Focusing on Expectations (Philippians 3:20–21) John MacArthur

Let's open our Bibles this morning to Philippians  chapter 3, Philippians chapter 3. We return for   part four of this series out of this chapter  called "Reaching for the prize," pursuing   the prize. The text to which we have given  our attention for several weeks is verses   17 through 21. Let me just remind you of that  text by rereading it for you, Philippians 3:17:   "Brethren, join in following my example  and observe those who walk according to   the pattern you have in us; for many walk  of whom I often told you and now tell you   even weeping that they are enemies of the  cross of Christ, whose end is destruction,   whose God is their appetite and whose glory is  in their shame who set their mind on earthly   things. For our citizenship is in heaven,  from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior,   the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform the body  of our humble state into conformity with the body   of His glory by the exertion of the power that  He has, even to subject all things to Himself."

Going back from verse 17 which we just read all  the way back to verse 14, we focus on the key to   this passage. Paul says, "I press on toward the  goal for the prize of the upward call of God in   Christ Jesus." We're talking about pursuing the  prize, pursuing the goal, living your Christian   life in such a way that it demonstrates that your  single great passion is to be like Jesus Christ,   that's the prize, that's the goal Paul so lived.  If you go back in to verse 8 he said, "I count   all things to be loss in view of the surpassing  value of knowing Jesus Christ my Lord for whom   I have suffered the loss of all things and count  them but rubbish in order that I may gain Christ."   In verse 10 he said, "I want to know Him. I want  to know the power of His resurrection. I want to   know the fellowship of His sufferings. I want to  be conformed to His death." In verse 11 he said,   "I want to attain to the resurrection from the  dead." And that brought him in verse 13 to say,   "There's only one thing I do," verse  14, "I press on toward the goal."

You see, Paul lived a life pursuing Christ's  likeness. That's what we've been noting in   this passage. Christ's likeness must be  the pursuit of every believer. It is the   single basic duty of every Christian. We live,  however, in a sort of non- committal time period.   I received a letter this week from some people  asking me to speak at the National Religious   Broadcasters Convention and they said, "We are  deeply and greatly concerned about the apathy   in the church, the indolence in the church,  the seeming lack of passion in the church and   would you please let us have it?" Is the way  they put it, as if I'm not in enough trouble,   now they want me to get in trouble  with all of the religious broadcasters,   which I will gladly do. That kind of  trouble is my piece of cake in some ways,   I guess. But they're greatly concerned  about what they see as the pervasive apathy.

We live in what Sorokin called a sensate  culture. That is a civilization that is much more   concerned about pleasant emotions than it is about  productive efforts. We are much more in to comfort   than we are in to accomplishment. And I believe  that this sensate culture has produced a lazy,   indolent group of people. In fact, you can  simply note by the increasingly burgeoning   population of quote/unquote the homeless, how many  people are not interested in productive effort.   We live in a society that is fast moving  toward nothing, absolutely nothing,   without goals other than personal  comfort, lack of responsibility,   lack of accountability, seeking  comfort rather than accomplishment.

And I think it spills over into the church. And  I think the church today suffers from apathy,   a lack of commitment. We have forgotten that  we are in a holy war and that we as soldiers   of Jesus Christ must wear the armor. In Ephesians  6:14 Paul said we are to put on the belt of truth.   The first thing a soldier put on when he went to  battle, he had a tunic, just a piece of material,   he wouldn't go in to hand-to-hand combat with that  material flying around, it would get in his way,   could be the cause of his own death. And so  the first thing he would do would put a sash   or a belt around his waist, tie it as tight  as he could, take the corners of his tunic,   pull it up through the belt so that it wouldn't  incumber his leg as he moved swiftly across the   terrain in hand-to-hand combat and tied it all  down tight so it wouldn't get in his way. And   the belt of truth really could be the belt of  truthfulness, in the text, and it has to do,   I think, with the seriousness of one's attitude  about battle. It's not really a piece of armor in   the sense that it can't protect you directly,  it's not a weapon. But it does indicate that   you're serious about the battle and you're tying  up the loose ends of your life. Before you take   the machaira, which is that dagger of the Spirit,  before you take the shield and the breastplate,   you've got to be sure you're serious about the  battle and that belt of truth or truthfulness or  

sincerity or commitment means you are devoted to  the struggle and you are devoted to the victory,   you are devoted to pursuing the goal. We've  said much about this. And I don't want to   belabor the point in general, but we are called  to follow the goal of being like Jesus Christ,   that is the goal and that is the prize  that God will give us in the end. Now, Paul suggest for us in verse 17 as  he concludes this section some necessary   elements in this pursuit. Element number one  is to follow after examples. Verse 17 he says,   "Brethren, join in following my example  and observe those who walk according to   the pattern you have in us." In other words, if  you're going to be pursuing Christ's likeness,   you've got to have somebody to follow,  somebody who shows you how to pursue that.   And that's the role of spiritual discipleship,  spiritual leadership, follow after examples.

