Perfect introduction to our sermon this morning, David. Thank you for that. I invite you to turn with me to the book of Philippians. Be in chapter 1. We're still in verses 3 to 11. Before we get started this morning, let's go to Lord in prayer. Father, as we've already expressed, we are grateful to be here this morning. And we are grateful to go to your word together. We are grateful that we have your word before us, that we may open it, learn from it, learn more about you, learn more about what you have in store for your people. We know that we do not belong to this world, but our citizenship is in heaven. And we thank You that You've told us so much about that wonderful day of glory, that we may yearn for it, look forward to it, and wait patiently for it. As we go to Your Word this morning, we ask that You would bless the preaching of Your Word, and bless our hearts with what You would say to us this morning. In all this we ask, in the name of Christ, Amen. So this will be the fifth and final message of our short series we've done here in these first few verses of the book of Philippians. We've called it Reasons for Joy. We're gleaning some amazing reasons that the Christian should have joy in this life, simply from this introduction that Paul writes to the Philippians. We've seen that He has joy in their common partnership with Him in the Gospel. He remembers, prays, and participates with them in this partnership together. We've seen His joy in their common salvation as He talks about the source of that salvation and the guaranteed fulfillment of that salvation and the outworking of that salvation as they have partaken with Him in His imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the Gospel. We have seen His joy in their common affection. We looked at the mind, the heart, the quality, and the desire of love. We have seen His joy in their common sanctification as He outlines the Christian life, the sanctified life, sanctified decisions that leads to a sanctified disposition that results in sanctified deeds, with an ultimate sanctified desire, the glory of God above all things. As I said this morning, we'll finish this out with a fifth and final reason that Paul has for joy as he thinks about these Christians in Philippi. Let me read the verses for you that point to this. Verse 6 says, I am sure of this, that He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. and then in verse 10, so that you may approve what is excellent and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ. We spend a lot of time talking about salvation in the church and salvation from the Scriptures. We talk about Jesus. We talk about the cross. We talk about atonement. We talk about forgiveness. We talk about reconciliation and adoption. We talk about the death of Jesus and the burial of Jesus and the resurrection of Jesus. We talk about the necessity of good works for the Christian life. We talk about justification and we talk about sanctification. All of that we've even talked about over these last few weeks as we have considered this passage together. But we can't forget about the end of all of it. What's the goal of salvation? What's the end game of salvation? Where is it leading to? What is it pointing us to? How often do we think about and how often do we talk about our glorification? Our ultimate glorification? Scriptures have a lot to say about it. You know, one of the unfortunate problems that I see within the church and with Christians in the prosperous West is that we tend to forget about the eternality of the soul. We tend to forget that the soul is eternal. That this life is not all there is to life. There is a beyond. There is an eternity beyond our like a missed time spent on this ball that we call Earth. We have been completely ingrained in our culture to live for today. We have been so ingrained to live for the day that we don't even realize we're doing it most of the time. Carpe diem is the motto for my generation and the generation before it seems. It's the motto of the world. Seize the day. I remember one of the popular Christian songs back when I was a teenager. That was one of the lines in the chorus. Seize the day, seize whatever you can, because life slips away like hourglass sand. We live like today, what is going on now, what is going on in my life today is of permanent importance, and what happens tomorrow is of less importance. We live like the temporal things are the permanent things, and we live like the permanent things are the temporal things. That's been turned into this concept of get everything you can out of this life because You only have one chance. Life's a buffet. And you only get one trip. So fill your plate up as high as you can because it won't last forever. And in the process, I fear we gain the whole world and lose our souls. So many have done this. So many fall to the trappings of the world. So many fall into the desires of the world or are enamored by the things of this world and lay hold of them too strongly. Jesus had something very different to say to us concerning the things of this world, didn't He? In Matthew 6, He says, don't lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart is also. And he caps it off in verse 24 of Matthew 6. No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. Literally, it's you cannot be a slave to God and money. You cannot be a slave to two masters. By definition, a slave is owned by one person, by one entity. It is an oxymoron to think of a slave who is owned by more than one person or thing. You cannot be a slave to both God and money. Jesus calls us to have an eternal perspective. Don't lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy, but in heaven where nothing can destroy them. He calls us to have eternal perspective, not a temporal perspective. And Paul talks about the same thing. If then, Colossians 3.1, you've been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things that are above and not on things that are on the earth, for you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you will also appear with Him in glory. And it is that in Colossians 3-4, appearing with Christ in glory, that Paul rejoices over here in Philippians chapter 1. He loves the thought of that final day of glorification where the Church of Christ will be presented, where the Bride of Christ will be presented to the Bridegroom in glory and splendor. This is our final sermon in the series on reasons for joy. Paul rejoices in their common glorification. That's the fifth reason that we have for joy. Joy and our common glorification. What I want to do with our time this morning is to talk about why our glorification should bring us joy. You know, bring it down to the ground level instead of leaving it at the abstract. Why is it that our glorification should bring us joy? What do we know about it? What does God tell us about it? What can we know with certainty that our glorification will be like that as we think about it, it fills us with joy and gratitude in our hearts because of it? Well, here's one thing we know about it. First of all, in our glorification, we will receive glorified bodies. In our glorification, we will receive glorified bodies. These bodies that we currently inhabit, that our souls currently inhabit, have been subject to the fall. The wages of sin is death. Our bodies are decaying. They are melting away. They are dying. Every single person that has ever been born in this world was born dying because of the effects of sin. Death is the disease that ultimately conquers all. It has a one-to-one death ratio. 