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That being said, we are in the middle of a series called All Things New. And so we've been talking about this verse, sort of the springboard verse for our series of 2 Corinthians 5, verse 17. And we've been challenging you as people in our church family here to memorize this scripture with your family, to memorize it personally, to memorize it with your kids. And so this verse is on the screen again. It says this therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, right? Old things have passed away, all things have been made new. Now, I think that when we stop and really think about that verse, on the surface it sounds good, but how does that actually apply and how do we live that out? And that's a declarative statement, meaning that it's saying what is true about us if we have put our trust in Christ, that we aren't who we were before we came to know Christ. We are now new. Now, here's what I know though. Some of you who've put your trust in Jesus for salvation, we're going to talk about what that means in just a minute, but for those of you who put your trust in Jesus for salvation, we're at all different levels of maturity in terms of actually experiencing that new creature being a new creation in Christ. Some of us are more readily obeying Christ. Some of us are kind of like, yes, I believe in Jesus, but uh I'm not completely sure I want to surrender everything just yet. And so you're in different places in your walk. And some of you, like I said, may not have even come to that place where you've been made new in Christ. And uh and my hope is that you would understand it's not about how good of a person you are. The goal of church is not just to make good people, it's to make people who are dead alive by experiencing the life that's in Christ. And so um, but wherever you find yourself, we're at different steps in our process of realizing if you're a Christ follower, if you put your trust in Christ, we're realizing who we are in our new identity in Christ. So, week one, we talked about we're a new creature. We couldn't have done that. God had to do that for us. Uh, we talked about week two, we are under a new covenant, so we now can have access to God because of Jesus. We don't have to sacrifice bulls and do all the Old Testament way of approaching God because now Christ was our sacrifice. He was the ultimate sacrifice, and he has made a way for us to come to God. Uh, he has made us clean and made us pure and made us acceptable in God's sight. Okay? There's a lot in that that I won't review with you right now, but it's huge that we have access into God's presence because of Christ. And then last week, Harley talked, I heard it was a great week, on a new life in Christ and how we now, as a Christ follower, put off the old man and we put on the new man. So we're learning how to do that. We're learning how to live as children of God and putting our mind on things above and not on the earthly things, and how to actually walk in the truth of who God is and what he's done. This week I want us to look at this idea of we are new citizens in the kingdom of heaven. One of the reality for us as a person who has put our trust in Christ is that we're we have a new citizenship, okay? And so, how many of you guys know what this is? I'm sure. You know, I don't know how well you can see that. This is my passport, right? And uh and so I use this when I travel around the world. Um, this is actually the second one that I have have, and so I've got different places in the world, like Kazakhstan and Hong Kong and Indonesia and uh China, different places that I've traveled in the world, and so they stamp it, you know, they put a mark on it, uh to say I've been there. But ultimately, when you open this front little section right here, it says that I am a citizen of the United States of America. That's what it says. Okay? Sometimes that's like uh I'm proud of that, and sometimes I'm not so proud of that, right? But meaning that there have been times in the world they're like, oh, you're an American. Okay. And I'm like, oh, well, what is that? Like, what's going on in your mind? What do you think about Americans? Uh there's other times they're like, oh, you're an American. That's awesome. I'm like, yeah, I am. Uh so, but here's the deal. This reminds me that I'm a citizen of the United States of America. Uh I didn't choose that. I was born into it. And I'm guessing most of us in this room were born into that citizenship status. Um, that just tells uh other people in the world when I travel to different countries that I'm a citizen of the United States of America. The point being this is that uh my citizenship as a human who lives in Austin, Texas, is as an American, but as a Christ follower, I actually have dual citizenship. In fact, I have a citizenship that is not of this world, a citizenship that's much bigger than just simply a country that's on the globe, on this earth. And it's a citizenship that we're gonna talk about today. So if you have your Bible, once you open up to Philippians chapter 3. Philippians chapter 3 is gonna be our focal passage, but we're gonna look at some other text as well to speak to this idea that we have a citizenship that is not grounded ultimately in this world. In fact, it's it's it's otherworldly. Here's what it says in verse 17. If you guys want to read on the screen, you can. You can actually read along in your own version of the Bible. I'm reading from the HCSB, which is the Holman Christian Standard Standard Bible. Uh, there's some copies underneath the chairs if you'd like to read that as