Identification Truths

Okay, we're talking about being a heavenly citizen and of the family and the household of God. So my first question was, what does it mean to be a citizen? In the verses of Philippians 3.20, for our citizenship is in heaven whence also we wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus. I guess the first, maybe a better question is, is that a true statement? Is it a true statement? Boy, you guys are hesitating.

Philippians 3.20, For our citizenship is in heaven, whence also we wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Is our citizenship in heaven? Is that a true statement? Are you sure? Are you sure? So what does it mean to be a citizen? Okay. Okay. Identified with. So you're not an illegal alien? Are you an alien? Legal? Why are you a citizen of heaven?

Because you're born there. That's right. You were born there. You come from there. You know, it would serve us as believers well, I think, to view ourselves as having been born there and having been sent by God from there to here, because that's really what's happening. So, in terms of used to being from here, you died, right?

You were buried and you resurrected and now you have a life association in the place in which you were born. The Greek word, polytomia, This means to behave as a citizen. Some translations say that use the word conversation, but it means to live. And it comes from a word polis, which means place or town. And I don't know what the other word is, but oranos, which means heaven. So you come from a place that's heaven.

On Thursday nights we're studying Hebrews, and a few weeks ago we were in Hebrews 3.1, and the verse is, Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the holy calling. And calling in that sense doesn't mean that you got a phone call and an invitation. What it means is that you're already there. That is your calling. You didn't get a call to come.

Your calling was a matter of being of where you already were. interesting thing about that is for the jews to be told that they are partakers of the heavenly calling was a real shock to them because all of their economy and all of their blessings were earthly and for the writer of hebrews to tell them that their calling is heavenly and that their holy brethren was a real eye-opener to them yes concerning synonymous connection with For instance, if you become a citizen of a country that you're not born into, you can become a citizen.

So is there anything related to being adopted? We'll talk in a minute about sojourners and pilgrims, which I think relates to that. You could be born here like you and I, and we could decide that We could decide that living in Guadalajara, Mexico is really cool. So we moved down there because it was cheap, we learned the language, and we even applied for citizenship, although I don't think you can have dual citizenship in Mexico. In your heart, where are you from? Here. And that's really the truth.

You can legally change from an earthly legally change your address and your citizenship, but it doesn't change the fact of where you're from. And your citizenship is a positional truth, and position never gets changed. You may not act like you're a citizen of heaven, but it doesn't change the fact that you are. Now along with citizenship comes all the rights to a citizen, and all the responsibilities of a citizen. You're really from there.

And so, in 2 Corinthians, Paul talks about us being ambassadors of the reconciliation. An ambassador represents his home country. And he only speaks what the country or the leader of the country tells him to speak. An ambassador is not entitled to his own opinion. Never. because he's the representative of the country and so he always speaks the country's line.

So we being ambassadors of the reconciliation, where did we come from with that message? We came from heaven. I think if we saw ourselves as heavenly citizens it would change our perspective about what the circumstances on the earth are and how we live.

One of the biggest temptations I have is not to be political. I think them liberals are all sickos. I like the conservative. Well, I'm neither. I'm neither a conservative or a liberal because I'm not from here. I'm not a Republican, Democrat, Independent. I'm none of those things. I'm not even from Ireland. My sister sent me a book about my heritage or history in Ireland and I said, well this isn't who I am. She wasn't happy about that.

A statement from Lewis Barry Chafer said, when this truth is accepted, shall we know the joy of continual occupation with the Lord Jesus at the Father's right hand, and it may be added, The object of all the Father's dealings with us now is to bring us under the influence of this truth. So we need to be under the influence of this truth.

The next verse was Ephesians 2.19.

So then ye are no more strangers and sojourners, but ye are fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of God. The question there was, what does it mean to be of the household of God? Family. So not only are you from there, in terms of the heavenly location, you're from a specific family there. And what family is that? God's family, right?

You could say, people ask me, well what's the difference between You know, why are we not under Christ as King? Christ as King? So my answer to that is that if you were born in England, and your last name happened to be Windsor, and Mom was the Queen, she's still the Queen? Yeah? But she's also Mom. So if you're from Heaven, and your Father is God, And the Lord Jesus is your very life. Is He the King? Yeah, but He's also my life. And the Father is my Dad.

So you look at it different. Are you under their authority? Absolutely you are. But they're family. You get to live in a castle. You get to call the Father, Dad. You're family. You have the same bloodlines. So in addition to being a citizenship, you're also of the family and the household of God.

That word is oikios, and oikos is the word for house. And this word means that we belong to a family, that we're intimate with that family, and we're from the same bloodline, kindred, of the family of God. And this is a lot more than just being one of God's creations. A guy said one time that we are the legitimate, organic offsprings of God. Emphasis on the word organic. We come from him because we share his life. And that, in terms of earthly description, would be the body of Christ, the church.

We're the family. It is not merely that all believers are just believers, that we are also members of Christ in heaven and of one another. If we needed a spiritual donor, any of you would work. Everybody would qualify. So we began in heaven, we were born in heaven, of the family of God and of the citizenship of heaven. But we're here for a while to manifest, to be ambassadors, or to manifest what heaven is, really, and what our home really is. Any questions about that? Okay. You ought to feel pretty good about yourself.

So what is a sojourner and a stranger? Anybody? Yeah, a sojourner is a stranger, a foreigner, an alien, a guest worker. That's right. One who receives the hospitality of the home country and he may, you know, check into the Holiday Inn and hang around a while. OK, he might be on vacation or maybe he's illegal and he's sneaking through, you know, but he is not from here. OK, so then what would a stranger be?

Paro Koss, stranger, sojourner, I'm sorry that's a sojourner. The first one was a stranger. Foreigner. What's the difference between these two? Sojourner is just passing through. Yeah. What's a stranger? It's unfamiliar. It's not like the people. Maybe describe it this way. A stranger is somebody who's passing through. A sojourner is somebody who decided to move in next door, and he's going to stay a while, but he ain't from here. Do you see that? He's living here, bought a house, but he's not from this country. A stranger is just passing through. So when Peter says that we're sojourners and strangers on the earth, that's what we are, and we used to be sojourners and strangers to the Jewish nation and to the family of God. But now, being on the earth, we're sojourners and strangers.

Another guy described it as this, that we're like the force recon and the marines or the special forces. We got dropped about 500 miles behind enemy lines and we're in a little encampment there and everybody's after us. And we have to be alert the whole time. We're an illegal alien taking on the identity of Adam, a false identity. Well, it's not so much a false identity, but it isn't who we are. We really are considered sojourners and strangers on the earth.

And to be honest with you, if the earth really knew what we were all about, they'd get rid of us. They don't want us here. The Lord Jesus said that if he hadn't come, they wouldn't have been guilty. They wouldn't have been convicted. But since I did come, they have no excuse.

Okay? I guess as we're going through this, I'm thinking in my mind, do you really view yourself this way? Or do you really think, you know, I'm from Colorado or Kansas or wherever you're from and, you know, I got a house and a mortgage and I got, you know, a Chevy and, you know, I vote and have a bank account and mortgages and all that kind of cool stuff. It makes more sense as we're going through this to view ourselves, or myself this way. Yeah. But it's still, it's hard to grasp. Because this is such a reality. That's part of that being. We spend a little more time later on in thinking. Yeah, that's a good point.

Don't you find it interesting that like you're introduced to the salvation truths as a non-believer. And you know, if you didn't get saved as a real young person like me, the biggest problem I had was being persuaded that God meant what he said in terms of saving me for all eternity. That once I believed, my history was done. And coming from Catholicism, you know, it's spiritual push-ups 24-7. And if you miss one, you have to start over. Well, the Spirit leads you and you believe that, but then you're in Christ and you're moving along and then you find out you died. How tough is it to believe that? What do you mean I died?

The Word of God says so. Now the Word of God says, oh, by the way, you're not from here. And not only that, You came here from heaven, you're a sojourner and a stranger, and your conversation or your life is hid with Christ and God. And here comes this whole bunch of knowledge about being a heavenly citizen of the household and the family of God.

