There is no way of knowing the exact number, but it is estimated that half a million illegal immigrants successfully come into the United States every year. In addition to these, there are thousands of others who enter legally on visitor, student or work visas, but who never leave, making them illegal as well. It is not just American citizens who want to govern this immigration. On the Mexican side of the border there are people interested in preventing unchecked border crossings. But those people want to become the conduits for that immigration, eliminating independent crossings. They are called “coyotes.” Illegals crossing the border are often forced to pay criminal cartels and their agents fees, up to several hundred of dollars, to permit them and carry them across the border. Add to that, on the west coast, Asians may have to pay criminal “snakeheads” thousands of dollars to get them into this country.
Why do these people want to live in the United States rather than China, El Salvador, Mexico or Columbia? There are probably a hundred different reasons. But the general answer is that those immigrants think this is a better place to live. And the truth is: it is. The differences between Venezuela or Haiti and the United States are like the differences between any place in this world and what the Lord has prepared for His saints in Heaven.
With that illegal immigration in mind, I’d like to share with you an Oldfield paraphrase of our scripture text. “Know ye not that non-citizens will never inherit the blessings of God’s Heavenly country? Be not deceived, neither Columbians, Mexicans, Venezuelans, Canadians, nor Cubans shall inherit any of the blessings of God’s kingdom. But such were some of you, but you have been chosen by God; you have been washed, and made righteous citizens through the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ and the work of the Holy Spirit.” To that I’ll add a part of the scripture we read earlier from Ephesians 2 – By birth “ye were without Christ, being ALIENS from the commonwealth of Israel, and STRANGERS from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world: but now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.”
I am going to begin with an assumption, which I hope is true in your case. I am going to assume that you are listening to this message because deep down in your heart you have a desire to be a part of the kingdom of God. I’m going to assume you know that to be a citizen of God’s kingdom is exactly what you need. If that is not true, then I am praying the Lord will give you that desire; that He will burden you about this. Because the very best that you possess in this world is nothing compared to what is available in Christ. Citizenship in the world without citizenship in Heaven, means eternity in the lake of fire. According to the Word of God everything and everyone in this world will be destroyed. American citizenship expires at the end of your life; it will not be extended. The wealth you earn while you are here will be taxed, stolen and finally inherited by someone else until there is no one left to take it. Furthermore, the happiness you enjoy while living in this earthly kingdom, will not touch the hem of the joy which is available in the Lord’s kingdom. Life in this world is hardly comparable to eternal life.
God’s apostle tells us, “Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.” Something must be done with the old sinful citizenship before we can enjoy the Lord’s glorious citizenship. And our scripture points to three things which must take place before sinners, like me and you, will be granted entry into the Lord’s kingdom and eternal life. Paul was writing to people who had been washed, sanctified and justified in name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Before we can legally immigrate into God’s kingdom, we must be WASHED.
“Washed.” This is a word which could be easily misconstrued. We may think we know what it means, but our first definition may not be the one Paul was thinking. Before my wife’s surgery last week, we were given specific instructions about cleanliness. For example, all our bedding had to be washed the day before the surgery – not two days before or even the day of the surgery – the day before. And that washing had nothing to do with sprinkling holy water on the blankets. The sheets had to be stripped from the bed and laundered in hot water with a strong detergent. And the night before the procedure, Judy had to wash her knee with special soap – not soft Ivory or smelly Irish Spring. Then in the morning she had to do it a second time. Later before I could remove her bandage, I had to thoroughly wash my hands, as if I was the surgeon. There is cleanliness and then there is cleanliness. There is a cleanliness before entering an operating rooms, preventing infections, but there is also a more stringent cleanliness necessary before entering the holy presence of God.
And Biblically speaking, there are different kinds of washings, and different Greek words are translated “to wash.” One of those words is “baptizo,” but it is not used here. This has nothing to do with baptism. This isn’t the word used by the blind man when he washed his eyes after Jesus daubed them with clay. And this isn’t the Bible word often used to describe the washing of hands and feet. This Greek word is used twice in the Bible, and it applies only to the washing away of sin.
