Turn in the Word of God to Philippians chapter 3. The text is verse 21, the final verse of this chapter. We'll read the chapter and pay special attention to verse 21. Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you, to me, indeed, is not grievous, but for you it is safe. Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision. For we are the circumcision, but worship God in the spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. Though I might also have confidence in the flesh, if any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more circumcise the eighth day, the stock of Israel, the tribe of Benjamin, and Hebrew of the Hebrews, as touching the law of Pharisee, concerning zeal, persecuting the church, touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. But what things were gained to me for those I counted loss for Christ. Yea, doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and do count them, but dumb, that I may win Christ and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith, that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death. If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead, not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect, but I follow after, If that I may apprehend, that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended, but this one thing I do. For getting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded. And if in anything ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you. Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing. Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an example. For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and I'll tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ. whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things. For our conversation is in heaven. For whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, in all the words of our text, who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself. Thus far we read from the fully inspired Word of God. May He bless it to our hearts this evening. Beloved congregation, in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Apostle, earlier in the book of Philippians, had explained the hope of the believer. He says, I'm in a strait betwixt two. I know not what I would choose, whether to depart, which is far better, or to stay here with you." The Apostle loved the congregation. He loved the church. But it was far better for him to depart, to be with Christ. And the Apostle confesses that hope of the believer and of the church of the intermediate state. So that when you die, and when I die, your soul is taken, translated into the kingdom of heaven. That intermediate state is that state of the believer immediately after death, and before the second coming of Jesus Christ, where that believer's body lays in the grave. where that believer's body rots, where worms consume that body, where it returns onto the dust from whence it came. The relationship then with our text, with what came before with verse 20, is this. For our conversation is in heaven from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Our text has a close connection that at this return of Jesus Christ on the clouds of heaven, when he returns the second time to make all things two, when he returns the glorious Almighty Lord to whom was committed all power in heaven and on earth. He will raise this body. He will change your body and make it like unto His glorious body. For now your conversation is in heaven. Now you're born from above. You have a principle of the new life and a body of death. And a body that's subject to corruption. And it's a body that's subject to all the effects of sin. A body that sorrows. A body that tires. A body that grows weary. So that now here you're a pilgrim and a stranger. You seek a heavenly country. You seek a new country. You seek a city whose building and maker is God. And your home is not here. It's not your homeland. You wander as pilgrims and strangers, as vagabonds in this land. That's because of God's work of regeneration. That you have this heavenly life. You have a heavenly citizenship. And you walk now a heavenly life. And your hope is heavenly. So that the first part of your hope is that when you die, Your soul will be taken immediately. So that the beginning of eternal joy which you have already now, your fellowship will never be broken with the Lord Jesus Christ, but you shall be taken immediately to heaven where He is. Possess that heavenly life now by regeneration. And at death, you get to go home. That's why the believer by faith is not afraid of death. All the believer, he's afraid according to the flesh. No one can tell you what death feels like. No one can tell you what that experience is when that body and the soul are rent. And when that soul is taken, oh, it's scary in that sense and fearful in that sense. But death, as far as your salvation is concerned, death never overcomes your salvation. That salvation that Christ merited by His cross and resurrection. It'll never be overcome. So in that sense, you can face death. Steer right in the face. And it's become your servant. The Apostle had said, I'm in the straight betwixt two. I love the congregation. I love to be here. Love to be with you. But it's far better for me to depart with Christ. But if that was the only hope, That's not the only hope. That's not the end of the matter. There's more to it that the apostle is explaining. The whole hope of the believer is the resurrection, not only of my soul, but also of my body. My body is going to be eaten. Your body is going to be eaten. It's going to return to the dust. It's going to be laid in the grave. your ashes might be scattered over the earth, your body might be lost to the depths of the sea. The whole hope of the believer is that my body is going to be fashioned like unto the glorious body of Jesus Christ. That my body is going to be raised and it's that power that Christ received. whereby He's going to take this body, the body that I live in now, and make it like unto His glorious body. The Apostle teaches it as His hope. The Apostle teaches it as the hope not only of Himself, But the hope of the believer, that at the final resurrection, when Christ comes from heaven as the Savior, as our Lord Jesus Christ, He shall change my body. There will be a substantial change. So the Apostle confesses this. The Church confesses this. By the leading of the Spirit, we confess this truth too. My body is going to be changed. who shall change this vile body and make it like unto His glorious body. That when He comes, do you believe that, beloved? That Christ, when He comes, is gonna change your body? We confess that this evening. I believe in the resurrection from the dead, the life everlasting. When this confession comes upon your lips, when the Holy Spirit places this confession upon your heart, the problems of your life, which is death, and the problems of your death itself are solved. All the problems of life fade away. that according to the working whereby He is able to subdue all things, He will change my body, make it like unto His glorious body. So that's the theme of our text, and this climax of the chapter, the changing of our bodies. In the first place, the meaning of this. In the second place, the pattern of this. In the third place, The power of this, the changing of our bodies, the meaning, the pattern, the power. The Apostle says, who shall change our vile body. The Apostle means, when he says vile body, he means a humiliated body. The text literally may be translated, the bodies of our humiliation. The body of our humiliation, that's this body. It's a vile body. It's a humiliated body. That body, then, as such, is the medium. It is the instrument of our earthly present existence. Our body stands in relationship to the earthly. It is out of that body that we have needs. It is in that body that we have all the problems of our life. It is in that body that we see, that we touch, that we taste. That body is the connection to this present physical existence. Now man, when God created him, he's a unique creature. Animals are created as purely physical creatures. The angels are created as purely spiritual creatures. But God created man in one act as a living body and breathing into him the breath of life so that man is a spiritual, physical being. It's a physical creature and a spiritual creature. And when the apostle says, our vile body, our humiliated body, he isn't denigrating the body as such. And the proof of that is that at the final resurrection, He's not going to throw your bodies away, but you're going to get them back. That's not what the apostle means when he says the body as such is humiliated. God created Adam with a body and with a soul. out of the dust of the ground. And He took from the rib of Adam and made Eve. And both those creatures being utterly unique creatures with the crowning work of God's creation. There was an earthly glory. An earthly glory that Adam and Eve had in that garden. And they had a glorious body. And you can see that in that they were in their shamelessness. That they were both naked in the garden. And they weren't ashamed of that. God created their body glorious. But it was just an earthly glory. And He created that body glorious in the garden because that body was without sin. It was a perfect body. And what I mean by that is that that body was the perfect instrument to serve God. That's why God gave man a body. God didn't say man is only going to serve me with just a soul, but he said man is going to serve me also with a body. And in the garden man could will and think and he could execute perfectly the will of God. So his body he could execute perfectly the will of God and stood in service of God. In service. That body was the perfect instrument. In service of God. But the apostles didn't say She'll change our glorified body. The apostle says he'll change our vile body. That's what happened in the fall. Is that your body, which was a glorious body in Adam, an earthly body, with an earthly glory, that body became a body of your humiliation. And that is the summary of the condition of man, of all men. That's the summary of the condition of your bodies. You have a humiliated body. The apostle summarizes the lowly state of the believer. And the effect of sin upon that body. That body which is involved in the ruin in Adam and Eve, our head. Of course, our Lord, makes us new creatures. So that in principle, we have the principle of the risen of the new Lord Jesus, risen Lord Jesus Christ in our hearts. But our bodies are still humiliated bodies, they're vile bodies. They're bodies of death so that we have the principle of perfection. We have this heavenly treasure in an earthen vessel. This is the only instrument that I have to serve God. Now this body is a humiliated body and exists under the effects of the curse. So that when man fell into sin and God judged man with death, that word began to operate upon man's body. He became subject to death, so that all men, from the moment a child is consumed in the womb of the mother, that word begins to work, to chew, to gnaw away at that body, to pull that body down into that grace, that that body is subject to all sorts of corruption, to death. Belonging to that is that it's also A weak body. Our bodies are weak. Our bodies are subject to diseases that can be laid so low, and we're not only weak physically, but we're weak spiritually so that the body becomes an instrument in the service of sin, and of lust, and of pleasures, and of earthly things. And these bodies of humiliation, our humiliation shall finally be complete. These bodies of humiliation shall be finally complete. When finally they're laid into the grave, nothing testifies that our bodies are humiliated more than the grave, more than when you have to bury a loved one. There you see that loved one in the casket. There they get lowered into the