well. Here's what it says. Verse 17. Join in imitating me, brothers. This is Paul, by the way, writing, the Apostle Paul, uh, writing inspired by God. Join in imitating me, brothers, and observe those who live according to the example you have in us. For I have told you, and now say again with tears, that many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction, their God is their stomach, their glory is in their shame. They are focused on earthly things, but our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. He will transform the body of our humble condition into the likeness of his glorious body by the power that enables him to subject everything to himself. Now, some of you guys who were with us last year may remember we taught through the book of Philippians, did a whole series called Live for More. And Paul, as he wrote this book, uh wrote this letter to the church at Philippi, uh, it's really encouraging, it's a very endearing letter. He was very warm, he cared deeply about them, he's very showed a lot of affection towards the people at Philippi. But he really challenged them in some significant ways. And one of the things that he said in this chapter, before I read this this section here, is he said that there's really one goal of the Christian life. I know that it gets really confusing sometimes. I know that sometimes based on all the books and all the seminars and all the teaching that's out there, it can be like, well, what is the goal of Christianity? And there can be a lot of different goals that are put in front of us. But let me tell you what the what Paul writes is he says there's one thing. He says this earlier in chapter three, he says one thing. You guys know what that one thing was? He says, forgetting what is behind and straining towards what is ahead, I press on towards the goal for the prize for which Christ Jesus called me heavenward. So let me just be really simple, basic, and clear that what Paul says is the goal of Christianity is Christ-likeness. The goal of Christianity is to be like Jesus, the one that we're following, which is interesting considering that while God or Jesus or the Bible didn't ever create the word Christian, actually, pagans created the word Christian, and they started using the word Christian to describe people who were following Jesus. Did you know that? We didn't come up with that. Pagans said, oh, those little Christs, those little Christs over there, and they were using it as a slam, as a slang, as a make fun of them term. We are Christians today because what is our goal? To be like Christ. To be like Jesus, to be like the one we're following. In fact, other texts in the New Testament remind us that God wants us to be increasingly revealing the image of his Son in whom we were created, right? And so we are to be like Christ. And Paul gets to this point in chapter, in chapter 3, verse 17, where he says, Now you imitate me, follow me as I am following Christ. You can follow my example. But I want you to really lean in and notice this issue that he brings up because he contrasts people who are worldly and then see themselves primarily as of the world, and those who have a heavenly citizenship. In fact, there's a transition in verse 20 where he says, But our citizenship is in heaven. So there's a contrast there that he is bringing to our attention. Now, in case you missed the blank, I just want to make sure you've got this if you're following along in the worship guide. But as new creatures in Christ, as a new creature, we are now citizens of the kingdom of heaven. We are now citizens of the kingdom of heaven. Notice again, verse 20, but our citizenship is in heaven. That's a declarative statement, just like if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature. He is a new creation. That's done deal. If you are in Jesus, you are a new creature. If you are in Jesus, you have a new citizenship that's been given to you, granted to you in Christ. So before we were a citizen of heaven, what were we? That's the question, right? Before we were a citizen in the kingdom of heaven, what condition were we in? What was our citizenship prior to that? Well, let me tell you that the scripture gives us sort of a uh a startling but helpful insight to this because what it says, and I'm not talking about this idea that there's just this yin and yang, good and evil, but I want you to hear that the Bible clearly says that there's only two sides. There's only two places. You're either of the world or you're of the kingdom of heaven. In fact, Ephesians 2, 2 says this. You don't have to turn there, but you'll note that this is what Ephesians 2 says. Again, Paul writing to the church at Ephesus. You previously walked according to the ways of this world, according to the ruler who exercises authority over the lower heavens, the spirit now working in the disobedient. What is he saying? He's saying to us that when we didn't know Jesus, when we weren't his child, when we weren't in Christ, what? We were walking under the leadership of the Prince of the Air, the ruler of darkness. In fact, Colossians 1.13 says this. He, this means Jesus, he rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son He loves. Again, what's he saying? He's saying that before Christ, we were walking in darkness, under the rule and the reign and the authority of darkness. Think about that for a second. Before Christ rescued us, we were under the rule of darkness. That meant that our natural tendencies, the way we operated, our operating system, our lives, our daily habits, our daily routines was all shaped by what? By darkness. We were under that influence