And please notice the grammar “but ye are washed” – “but ye ARE washed.” Notice that these heavenly immigrants are not instructed to wash themselves. “Ye are already washed.” Someone else had washed them, just as that someone else had already sanctified and justified them. That someone else was the Holy Spirit of God. They were washed in the name of the Lord Jesus, by the Spirit of our God. Only Holy Spirit-washed people can enter into full heavenly citizenship.
And from what were these people washed? They were cleansed from the things previously described. They no longer carried the cheap perfume transferred to them from their sinful lovers. They had been cleansed of the crimes of covetousness and theft. They no longer smelled like the party-going drunkards they had been.
How was that possible? What special cleansing agent was involved? I John 1:7 clearly tells us. “The BLOOD of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.” There is only one way to wash the blood of sin from our hands; it is the blood which Christ Jesus shed while He hung on the cross. “What can wash away my sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.” Don’t worry about whether or not the blood of Christ is strong enough for your particular sins. I assure you it is. “The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from ALL sin.”
Only the clean shall enter the kingdom of God as His citizens.
In addition to that, before our immigration, we must be SANCTIFIED.
“Sanctified” is a word which takes “washing” to an entirely different level. There is the washing of hands before a meal and then there is the washing of hands before a surgery. But neither of those cleanse well enough to touch the hand or heart of the holy God. In fact, perhaps we shouldn’t apply the word “sanctified” to hands at all in this case. It is a word reaching more deeply into the soul of the immigrant.
The word means “to make holy” or to set something or someone apart as “holy.” This is the same word the Lord Jesus used in His model prayer, “After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name” – holy be your Name. Peter tells his Christian readers to “sanctify the Lord God in your hearts,” which means: set the Lord in a special, honored, and holy place in your heart. The only people who can enter the kingdom of God are those who have been set apart for that purpose by the King of that kingdom.
In our scripture Paul was writing to people who had already been sanctified, so he doesn’t go into detail about how and when. But I will ask; how was it these people and all the other immigrants into God’s kingdom were made holy? It was accomplished by the power of the sacrificial blood of Christ.
Please turn to In Hebrews 10 where Paul points to the Old Testament priests and their many and ceremonies. He said in verse 1, “those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually,” could never make anyone perfect. In other words those animal sacrifices couldn’t “sanctify” or make anyone “holy.” “For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.” But then came the Son of God into the world, saying in verse 8, “sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin thou (God) wouldn’t not, neither hadst pleasure therein; which are offered by the law. Then said he (Christ Jesus), Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second.” He removed the Old Testament order of animal sacrifices to establish the new order through Calvary. “By the which will we are SANCTIFIED through the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” Verse 14 – “For by one offering he (Christ) hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.” And verse 17 – “And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.” In Hebrews 13:12 Paul adds, “Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate.” That is, Christ Jesus shed His holy blood on the cross just outside the city walls of Jerusalem.
In this is true sanctification. In this is that absolutely necessary aspect of the visa application to God’s kingdom. It is something done entirely by God, through the blood of Christ and applied by the Holy Spirit. Granted, sometimes the Bible says that we are sanctified by faith. That is because the Spirit enables sinner to put faith on Christ to save him and to make him holy. And sometimes the Bible says that we are sanctified through God’s word. That is because it is through the Word that we are taught about Christ and to trust Him as Saviour. But the actual sanctifying is done by the Lord Himself.
If you have not been washed, and if you have not been sanctified, you shall not be admitted into the Kingdom of God.
But that is not all.
Before our immigration to Heaven, we must be JUSTIFIED.
Washing is one level of cleansing, and sanctification is another, but more specific than these is “justification.” And in this is something which I think is very, very sad. Despite its incredible importance 98% of the people the world don’t even understand what the word means, let alone do they possess it.
