Heaven is Your Home - Pastor Daniel Batarseh

We're gonna bow our heads one more time as we enter into God's word. Father, we ask in Jesus' name for your grace, for your power, for your help. Lord, many people have come in with different mindsets, different heart postures, but in this moment, we trust that you will transform each of us according to your will. You know where we all are at, Lord. You know what season of life we are in, and you know exactly what we need to hear.

Impart your truth into our hearts. We need it. We need you, Lord. We declare our desperation for you in Jesus' name. Amen.

Amen. Simple question this morning, what makes us unique as Christians? What makes us unique as Christians? I'm sure many things come to mind with that complex question. And though the things that define us are generally in the realm of the unseen, they manifest in how we live practically.

They are observable by others. And the word of God in so many different ways contrast the the distinction of the believer in comparison to everybody else in this world. And if there is anybody in the bible that love to do that, making these holy distinctions between the people of God and the people of this world, it was the apostle Paul. In his letters, so many times, he would take a portion of space to say, this is what the world has. This is what you now have.

This is who the world is. This is who you are now. This is where the world is going. This is where you, people of God, are going. And that is extremely necessary because we, even the people of God, forget who we are, where we've been, and where we're going.

And this morning, we're gonna explore at least one facet of what makes the believer unique, And we're gonna hopefully and prayfully understand the richness of our inheritance in Jesus Christ. Think about this phrase. You are in Christ, a citizen of heaven. A citizen of heaven. Can you say that of anybody else?

A citizen of heaven. And before unpacking what that really means, let's follow the thoughts of the apostle Paul that led to that phrase. Meet me in the book of Philippians chapter three. Philippians three. And we'll begin here in verse 17.

Philippians chapter three verse 17. Paul says, brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us. This world is trying to give this generation many examples to follow, and here's what Paul is saying. Follow those, including me, who walk according to this example. Now look what he says in verse 18.

For many of whom I've often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame with minds set on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it, we await a savior, the lord Jesus Christ. Verse 18 says, for many, not a few, not a small demographic in your world, not the younger generation. Paul describes and defines the majority of the people you know in your world and mine.

For many, speaking of the general population, the people that you walk by in school, the people that you see walking through your workplace, those that you continually see in your commute. Yes. Many, even within church buildings, are defined as such. They walk as enemies of the cross of Jesus Christ. That's a strong statement.

And the apostle Paul is not giving us a statistic. You can feel his pain in writing it because he tells us his pain. He gives this truth and he says with it, I say it with tears. I say it with pain in my heart. The mention of the thought alone grieved this man to the point where he actually wept.

And I I thought to myself, how often can we talk about the world, the lost, and nothing be moved within us? And I believe the reason why Paul can be so moved, and I believe the original parchment in which he wrote the letter to the Philomias was stained with tears, because he had a revelation, he had an understanding, he had truth exposed to him where he knew the implications of what it means to walk as an enemy of Christ. Oh God, would you give us a tenderness of heart and a compassion for those who walk as enemies? See, you can even realize that people are walking in direct defiance to God and still be broken over them. And Paul's concern here is that there are many who despise, dishonor, and disregard the cross of Jesus Christ.

Now when you hear an enemy of Christ, when you hear that phrase, generally what comes to mind are those in the category who have rejected the message of the gospel. You know, what's amazing is how specific Paul is. He says they are enemies of the cross of Christ. He could have said they are enemies of Christ, and that could have been the same thing, and it can mean the same thing. But let me tell you this, there are many people in this world who adopt the idea of a person named Jesus Christ.

Different world religions hold and esteem Jesus Christ, so they have a false understanding of who he is. But I challenge you to speak to anybody who believes in their philosophy, their religious system of Jesus Christ, narrow down their belief down to the cross, and then you're gonna see a big difference. Come down to his atoning work. Come down to asking them what it really means for him to have died on the cross, and there the offense lies. Because his cross speaks of the ugliness of our sin, our rebellion, our wickedness.

His cross declares that you must humble yourself and receive a savior. His cross stands as the only means by which you can have eternal life. His cross declares a way of life by responding to that cross and carrying your own. His cross is exclusive and not inclusive with other contradicting beliefs. And by this alone, you get the idea that when somebody understands the message of the the cross, many refuse to embrace it and instead become enemies to it, once they understand the implications of it.