100% of everyone who has ever lived has been subject to death. because we are sinners. We know from Genesis that death did not come into the world until after the fall of Adam and Eve. It is one of the judgments. God had warned them, right? If you eat from the tree, then you will surely die. Now, in a sense, that was immediately fulfilled, for they were dead spiritually when they disobeyed God. But it also affected them physically as they began to decay, they began to die. And all of their progeny, all of their ancestors who would come after them, all of their descendants, excuse me, who would come after them, would be infected by this disease of death. But we are promised that a part of what it means to be glorified is that we will get new bodies in the new heavens and the new earth. We will not have these bodies, but glorified bodies. Listen to how Paul talks about it in 1 Corinthians chapter 15. He's talking, you remember, about whether or not the dead are raised. In 1 Corinthians 15, that's where he outlines his argument that if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised, and you're still in your sins, and we are of all men most to be pitied. And then he connects the fact, if the dead aren't raised, and neither will you be raised." And he goes on to talk about the glorified body that we will receive. In verse 35 he's asked, but someone will ask, how are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come? Oh, what does this body look like, Paul? And he says, you foolish person, what you sow does not come to life until it dies. And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat, or of some other grain, but God gives it a body as He has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body. For not all flesh is the same, but there is one kind for humans, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish. There are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is of one kind, and the glory of the earthly is of another. There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars, for stars differ from star in glory. So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable. What is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor. It is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness. It is raised in power. It is sown a natural body. It is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. Thus it is written, the first man Adam became a living being. The last Adam, became a life-giving Spirit. But it is not the spiritual that is first, but the natural and then the spiritual. The first man was from the earth, a man of dust. The second man is from heaven. As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust. And as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven." Do you see what he's saying? He's connecting the glorified, resurrected body of believers to Christ. We will be made in the likeness of the glory of Christ in our resurrection. In the same way that even now we are in the likeness of Adam in these dead, decaying bodies. He's making a connection between the two. The headship of Adam and the headship of Christ, the two races of mankind, one in the lineage of Adam, one in the lineage of Christ, that comes by grace through faith. Just as we resemble Adam with these human bodies with wrinkles and aches and groans and pains and flesh that is easily cut and bones that are brittle and easily broken like so many of you I know are dealing with, with all the pollen in the air, sinuses that clog up on you at a moment's notice, just as we are in the line of Adam with all of these imperfections of our bodies, so also will the spiritual offspring of Abraham, who are connected to the life-giving vine of Christ, will receive bodies that are like His in eternity. And that's why He says what He says over and over. What is sown is perishable. What is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor, raised in glory, sown in weakness, raised in power, sown in natural body, raised a spiritual body. Are you ready for this? Are you ready for a new body? A new body without aches and pains and groans, without headaches, without flu, without head colds, without arthritis. We were laughing just the other day. We did some stuff outside and it messed with my knee and I was griping about my knee and Jennifer was laughing at me because my knee was hurting. You know, I got that knee thing now where I can tell when it's going to rain before the weather channel can. And some of y'all like to laugh at me, but you know, the aches and pains have to start at some point. So they're starting for me. So I'm feeling it. New knees, new heads, new elbows, new chests, new hips, new throats, new sinuses, glorified bodies. This knee is going to be healed. I'm going to get a new knee. And so will you, for those who have come to faith in Christ. That which is decaying becomes glorified. This is the promise. This is the promise. Paul finishes out his thought in 1 Corinthians 15. I tell you this, this is verse 50, I tell you this brothers, flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of heaven. nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Behold, I tell you a mystery. We shall not all fall asleep, but we shall all be changed. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet, for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on imperishable, and this mortal body must put on mortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on the immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory." Oh death, where is your victory? Death, where is your sting? Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of heaven. So bright and glorious is the kingdom that we are traveling to. So bright and glorious is this kingdom that we have, as he says to the Colossians, we have been transferred from the kingdom of darkness into that of His beloved Son. So glorious, so bright, so wonderful, so beautiful is the kingdom into which we are going that we will have to have new bodies in order to experience it. Your body can't handle the glory of heaven as it is now. You'll get a new body so that you can experience the joy and the glory of heaven forever and ever. Jesus was asked about You know, the woman who had the seven husbands, and one died, and she had another husband, and so forth. And who's she going to be married to in eternity, Jesus? And He tells them in Luke 20 verse 34, the sons of this age marry and are given in marriage. But those who are considered worthy to attain to that age and to the resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage. For they cannot die anymore because they are equal to angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection. But the dead are raised, even Moses showed, even in the passage about the bush where he calls the Lord the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Now He is not God of the dead, but of the living, for all live to Him. We'll not be dead. We'll be alive. We'll have living bodies. We know this, by the way, from the glorified body of Christ. We see Him, for example, eating of the fish with His disciples. We see Him talking. We know that they could touch Him. Thomas saw the wounds and fell on his face. So He inherited the wounds of the cross even in His glorified body. 1 Peter 1, 3-4, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, according to His great mercy, He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, unfading, kept in heaven for you. We'll have new bodies, and we'll have new bodies that perfectly reflect the glory of the Son of God. will be like mirrors that reflect the brightness of the beauty and majesty of the glory of our Christ. That's what it will be like in heaven. I heard one pastor say, we will be so beautiful in heaven that if we did not also receive glorified minds that were bent only on the worship of God, we would be tempted to worship each other. That is how beautiful we will be in eternity as we reflect the glory and the brightness of the Son of God. This is first about our glorification. We are promised to receive new bodies. Glorified bodies with which we will glorify God forever. Not only are we promised to have glorified bodies, we are promised to have a glorified creation. Glorified bodies and a glorified creation. This is of course directly correlated with our final redemption. Heaven and earth itself will be remade. It will be made new. and it will be made new for us. I heard another pastor once comment that our new glorified bodies are going to need a new glorified playground on which to play. Glorified bodies need glorified monkey bars, if you will. Romans 8 makes the connection between us and our redemption and the redemption of the whole creation. Romans 8, beginning in verse 18, For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. The creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth. until now, and not only the creation, but we ourselves who have the firstfruits of the Spirit grown inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. Not only do we wait for our new glorified bodies, but even the creation itself groans as in the pains of childbirth as it waits to be glorified with us. We're told in Genesis once again that after God created the world Six days, He declared it to be very good, and He rested on the seventh. And it was because of the actions of Adam and Eve in the garden, that the entire creation was plunged into ruin and into destruction. Not only ourselves, not only us in these bodies that are dead and decaying, not only do we feel the effects of sin that has now entered into the creation, but so also does the creation. We talked about this on Wednesday night, didn't we? Hurricanes and tsunamis and tornadoes and thunderstorms and monsoons and earthquakes. All of these remind us of the global and universal effect of sin upon the creation itself. There was no hurricanes before Genesis 3. There was no tsunamis, there was no earthquakes, there was no death, there was no imperfection. It was very good. But when sin entered the world, the entire world was plunged into ruin and decay. Not only are we decaying, the creation itself is decaying. They are examples of God's judgment over the presence of sin. Now, when we say that, we need to be careful because we're not suggesting or claiming that it is due to specific sins of a nation or a person, or whatever, that God brings these calamities. But what we do know, what we can know, is that the reason that they happen is because of the effects of sin upon the entire world. They are reminders to us about the grossness of sin against God. But the promise of Scripture is that this world will also be remade. Not only will we, but so will the world. It will be new again as well. When we are glorified, the creation will be glorified. 2 Peter 3.11, since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lies of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn. But according to His promise, we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. and it will dwell forever. We wait for this, we long for this, we yearn for this new heavens, new earth. I know you're familiar with how Revelation talks about it in chapter 21, beginning in verse 1, 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. And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, Behold, 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. He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, Neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away." This is what it will be like in the new heavens and the new earth, as we are glorified and the whole earth is glorified with us. What a day that will be! We love to sing, right? And how wonderful will it be This will be our home. This is our country. This is where we belong. We can't forget that in this world we are simply strangers, pilgrims, sojourners, travelers, passing through as we seek the city that is to come and the glory that is promised to us. So many times we tend to put our earthly associations before our heavenly ones. We are American citizens, and that is certainly true, and it is a blessed thing that we are with the freedoms that we experience. But we are first and foremost Christians belonging to the Kingdom of Christ. This is not our home. This is not our country. We belong to Him. No one can serve two masters. Our home is in heaven. Kyle Isaiah prophesied about the new heavens and the new earth in Isaiah 65, beginning