grave, and you know that In a matter of time, that dust, that body is going to turn right to dust. So that that death and that corruption that operates the moment that child is born, slowly gnaws at that body. Until that body is finally overwhelmed and succumbs. That mortal body, your body as such, cannot serve your conversation in heaven. cannot serve your heavenly life in that body if you were to be taken right now into heaven with your body that you have with no change. You would see nothing, you would hear nothing, you would feel nothing in that body. You need a new body to experience heaven in that body. Man has absolutely no sense of the humiliation of his body. Man glorifies His body. He worships His body. He worships His body. He praises all the sexuality and the carnality of the world. He glories in their shame. They glory in their shame. The body of our humiliation. And the text says He shall change our vile bodies, our humiliated bodies. He says our bodies. And when He says our bodies, He's not going to change everybody's bodies. He's going to change the bodies of His elect people. Only them alone. There isn't any hope in the text for all men. There isn't any hope for those whose God is their belly, whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things. There is only hope in the text for the elect child of God, for the elect sinner, who lives in this body of his humiliation, who feels that humiliation, who feels his sinfulness, who feels death, who feels the effects of sin and the curse upon the creation. It's implied that God will change our bodies, our bodies, only the elect. The bodies of the unbelieving and the reprobate will have bodies that will be fit for everlasting destruction. Their bodies will be fit for the perfection of their humiliation. in their eternal shame. That glorifies God. The Apostle says there shall be a change. He shall change our vile bodies. And that word change is a word in the text where we get our word metamorphosis. And now the children can understand this analogy as it comes basically right out of the text. Think of the analogy of a caterpillar and a butterfly. Children, if you take that caterpillar and put it in a jar, poke some holes into the top of that jar, and you throw a couple sticks and some leaves, and you watch that caterpillar for a couple weeks, and come back the next morning, and there the caterpillar is gone. But you see at the top of the lid, you see a cocoon. And there in that cocoon, after a couple of days, that caterpillar dissolves itself. That caterpillar dissolves, turns into basically juice. And a couple days later, what comes out of that cocoon is a beautiful butterfly. There was a substantial change that took place. That caterpillar turned into a butterfly. Something wonderful happened there. And that's true of the believer then. Right now, we have a vile body. We're like the caterpillar. And at death, you go into the grave, into the cocoon of the grave, and your body is dissolved. And when Christ comes, He will substantially change that body like unto His glorious body. With the one exception being those who are alive at the return of Jesus Christ. Then they shall be changed in a twinkling of an eye. They shall never taste death. But there their bodies shall be immediately changed, substantially. without ever having to enter into the cocoon of the grave. You will fashion your body, a glorious body, that glorious body of the caterpillar, or rather the butterfly that comes out of that cocoon. I have a glorious body, a resurrection of the body. You will raise them, no matter where they lay. The dust they were scattered, whether they were thrown into the ocean, whether they were burned at the stake, whether they were thrown in this unknown grave, He will raise this body. He will change them, substantially change them. There will be a metamorphosis of your body from a vile body to a glorious body. There will be a body fitted for earth, heavenly life You need a new body Christ has to transform your body and make it like unto his body so that both in body and in soul you stand in the service of the living God so your bodies are the perfect instruments and The pattern of that change, the text says, who shall fast, change our vile body that may be fashioned, like unto His glorious body. So that you'll have an essential likeness, like the glorious body of Jesus Christ. So that your vile body which you have now and it's laid in the grave will become a glorious body. And what will that change be? What will that change be? It's hard to understand what a glorious body is. I understand, we understand what a humiliated body is, what a vile body is. But what's a glorious body? To understand what a glorious body is, we have to look at Christ. To know what you shall become. That your body will be similar to the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. That you'll have the same form as Christ. And it was that body then, that glorious body of Jesus Christ, as it was changed through the resurrection and ascension. So as Jesus Christ was crucified, He lay in that grave, He arose from the dead and ascended into heaven. Your body shall be like unto that body. But understand, before Christ came and received such an exalted body, He came humiliated. That was His body. He came in a humiliated body. He personally had no sin, no guilt. But all of your sins were imputed to Him, therefore He was guilty as your head. And He was subject to the curse. His body when He came was in every sense of the word an earthly humiliated body. Was subject to the same suffering. Subject to the same trials. Subject to the same afflictions. It was a weak body that Christ came in. It was a body that became tired. A body that became weary. A body that had to eat. A body that had to sleep. Body that aged. A body that you can see how humiliated Christ's body was when He came the first time. Was that as He was going to the cross, He couldn't even carry it. He staggered