because we were in the flesh. Maybe that doesn't make sense to you, so let me just make sure I'm clear here. If you know the Bible's storyline, we say this fairly often because we find that there are people who sit in church for years and don't recognize this reality. That human nature is broken in and of itself, because way back in the garden, in the Garden of Eden, God creates the world and mankind rebels against God. And at that moment, human uh nature was broken. It was marred by sin. A curse fell because Adam and Eve sinned in the garden. They broke the only rule they were given. And from that point forward, we were under this influence. So when you have a baby, when a baby is born into this world, you don't have to teach a baby to sin. Right? You don't have to teach a baby to say, mine, to get angry, to eventually lie, to do those things. Why? Because it's hardwired into that sin nature that's in the heart of a human being. There's been questions asked for years, you know, in different settings, like, well, people, are people generally good or generally evil? Well, the Bible gives us a plain picture. It says that our hearts are bent towards evil. Yeah, we might be able to do some good things because there's this image of God that we still can reflect. But ultimately in ourselves, we are selfish creatures. Self-seeking, we self-worship. We're all about us because that's the way we're naturally bent. But notice the word in Colossians. This is the hope. He rescued us. Jesus went on a rescue mission to rescue us out of that self-centeredness, out of that self-focused way of life, and to bring us into the kingdom of the Son He loves. I realize that there's some churches that they just refuse to talk about this. They would rather just say, like, look, like God loves you, He's for you, everything's great. God loves you. But listen, that's not the whole gospel. That's not the whole picture of Scripture. The gospel says that before Christ we were in sin. We were in rebellion, direct rebellion to the heart of God. And we needed rescued, and we couldn't fix that problem ourselves. Are you with me? Like you couldn't go to church enough. You couldn't read your Bible enough. You couldn't be a good enough husband or a good enough dad, good enough mom. You can't fix that problem just by doing good things. You needed to be rescued. I needed to be rescued, and that's exactly what Jesus did. He came and he rescued us. In fact, we call this the great exchange. 2 Corinthians 5.21. God made him who knew no sin to become sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. God took Jesus' sinless life and he exchanged that for our sinful life, our sin-filled, rebellious life. And in that moment when we receive by faith the gift of salvation, we are no longer walking under the domain of darkness, enslaved to our sin. We are now given freedom and we're given a new citizenship in Christ. So if you think that somehow you can work your way out of your sinfulness, you're foolish. You can't. You might could fool some people, but your heart in its core is messed up, and you need a rescuer. I need a rescuer. We need a redeemer. We need Jesus Christ to save us from our sin. And by the way, um, we're gonna talk about this here in a minute and the implications of that. But if if we're trying to do marriage or we're trying to do parenting, or we're trying to do life, we're trying to be a good worker, we're trying to do good things, without God's help, we're not gonna be able to do it. That's why church isn't coming and get some tips and tricks on how to be a better person. Did you know that? It shouldn't be. It should be, oh God, help us. Because we are messed up in and of ourselves. We need your help, we need your rescue, we need your spirit, or we will live in dis disobedience because that spirit is at work in the world around us. We need Christ to rescue us. And by the way, in case you were wondering, um, and I think you understand this, but that rescue mission was a costly one. And this is what church is an opportunity for us to do as we gather on a weekly basis. We remind ourselves that Christ has rescued us and that the price he paid for that rescue was high. Really, really high. You see, we all always talk about how salvation is a free gift, and it is. It's a free gift for us. But it's not a free gift for who? For God. It's a very expensive, costly gift. In fact, in order for that rescue to take place, Jesus had to lay down his life, his perfect life. He had to go to the cross and experience the pain and the suffering of the cross and bear our sins so that we could stand in here this morning and sing that song. It is well with my soul, because our cross, the cross paid the penalty for our sin that we should have paid. That's why it's well with our souls, because Christ exchanged his life for ours. So, as a citizen of the kingdom of heaven, there's some things, the four things that I want to bring to your attention this morning and to my my attention as well. First off, this. As a citizen of heaven, we now live with allegiance to King Jesus. We now live with allegiance to King Jesus. Before, we really lived with allegiance to ourselves. Uh, we really lived with an allegiance to, hey, whatever I want, whenever I want it, however I want it. That's what life was about for us because of our sin nature. But now we live with allegiance to King Jesus. Because we've been rescued, we are not living for ourselves. We're not living for uh the enemy, the evil one. We are now living for Christ. Notice what it says in verse 18. Now we read it together as we were going through this text. Verse 