This broke the man's heart, But I wanna make the case today that though this is certainly true, that that's what defines an enemy to the cross, one who rejects and refuses to submit to the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. Yes, that is an enemy, but that's not the only way to become an enemy. You can become an enemy of Christ and still claim to believe in the message of the cross. You can be an enemy of Christ and with your lips, profess that you are a follower of Christ. You can be an enemy of the cross of Christ and even regularly attend services to hear other interesting insights around it.

We think the enemies of the cross of Christ are like the Pharisees who outrightly refused to embrace the exclusive claims of Christ. But there are enemies of Christ who also, like a Judas, appear to have everything right, but inwardly are traitors. What do I mean? I mean that it's possible to become an enemy of the cross of Christ when you eliminate the transforming essence of it. You embrace the message, but you fail to allow the message to modify your mindset, modify your desires, and modify your convictions.

And it's an awful practice that many are endeavoring to commit, turning the grace of God into something that it was never intended to be. And if we're confused about what that means, we have to understand that Paul gives us a description of what he has in mind when he says, there are many who walk as enemies of the cross of Christ, and it's in verse 19. Here's the description of them. Their end is their destruction, but here is a threefold definition of an enemy of Christ, of the cross of Christ. Their god is their belly, They glory in their shame, and their minds are set on earthly things.

You and I are about to discover that the camp of the enemies of the cross of Christ are a lot broader than we might have thought. First thing he says is that their god is their belly. When you claim to worship God, hopefully the true and living God according to the word of God, when you claim to have a God in your life, according to the Bible, you know what that means, that you are joyfully surrendered to a different sovereign power. When you say, I worship God, what you are claiming is that you are under his authority and he is the supreme treasure of your life. You allow him to determine your way of life.

He is the thing that you adore more than anything as we sang. But for the enemies of the cross of Christ, their god is not this god. Their god is their appetites. Their appetites are the supreme authority and the supreme delight of their existence. Their cravings are the command center of their daily decisions.

And so they are now driven by being satisfied in life, especially with desires that are contrary to the will of God. So their god is their belly. What a pathetic picture. But it's true if we're honest that the very thing that so many worship is themselves. They they seek to serve themselves.

They seek to satisfy themselves and they order their lives. They, they create their future plans for that sole purpose. I want to satisfy this God, my appetites, my desires. So do you wanna know if you're an enemy of Christ even in church this morning? Here's how you know at least one indication.

You live for your appetites. Not that you're tempted with appetites, we all are, even those who claim and love, truly love Jesus Christ, but you are surrendered to them. There is no fight against them. You joyfully live with this being the sovereign power of who you are. Their carnal desires determine their decisions.

Their god is their belly. But secondly, we are told that they glory in their shame. Because the god of those who are enemies of the cross of Christ, because their god is their belly, they now have to come to a place where they have to celebrate and approve of the behaviors that their god leads them to. And so what you have is enemies of the cross of Christ not viewing sin the way God views sin. So there's a second indication.

Those who might even claim to profess to have surrendered to the message, yet do not have a transformed perspective on what sin is. There are many people who claim to have a relationship with God, but if you really wanna know somebody who has a true relationship with God, just observe their relationship with sin. They'll tell you much more. And so these who have their god as their bellies or their bellies as their god, they don't condemn what Christ condemned, they celebrate what Christ condemns. And so what you have is a generation of people who are unashamedly drunkards, unashamedly homosexual, unashamedly fornicators, unashamedly pro abortion, and yet at the same time, in the same breath, they can say, I'm a follower of Jesus Christ, unashamedly, declaring and glorying in their shame, defending their reason to believe it, and approving those who are doing it, as Roman one says.

They glory in their shame. And not only that, their minds are set on earthly things. This is what he's trying to say. A person who is an enemy of the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ does not have a God perspective on life. Listen carefully.

God is not included in their meditations. God plays no part in their future plans. God has no influence on their outlook. Their thoughts are continually consumed with the very things that the world wants your thoughts to be consumed by. Pleasure, prosperity, popularity.