The second thing, and we noted this last time, was  to flee from enemies. Verses 18 and 19 introduce   us to the enemies of the cross of Christ. They  must be avoided at all costs because their end   is destruction, their God is their appetite,  their glory is in their shame and they set their   minds on earthly things, they cannot lead you  in the right path. Please note what I told you   last time. They're enemies of the cross but that's  not how they identify themselves. They invariably   identify themselves as friends of the cross.  Therein lies the subtlety of their deception. Now we note for you in verse 18 there are  many of them, he says many walk this way,   that he often warned them about such and was so  passionate about it that even as he pens this he   is presently weeping. This is of major concern to  Paul as to other New Testament writers...avoid,   flee from the enemies of the cross. I suggested  to you last time that he could have in mind with   regard to the Philippians two different groups.  One could be the Judaizers of whom he wrote in   verses 2 and 3, the Judaizers who said, "Yes,  we believe in Christ, yes we believe He died,   yes we believe He rose, but we also believe  that salvation must be attained, partly Christ,   partly you, it's Christ plus circumcision, Christ  plus keeping the Mosaic Law." So they added works  

to the cross and thus they were the enemies  of the cross. That is, hostility toward the   cross. The claim of Revelation, that is the  claim of the Word of God, is that the work   of Christ on the cross is sufficient, there  is no need for human works to be added to it. So the Jews, the Judaizing Jews were enemies  of the cross because while affirming the   cross they were adding works for salvation  and they could be described in verse 19,   each of those elements of description  could describe the Judaizers, there end   would be destruction because if they add works  to salvation or add works to grace, I should say,   then there is no grace and salvation does  not occur. Their God being their appetite   could refer to their preoccupation with dietary  laws, or it could refer to the fact that they   were doing whatever their own lusts dictated  to them to do to accomplish things for their   own glory. Their glory in that same verse  is in the thing they should be ashamed of,   that is the effort to add works to grace. They  set their mind on earthy things like feasts and   festivals and circumcisions and ceremonies and  so forth. So it could refer to the Judaizers.

But, secondly, and perhaps more likely, he has  in mind here the licentious antinomian Gentiles,   those who would say, "Yes we believe in Christ  but we want to live anyway we want." Perhaps they   were dualistic in their viewpoint, believing  that didn't matter what the flesh did anyway,   it was enough to just believe in Christ, that took  care of the spiritual end of things and it didn't   matter how you lived after that. These antinomian,  that is anti-law kinds of people, these libertines   also were the enemies of the cross even though  they may have said we believe in Christ and   we believe in His death and resurrection. The  Judaizers added works to salvation at the wrong   point and the Gentile antinomian subtracted  works from salvation at the right point.   The Jews said you have to have works  going on, and the Gentiles said you   don't need works coming out. One dealt with  justification, the other was sanctification,   but both were enemies of the cross. To say  that the cross does not change one's life   and call for a life of obedience is as wrong as  to say that there must be works for salvation.   So on the one hand the Jews in Judaizing,  adding works, were enemies of the cross.   The Gentiles in eliminating any works were enemies  of the cross. And again the Holy Spirit points to   the false professors who are not really saved,  the constant theme in New Testament Scripture.

Now finally, and for this morning we come  to the last two verses, the final element   necessary for pursuing the prize, let's call it  focusing on expectations. Following examples,   fleeing from enemies, and focusing on  expectations. Here we come to the underlying   motivation. What is it that makes us pursue the  prize? It is the expectation, it is the hope of   the coming of Jesus Christ who will change us to  be like Him. We have to keep that focus clear. Now let me stop at this point and say you can read  the contents of verses 20 and 21, it's obvious.   Paul says our citizenship is in heaven and we  are eagerly waiting for the return of the Lord   Jesus because when He comes He'll transform us  to be like Him and He's got the power to do it,   that's what he says. In other words, we have  a heavenly perspective. We view heaven as our   primary preoccupation. This is what motivates  us. We're concerned to see the Savior. We're   concerned to hear "Well done" from the Savior.  We're concerned to be rewarded by the Savior.   We're concerned for eternal glory, that's their  preoccupation. You see, the Apostle Paul knew   very little of creature comforts. He knew very  little of pleasant emotions. He was uncomfortable   most of the time, beaten, shipwrecked,  stoned, left for dead, on and on and on,  