18, he says, For I have often told you, and now say again with tears, that many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. That many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Again, that is the natural tendency of the human heart. And we really live as enemies of the cross of Christ in two ways. One, we just flat out say, God, forget you. I'm rebelling against you, I'm resisting you, I'm not for you, I'm not gonna follow you, I'm not gonna listen to you, I'm gonna do my thing. This is the prodigal son story. You guys know that story? Where the prodigal son says, Father, give me my inheritance, I'm gonna go live the way I want to live. That's how a lot of us in this room have functioned in our lives at times. Maybe even right now, you're running from God, even though you're here in present. But for others, rebellion to the cross or being an enemy of the cross literally looks like we're trying to find a different way to get to God's approval through religion, through being self-righteous, through building our case before God that somehow we can earn our salvation. Did you know that that's an enemy of the cross? To say that there's another way? To say that we can somehow earn our status with God based on our performance. And anybody who's tried that, man, that that will wear you out. Right? Eventually you're just like, I'm done, I'm tired, I'm trying. And so you just say, forget this. You see, the beauty of the gospel, the beauty of what Christ has done, the beauty of the cross is that it is sufficient for our salvation once and for all. So we now are compelled to stop rebelling because Jesus laid down his life for us while we were still sinners. And we're also compelled to stop our religious activity, our self-salvation project, because we understand that Christ alone is sufficient for salvation. Are you with me? Still hanging? That is huge news for us today that we need to remember and we need to reflect on. And here's the great thing: when we live in allegiance to Christ, we're just doing now what we're ultimately all gonna do as a human race. What do I mean by that? Well, Philippians 2 gives this amazing picture. It reminds us in Philippians chapter 2 that one day every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. One day, uh, in case you need just a reminder, or maybe even just a help on this, because I do. One day, that means every celebrity, every wealthy person, every poor person, every American, every non-American, every person from every tribe and every tongue and every nation will all fall at the feet of Jesus. Not maybe, not might, no, absolutely 100% they will worship Jesus. The beautiful thing for us as citizens of the kingdom of heaven is that we choose now to bow before the king, to give our allegiance to the king. Most of us in America, we don't have to make a choice. Uh you know, like, are we gonna obey our president and our leadership or are we gonna obey Jesus? There may come a day. We may have to live in a day like Daniel and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the Old Testament, where they were given this choice, obey God or be killed. Obey God or be thrown in a lion's den. Obey God or be thrown in a fiery furnace. That might happen, but right now that's not the case. But every single day we still choose, we must choose to be under the allegiance, under the leadership of Christ, under submission to King Jesus. And here's the beautiful thing: when we come under submission to Christ, we get to experience the benefits and the blessings of seeing him work in our lives and seeing him do transformational things in our hearts. We get to experience that. Now, I know that we've got some teenagers in the room, and it's not just teenagers that I'm picking on here, okay? But I'm convinced that for teenagers, a lot of times, they think that ultimate freedom would be found if I could get out from under the authority of my parents. Right? If I could just get out from under that authority, then I'd really be free. It'd be awesome. I just want you to know that that's a mirage. That's not true. That is not true. In fact, real freedom, and we had this conversation in our household, real freedom is found under authority. In fact, real freedom is found under God's authority. And so in our lives, when we try to resist God's authority, when we try to resist his kingship as citizens of heaven, then what we really end up doing is getting ourselves enslaved to our sin, enslaved to our rebellion. And we find out that it's not so freeing, it's actually entangling. It's actually really dangerous and hurtful and harmful and destructive. That's what we find when we do that. The second thing, and I should say, by the way, uh I mentioned already that every knee will bow and every tongue will confess. But have you guys read to the end of the Bible? Has everybody read to the end of the Bible? If you haven't read to the end of the Bible, maybe you could skip ahead there and just go read the book of Revelation this week. Now, go ahead and warn you, disclaimer. It's a little weird. Okay, there's some odd things going on in there. But the one thing you notice when you get to chapter 21 and 22 is this. When King Jesus shows up, he's going to reign. That's what the Bible tells us. That's what we cling to. He will reign supreme. And I look forward to that day. Second thing is this. As citizens of heaven, we live as aliens in our culture. We live as aliens in our culture. Now that sounds really weird. Okay, I'm just going to say that. But it's the words the Bible uses. Hebrews 11, 13, which is a verse that's in the middle of this list of people, heroes