onto the cross. Someone else had to carry that cross to Golgotha. That's how weak His body was. And there He was crucified on that cross. Shed His blood on that cross. He arose from the dead the third day. He arose with a glorious body. And there He placed on Him the whole weight of your eternal salvation. The weight of the whole universe on His almighty shoulders. eternally realizing God's will for your salvation in that humiliated body. And now in that body as he ascended up, he rules in that body, in a glorified body. And to understand a little bit of that change of that glorified body before he ascended, he could appear in that body and the disciples didn't know who he was. He could pass through a rock tomb without the stone ever being rolled away. He could appear in a locked room. He could move rapidly from place to place. Yet he had a body. He had a body and he could eat a piece of fish and honeycomb. But it was a glorious body. A body not of this world anymore. A heavenly body. And that glorious body of Christ is a body then of perfection. A body of immortality. A body of unbelievable power. So that when He received His body, that represented not just merely a return to the earthly, but a glorious advanced Christ moved on. He was exalted. He dropped, He left off the fashion of this present world. And the fashion of His body was of the heavenly. All of that earthly was gone. The weak, dishonorable, humiliated body that Christ had. He received a glorious body of power. The heavenly body. A spiritual body. So that it was a body connected with the heavenly. A body in the image of the heavenly. A body composed of all spirit. That's what 1 Corinthians 15 says. You will receive a spiritual body, not an earthly body. Flesh and blood can't inherit the kingdom of heaven. And what is a spiritual body? But it's a body suffused with the spirit of Jesus Christ. That's what your body shall be patterned after. So that you won't have a body of flesh and blood, but it will be a body of spirit. I cannot explain to you what a spiritual body is. But it's a body that in every way is fit to dwell in heaven. suffused with the Spirit of Jesus Christ. And how did Christ obtain this glorious body? How are you going to obtain this glorious body? Christ received His glorious body, not by creation, but He received His glorious body through the cross and the resurrection. That's why. That's why you will have a glorious body. That's why Christ shall transform your body and pattern it after His body. Because He took your body. He took that body right through the cross. Through all of that suffering. He took His humiliated body. He took His body upon which all of your sins were placed. He took it through the cross. He obtained this glorious body. That's why your body shall be changed and made like unto Him. It's because of the cross. Because of His resurrection. He'll make you look like Him. He'll fashion our bodies, not looking at Adam to see the glory of the earthly life that Adam had, but you look at Christ to see the glory of the heavenly life that He has merited for you, A life of immortality. A life above the possibility of death. A life above sin. The possibility of sin. His body is immortal. His body shall never die. Neither shall your body. Your body is not subject to the curse. His body is not subject to the curse. It shall transform us and make us like unto Him. And yet, it shall be Your body. The body that you live in now. The body how it appears now, but not flesh and blood, but spiritual. But your body. When Christ returns, He shall change your body and make it like unto His glorious body. You're not going to get someone else's body. We're not all going to look the same. But the body that you have now, you shall be transformed, you shall be changed. Like unto His glorious body. Body totally reformed. Totally changed. No longer a humiliated body. Like a caterpillar that goes into the cocoon and dissolves. Comes out a beautiful butterfly that was still the same caterpillar. But now it's a beautiful, glorious butterfly. So shall you be fashioned. And there will be a body of glory, a body of power, a body of immortality, a body that is undyable, a body perfectly fit to serve God and the new heavens and the new earth. And lastly, that body then too is a body of victory. Body of victory. Victory over death. Victory over sin. A perfect victory. And it all rests on Jesus Christ. It all rested on Him. Rested on His work, His working, His obedience, His cross, and His resurrection. That victory which you have now in principle for your conversation is in heaven. You're regenerated. You're from above. And yet in hope the believer waits for the final changing of our bodies. Where there the final victory shall be revealed. Shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body. He says, "...according to the working whereby He is able even to subdue all things unto Himself." What is the meaning of this change? And an illustration, I think, will help understand what the Apostle is getting at here in the last part of verse 21. You have, there are two children. And those two children are at an air show. And they're standing at that air show, talking with one another, they're watching this pilot do all of these incredible maneuvers in the air. And the first child says to the one child, my dad can do that too. And the second child says, your dad can do that? And the first child responds to the second child, well of course, my dad can do anything. And that argument of that first child really settled the whole matter. That was the completion of it. A child said, well, my dad can do anything, and that settled that argument between those two children right there. Of course his dad could fly that airplane. Of course his dad could do those maneuvers in the air. The child believed it. And that's the argument here, but now in a much more serious way, of course. That's a tremendous word of our text. according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things