Me. And God is not a delight to your thoughts, God is an interference to your thoughts. He's troublesome to you. He bothers you. So even a message like this irks you the wrong way because it's disturbing, the first two points, that the god of your life is really your appetites, and that you glory in the things that Christ shuns.

And so, it's possible for people, in light of even what's being said here, to fail to examine themselves and to instead be turned up inside out. If that is a definition of the enemy of the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, brothers and sisters, there are many more enemies than you and I perhaps have thought at first. So if you wanna understand what Paul is saying here, there's two ways of looking at the enemies of the cross of Christ. There are those like the Judaizers who have added to the message of Jesus Christ, and there are those who have taught that the grace of God does not mean that you should change. But what makes a Christian unique?

What makes a believer unique? What he says in verse 20, but our, our, us, our citizenship is in heaven. This is the main point of the message this morning. It's not to focus on what the enemy of Christ looks like and thinks like necessarily, but what defines the person who has truly embraced the cross of Jesus Christ. And Paul uses this language: Us believers, true believers, we're actually citizens of heaven.

Now what does that mean? Very simply put, it means this: Think about what it means to be a citizen of a country. What does that actually mean for you and I if you're a citizen of a country? It means this: that you are in a certain status based on an agreement. You've made an agreement with civil authorities that you will do what?

You will submit to their laws and their demands as a nation in exchange for them giving you certain rights and privileges. And so you swear to be a faithful citizen and you associate yourself with a certain nation, and you commit to that. You commit to that as a faithful citizen of a certain place, and you become associated with that place upon the condition that you will submit to their laws and demands. That's what Paul's trying to say about you as a believer in me. You're a citizen of heaven.

You are ruled and governed by a celestial city, who the king of that city is Jesus Christ your Lord. And so we reverse what he had just said about those who walk as enemies of Christ. This is what he's trying to say. Your citizens is in heaven, therefore, you do not have your belly as your God. Jesus Christ is your God.

You do not glory in your shame. You shun sin and glory in righteousness. Your mind is not set on worldly things. Your mind is set on things above because you're from another place. He didn't say one day you'll be a citizen of heaven.

He says you are currently a citizen of heaven. The domain of God's holy place and his throne affects us immediately. Immediately. Which bears what? The natural question, if I'm a citizen of heaven, what a wonderful claim.

You thought you were a dual citizen. No. You have another one. This is the wonderful truth about this. We ask, k.

I'm a citizen of heaven, so why am I not in heaven? Does that imply that I'm living in heaven? That that's the natural thing. If I'm an American citizen, in part, that means that I have a place, an abiding place in America. So how how do we reconcile this?

And I believe the answer is found in second Corinthians five twenty. Notice what Paul says to believers. He says here in Philippians three twenty, you're citizens of heaven. But then he says in second Corinthians five twenty, therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ. We are ambassadors for Christ.

God making his appeal through us, we implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. So not only do you receive a citizenship for heaven, but Christ crowns you with the honor of being his representative on this earth. You and I have the awesome privilege of being an ambassador for Christ. Meaning what? An accredited diplomat that has been sent as the official representative of one country to a foreign land.

That is your purpose and identity in this life. You're an ambassador, not just a citizen. Think about how wonderful that truth is. Your life purpose now is that you are a pilgrim on this earth, traveling by with one message as an ambassador of heaven, and that's what he says here. Your deeds, your actions, your joys, your prayers are surrounded by this.

Be reconciled to God. You live to recruit others to become citizens of heaven. You live to tell others of the truths that you find here, to describe that place, and to invite those to become citizens with you. Do you think of yourself in such a way when you wake up and go to work every morning? Is that how you feel about yourself when you make trips to the gym?

When you go away somewhere and you travel with your family, do you think to yourself, don't forget, we're ambassadors of Christ. We represent a kingdom, not of this world. I'll tell you, it'll bring you much joy. It's a privilege and it's an honor, but it's also a thing that causes caution, lest we do anything that would misrepresent the kingdom that we represent. And he says here, you're an ambassador, and it's difficult to become a true ambassador when your belly is your god, when you glory in your shame, and when your mind is set on worldly things.