of the faith in the Old Testament. It says this about them. It says, These all died in faith without having received the promises, but they saw them from a distance, greeted them, and confessed they were foreigners and temporary residents on the earth. So this is pre-Jesus, and they already saw themselves as temporary residents on the earth. Meaning that they understood that their time here was, their days were numbered, their time was short, and that their real residency was in the kingdom of heaven. They understood that. That challenges my heart because sometimes I see myself so focused on the here and now. 1 Peter 2.11 says this. Peter's writing to this group of believers that are really struggling because they're being persecuted. And he says, I urge you as strangers and temporary residents to abstain from fleshly desires that were against you. So 1 Peter, he's saying, like your residency is not in this world, right? You're an alien, you're a stranger to the culture. There should be a contrast between the way a Christian lives and the way everybody else is living. Do you agree with that? You see, the church shouldn't syncretize to the culture. We should contextualize the gospel, but we shouldn't syncretize. We shouldn't become like the culture, so much so that there's no distinction between our lives and the lives of those who don't know Jesus. Because as kingdom, as citizens of the kingdom of heaven, our lives look different. We say no to sin. We don't just dive into the things. In fact, 1 Peter 4, two chapters over from where I just read, it says this for there has already been enough time spent doing what the pagans choose to do. This is what happens in our old life: carrying on an unrestrained behavior, evil desires, drunkenness, orgies, carousing, lawless idolatry. That sounds kind of like an intense list, but what he's saying is like, this is what happens if you're just operating in your flesh. If you're just doing what you want to do in the darkness. But he says, what? So they are surprised that you don't plunge in with them into the same flood of wild living. And they slander you. Maybe one of the reasons why we're fearful of being different is because we're fearful of rejection. Fearful of being slammed, like, oh, those Christians holier than thou. They just think they're so great, right? They think they're so awesome, so much better than everybody else. Listen, you may get pushback, you may get slandered for your language or for the way that you interact with other people, the way you use your money, the way you use your time, that it looks different. But so be it. If anybody can identify with being ostracized and suffering and being persecuted, it's Jesus. He understands what it's like to be an outsider to the culture. This is why the church, the people of God, are so important because they keep us remindful of the community that we need, because we do have a group of people that we can work together to live distinct lives in the world in which we live. In fact, Philippians in another place says that we should shine like stars in the heavens. And we do that in community with each other. So, point being this is that we will be different from the culture because we know that this is not our ultimate home. This is not our final place of rest. This is not where we're going to spend eternity. And that's a good thing, right? Because I don't want the world to stay like it is. I don't like the fact that when I look at the world, I see injustice. I see abuse. I see people taking advantage of the weak and the poor and the frail. I don't like the fact that I see people who are living very destructive lives, dangerous to themselves and dangerous to others. I don't want the world to stay as it is. Yeah, there's some beautiful moments, but there's also a lot of bad moments. And just turn on the TV for a second, right? And you see that this world is not like it should be. Thirdly, this we live with an awareness of reality. I was trying to think about the best way to word this, and it really is still like hard to completely convey, but let me just say this. Many people, maybe even Christians, live as if what we can see in the here and now is all that there is. But as a citizen of heaven, we are aware that there is a bigger reality, that there is a bigger truth to what actually exists, that there is an unseen world, but also that this is connected to a greater reality, a greater glory. Um, notice what he says in Philippians, uh, where we've been kind of working through, verse 19 says this their end is destruction, their God is their stomach, their glory is their shame. They are focused on earthly things. So, in essence, what he's saying is that their reality is that all that we have is right here, right now. And again, I would say to you, I hope that that's not the case, that all that we have is right here, right now, because even on the best days, there's still signs that what we live in is marred. It's not completely made right. It's not all good. You see, citizens of the kingdom understand that this life is temporary and all the pleasures and fulfillments of this life are fleeting, and that what will last is the word of God and the people of God. What will really last is the word of God and the people of God. Um, that means no matter how many possessions we accumulate, how many pleasureful experiences we have, ultimately what's going to matter in eternity is God and his people being together forever, like Alex was talking about earlier. Worshiping God, being in his presence, experiencing the fullness of life that we've longed for. So in our lives, in our in