And the question always comes down to one thing, do you believe it? If you're like me, you look at God and say, well, I've been through Missouri a few times, and you have to kind of show me before I'll believe it. No, no, it doesn't work like that. Donna?

You know, what you're saying, one of the heartening things about that is some of the, what you'd call the good things of the world. You talk about days and seasons and birthdays. Father's Day! Father's Day, Father's Day. I think your attitude... Sure.

I guess I still wonder how you look at those things. Well, we're so attached to the world, because that's where we originally were identified, that they're just ingrained into us. But the Lord comes along and tells us these things, and gee, you got any holidays in heaven? You know, we get Sunday off, what's the deal? Steve? I think you have a sense of belonging too.

I can use it as an example of my own life. I lived in Canada for a year and a half. During the coldest winter they had up there in 40 years. But all I could think about was getting back south of the border. Yeah. doing things, meeting people, whatever I was doing up there, but the customs and different things that I finally realized were different weren't mine. I didn't adopt them. is a lot of disidentification.

Looking at Adam and the wickedness, I see that. Turn on any news, turn on anything. With sarcasm, beheadings. How do you behead a person on tape? I see the evil in everything that goes on in this world. or feeling more distant from it, because, you know, and even the politics, you know, I feel the same way. I mean, politics and all that, but I sit there and I go, after a while, you know, these people are inanimate.

Yeah. You know, most of them. And I, you know, I find myself just getting further removed from just that, you know, I'm feeling more foreign, you know, as I see more of the world going on. Right. That, you know, and as you come to know him more, I think you have that It's kind of like what you say when you go on vacation. You want to get back to the people who are your family. Yeah, you do. You miss them. And this is the family. I find myself much more now feeling much more of a sojourner and a stranger. Yeah, I do too. Because it just doesn't make sense. Yeah, there is no sense.

The world doesn't make sense until you put it in Adam and Christ and the identification. So I would say that, you know, if the answer to my question, do you believe God about your position and your life in Christ and the heavenlies? But, like Courtney says, you know, I'm just now beginning to understand what that means. Well, you know, trust the Spirit.

He intends to make that real to you. Because then you're free. And that's cool. You're free from all of this. And you're free to set your affections on things above. You're free to behold the glory of the Lord. You're free to do that. There's no impediments. There's a chorus that used to sing, there's a longing in my heart. And that's something an unbeliever wouldn't have, a longing in his heart for anything. No, they have a longing in their heart to stay here. Yeah, that's right. And I think that's the Holy Spirit working there. Yeah, it is. There's no question about that. Strangely dim. Yeah, that is terrific.

You know, there also is your old nature is also not wanting to actually take out in the step of faith and possess what's yours. Because there's no room for him there. You know, one of the great things about leaving this planet, dying, is that Every impediment to what we're talking about today stays here. And you leave it behind when you go.

That's wonderful news. Absolutely wonderful news. Because when you're home face-to-face with the Lord, there'll be no barriers, no impediments, no drawing back, no strong desires against what... none of that. and this is the odd, and I haven't figured this one out yet until I step into eternity, is with all that gone, and who we are, what's left of us when we, I mean, when we step in and when all those impediments are gone and we don't have those, our essential entity. Identity. Mike, Mike Doyle, before, with all those gone, what's left? Christ. Mike Dawson. Oh, I see what you mean. Am I still a person? Yeah, you're still an individual. Oh, absolutely you are.

What's good that was brought along? This is one of those kind of real brain scratchers. What is brought along? All our history, all our thing is really tainted with Adam and Eve. Look what God's going to do. At the beam of judgment, there's going to be a really big fire. And all of what you described as history, memory, sin, all of that gets fried. And I don't know how God can put it out of His memory, but He will, and so will we. There won't be one thing in all eternity that will cause us to take our mind off of beholding His glory. The thing that's exciting to me is the same thing. The highlight of my existence on the earth is interaction with persons.