always sorrowful, always weeping over one  thing or another, tearful, always in some   kind of pain or another, disappointment,  difficulties, deprivation. But he had no   concern for pleasant emotions and pleasant  feelings, he was committed to a productive   life moving toward a goal. And that goal was all  tied to heaven. So his preoccupation was heavenly.   That's why he could say, "Far better to depart  and be with Christ." Much better for him. And this is the focus of life that  is required if we're going to pursue   Christ's likeness. Christ is a heavenly  being. Christ is of heaven, from heaven,   in heaven, heaven is His place,  He is ours, heaven is our place.   If preoccupied with Him, we're preoccupied with  heaven. It matters little to us what happens here,   it matters a lot to us what happens there. He is  there, that's our place. So in verse 20 he says   our citizenship is in heaven from which also we  eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Back in verse 14 he called it the upward  call of God in Christ Jesus. The time is   coming when...when the Lord calls us up to meet  Him and will be forever with Christ. That's our   focus. Paul says, "I long for that...I long for  that." And the only reason he stuck around here   was to do his work, to finish his ministry. And  when he came to the end in 2 Timothy he said,   "I've finished my course, I've kept the faith."  And now he says, "I'm ready to get out of here,   I'm ready to get the crown of life which the  Lord the righteous judge should give to me,   and not to me only but to all them that love  His appearing." He wanted out when the work   was done because that was a better place, that  was his place. He wanted to be with his Savior. Can we understand what a remote thought that  is from the contemporary church? Frankly,   that...that is not even a popular thought. In  fact, not at all a popular thought. You see,   you have in the church today this far-reaching  emphasis on prosperity, health-wealth gospel,   solve all your problems, fix up your life,  have a happy marriage, have a happy home,   be successful. We are living in a...not only  a man-centered theology but we're living in   an earth-bound kind of perspective where  the church is content to milk this world   for all its worth. This has become our  place, even though it shouldn't be.

A number of months ago I did a Sunday night  series on heaven, eight sermons. If you haven't   listened to that, get those tapes or get the  study guide on heaven, I think it's important   for you to understand that. I might just give  you a little bit of a reprise on some of the   things we talked about in that series, but most  of our lives in this world today are so bound   to the earth that frankly we have absolutely no  desire to leave and go to heaven. And then there   are some cultures in the world where if I went  into a church of assembled believers and said,   "How many of you would be willing today to leave  and go to heaven?" the majority of them would say   yes, where I think in this situation here if I  said, "How many of you honestly and genuinely   would be ready to pack up and leave and go  to heaven today?" most of us might say no.   Some of us might want to go because we don't like  our circumstances. Others of us might like to go   because we want to inflict pain on somebody  who would miss us. But from the standpoint of   just the sheer joy of going, I mean, you go to a  Christian funeral, the typical Christian funeral,   and we don't talk about heaven, we don't  think about heaven and we have very little   concern about heaven until somebody dies and  then we go to the funeral and we comfort the   remaining family that this person is in heaven  and secretly we're thrilled it isn't us. And we   live under the very very deceiving lie that  death is the enemy of the Christian when the   fact of the matter is, for those who have a  heavenly perspective death becomes a friend.  

So in a humanistic evolutionary world where  the view of life is that death is the enemy   that ends it all, the church somehow sort  of buys into that. And in a materialistic   world where it's get all you can get now, the  church buys into that. And so we are really   laying up treasure on earth where moth and rust  corrupts, where thieves break through and steal. But we're into this world. We are also are  not into delayed gratification. And when   the Lord says, "Well, in the future I'll  give you a reward," we don't understand,   we can't even relate to that. Who in our  world experiences delayed gratification?   Whatever you want, you get now, you don't have  to have money, you can just use a credit card.   You don't have to build it, you can buy it.  You don't have to go very far to get it,   it's all over the place, whatever it  is. Everything is instant gratification. So, you talk about heavenly reward...it  doesn't interest anybody because we're into   instantaneous gratification. So in modern  evangelical circles, heaven is pretty much   ignored. Very little Christian preaching on  heaven, very little emphasis on heavenly things,   very little concern about the life to come, but  mammoth kind of preoccupation with this world,   this life, how I feel, how I get along, how I  succeed, how I prosper, on and on and on and on,   so that death becomes the enemy because we  assume that this is the best, when it isn't.

But if you're going to pursue Christ's likeness  and maybe this is the reason so few do, if you're   going to pursue Christ's likeness with the passion  with which Paul did it, you're going to have to   get your focus out of this world and into the  next. So let's see if we can't help you do that,   look at verse 20, "Our citizenship is in heaven."  That's where we have to start, beloved. We are not   citizens of this world. The word "citizenship,"  by the way, only used here, this particular word,   means a colony of foreigners. It is used in a  secular source to speak about a capital city that   kept the names of its citizens on a register. In  other words, we're registered citizens of another   place. We are registered citizens of heaven.  Our names are there, our father is there,   our Savior is there, our home is there, our  fellow saints are there, our inheritance is there,   that's our place, that's our place. And  Paul says we have to have that perspective.