I can't think of an amazing more amazing thought than this. God could have just saved us and says, whatever, you're my child, just do your thing, but he says, no, I'm sending you out. Go. Now here's the thing, we can spend the next few minutes this morning talking about the immediate implications of what it means to be a citizen of heaven, but can we just pause here? Can we just take a breath and ask this question?

Can we just reflect on that thought? You're a citizen of heaven. This is what's been swirling in my mind this week. Heaven is my home. If it's been more real to me, and if it's been an ache in my heart more than ever, certainly it's been throughout these past few weeks, heaven is my home.

See, we can't just think that what Paul is saying here means that you are governed by a certain way of life, that's why you should live in a certain way. That's part, but look what he says in the next part. But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a savior. There's a futuristic implication here and application. If you're a citizen of heaven, you cannot dismiss the thought that your final address for all eternity is not found in this world.

There is a home waiting for you. There is a destination that is set for you. And that is something that you and I ought to meditate upon. You know, it's amazing how much thought we put into things concerning this life. For example, a family, a new family that wants to look for a new place to live.

What do they do? If they're careful, they'll study the area. They'll study the neighborhood. Is it safe? They'll they'll look into the schools that their kids can potentially grow up in.

They look at the stores around that would be to their convenience. So much effort and energy, and rightfully so, but for something that we're gonna leave behind. Or what about the effort into going on vacation? Oh, we look at reviews, we compare, what's the food like, what's the ratings for the beach, what is the city life like if we go to the city or to go to the town? So much effort before we make a purchase, and here's my question for you, citizen of heaven.

How much time have you put into realizing where you're going one day? How much have you spent to look into your future home? Permanent home. You might be wondering, is it really that important for God for my mind to be set on heaven? Well, let me ask you this.

If you are planning to marry someone, and that person has proven to show no excitement at all to live with you forever, would that be a little concerning? I'm not saying you don't think about anything else, but I'm saying it's at least a thought. And listen to these words. Go to Hebrews eleven sixteen and hear how God describes three men, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Consider how much it means to God for us to think about our permanent dwelling place.

We are told, but as it is, they, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, desire a better country that is a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city. These patriarchs, they lived with a sense that there was no permanence in this life. They treaded very lightly on this planet. Did they take care of their needs?

Sure. Did they enjoy the things that God wanted them to enjoy? Absolutely. But when you looked into their hearts as God did, there was a brimming desire for another world. And what I love about this verse is that it tells us that God was not ashamed to be called their God, not because they were perfectly faithful.

Just read their lives, and you'll understand that very quickly. Not because of their biblical knowledge they didn't have the bible. The very thing that stirred God to declare over these men's lives, I am not ashamed to be called their god, was their own desires. Their desires was the means by which God had said, I am not ashamed to be associated with them. I've heard all my life live in a way where you're not ashamed of God, and we shouldn't be.

Don't be ashamed of the gospel. Don't be ashamed of the truth. Don't be ashamed of standing for Christ. But rarely have I heard about God potentially being ashamed of me. And this is how simple it is to stir the affections of God when he sees where our desires lie.

What does it mean to desire a heavenly city? Well, you're desiring where God lives. You're desiring what God has prepared for you. And so I ask myself, do I yearn for it? Do I even think about it?

Do I, with childlike faith, imagine the beauties of it? Or am I so dogged down? Am I so consumed with this world that I failed to realize that I actually have a citizenship in the pocket of my soul concerning a heavenly city that God is preparing for me and you. These men had a desire, and what we desire is very important to God. And it could be possible that one of the reasons why so many professing Christians don't have a desire for heaven is because they don't know what heaven will be all about.

And so, in the next few moments, very quickly, we're we're not gonna go too deep here, let's wet our appetite and understand what you and I are headed toward. Have you ever wondered what it's gonna be like? I've said this before, but I'll say it again. I remember reading a short book on heaven, and the minister made a great observation how in modern times, there's very little songs written about heaven now. There is less and less reference to that place that we all have been purchased to go to, And I think that is because in the West, we are so distracted, and we think, really, if we're honest, it can't get any better than this.