Isn't it with you? Other people. Well, imagine now, there's no impediments for an interaction with the God of the universe, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is of such a character that in all eternity you will never get all of them. You're just beginning. That's the exciting part to me. Maybe like a marriage. It's a growing, cool thing, you know, that one person learning and reciprocating with another person. Imagine doing that with Christ, with nothing in the way. And it's your person and His person. That's why God created us as persons, I think.

I heard Hal describe this. Imagine falling into a black hole and just keep falling further and further away from God, from the separation. You get farther and farther, but turn that around, that's when you know Christ for eternity, just what he described. You know him more. I like how Verne describes it.

He said heaven is going to be a whole series of I like that, you know? I like that. And we think, oh, all our friends will be there. Well, that's all we think about what's going to be there. Yeah, yeah. It's pretty limited. Well, you're going to be there, son. If I could have to spend eternity with you. I know. Okay, Hebrews 12, 22.

But ye are come unto Mount Zion. and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable host of angels." Where is Mount Zion, the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem? Where is it? The new subdivision next door. What's interesting about it's heaven, the heavenly at the end of Hebrews 12 there's this comparison between these two mountains and in the book of Hebrews it would be appropriate for them to compare these because in the book of Hebrews the whole entire book has one theme and the theme is this that the Hebrews who had become Christians were to abandon Judaism for the person of Christ. So what you find in the whole book is that the writer of Hebrews will bring up Moses and say Christ is infinitely greater and here's why. Bring up Abraham. Christ is infinitely greater and here's why. Bring up the law and grace in Christ is infinitely greater. Well, here he's bringing up Sinai and Zion.

What's Sinai represent? What happened on Mount Sinai? The Ten Commands were run down. They got the law. What was one of the characteristics of Mount Sinai? The law was delivered. You couldn't touch it? Abraham had to go up. But nobody else could touch it? If your sheep wandered onto it, smoke, cloud, fire and brimstone, lightning, it was a fearful place for the Jews. Because God was there. They couldn't get even close to it except Abraham. I'm sorry, Moses. He was the only guy. He went up there and got the Ten Commandments. For the writer of Hebrews, to begin to contrast, Mount Zion with Sinai makes sense in their minds. In contrast, there's no fire, there's no brimstone, but there's this blazing fire of the mirrors of angels. in Zion.

Who's there? Who's in this city? A host of angels. A host of angels? Who else is there? We are. You are, positionally? The Church of the Firstborn? Who else? The souls of just men made perfect? All the Old Testament saints are there? And what are they doing? They're worshipping God. And they're perfect.

As opposed to Sinai, where it's all about hope for reward and fear of punishment. I've read through some of the things. It burned with fire, surrounded by blackness, a severe storm always enveloped it. A trumpet preceded the pronouncement so difficult that people begged that no more be given.

Hebrews 12.19 Even an animal must die if it so much as touched the mountain. Moses, a man of great faith, was filled with fear at the sight of it. Sinai was not God's goal for man. That's why he starts in verse 18, you are not come unto the Mount Sinai. The law brought condemnation but not salvation.

And it was a stepping stone described as our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ. Mount Sinai was the highest mountain in Jerusalem and represents a heavenly place. It does not depict the earthly church for that is only the pathway to the heavenly Jerusalem which is the ultimate destination. While in the General Assembly on earth in the church we have tribulation, in heaven we will participate in a festival gathering of the General Assembly. Only those whose names are written in the Book of Life will be on Mount Zion. There the church will be judged to receive rewards. All the spirits of the righteous are made perfect there. The Jews don't view Mount Zion as a place of grace. It's a place where they're brought together, right? a Jewish standpoint and a heavenly standpoint. It's Hebrews, yeah, that talks about in, I think it's 14, he makes a very interesting statement.

He said, we have not been brought to the new covenant, but we've been brought to the mediator of the new covenant. See the difference? In other words, Israel, at some point, will be brought into a new covenant. the one of Ezekiel and the one that's described there, where they've got a new heart and the law written on their hearts.

But we haven't been brought to any covenant. We've been brought to the mediator of the new covenant. So what's the difference there? We're brought to a person, the Lord Jesus Christ. He will mediate that new covenant, but our association is with the mediator, not the covenant. See that? And that's a huge difference, because we're family. We're not a covenanted people, we're family. You okay with that? You won't have to pay for health insurance? No, you won't need it.