Now the Philippians could understand that because  the Philippians were a colony of Roman citizens   far from Rome. So they would understand what  it was to have citizenship somewhere other   than where you're living. They were citizens of  Rome but they were in the colony of Philippi. We   are citizens of heaven living here in the earth.  Unfortunately, like Israel of old, you remember,   taken into Babylonian captivity, when it  came time to go back to the promised land,   many of them had decided that they wanted to stay  where they were they became so entrenched. And I   see that same kind of analogy as in the church.  When the Lord says now it's time to go to heaven,   we fight it as if it was the worst imaginable  thing because this world has become everything   to us. But our citizenship is in heaven. You must  understand that. Our citizenship is in heaven. Now he doesn't stop at that point. He says,  "From which also we eagerly wait for a Savior,   the Lord Jesus Christ." So what he's telling us  the Lord is in heaven and He's coming back. Do you   remember in John 14 He said, "I'm going away  and if I go I will come again to receive you   unto Myself that where I am you may be  also," John 14:2 and 3? "I am the way,   the truth and the life," passage. So Jesus said  I'm going away, in My Father's house there are   many rooms, I'm going to prepare them for you,  I'm going to come back, I'm going to get you,   I'm going to take you to be with Me,  so we're waiting for Christ. We're not   waiting for an event, we're waiting for  a person...we're waiting for a person.

You know, and maybe just my own strange musings  but it seems a curiosity to me that up until about   ten years or so ago most of the evangelical church  was committed to a pre-tribulational Rapture,   that is to say that the church age would come to  an end when Jesus came and took the church out.   And then there would be a time period known as  the Great Tribulation. And then the Lord would   return with His saints to set up His Kingdom. But  that the church would be taken out, that the Lord   would come and take us before the Tribulation,  with the Antichrist, and the holocaust that are   described particularly in Revelation 6 and  following, but over the last ten years that   has shifted and the new preoccupation seems to  me to be a post-tribulational view that says   we're all going through the Tribulation, that's  the popular one. And to be real honest with you,   I don't think it's particularly exegetical,  I don't think it's particularly theological,   I think it's particular a reflection of the sort  of subliminal preoccupation with the world. You   know, we'd sort of like to hang around and see  the Antichrist, kind of mentality. "I mean, I've   been reading about this so long, I'd like to see  the guy, so I'll develop a theology that leaves me   here, I'm safe anyway, right? I'd like to stomp on  a few demons," the sort of...the Charismatics have   sort of fed the fire of this stomping on demons,  binding Satan mentality that preoccupies people   with things that are in a negative supernatural  world. And so I think the church has sort of a  

new preoccupation. We're no longer longing for  heaven and longing for Christ. We'd kind of like   to hang around the world as long as possible, and  we're so much a part of it we'd like to see how   the whole thing comes out in the end. We'd like to  step on a few demons and watch some of the action   in the Tribulation. It's kind of like, you know,  Revelation is coming attractions and previews and   we don't want to miss the main feature because  for us the main feature has become the novelty   of what happens and we've lost sight of the  reality of communion with the living Christ. Now I don't want to say that we have backed in  to a post- Trib view in the church, but I kind   of feel that, I can't be dogmatic. There is an  unhealthy preoccupation with that kind of thing   and an almost absent concern about being with  Christ, seeing Christ. But our citizenship is   in heaven. And I don't know about you, but I'm  not waiting for the Antichrist, I'm waiting for   Christ. And I'm not waiting for the Tribulation,  I really could care less about being around,   I want to be with Christ. Why do I want to be in a  devil-filled world when I can be in a holy heaven?

But, you know, I think there are other people who  don't want to go to heaven because they like their   sin so much they know there won't be any of it  there. That's a strange thought, but I'm sure it's   true. The pleasures of sin are the pleasures  of sin. Some people say, "I don't want to go   to heaven, it wouldn't be any fun there." Some  Christians, I think, are even reluctant to give   up some of their vices. But heaven is our home  and we wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. In Romans 8 it says that we groan, waiting for  the glorious adoption of the children of God,   we groan waiting for the redemption of the  body, Romans 8:18 to 23, that whole text. We   are groaning, longing for what is to come. Paul  says the sufferings of this world are not worthy   to be compared with the glory which is to come.  So I'm not looking for creature comfort, I'm not   looking for pleasant emotions, I'm not looking for  a pain-free life, this stuff doesn't matter to me,   I'm looking for what's there...what's coming. I'm  doing what Peter said, 2 Peter 3, "Looking for and   hasting under the day of God which causes us to  be found blameless and in peace, looking for the   Savior." John says if we have this hope in us, we  purify ourselves. You're to be looking for Christ.   That is the greatest point of spiritual motivation  on the one hand, it is the greatest point of  

spiritual accountability on the other hand, and  it is the greatest point of spiritual security. You say, "What do you mean by that?" Well, if I  know Jesus is coming, that's motivation...that's   motivation. I want to be ready when He comes.  I want to be faithful when He comes. I want   to show Him that I've served Him. Paul says  that when He comes, 1 Corinthians chapter 3,   He's going to look at your work, it's going  to be tested by fire, and you're going to   receive an eternal reward. It's going to  be determined whether your works are wood,   hay, stubble or gold, silver, precious stones.  That's motivation. I want to receive the reward,   I want to receive the prize. I want to receive the  well-done, good and faithful servant. I want to   enter the joy of the Lord. That's motivation to  me. I am motivated at that point because I love   Christ and because I know that there are eternal  benedictions tied to my faithfulness here. So I am   motivated by the fact that He's coming, that I'll  have to face Him, that there is a judgment seat of   Christ where I will have to face the things that  I have done and be rewarded a He would reward me.