But I would encourage you to think of this first point in Isaiah sixty five seventeen, if you would turn there. Your home, Christian, your home, citizen of heaven, will eclipse past glories and past pains. Isaiah the prophet says, for behold, speaking through this man, God declares, I create new heavens and a new earth, and here's how powerful that new creation will be, and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind. When you step onto the shores of eternity, your first two minutes in heaven will be so overwhelming with the atmosphere of holiness. The sublime sights will be so bright that what we have known in this life will not even take up residence in our thinking.

You will almost be paralyzed with the beauties. You'll be stunned. You'll be in awe. We think of heaven as some foggy, hollow, limitless, like no matter which direction you run through, it's just white space. That's what we think heaven's like.

He says, I create a new heavens and a new earth. The blueprint of how this world function and even looks like, that's what we're gonna be working with when we step into glory to some degree. But no matter how much you love this world and no matter how much you love to travel and sightsee and all these things that we should enjoy, let me tell you this, the glories of this world that declare the glories of God, they are still, as magnificent as they are, tainted and infected by the curse of the fall. I don't care how beautiful the canvas is, I don't care how breathtaking that view is when you look at those majestic mountains, they are still cracked and fractured by the curse of the fall. But when God says, I create a new heavens and a new earth, he's not talking about patching up this world.

He's talking about what Peter tells us literally burning it to dust and creating a brand new one. Total recreation. And you and I, when we are before that, are gonna be to be standing before perfection, creation not affected by anything, not shattered, not marred. I love this interesting phrase in the book of Genesis when God had initially created the world and he had put paradise in this world through the Garden of Eden. And look at the description in Genesis two.

You don't have to turn there, but listen to the words. We miss these things sometimes. Genesis two nine, and out of the ground the Lord made up to spring every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. God had created nature, not just for us to to feed ourselves, but to actually be pleased and satisfied aesthetically by the beauties around us. He wired us so.

It is not sinful to put your feet on that shore and to see the waves in the ocean, or or to stand wherever you're standing to look on the horizon, or to be in a plane and to look out the window, and for it to take your breath away as you are exhilarated by the beauties rushing through your senses, that is not sinful, that is how God wired you. And when he creates the greater Garden of Eden, can you imagine the pleasure just from the sights alone? Just from what you're gonna behold? Paul himself said, I went there, speaking in another tense, I was there and I can't even tell you the things that I heard. Never mind seen, heard.

What will our interaction be with that kind of a world? I don't know. But I know one thing, it will be so stunning that we won't even think about this world anymore. Let me give you an example of that. One time, I was flying from Detroit to here, short flight.

It was after a weekend conference, early flight. And so I was there at the airport around six something, and as I was approaching with my ticket, the worker there looked at me and says, you want first class? No, I don't want first class. Sure I want first class. It's my first time being in first class, and up to that point, this is my that was my last time.

Okay? Never happened. So I went in. And when I went in on that short flight, I sat in that chair and immediately realized the space with my long legs that I've never known before, and the chair. And I thought to myself, this is gonna be a short flight, it can't be that great.

And so all my life and my flight experience, I've known nothing but pretzels and cups of soda or whatever it may be, and there's nothing wrong with that, I'm I'm not complaining, but when they came out, they came out with a basket, with fruit and different granola bars and all these things. And I'm thinking to myself, this is what I've been missing beyond that curtain? And they brought me they didn't bring me a plastic cup, they brought me a mug. And I sat there and I enjoyed it and it was it felt like ten minutes and it was really an hour flight. But let me tell you something while I was in first class, not once did I ever think what it was like behind that curtain.

I didn't think about anything, I didn't I didn't think about what it was like for them back there. I didn't think about my past experiences back there. I was just relishing in the moment of being in first class. Do you think your loved ones who are in heaven right now are thinking about this world? Do you think that thinking about what you and I are so caught up with, what we wanna do in this life, what we wanna experience, what we wanna buy, do you think they're even thinking about it?

Do you think you're gonna think about it? We almost struggle, like, heaven sounds good, but I really like it here. You have no idea what you're being promoted into. You have no idea what you're being invited into. But Isaiah is not just speaking about the incomparable wonders, the message also includes the rescuing from past pains.

The former things shall not be remembered. Heaven can't be heaven if there's pain there. Revelation 20 one:four tells us clearly that there will be no more pain. Read it. And we limit that to physical pain.