to himself." That's a tremendous word to the Church of Jesus Christ. That when Christ returns and changes your vile bodies and makes them like unto His glorious body, that stands completely contrary to all the earthly testimony. There's simply nothing of the earth that testifies that that will actually take place. It stands contrary to all reason. It stands contrary to all logic. It stands contrary to all earthly experience. The world says that's impossible. That your bodies are going to be raised that they're going to be fashioned like unto His glory and His body? Impossible. And the believers like that little tot standing at the air show. It just simply says, my Lord can do anything. He has all power. That's all committed to Him. All the power according to the working whereby He's able to subdue all things unto Himself. My Lord can do anything. Of course He can raise my body. That's simply the argument. The Word of God settles the matter. Of course He can do it. The text says according to the working whereby He is able and He says the energizing power to fashion your body, it's one thing. It's grace. Grace. Jesus Christ as Lord rules over the creation, but over the ungodly with sheer might. But He'll raise your bodies, fashion your bodies, like unto His glorious body, by that energizing power of grace. That's the heart of that for His people. That power which operates now in regeneration, that power which will operate when it changes your soul, makes that soul fit for heavenly life, that grace is the same grace that will raise your bodies and make them like unto His. He's my Lord. He's your Lord. He has all power. And as the finest manifestation of God's glory, He'll raise your body in His purpose for all things, which is His own glory. And there, that glory will shine through His Son, Jesus Christ. And that resurrection, it's one part. One part of that salvation. The final part, that grand work of God, where He will subject all things to Christ, where all things will be one in Him, where there will be no separation, but the heavens and the earth will be united, and there your bodies will be raised. It's a great work of God. He's your Lord. He has all power. He does it by, He'll do it by His grace. that grace that operates already now, so that you have that new life. Resurrection is that part of salvation, it's the grandest part when the Apostle says, according to His working, He says not only how your bodies will be changed, they'll be changed by grace, by the power of His grace, but it also teaches that it's His work alone. the resurrection of your body as one part of that grand work of God's salvation. It's His work alone. And if someone teaches salvation, which is dependent upon man, they deny the resurrection by the power of Jesus Christ. How does someone teach that the resurrection of their bodies is their work? But they claim for themselves the power of the resurrection. Did God cooperate man when God came in your flesh? Did God make a deal with Mary? Did God cooperate with man at Christ's crucifixion? Did God cooperate with man When God raised up Christ from the dead and He ascended to heaven, is man going to cooperate in the changing of your bodies? Are you going to cooperate? Is man going to cooperate when God makes all things new, when He burns this world, judges it in a fiery judgment? God committed all power to Christ. Salvation is of the Lord So if you say my salvation depends in any way upon my working Even the slightest breath the iota of repentance You deny that Christ shall change your body And make it like unto his and you claim for yourself a part in that final resurrection God saves you. God will raise your body. By the power of His grace, that's why He sent Christ. Sent Him to the cross for you. He worked your eternal salvation at that cross. He earned the Spirit which Christ pours out and brings to you Himself. set Him up on high, gave Him all authority, regenerated you, saved you, in that same power shall raise your body, make it like unto His glorious body. No part of salvation depends upon you. It says, according to the working whereby He is able even to subdue all things unto Himself. The resurrection teaches that. You don't contribute even a breath to your salvation. God saves you. Get it in Christ and He'll raise your body apart from your working. Just how He did all of His other wonderful and mighty works of grace. And by that same grace, He'll fit you for your life in heavenly glory. That's the expectation of the apostle, who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body. You see then what our hope is. You see how the problem of life and the problem of death is really solved. That my body, in which death works upon now, will go into the grave. But no matter how long I lay in that grave, I'm going to get my body back. For now our conversation is in heaven. But we look for the Lord Jesus Christ that shall come from heaven. Where heaven, heaven, finally we shall be taken in body and soul. That's the final hope of the believer. The resurrection. of his body and we shall be fashioned like unto his glorious body. We look forward to that day when Christ returns, when our bodies shall be fashioned as perfect instruments to stand in the service of our covenant God. Dwell before his presence forevermore. Amen. Let's pray. Father, we thank Thee for Thy Word unto us, wilt Thou teach unto us our hope. Strengthen us in the week that lies ahead, that we may not look for the things earthly, but to look unto heaven where our Lord Jesus Christ is, and from whence He shall return. Who shall change our vile body and make it like unto His glorious body. For He is our Lord, and He is able. And by His, by Thy almighty grace, Thou wilt change us, and fashion us, that we might live in our bodies and our souls, lives in service of Thee. Forgive us of our sins, wash them away in Christ's blood, send us away with Thy blessing, and hear us for Christ's sake. Amen.