But it not only is motivation, it's also  an accountability point. It's not just   sheer motivation of love and joy and desire  for reward, there's also a threat there,   isn't there? Because I know that I don't want to  face the Lord having lost what I have wrought,   as it says in John's epistle. Look to yourselves  that you lose not the things that you have wrought   but that you receive a full reward. I know it's  going to be a time standing before the judgment   seat of Christ when the true assessment takes  place. And I am...well not under condemnation,   I certainly feel the threat that some of the  things I've done in my life are going to be   burned up. So on the one hand it's a positive  motivation, on the other hand it's kind of a   negative threat, it's an accountability  point that I have to face the Lord.   There is accountability there. That's why in  1 Corinthians 4 Paul says, "Look, we have to   wait unto the day when the secret things are  revealed, then shall every man have praise from   God." God's going to open the secret things of  your heart and find out what's worthy of praise.

But thirdly, this hope in the coming of  Christ, is not only a motivation and a   point of accountability but it's our greatest  security because it's a promise. If I go,   Jesus said in John 14, I will...what?...come  again. That's a promise. Acts 1:11,   "This same Jesus who is taken up from you  shall so come in like manner as you've   seen Him go into heaven." John chapter  6 verse 39, "You can know this for sure,   it's the Father's will that all that the  Father gives Him He will raise up at the last   day and will lose none of that," read that,  John 6:39 and following, that's a promise. So as I look at the Second Coming of Christ and  the promise of being with Him, I have motivation,   I have accountability and I have security in that.  It doesn't matter what happens in this world,   nothing's going to change that. Why?  Because my inheritance is undefiled,   incorruptible and reserved in heaven for me,  says Peter. Isn't that a great statement?   First Peter 1...it's reserved for me. We  need to live in the light of the Second   Coming of Christ. We need to live in the light  of the return of Jesus Christ. We, in a sense,   are not in heaven, obviously, but in another  sense, we live in the heavenlies. Ephesians 1:3,   "You've been blessed with all spiritual blessings  in the heavenlies." What do you mean by that? What  

do you mean by that? Ephesians 2 says that we have  entered into the heavenlies in Christ. What do you   mean by that? Well, we are not in the place called  heaven but we are experiencing heavenly life.   We have the life of God within us. We are under  the rule of the heavenly king. We live by the   rules of the heavenly kingdom, the Word of  God, the standards of righteousness. You see,   we share the heavenlies. We are ruled by heaven's  king, we live for heaven's cause, we obey heaven's   laws. We are to lay up our treasure in heaven.  We are blessed in the heavenly dimension,   the spiritual dimension of our new life in  Christ. So we're tasting the heavenlies. This is   what the hymn writer called, "a foretaste of glory  divine," we are a new order of person living in a   new community, experiencing a new fellowship that  will be full-blown in the place called heaven.

So, Paul says, "look, you belong in heaven, that's  your place. You're going to be there forever,   right now we're looking for the Savior. What's  our attitude?" Notice it verse 20, "Eagerly   waiting...eagerly waiting." This wonderful verb  is the same one that we find used throughout the   New Testament to refer to the Second Coming. It  indicates an eager anticipation with patience,   that's the best way for me to sum it up, an eager  anticipation with patience...with patience. And   as I said, it's commonly used in those passages  which refer to waiting for the Second Coming. Now, the question came up when we were studying  heaven, where is heaven? People always ask,   "Where...where is heaven?" Let me tell you what  the Bible says. The Bible says heaven is up,   okay? Up. It's all it says. "Come up here,"  Revelation 4:1. You say, "How far up?" Way up,   far up. How far? Well, it's called the  third heaven in 2 Corinthians 12:2. You say,   "How long does it take to get there?"  Are you ready for this? Jesus said to   the thief on the cross, "Today, you'll be  with Me in paradise." All we know about it,   it's up, it's far and we get there fast.  The Bible says, "Absent from the body,   present with the Lord." "Far better to depart and  be with Christ." Marvelous, that will tell you   a little bit about what happens after death...if  nothing else, about the speed with which you move.