I'm gonna have a new body like we talked about a couple weeks ago. That's partly true, but you know that pain is not limited to your body. And one way we know pain, enduring pain, is even in our thoughts. Lasting pain can come from our memories, what we have done to others, the sting in the soul and the guilt that we feel. How did I say that?

How did I do that? The pain of what others have done to you. The pain that you've witnessed being experienced in those that you love. And here's the promise that your citizenship includes when you come to this new world that God is gonna create for you and I. Pain will be eliminated even into that degree.

The former things shall not be remembered. They won't even come into mind. I'm not saying that when we come to heaven we're gonna have memory loss. I'm saying that when we come there, it will be so intense that it will create a barrier from those thoughts even entering into our mind. What sins you have committed, what other people have committed against you, what you have seen in this wretched world.

And here's a powerful claim, I'm sure it might startle you at first. I believe that what Isaiah is speaking about is so profound that it will have the ability to even eliminate the anguish of you being in heaven while your lost loved ones are in hell. How can heaven be heaven with the pain of that thought? How? Can heaven really be heaven for all eternity thinking about those, our friends, even our families?

Would God save them all in Jesus' name? But how can paradise be paradise with that thought? And the usual answer that we hear in comforting the distressed soul and meditating upon that possibility is this, that the glory of God is so blissful it will swallow up all that pain. And that is true. But can we consider this even, that not only will the beauties and the love of God be so awesome, so will the revelation of his justice and holiness be so clear and uninterrupted from our minds that we will agree completely with his judgments.

Because when we think about heaven, we think his justice is subsided and his holiness is removed. It's just love. It's just fellowship. No. It's gonna be the perfect exposure to every single one of the attributes that God has, including his justice.

See, we doubt, we debate, and partly that is true because we love, we're concerned. But it's also partly due to the fact that we do not have the same level of measuring justice and holiness and God's execution on the wicked. We don't. That's why it bothers us, and it doesn't bother God. Does God long for the wicked to repent?

Yes. He delights in giving mercy more than judging. But you and I have to understand this, that when we step into that place, not only will our exposure to his glories heal us, But our exposure to his justice and righteousness and his judgments will cause us to even say amen. That's hard to believe almost. Right?

That's hard to stomach. How? Let me challenge you with this. I challenge you to study the songs that are gonna be sung in heaven in the book of Revelation. Go to Revelation 19 and let's see what this means.

In Revelation nineteen one and two, you and I get glimpses of what is gonna be sung in heaven, and unlike many today, the words actually really matter in what we sing. In Revelation nineteen one and two, after this, I heard what seemed to be the loud voice of a great multitude in heaven. That's believers. That's us crying out hallelujah. Hallelujah.

This is the first mention of hallelujah in the Bible, by the way. Hallelujah in the New Testament. Hallelujah. Salvation and glory and power belong to our God. Look at verse two.

For his judgments are true and just. For he has judged the great prostitute who had corrupted the earth with her immorality and has avenged on her the blood of his servants. This might have challenged our view of heaven, but let us hear it today that we will also declare in glory as redeemed saints the judgments and the justice of God. And it will bring pleasure and it will bring joy. Difficult to reconcile with our minds today, I know.

And it is not an idea of trying to eliminate the horrors of what hell will be. But when we step into that place, you and I are gonna have an exposure to things that will literally rewire the way we think and feel. That's how powerful that's gonna be. When we step into that place with your citizenship, if you're a Christian, you are going to experience glories that will eclipse these glories, and you will know a joy and a peace that will eclipse any pain, even in this area. Secondly, heaven will be uncorrupted by unrighteousness.

In second Peter three thirteen, we are told, but according to his promise, we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells, in which righteousness dwells. The world that is to come, you know what makes it so exciting? Many things, but let's let's talk about this one. It will not be visited by righteousness, and righteousness will not be something that is challenged. It will remain unshaken and unmoved for all eternity.

So what does that mean? It means that you and I will know nothing but what is right in our surroundings, in our homes, in our society, in our laws, and all those things. Why is that important? Because when you and I understand our world, we have not known a stretch of time in history that has not been affected by human evil. From the beginning after the fall, all we have known is corruption.