our daily lives, uh, my hope is that heaven would have an impact on the here and the now. That we don't just wait until we get to heaven one day to experience God's goodness and his grace and his awesomeness, but we're already experiencing it now, and that's changing the way we live in the here of now because we are aware of a bigger reality. Uh this week we had the opportunity, like I said, to go out on some retreats, and so we were out at this uh lake house. Some of the a couple that that's here in the church, they they let us use their space for the retreat, and it was awesome sitting out and looking over the the lake, the Colorado River there, and we've been eating some really good food, um, you know, just had some good time together, and and I was like, man, life is so good. It's just it's just, man, look at this beautiful place. Uh, look at these amazing people I'm getting to spend time with. Look at this great food we're getting to eat. And it's funny, like we would eat a great meal, and then three and four hours later, we're what? We're hungry again. It's time to start over, right? Because even when you have a great moment in this life, you realize that it's fleeting, that it's temporary. So anything that you attain in this life, anything you obtain in this life, even when your team wins a national championship that you're cheering for, even when whoever you guys are cheering for for the Super Bowl, hopefully not the Patriots, but anyway, um, next week they win. Sorry, I had to get that in. But no, who whoever, listen, all the glory of that moment is fleeting. It's here and it's gone. I mean, talk to the ones who've been at the top, talk to the ones who have been successful, talk to the ones who have gotten all the acclaim and all the glory and all the all, and they will tell you that it's never enough. Right? Have you heard of the interviews with these guys? One of the most powerful ones I I had not just picking on the Patriots, but I heard Tom Brady one time, and his very words were, you know what? It just never never is enough. Why? Because we weren't made for just the temporary, we were made for something much greater, much bigger. That's the reality. It's much, much bigger than just this here and now. So when I enjoy a good steak with the elders this past week, when I enjoy a beautiful view off of the horizon as the sun goes down over the lake, when I enjoy spending time with my kids catching fish, when I enjoy a moment with my wife, just talking and connecting at a deeper level, all of those things are like giant arrows pointing me to the fact that God is great and glorious and worthy of my worship. Not that moment, because that's temporary, but to see that God is the author of all the good and perfect gifts that we experience and all those things to bring Him glory, bring Him worship. Are you still with me? That it's so much bigger than that. That's reality. So we don't put all of our hope and our value and our worth and all of our uh our desire in the here and now because we know that this is temporary. We put it in what is to come. And really that leads to this final point is that as citizens of the kingdom of heaven, we live with an anticipation of the return of the king. Now, I'm gonna be completely honest with you here. I don't always anticipate or eagerly await heaven. That's what he says in the text. Paul says that we now eagerly await the return of Christ, right? It's verse 19. No, it's actually not verse 19, it's verse 20. He says, But our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. He will transform the body of our humble condition into the likeness of his glorious body. And you guys all said, Amen, right? No more overweight, sick, uh, no more, no body like that's gonna be just struggling with the pains of this life. A perfect body. That's gonna be a great day. But he says we will transform our humble condition to the likeness of his glorious body by the power that enables him to subject everything to himself. So we eagerly now await and anticipate the return of King Jesus. I've said this a number of times, but if you're new here or maybe we just need this reminder this morning, remember, uh Jesus still isn't a baby in a manger. Okay? He's not the Ricky Bobby Jesus. All right? He's not still the sweet baby Jesus with the golden fleece diaper. He's not still the Jesus on the cross, though we look at the cross and we reflect over it and we worship and we say thank you for that moment. He's not even the Jesus that returned and was resurrected and appeared to his disciples. When Jesus comes back, he's coming back as the victorious, triumphant king to judge the nations. And when he comes back in all of his glory, we need, I need to be regularly reminded that when he comes back, I can anticipate that because I am under his blood. And therefore I will not be judged in the same way as those who are not. That the Bible clearly says that if we are in Christ, we now have been forgiven. We now have been released from the guilt of our sin. And Christ, his righteousness is now what God sees when he looks at us. Man, that's an awesome thought. And that transforms every relationship I have, it transforms every way I view money and experiences in life because I understand that my greatest need has already been met in the person of Christ. My deepest need has already been made available through the person of Jesus. So when Jesus shows up again, he's showing up to do the work of restoration, to finish that work. In Revelation 21, it's a verse that I come to fairly often. I need to read this more often in my daily life to remind me. But it says this in verse 1 of Revelation chapter 21. Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth. This is the end of the Bible. Next to last chapter. Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea no longer existed. I also saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared like a bride adorned for her husband. That's the church. Then I heard a loud voice from the throne. Look, God's dwelling is with humanity. Oh man, that's gonna be awesome. No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind can perceive what God has in store. And when we are in God's presence, all of the desires that we have will be met in Him. It's hard for us to get our brains around that. It doesn't feel that way, right? But I want to tell you that is the truth. When God is dwelling with us, he will live with them, they will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will no longer exist. Grief, crying, and pain will exist no longer because the previous things have passed away. Then the one seated on the throne said, Look, I am making everything new. Man, how awesome is that. You know what that does? That reminds me that no matter how hard this life is right now, I know where this thing's going. I know the end. I know that one day that that will be done away with. No matter how difficult it is. No matter how many messes I get myself into, no matter how many idols I create in my heart and continue to find them empty, no matter how many relationship struggles I have or physical ailment struggles I deal with, I know that one day it's all going to be made new, fully in Christ. Here's the question. Um have you received, first off, have you received the gift of salvation in Christ? Have you received your new citizenship in Christ? Have you started to understand that you can't work your way to God, but He came down to us to make us citizens of the kingdom of heaven? If you've never received the gift of salvation, that's my first offer to you this morning. In fact, in fact, I would implore you make today the day that you say, I'm no longer going to resist God, and I'm no longer going to try to earn my way to God. I'm going to receive it by faith. That's the gospel. That's the good news. You can receive salvation, you can receive a new citizenship today. You can become a new creation in Christ today by simply saying, Jesus, I believe you're King. I believe you're Savior. What you did on the cross is what makes me new. It's what forgives my sin. It's what washes me clean, what makes me acceptable to you, God. That's first. Secondly, is this many of you in this room are Christians, you are Christ's followers. Is your life being lived as a citizen of the kingdom? Or are all of your life, all of your life goals and your desires and your values all shaped around this present life? Because what I'm saying to you is that as you begin to see that your primary citizenship is in heaven, and as you begin to look at God and see him for who he is, and you start to understand that what Christ has given us is a new citizenship status, it fills everything in this life up with greater meaning, with greater purpose. It fills everything in this life up with a reminder of what we really exist for, who we really exist for. And it's for Jesus. It's for the King. It's for God and his glory that we are to live. I look forward to the day that we get to sit or stand or kneel or bow. I don't know what all it'll look like in heaven with God. But until that day, I pray that God will continue to show me how to live as someone who's not just waiting for the then and there, but even in the here and now experiencing tastes of heaven. The good things of God and reminding myself that I was made for Him, not just for these temporary things. Let me pray. God, thank you so much for every person in this room. Thank you, God, for the opportunity to talk about eternity and talk about our citizenship in heaven. God, I thank you that you purchased that citizenship. That we couldn't get ourselves into your kingdom, but you rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of light. Jesus, thank you for paying that price. Thank you that that now shapes my marriage and impacts my marriage because I represent you to my wife. I remember that my marriage is a gift from you, the king. I remember that my marriage is an opportunity to be pointed to you. To remember my greatest need has been met in you. So I don't have to look to my spouse to give that to me. I don't crush her with the weight of that expectation. I thank you, God, that as a parent, same thing. God, that I can now enjoy my kids and not worship them. I can enjoy raising my children and pointing them to the greater reality of the kingdom versus like living and dying based on their performance. God, being devastated if they don't perform well because I then feel like my worth and my value has been removed. But remembering that I'm a citizen of the kingdom of heaven and I am raising my children to see the King as we all will bow down before him one day. God, I thank you that you reshape our jobs, that you reshape all the temporary things of this life that we do, the good, the bad, the ugly, that you reshape all those things and you remind us again that you are God who one day will come back and make all things new. I pray that if anyone is in this room that has not put their trust in Christ, that has never received the gift of salvation, today might be that moment. And for us as Christians in this room, God help us to stop living lives that just look like everyone else, but to daily remember the King and to live for you, for your glory. I pray us in your name. Amen.