What is heaven like? Well, you can look at Ezekiel  chapter 1, read Ezekiel 1, that's an Old Testament   description of heaven. Don't read it now, and when  you're done reading it, you'll scratch your head   and say, "What did I just read? I don't understand  it." And that's because you can't comprehend its   beauty, it's just colors and wheels and lights and  it's fabulous. Then turn to Revelation 21 and 22,   you'll get a little more careful perspective on  what heaven is like. Read Revelation 21 and 22,   you'll read about jewels and light and gold and  angels and temples and the presence of God. You'll   read about the absence of tears and death and  crying and sorrow and pain. You'll read everything   is perfect and the redeemed of all the ages in  history are there. The holy angels are there. So   that's heaven. It's got a capital city called  The New Jerusalem. It has twelve great pearls   that are its twelve gates. It's cubical, it's  incredible, heaven is absolutely indescribable.   It's everything that the Scripture can describe  and infinitely beyond our mind's grasp. But that's our place. And that's where our Savior  is. And that is the place from which He comes. So   we eagerly wait. We're waiting for Him. In our  eagerness to wait, we are motivated to be like   Him. We have a sense of accountability and we have  a sense of security because we know He's coming,   because He always keeps His promise.  So we intensely wait, apekdechomai,   we wait with eagerness and intensity  and yet with patience for His coming.

It's not an event, look at the end of verse  20, "The Lord Jesus Christ," we wait for a   person. That's the prize. Beloved, the goal  we pursue all our life is to be like Christ,   the prize we get is to be  like Him when we see Him. Now let's go to verse 21. Why are we waiting  for Christ? Why do we want Him to come? Listen   to this. "Because He will transform the body of  our humble state into conformity with the body   of His glory," that's why. Why are we waiting  for Him? Because we want to be transformed,   because we're groaning for the redemption  of this body. We'd like to get rid of this   sinful flesh. We want to be like Christ,  perfect. And again, if you don't want to be,   then you like your imperfection. And if  you like your imperfection the way it is   is because you like your sin. That's how  warped our thinking can get. He will make   us like Himself. He will transform the body of  our humble state. That's our unredeemed flesh.

You see, we've already been made a  new creation in the inner man. But   the inner man is incarcerated in unredeemed  flesh. We're a prisoner locked in unredeemed   flesh. And that's not just epidermis and  tissue, that's the mind of the flesh and   the flesh's lusts. It's deeper than  just tissue. There is a humanness,   an unredeemed humanness in which this new  creation dwells. And the new creation longs to   be liberated. That's why it's called the glorious  liberation of the children of God in Romans 8.   We want to be set free. Paul called it the body of  this death from which he longed to be liberated.   So we're waiting for that redemption. And He  will transform the body of our humble state. And you say, "When does this happen?" Listen  carefully. If you die now or any time before   Christ comes for His own, your body goes into  the grave. Your spirit goes immediately to be   with the Lord, 2 Corinthians 5, "Absent from the  body, present with the Lord." Philippians 1 says,   "Far better to depart and be with Christ." So  when you die, your spirit goes immediately to be   with Christ. And you go fast, as I said,  into heaven. You become one of the spirits   of just men made perfect. Heaven is  now occupied by spirits made perfect,   they're waiting for their bodies. The bodies  are awaiting the coming of Christ. The Bible   says when He comes for His church, the  dead in Christ do...what?...rise first,  

and the ones that are alive, they'll  just go up and be transformed on the way,   cause we haven't died if we're alive at that time.  But the bodies are going to be resurrected in the   future. Then later on, the Old Testament saints  bodies will be resurrected. So even the spirits   of just men now made perfect in heaven are  waiting their bodies. And they have to have   a body because they are designed by God for  functions in service and worship throughout   eternity that are best expressed through a  glorified body as well as a glorified spirit. So, people say, "Well, what happens  when you die here?" Your spirit goes   immediately to be with the Lord, but your  body has to be changed. When Jesus comes,   it says in verse 21, we're waiting for Him,  He will transform the body. Now you say,   "Well mine might not be anything but a pile of  dust." That's fine, He'll still transform it.   That word "transformed," metaschematizo. Have you  ever seen a schematic, we get the word from that.   A schematic is simply the internal design of  something. And what it says here is God is going   to reschematic us, He's going to totally transform  us, it's a new scheme, it's refashioning,   redesigning. We will be...we will be given a  whole new body adapted to an eternal holy heaven.

You say, "What will it be like?" Look at  Christ after His resurrection. He ate,   He talked, He walked, He also appeared and  disappeared, He also flew through space from   earth to heaven. Look at what Christ was like  after the resurrection. He was recognizable,   He was identifiable. And yet He was transcendent.  All of that, perfect, holy glory adapted to the   new environment. Our new body is described  in some detail in 1 Corinthians chapter 15,   you can get out your Bible and read and you'll  find yourself thrilled as you see some of the   things that are true. We are corruptible, we  will be raised incorruptible. We are sinful,   we will be raised perfect, holy. And when our  spirits are in glory, they're not yet complete   until that body comes and the combination  of the two suits us for service forever.