And if there is any good, you know that underneath it there is some kind of evil there. And history and our textbooks and schools have testified to us that even there was times where evil has greatly manifested in great bloodshed. And so we can't almost even imagine a world without sin because that's all we've known. Sin, corruption, laws, videos of all these crazy things happening and even court scenes when you, when you watch some of these things that people have been judged for, it just We haven't known anything else. That's what we're familiar with.

There's not an area in this world that you can escape that corruption. It's everywhere. And as I said earlier, if there was an ache in your heart for your new home, surely you should have been felt in these past few weeks. Why are people distancing themselves from social media? I've heard some people saying that.

I've heard some people that have given up on the daily news. I can tell you why, because there's a lack of righteousness in our world. And it is only being broadcasted more and more and more, and all it's doing is causing pain, all it's doing is causing us to be disheartened, all it's doing is causing us to even be frightened. But what Peter promises by the Holy Spirit is that there is a world coming that ten years will pass, a hundred years will follow, a millennium after millennium, and all you and I will know is right. Maybe we don't grasp that because we don't understand the specific details.

So let's get into some details. Never will you ever be able to turn on the TV if there is TV. Breaking news of violence and gangs in the city of Chicago. There's not gonna be any new documentaries teaching people about child sex trafficking. You and I don't have to worry about the safety in our streets.

We don't have to look upon riots. The believers don't have to feel threatened at all about persecution coming and hindering them from doing what God had called them to do, and there will be a complete cease to the killing of unborn babies. Shall we continue about what will come to an end forever and ever and ever, never having the possibility of rearing its ugly head in our presence again? In which righteousness dwells. It's amazing what we are told in Revelation 21.

Listen to this, two chapters after Revelation 19. Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. Verse two, and I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. Heaven, in a great part, is described as a city. A city, a community of people, a place with architecture, organization, social interaction.

And this city that's going to come means that there's gonna be people moving and and talking and worshiping and singing and conversing. But what makes this city so unique is one word before it. It's holy. It's holy. If I were to ask you what your top three ideas of a great city is in our modern day.

Oh, many people love the idea of cities because of the restaurants that they have, and they travel there for the food, for the sites, for the art, for the culture, but no city in history has ever been known for it being perfectly holy. But this city to come will be. That's what will make it so different. You will look to the left, you will look to the right, you will look up and down, and you will know nothing but perfect peace. Perfect peace.

Because holiness is the air. Because of the God who dwells there, which comes to the third and final point. Heaven will be perfect union with the God that we know today. In verse three of Revelation 21, and I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, behold. In other words, check it out.

In other words, turn your attention on this. You just saw the city. It's wonderful, but I wanna show you the pinnacle of the glory of heaven. The dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God, full stop.

That's what makes heaven heaven. And you can tell by this writing that this is the very pulse of God's heart for us in creating a new heaven and a new earth. It will be a place suitable for perfect uninterrupted communion with himself. Do you realize that the narrative of the Bible is in great part the revelation of God's longing to dwell with man again since the fall? The moment the fall happened, yes, God knew it because God knows all things for all time, but the moment the fall happened, God already had a plan in mind about how he was gonna do this.

And he had shown signs of his aching and his longing for us to know him intimately. So what does he do? He adopts a nation and he says, I'm going to dwell with you in a tent. Create this structure for me to be in close proximity to you, and they do, and they fail. So then, no longer a tent, but let me come down in the flesh and dwell among man, and he does.

But he doesn't stay permanently because it would not bring a permanent solution. He had to die. So he took on flesh, and he dies. But when he dies, he doesn't leave us alone. He now makes you his dwelling place and fills you with his Holy Spirit because he longs to be close to you.

And from there, it's not just now us having his spirit battling with this flesh, distracting us and pulling us in different directions, not knowing the perfect communion that he longs for. Now we come to this, where he says, no, that's not enough. Me dwelling with you in your heart and your corrupt body is not enough. I'm gonna give you a new body and I'm gonna dwell with you forever and ever, unveiled, uninterrupted, unhindered. From the beginning to the end of this book, there's a cry in God's heart, I long to be with my creation, and fellowship with them.

Not for a hundred years, not for five hundred thousand years, for all eternity. I remember being approached by a woman saying, there's another woman that needs to talk with you and longs to pray with you. I said, sure. So we went and we met with this woman, and I sat with her, and I was hearing her story, and she was from Canada. And I asked her about her husband and she said, yes, I'm married.