Luke 10.20 Nevertheless, in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven. So what's the significance of your names being written in heaven? Eternally His. What's that? That we are eternally His.

Jan, I could spend probably ten minutes on this whole scenario here, but this kind of is a whole thing in Luke 7, 8, 9, and 10. In Luke 7, there's a sinful woman that comes to Jesus, and right away there's a connection between her and the Lord Jesus, and he forgives her sins. But by the time you get to 10, there's no sense in this woman about her position with God or her sense of fitness for being with God. All she knows is that her sins have been forgiven. And most believers, that's kind of where they are. That's sort of what they pin their life on, that their sins have been forgiven. but they have no joy about being brought to the Father. You see that?

And so I think for the Lord Jesus is trying to explain about having your names written in heaven means that you are brought to that place and you are brought to God, to the Father. It's a brand new place which the woman in in Luke 7 wouldn't have understood. If you study the Gospels, what you'll find is that Christ forgave sins and healed people, but how many of those people sort of got a sense of maybe there's a new thing coming, a new association between God and humanity? If you read John 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, The Lord Jesus is teaching his disciples privately.

He's passed public ministry. And so while he's teaching them, what we found last year when we were studying John, it was like he would tell them the stupendous intimacy that's about to happen. And they'd go, huh? And he would talk to them heavenly and they would ask him earthly questions. He would talk to them about being being in Christ, being in Him, that He's going to send the Spirit, and they would ask Him questions about, well, are you going to bring the Kingdom in now?

So what's interesting is that I don't think you can even understand what it means to be a citizen, to be in Christ, to be in the Heavens, unless you're recreated in Christ. You have no capacity to understand that. Because you have to have a life that's suited to where you come from. See that? So, I pointed this up, and I think Chafer did too, so that you could see that in the Gospels there's no sense of anybody in there about a new position and a new order of things, a new creation.

Or even the names being written in heaven. What would that be? So, what is the significance of your name being written in heaven? It's eternally His. What's that? We're eternally His. You're His, and you belong there. You're from there. See, I think the reward for that is the individual and personal side of that. It's not you're a US citizen. It's not that. It's your name. It's not just you're from Denver, you're from wherever it is. Mike Doyle.

Isn't it interesting that the Lord Jesus even said that he has a special name, a new name for each one of us? I'm not going to be Mike. You're not going to be Courtney. What's cool about it is that it's a special name suited just for you. that is incorporated in the special intimacy that you and the Lord Jesus will have. And it will be descriptive of that. And I think we're all going to have unique names. There won't be two Courtney's and three Mike's and five Donna's. There won't be that.

Everybody will have this individual personal name given to them by Christ. Isn't that cool? And that's the name that's written? That's the name. Yeah. So when you're up there, don't look for Mike. He ain't going to be there. Don't worry. Well, the Lord Jesus will come and tell you. Formerly known as, AKA. Seen him around lately.

Ephesians 3.6, to wit that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel. My question there was, why are the Gentiles being heirs and members and partakers specifically mentioned here? Because the Jews were the ones taking care of the Old Testament and upon his death we were Yeah. Who did this message of salvation and all of this go to first? Went to the Jews, didn't it? On the day of Pentecost, do you think any Gentiles were saved that day? Who was the first Gentile to be saved? It was Cornelius and his house, right?

And it was a huge surprise to Peter. I mean, he ran back to the other boys. He said, you're not going to believe this. God's going to save those Gentiles. Give them the same thing He's given us. What's the matter with Him? See that? It was a huge surprise. And Peter, James, and John didn't understand the heavenly aspect of the body of Christ. It took Paul to come on the scene and teach them about it before they got it.

Some of the differences, I ask what do you think the promises are, and especially from a Jewish and Gentile standpoint, I would say the Jews get a kingdom, we're in the church. Everything about them is earthly, everything about us is heavenly. Everything about them is material, everything about us is spiritual. Everything about Judaism is universal. In other words, he deals with the nation of Israel as a unit. See that? He deals with members of the body of Christ individually, one-on-one, because we're all sons.

