose citizenship is in heaven. Becoming a Christian is defined as being in Christ.

So the real question always, for anybody considering the Bible and its claims, inevitably comes to this. Am I in Christ? Am I in Christ?

If someone says to me, How do you identify yourself? you would say, I am in Christ. I am a Christian. Now, Paul works this out in various places in 1 Corinthians 15 and classically in Romans chapter 5.

And I want you to turn to it with me for just a moment, because unless we understand this, we will go immediately and sadly wrong. In the book of Romans, Paul is making clear that the whole world is accountable before God, that none of us has a claim upon God, that although we may have missed the mark only by two and a half inches or missed it by two and a half miles, we have all missed the mark. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, and no one will be able to protest their innocence before God. The wonderful thing he then goes on to say is that despite the depth of this dilemma, God has come from the outside and provided for us what we need in a Savior, and that when we are justified by faith, we have peace with God. In other words, when we are declared to be in the right with God, then we know peace. That by nature we're alienated from God, he is angry, and we are rebellious. Jesus has come, interceding on behalf of those of us who are rebellious against God, and he bears in his own body the anger of God against all of our rebellion, and he settles the charge that is against us.

That's what he's arguing as he goes through. By the time he gets to chapter 5, he is beginning to make this clear. And from verse 12 on, he makes this classic statement concerning the nature of our lives. So verse 12, he says, just as sin entered the world through one man and death through sin—when people ask you, Where did death come from? The answer is, It came from sin. If they ask you where sin came from, the answer is, It came through one man.

That's what he's arguing. What he's saying is this—that Adam, the first man, was appointed by God as the representative of humanity. Therefore, what Adam did counted not only for Adam but counted for all whom Adam represented—namely, the totality of humanity. So Paul says, since sin has entered through that one man, we have sinned in him. We needn't be unduly concerned about blaming it on Adam, because we're sure each of us made perfectly clear that we've got a good handle on sinning left to ourselves.

What we are by nature, we are also by action. Now, if you look down at verse 18, he makes this point very clearly. Consequently, just as the result of one trespass—or, if you like, the trespass of one—just as the result of the trespass of one was condemnation for all men, so also the result of the act of righteousness of one, or one act of righteousness, was justification that brings life for all men. For just as through the disobedience of the one man—that is, Adam—the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man—namely, Jesus, the second Adam, or the last Adam—the many will be made righteous. Now, it's not our purpose to work all of this out this morning, but what we need to understand is this—that this is the foundation for, if you remember from school, when you had to do Milton's Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained.

Not my favorite time in English literature, but nevertheless, we gritted our teeth and we made our way through. What in the world was Milton on about? He was on about this, actually, in his own way and style—the fact that humanity had fallen into sin as represented in Adam, and that the only way out for all of humanity was to be found in that second Adam, namely, in the Lord Jesus Christ. When you read 1 Corinthians 15, which you may do at your leisure, you discover that Paul is making the point there that Jesus is the second or the last Adam who has come to undo all that Adam did by the fall and to do all that Adam failed to do on account of his disobedience. So, if you like, he is Adam in reverse—undoing what Adam did and regaining what Adam lost. And that is the significance of being in Christ. We are all in Adam by nature, but we are only in Christ by faith. You see the significance of identity. You see how easy it is for us to think of ourselves in terms that make us feel okay about ourselves in superficial, transient passing ways while failing to recognize the great need that is represented in our lives of being in Christ.

Do you understand what I'm saying? It is only when we're in Christ that what Christ has achieved—what he has accomplished in his death for sinners, in his living of a perfect life—it is only when we're in Christ that it becomes of any practical benefit to us. And you know that if you have come to Christ—because before you were a Christian, whether you were growing up in your home, and your parents told you, and Jesus died upon the cross for sinners, and he lived a perfect life, and we were accepted on the basis of his righteousness—we just nodded our heads. If people would sing, In Christ alone my hope is found, he is my light, my strength, my song, and we realize we've gone through four or five lines of it, we haven't a clue what we just said. But now when we sing it, it means everything to us. In Christ alone my hope is found, he's my light, he's my strength, he's my song, he's my solid ground, he's my only hope in life and in death.

Why do I sense this? Because you are in Christ! Because all of the blessings and benefits that have been accomplished in Jesus have been applied to your life as you have come to trust in Christ. And that is Paul's personal testimony, isn't it, in chapter 3?

You can read it again for yourselves at home. He says, if you want to think about acceptance with God in terms of personal righteousness—and a number of you apparently want to put up your hands and say yes—then he says, I can tell you that I had that covered in the extreme. If you want to hear my credentials, they are as follows. I was circumcised on the eighth day. I was part of the tribe of Benjamin. I was born as a citizen of Israel.

I grew up in this way and so on. And then he says the most remarkable thing. But whatever was to my profit, I now consider loss.

Something has happened to him. This morning I was thinking about this as I drove here, and I thought of the song that begins, A debtor to mercy alone. And then I went and found it. And let me just give you a… This is Augustus Toplady in the eighteenth century. Here is the testimony of somebody who is in Christ, who understands their identity. A debtor to mercy alone. Of covenant mercy I sing. Nor fear, with your righteousness on, My person and offering to bring. The terrors of law and of God with me can have nothing to do. Oh, who do you think you are? The terrors of law and of God with me can have nothing to do.

Oh, I want to hear the next line, Augustus. You must be one special person. You don't fear the judgment of God? You don't fear death? I mean, you're singing that In Christ Alone song, no guilt in life, no fear in death?

Where does that come from? The terrors of law and of God with me can have nothing to do. My saviors' obedience and blood hide all my transgressions from view. I am in Christ. Therefore, I am viewed, in one sense, by God as being as righteous as Christ. As righteous as Christ. Because the only righteousness I have is the righteousness of Christ. Has nothing to do with what I'm doing.

Everything to do with what he has done. There is no story like it. Anywhere else. Except in the Bible. We're listening to part one of a message from Alistair Begg titled, Citizens of Heaven. You're listening to Truth for Life. Our teaching today touched on an extremely vital question. Am I in Christ?

Maybe you're not exactly sure of your answer. If that's the case, I want to invite you to the Learn More page on our website. There you'll find a brief video from Alistair that explains the gospel. You'll also find an illustrated presentation that explains God's plan for our salvation.

Simply visit truthforlife.org slash learn more. If you listen regularly to Truth for Life, you know that we carefully select books to help you deepen your relationship with God. Books that you can read on your own or with a small group. Today we're recommending a book written by Alistair Begg. It's titled, Pray Big, and it comes with a companion study guide. Both the book and the accompanying study guide help us explore the Apostle Paul's prayers for his fellow believers in Ephesus. And the thought-provoking questions in the study guide make this perfect for group study. Pray Big is a short book, but it's not one you'll want to read quickly.

Alistair suggests you read a chapter a week and then spend the rest of the week putting Paul's example into practice in your own prayer life. You can even commit to praying for the members of your small group. Request your copy of the book, Pray Big, when you donate to support the teaching you hear on this program.

Giving online is easy. You can visit our website, truthforlife.org slash donate. And if you'd rather mail your donation along with your request for the book, Pray Big, write to us. Our address is Truth for Life, Post Office Box 398000, Cleveland, Ohio.

The zip code is 44139. I'm Bob Lapine. Tomorrow Alistair continues looking at our citizenship in heaven, unpacking two more benefits that are grounded in our identity in Christ. Is there anything we can do to earn them or to lose them? Find out Friday. The Bible teaching of Alistair Begg is furnished by Truth for Life, where the Learning is for Living.