So what will we be like in heaven? We will have a  perfect soul or a perfect spirit, a perfect inner   part and a perfect form, a perfect outer part.  The combination of which will perfectly manifest   the glory of God. There will be the elimination of  all the sin that remained in us. There will be the   elimination of everything that inhibiting  us...that inhibited us from doing exactly   what God wanted. There will be perfect freedom  from all evil. Get this, there will be no sin,   no sorrow, no pain, no disappointment, no  doubt, no fear, no temptation, no weakness,   no failure, no hate, no anger, no quarrel, no more  prayer, no more repentance, no more confession,   perfect pleasure, perfect knowledge,  perfect comfort, perfect love, perfect joy. You say, "I like it better here." No you don't.  That's how warped our thinking gets. So, that's   what we wait for. You say, "We'll be transformed  into...what?" Into conformity with the body of   His glory. That's absolutely unbelievable. First  John 3:2 says we'll be like Him for we'll see Him   as He is. You know, it would be enough if God  just saved us from hell. It would be enough if   God just saved us from hell and more than enough  if He gave us heaven. It would be enough if He   just saved us from hell and more than enough if  He gave us heaven, but beyond that, He makes us   like His Son and He does it all by grace, and  we don't deserve any of it. What magnanimity,  

what generosity. We will be conformed, summorphos,  made in a similar form with Christ, our morphos   will be like Christ. That word "conformity" there,  summorphos, is the same word used in Romans 8:29   where Paul says that God's goal in saving us was  to make us conformed to the image of His Son,   one in form with His Son. Morphe, we get the word,  English word, morph. We talk about an endomorph,   an ectomorph, a mesomorph, different forms. We  will be in the form of Christ. Unbelievable. So when we die we are instantly a  perfected spirit. When Christ comes,   the bodies are raised and we are made instantly  into perfect form of Christ as a perfect holy   instrument for service, worship and praise with  never an evil impulse, never an errant movement,   with a mind full of the pure light of  God's truth, a brain of undilluted love,   undilluted joy, undilluted peace, undilluted  goodness, emotions in perfect expression at   their fullest and yet in perfect balance. We  ought to long for that with all our hearts.

You say, "Are you sure He can do it?"  Yeah, look at the end of verse 21,   He's going to do it by the exertion of the power  that He has even to subject all things to Himself.   That's another way of saying...it's such a huge  statement. You could preach...you could preach   months on that whole thing of the plan of God to  subject the universe to His authority. But He's   going to use the same power that He has to subject  the whole universe to Himself. If He can subject   the entire universe under His sovereign control,  then He can certainly raise your body. That's the   point. The word "subject" means to arrange in  order of rank or to manage. He has the power to   order the universe. He has the power to line it  all up. He has the power to manage it. Listen,   our Lord had the power to create the world, He  has the power to providentially control the world,   He has the power to miraculously overrule natural  law, He has the power to give life, He has the   power to take life, He has the power to save,  He has the power to subdue, He certainly has the   power to raise from the dead. And if you have any  question about it, look what He did for Himself.   It's the same power by which He subjects the  whole universe. Read 1 Corinthians 15:24 to 27   and read how Christ will take the whole universe  over and make all His enemies His footstool. And   He will make everything in the universe subject  to Himself and then having taken the universe   captive, He will then offer it up to God and  it will resolve in the fullness of the trinity  

and redemptive history will have run its course  when He recaptures the whole fallen universe   and gives it back to God. And He who has the  power to restore the whole universe and give   it back to God in full expression of God's  glory as the instrument through which God   will glorify Himself forever and ever,  the same power by which He can do that   encompasses the power by which He can raise  your body and mine out of the grave. He has   the power to give us the prize. He has the power  to make us like Christ. That's the promise part. So, in this hope that we have in the  coming of Christ, there's motivation,   there's accountability, and there's promise.  Where's your focus...where's your focus? I   hope it's on heaven. I hope you're not  so distracted that you've missed it. I got in an airplane, I'm always in airplanes,  but I got in one the other day just after that   DC10 rolled down the cornfield in Iowa. And  I got on the plane and I have from time to   time little incidents that happen, like they  lose an engine on takeoff once in a while,   things like that. And so, you know, it's not  that those things haven't happened to me,   they have. And I was sitting on the plane  thinking, "Well, this whole thing could just   crash." I looked around at all the other people  and, you know, you realize the gravity of that  

situation, the complexity of all their lives  and network. And as we were roaring down the   runway and I was realizing to myself that this  could be my last day on earth, for all I know,   the guys maybe didn't put the flaps in the  right place, or who knows what's going on,   or somebody's left something up in the wheel well  and, you know, whatever. This thing could crash. And I began to think about heaven. And I  mean, I'm a happy person and thankful to   God for where I am, but I can tell you, by  the time we got in the air a little ways,   I could have cared less whether we came down  for a landing or came down without a landing.   I just began to contemplate the realities  of heaven. I hope we can live like that. I want to close by sharing with you a little  story that really moved my heart. It's a story   of man who really lived, his name is Phocas,  P-h-o-c-a-s. He lived in the fourth century. He   has been revered through the years as a real  precious saint of God, lived in Asia Minor.   He lived in the city of Sanopae(?)  and he had a little cottage outside   the city gate in which he grew a garden.  The whole story of the man is recorded by   one of the ancient bishops and somehow  has found its way down through history.