Was that his original plan? No. Oh, you mean in creation? Well, no, with the Jews, even though they didn't continue on to bring about his kingdom. Was it still going to be the same earthly kingdom for them? Yes. If you look at the promises made to Abraham, because therein lies what God was going to do through Abraham, the promises were all earthly. They were national. They had to do with land and earthly blessings. There was no sense in which they were going to be like we were. There were no promises other than the fact that all nations would be blessed through Abraham's seed, singular, who was Christ.

So through the millennium they'll rule? Through the millennium, the Lord Jesus will rule as king and we will rule and reign with him. The nation of Israel will be brought back to earthly status and the Gentiles will have to go through the Jews to see Christ. Then after that, the new earth? Oh, and the Jews will come, they'll occupy the earth, and Gentiles too. Where are you going to be? In heaven. And where's heaven going to be? Not near. It's going to be right next to the earth, I think, in the New Jerusalem. It says that we're the temple in which Christ dwells.

So who are the Gentiles? The Gentile saints. The saints, believers, Adam is one. There will be a lot of, not in this dispensation, but during the Millennial Kingdom, there will be a lot of Gentiles saved. And they won't have to become Jews to be saved. Before Abraham, Abraham was a Gentile. Before him, how about all of those people that believed God and were accounted righteous?

The earthly circumstance, including the millennial kingdom, will be a governmental situation. We live under grace. We've been reconciled, they've been restored. They're political, we're evangelical. Isn't that interesting? I'm going to keep moving so we can finish maybe.

Galatians 6.10, So then, as we have opportunity, let us work that which is good towards all men and especially towards them that are of the household of faith.

So, what's the household of faith? What would you say the household of faith is? Yeah, it's good. Family, friends, Christ life. Yeah, how do you get into the household of faith? By believing. So the household of faith is interesting. This is not only entrance into. These are people who, this is the way in which they function. Well, think about it.

If I come to you and say, okay, everybody in this room is a heavenly citizen. You're a stranger on the planet. You're a sojourner. You don't belong here. You're in heaven. Do you believe me? I'm serious. God's word says that. So God comes to you and tells you that and says, do you believe me? You say yes. You're in a unique fraternity. You're a believer. You know, I like the term believer. I don't like the term Christian. I really don't. I like the term believer because that describes what we are.

And so we're to live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. So you're reading along in the word of God someday and you see something that goes totally against your logic or makes no sense to you. What are you supposed to do about it? You're supposed to believe him. That's it. You're supposed to check it out, but you're supposed to believe it.

Last week I taught on the other class in Romans 5.3, and it says not only this, that we rejoice in our tribulations. So I said, now doesn't that mean that you're supposed to rejoice in spite of your tribulations? that when you're in Him, in spite of all of that, you rejoice. Doesn't that sound like it makes sense that way? And if you say, okay, that's what it means, then in verse 11 down it says we rejoice in God, and that in is the same prepositional phrase, so you'd have to say we rejoice in spite of God.

The issue is this, that I rejoice because I have Him. That's what it means. Do you have the faith to buy that? Do you understand what I mean? Do you believe that? And so I'm talking to my buddy Strawn on Friday, and we're talking about this, and he said, I'm sorry, I can't go there. I said, what do you mean? He said, well, I don't know what that means.

Here's a guy who's suffered through cancer and the Lord has sustained him. And he said, I'm not rejoicing because I have this. And I'm not being critical, but you see where the Lord has taken us? taking us to a pit. Hal Malloy is rejoicing. All he can think about is the circumstances being used to glorify God and to witness the gospel to somebody. Isn't that cool? Where is that?

Romans 5.3. We got to go, right? We're done? Let's close. Our dear Father, how we thank you for your word and these stupendous facts that you reveal to us continually. Father, we ask that we would be able to enter into them and rest and behold your glory and view ourselves and think of ourselves as those that are heavenly. We thank you. We pray in your son's name. Amen.