I've been married for a few years now. And I said, well, is your husband back in Canada? No. He's not even in Canada. He's overseas.

He's he's not here at all. I haven't seen him for years. We got married, but because of his paperwork, they're giving him great difficulty for him to be with me. And so we've been married all these years long distance. What do you think the cry of her heart was?

What do you think we prayed about? God, give a grace for these papers to work out so that this man can be with his wife as it should be. Do you think that them working on their paperwork and wanting to come to Canada was about Niagara Falls? Was it about the quiet neighborhoods? Was it about the freedoms of Canada?

Or do you think the only and the main thing running through their minds is that this will enable us to be together forever? And I make that point to say that God had purchased your citizenship for heaven by the blood of Jesus Christ with this main goal in mind, to have his bride with him and to not be separated at all, but to be consummated and to forever have that fellowship and to exchange that love that will be pure and holy and totally satisfying. So satisfying that as you know, you will not even crave or even think about being married to another human. This is what heaven's about. And God, as a bridegroom, longed for you to so be with him that he provided a citizenship.

You're a citizen of heaven. Keep your mind on that when everybody is talking about what a true American is. You're beyond that. You have something that this world never has. And this world, you know why they're going crazy?

Because that's all they have, this citizenship, this nation, these laws, this life. Their end is their destruction. But you? But us? Paul says our citizenship is in heaven.

I challenge you to think about it a little bit more. I challenge you to meditate on it as you drive. I'm not saying to only think about that and don't be world in the sense of being realistic. But it will do you some good, because when you trace the language of these apostles and these letters about how to relate to this world to come, it's filled with language such as yearning, waiting, looking, groaning. Consider it and watch how much good it will do to you.

I can guarantee you. What will make heaven so heavenly is what made the Garden Of Eden so wonderful. I can tell you this, it was beyond the lofty trees and the majestic hills and the luscious fruit and the peace amongst animals and humans, oh, it was greater than that. You can summarize the glory and the core of that garden that can genesis to down to this phrase, and they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day. Hearing their creator brushing through creation, walking in their midst.

You and I will know. You and I will know him, and you and I will realize that he's never failed us now, and he will be so enjoyable because he will never fail us then. What makes human relationships hard? Well, no matter how wonderful they are, they fail you, and you fail them. This god?

No. Doesn't matter how heavenly you describe your friendship or your relationship with your potential spouse is, it does not even come close to what you and I will know with him. His smile, his affection, his embrace will consume you. Do you have a citizenship to heaven? Or are you an enemy of the cross of Jesus Christ?

Well, I go to church. I didn't ask that. I was baptized as a baby. That doesn't mean anything. Who's your god?

Your belly? Do you glory in your shame? Are your your thoughts set on worldly things? Do your thoughts magnetize towards what this world promotes? Here's the thing, though you may be, God has a citizenship with your name on it if you would just receive it by faith.

And you can go from enemy to son, from rebel to friend, from damned to delivered. God is not dangling that citizenship over you and saying, you better sweat for it. He bled for it. He died on the cross for you to have it. And God in Christ has done enough to convince you how much he longs for you to have heaven as your home.

Receive it this morning by faith and realizing that your sin is shameful, and you have worshiped other gods. If you didn't have a name, certainly it's your name. Turn from that sin. Receive Jesus Christ by faith. Make him the lord of your life, and you will be sworn in as a citizen of heaven.

Let's pray. Father, in Jesus' name, we glory in our citizenship. Help us live as citizens of heaven today, and help us anticipate what our citizenship will bring us into. You will receive us. We thank you that that document was purchased by the blood of Christ.

But Lord, if there's even one in here who is not sure, who's an alien to you, May they sense the call of God to embrace what you purchased. Thank you for giving us a taste of what's to come. We desire you, Lord. Lord, if there is a time where we say, come, Lord Jesus, it's today. Come, Lord Jesus.

We're tired. We're weary. Lord, we don't wanna have this escapist mentality. We wanna win people. So between now and then, help us, empower us to be ambassadors.

Lord, we love you. We trust you, and we surrender to you today. Jesus' name.