The story goes something like this. Travellers  passed his door almost all hours of the day and   night as they went in and out of the city gate.  And by the wholly ingenuity of love, he stopped as   many of them as possible. Were they not weary? Let  them rest themselves, sitting in his well-tended   garden. Were they in need of a friendly word? He  would speak it to them in the dear Master's name. But then quite suddenly one day life was  all changed for Phocas. Orders went out   from Emperor Diocletian that the Christians  must be put to death. When the persecutors   entered Sanopae they were under orders to find a  man by the name of Phocas and kill him. About to   enter the city one hot afternoon, they passed in  front of the old man's cottage and garden by the   gate. In his innocence, he treated them  as though they were his warmest friends,   begging them to pause a while and rest  themselves. They consented. So warm and   gracious was the hospitality they received  that when their host invited them to stay the   night and go on their way refreshed  the next day, they agreed to do so.

"And what is your business?" said Phocas  unsuspectingly. And then they told him that   they would answer his question if he would regard  it as a secret. Well it was obvious to them by now   that he was a man to be trusted. Who were they?  Why they were the soldiers of Rome searching   for a certain Phocas who was a Christian.  And please, if their kind host knew him,   would he be so good as to help them identify  him? After all, he was a dangerous follower   of this Jesus about whom the Christians  talked and he must be executed immediately. "Oh, I know him well," said Phocas quietly. "And  by the way, he's quite near. Let's attend to it   in the morning." His guests having retired, Phocas  sat thinking. Escape? That would be easy. He had   only to leave under cover of darkness and at  daybreak he could be at least 20 miles away   and he knew fellow Christians who would give  him hospitality by hiding him. And when the   persecution had passed, he could reappear  and once again cultivate his little garden.

The decision to flee into safety or stay unto  death was apparently made without struggle   or delay. We can only imagine what he was  thinking. Out in his garden Phocas went and   began digging in the middle of the night. Was  there any earthly thing he loved better than   this little plot of ground, the odor of the  humus, the feel of the soil, the miracle of   fertility? What were his thoughts as he went on  digging? Well, there was still time to run away   but the Savior didn't run. He didn't run from  Gethsemane and He didn't run from Calvary. Or   perhaps he thought of his fellow Christians to  whom he might go for rest, would not his coming   endanger them? And as for these executioners  that now were soundly sleeping under his roof,   they were, after all, only men who were carrying  out orders, and if they failed to find their man,   their own lives likely as not would be  taken and they would die in their sins. Deeper and deeper Phocas dug. Before dawn he was  done and there it was, his own grave. Morning came   and with it the waking of the executioners. "I  am Phocas," he said calmly. And we have it on   the word of the Christian bishop who recorded  the story that the men stood motionless in   astonishment. They couldn't believe it. And when  they did believe it, they obviously were reluctant   to perform an execution without mercy on a man  who had shown them nothing but mercy. But it was a  

duty, he reminded them, that they were required to  perform. And he was not bitter at them. Besides,   death did not terrify him, his heart was filled  with hope of heaven. Toward them he bore nothing   but the love of Christ and moments later it was  all over. The sword had done its work and the body   of Christ's love mastered man lay in the stillness  of death in the garden he loved so dearly. The hope of heaven removes fear. I hope  we can live a little more like that and   a little less the way we are prone to  live in pursuing the prize. Let's pray. Our dear Lord, we beg You to grant to us the  grace to so live as this dear saint whom we   shall some day meet in Your presence, to so live  that we care little for our own life and we care   much to be with You. Help us, Lord, to pursue the  prize, following the right examples, fleeing from   the wrong ones, the enemies of the cross, and  focused always on the expectation of Jesus. We   may die and our spirit go first, or You may come  for us, either way, come, Lord Jesus, take us to  

Yourself. But until that day, may we be faithful  to serve, knowing that the only reason we're here   is not to become citizens of the world, not to  become preoccupied here, not to lay up treasure   here but simply to serve You and to pursue the  Christ likeness that makes us a testimony of   Your grace until the day when we are made like the  one we love. In Christ's dear name we pray. Amen. You've been listening to John MacArthur,  Bible teacher with Grace to You. For free   access to all of John's lessons and a listing  of Study Bibles and books available for sale,   visit Grace to You's website at gty.org.  John MacArthur and Grace to You reserve   all copyright protection under applicable  law. Our copyright policy is available at   gty.org and it includes instructions for and  limitations on duplicating this digital file.