in verse 17. For behold, I create a new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come to mind. Be glad and rejoice forever in that which I create. For behold, I create Jerusalem to be a joy and her people to be a gladness. I will rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in my people. No more shall be heard in it the sound of weeping and the cry of distress. No more shall there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not fill out his days. For the young man shall die a hundred years old, and the sinner a hundred years old shall be accursed. They shall build houses and inhabit them. They shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit. They shall not build and another inhabit. They shall not plant and another eat. For like the days of a tree shall the days of My people be, and My chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands. They shall not labor in vain or bear children for calamity, for they shall be the offspring of the blessed of the Lord and their descendants with them. Before they call, I will answer. While they are yet speaking, I will hear. The wolf and the lamb shall graze together. The lion shall eat straw like the ox, and dust shall be the serpent's food. They shall not hurt or destroy. In all my holy mountain, says the Lord, this is what it will be like. No death, no suffering, no hard work, so that someone else can eat of your own fruit. Glorified creation, perfect creation, as it was supposed to be in the garden before the fall of Adam and Eve. So we'll receive glorified bodies that live in a glorified creation. There's one more promise I want to talk about this morning. We'll receive glorified bodies that live in a glorified creation where we will experience everlasting joy in our glorified Savior. We receive glorified bodies that live in a glorified creation where we will experience everlasting joy in our glorified Creator. The choir just sang it, didn't they? Jesus will be what makes it heaven for me. Do you believe that? When you think about heaven, what do you think about? We talk about streets of gold, we talk about no pain, we talk about no heartache, we talk about friends and family that have long gone that we will see again. But the most joyful thing about heaven, the most important thing about heaven, the only reason that we want to go to heaven is because Jesus will be there. and we will experience everlasting joy in Him. This is what we were created for, to glorify God. And how do we do that? By finding our everlasting joy in Him and in Him alone. That is how we glorify God. And if we are going to be able, by the way, to handle the full force of the all-satisfying glory of God in the face of Christ, if we are going to handle it, we are going to need new bodies to handle it. Your body will not be glorified for you. It will be glorified for the end purpose that you will be able to experience fullness of joy in the presence of God. Your body now would be incinerated within a million light years of His glory. Your body then will bask in the warmth of the glory of God in the face of Christ. Jesus told us in John 14 what? That He was going to prepare a place. A place for what? That we may dwell with Him forever. That's what He's preparing us a place for. We just read that, right, from Revelation 21? Behold, the dwelling place of God is with men. I will dwell with them, and I will be their God, and they will be My people. The dwelling of God among His people with no unholiness, with no imperfection, with no unrighteousness that separates us from full, unfettered contact with His glory. We will see Him as He is and dwell with Him forever. Psalm 1611, you make known to me the path of life. In your presence there is fullness of joy. and in your right hand are pleasures forevermore. Psalm 17, verse 15, As for me, I shall behold your face in righteousness. When I awake, I shall be satisfied with your lightness. That's what it will be like for us. Eternal, non-stop, complete satisfaction for our souls. other than Christ Himself, the Lamb of God, crucified and risen for the sins of the world. 1 Corinthians 13, 12, For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. 2 Corinthians 4, 17, For this light momentary affliction is preparing us, an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison. 1 John 3, 2, Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared, but we know that when He appears, we shall be like Him because we shall see Him as He is. We will be like Him. Jude 124 tells us, "...to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of His glory with great joy." This is what it will be like in heaven. Experiencing the all-satisfying glory of God forever. Christ who is your life appears, Colossians 3, 4 once again, you will also appear with Him in glory. And what do we know about that final state from Revelation? There will be no need for sun or moon or stars. Why? The glory of God will be the light and the Lamb of God will be the lamp. This is our glorification. We get glorified bodies to live on a glorified earth where we will experience ultimate joy in our Christ forever. Those reasons are enough to be thankful and joyful. That's why Paul is so happy when he thinks about this wonderful reality. Closing with his own words later on in Philippians chapter 3, He says, not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own because Jesus Christ has made me His own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own, but one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us who are mature think this way. And if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. Only let us hold true to what we have attained. Let those of us who are mature think of this way. Think with an eternal perspective that remembers the things of this world are passing away. And He will make all things new. Where we will dwell with Him forever in glory. Let's pray. Father, we thank You for This wonderful reminder of the glory that is to be revealed to us. The glory that is to be revealed in us as we are made like our Savior. We are made like Christ. We pray that you would help us to remember this as we think about what goes on each and every day. That our reward is not in this life, that our reward is in heaven. That our reward is not in the things of this world, but our reward is ultimately the experience of the glory of God in the face of Christ. Help us to remember how beautiful this inheritance is. It's so hard in this life to think on these things. So help us, we pray, in the power of your Spirit. to keep this ever on our minds and on our hearts as we live faithfully for You. In all this we ask in the name of Christ, Amen.