In looking for some quotations to help explain it, I ran across three different quotes by C.H. Spurgeon. In one sermon he said, “It is admitted by all evangelical Christians that the standing or falling in the church is that of justification by faith.” But today not even the average Christian understands what Spurgeon was saying. He said in another message: “Any church which puts in the place of justification by faith in Christ – another method of salvation is a harlot church.” And in another: “The doctrine of justification by faith through the substitutionary sacrifice of Christ is very much to my ministry what bread and salt are to the table. As often as the table is set, there are those necessary things. This is the very salt of the gospel. It is impossible to bring it forward too often. It is THE soul-saving doctrine. It is the foundation doctrine of the gospel of Jesus Christ.” And yet again, I am sure that most professing Christians don’t know what “justification by faith” means. Up front I will tell you that It basically means “to be declared righteous.”
Merlin Carothers, knew what it was like to be declared righteous in an earthly sense. During World War II he joined the army. But for some reason or other he was stationed far from the fighting. Anxious to get into the action, he walked away from his company – toward the front lines, not away from them. Because he didn’t have permission to leave, he was considered AWOL, and when he was caught he was sentenced to five years in a military prison. But instead of locking him away, his judges told him he could serve his term in the army, fighting for his country. But if he left the army before the five years, he would have to spend the rest of his term in prison. Merlin joyfully went to the front lines and fought nobly for three years, and then the war ended. At that point his company was decommissioned, and he was once again a civilian. With mixed emotions Merlin Carothers presented himself to the prosecutor’s office to find out where he would spend the remaining two years of his sentence. To his surprise and delight, he was told that he had received a full pardon. The prosecutor explained: “That means your record is completely clear. It is just as if you had never broken the law in the first place.”
There are many theologians who define “justification” as, “just as if you had never sinned.” That may be easy to remember, but it is not exactly the meaning of the word. The truth is, we have sinned; we are law breakers; we are criminals in God’s sight; we are condemned. When God justifies the sinner, it is not simply that God ignores our sin and rebellion. In justification God declares people whom He knows to be sinners – “righteous.” Perhaps, the effect is just as if we’d never sinned, but what we have been, and what God has graciously done for us, should be things we never forget. The saint of God is a sinner who has been declared righteous. Justification is greater than “just as if you had never sinned.”
Away back in the early days of humanity, Bildad asked Job, “ How then can man be justified with God? or how can he be clean that is born of a woman?” Earlier Job had said, “If I justify myself, mine own mouth shall condemn me.” No matter what we say or what we think about ourselves, in a few minutes, our words, or our thoughts, or our actions will prove that we are not righteous before God. Paul says in Romans 3:20 – “by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in (God’s) sight.” Then four verses later he says, “Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” Going on in Romans Paul says such things as, Christ “was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.” And “being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” And “much more then, being now justified by his BLOOD, we shall be saved from wrath through him.” I hope you can see why Spurgeon said, “Justification is the foundation doctrine of the gospel of Jesus Christ.” “That no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith” in the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Conclusion
Going back to our initial illustration about immigration and possessing an inheritance in the kingdom of God, Paul tells us that three things are necessary: purification, sanctification and justification. It might be said that washing and sanctification are things which the Holy Spirit does TO us and IN us. We cannot make ourselves fit for entry into Heaven. Only the Lord can properly prepare us. And then you might say that justification is something which the Lord does FOR us. In justification we are given a clean and perfect visa; we are given the gracious privilege to immigrate.
Let’s say that you have a son who has a friend suffering with some horrible infectious and deadly disease. Sadly, you forbid your child from visiting his friend, but one day he does, and he becomes diseased. He has disobeyed your wishes, and now he is sick, in fact, he is sinking fast. He wants not only your pardon, but he needs a cure. Forgiving does not heal him.
There are millions of religious people who want to be forgiven of their sins, but they need more. Forgiven or not, they are basically fornicators, adulterers, drunkards, revilers and extortioners. They need to be washed and sanctified – neither of which they can do for themselves. And they also need to be declared righteous in the sight of the God whom they have offended. They need God’s full salvation. How can these needs be met? Again, I quote God’s apostle Paul – Christ “was delivered up (to die on the cross) for our offences, (but He) was raised again for our justification.” And “Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.” And “being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
I beseech you, I implore you, to repent before this holy God and put your faith in Christ Jesus and what He did at Calvary.