All right, turn back to where
we read in Philippians chapter 1. This week has been a week in which death has confronted
me again and again. My eye doctor of a number of
years died this week. And then on the news, all the
death that characterized what went on in India, all the deaths
at murderous hands, just death everywhere. And then I received the news
that a dear, dear lady that I've known for almost 30 years in
Kentucky, Bea Frazier, that she always was such an encouragement
to me personally, and she laid down for a nap and woke up in
her father's arms. And then Paul Hittman's mother
passed, just everywhere. And then to my great sorrow,
Pastor Mike Walker's wife, Debbie, such a sweet and a dear sister
in the Lord, passed this life. And I'm reminded of the brevity
of life. The Bible says that our days
pass swifter than a weaver's shuttle back and forth. That they are faster than a running
messenger who quickly runs his course. And we're reminded of this great
reality. It is appointed unto man once
to die. None die too early, and none
die too late. And we none die by our own choice. It is appointed unto man once
to die, and it is God who has made that appointment. And He has told us, reminded
us so many times and in so many ways that man born of woman is
but a few days and full of troubles. And the Apostle Paul, as he writes
to these Philippians, By what we read, we know that he experienced
the same things that others did, and yet for preaching the gospel,
much, much more. But I want you to notice what
he says in verse 21, when he says, for me to live is Christ,
And to die is gain. I want to put before everyone
in this building, and everyone who might hear this message,
this little test. And it is a fill-in-the-blank
test. And the question is simply this. that we might each one answer,
for me to live is blank, and to die is blank. I mean, honestly, each one, if
we be so enabled by the grace of God to speak honestly and
truly right now, for me to live is, and for me to die is. I know that for some, to live
is their family. They live for their family. And for others it is they live
for their job and work, and others they live for their health, and
many more live simply to have fun, to find pleasure in this
life. And I know also that for some
to die is fear. For them to die is dread and
uncertainty. And then also for some, in the
answer to both, it might be said, I simply don't know. But I know this, that there is
a difference between people in their deaths. If you go back
and look in Luke 16, we have the record of God concerning
two men. One man was a beggar, and he
lay sick at the gate of another. And the Bible says that when
he died, he went and was found in Abraham's bosom. He went and was immediately in
the presence of God. But there was another man, and
the Bible says of him who is described as a rich man, not
a beggar, but a rich man, it says of him that he died and
in hell he lifted up his eyes being in torment. Paul says here, for me to live
is Christ and for me to die is gain. What does that mean, gain? Well, it means profit. It means increase. It means for
me to die is a great advantage. We know that death is naturally
loss. In it, there is a loss of the
body as we have known it. There is a loss of the family
and those intimate and close relationships we have experienced. There is a loss of possessions. We came into this world with
nothing and we will certainly leave it with nothing? There
is a loss of our faculties and our friends? And yet the Apostle
here describes death to him as gain. Death and gain. That seems to be a paradox. But there is one thing that I'm
sure of And that is the only way that death can be gained
for us is for Christ to be our life. And that is what Paul is
saying here. He says, for me to live is Christ
and to die is gain. And if Christ is not our life
in this life, then death will not be gain to us. As a matter of fact, all through
this book, as he is pictured in the Old Testament, and as
we find him so clearly spoken of in the New Testament, the
Lord Jesus Christ Himself is life. That's what he said. I am the way, the truth, and
the life. In other words, everything outside
of Jesus Christ is nothing but death, and He is not only life,
but He is eternal You remember what he said to
the sisters of Lazarus who had died? He said, I am the resurrection
and the life. And there is only one remedy
for death, death that plagues every sinner, every son and daughter
of Adam, And that is life, eternal life. I remember many years ago
reading Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress. And I think one of the things
that struck me most in the very opening pages is that one that
he describes as pilgrim. that he is found having been
warned that he is living in the city of destruction. And certainly that is what this
world is, a place that is under the judgment of God which he
says shall surely be destroyed. And here was this man pilgrim,
and he was clung to by his wife and his family and his friends
and his neighbors. But Bunyan says that he ran out
of that city with his hands over his ears, shutting out their
sounds, crying, life, life, eternal life. The Apostle John makes
this great and important statement as he is led by the Spirit. He says, and this is the record. That's not my record and it's
not your record. It's not a denominational record. It is the record of God. It is the declaration of God. And this is the record that God
hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. There are two things that are
important there. The fact is that God has given
eternal life. If you get eternal life, it will
not be because of something that you are, or something that you
do, or a decision that you make, or a walk that you take down
an aisle, or a trip into somebody's baptismal pool. It will be from
God as a gift. You cannot earn it. or merit
it or deserve it in any way. It is the gift of God. And the second thing there is
this. He says, and this life is in
His Son, Jesus Christ. It will be through something
that He is and through something that because of who He is as
man and God in the one person, it will be through something
that He has done. And yet men and women who are
in themselves dead and trespasses and sin, who face certain physical
death and inevitable eternal death without Him who is the
life, they live and they die in ignorance of who Jesus Christ
really is and what He has done. You see, we are nothing but death
in ourselves because of sin. The only real life that there
is, the only life that can calm the fear of death that is so
natural to us is Jesus Christ Himself. And the life that is
in Christ's hands and in and through His death is His to give
or to withhold. Let me read from John 17 some
words that Christ spoke to the Father as He prayed. He said,
As thou hast given Him power over all flesh, He called upon
the Father, He said, Glorify thou now your Son, as I have
glorified you. He says, and as you have given
to me power over all flesh, that I should give eternal life to
as many as thou hast given me. He said, I give, I have the power,
the authority, the ability to give eternal life to as many
as you have given me." And then he goes on to say this, "...and
this is life eternal, that they might know Thee, the only true
God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent." Eternal life is not
simply existing forever. Eternal life is not going to
a place that has simply golden paved streets and fancy houses
and enjoying all such foolish things as only the flesh can
enjoy. Listen again. He says, and this
is life eternal. What is it? that they might know
Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent."
Eternal life. The life of God. The life that
He gives is to know God as He is in Jesus Christ. And the problem in our day is
that men and women in their religious services have emphasized everything
and glorified everyone and done everything in accordance to man
and not the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Turn over to Hebrews
chapter 2. Hebrews chapter 2, and listen
to the Apostle Paul, maybe Apostle Paul, if he be the writer here,
it's not really clear, but it is clearly the inspired Word
of God. Hebrews chapter 2, beginning
in verse 14, he says, For as much then as the children, who
are these children? Well, it was said of the Messiah
long before. It was said of Jesus Christ,
who is the captain of their salvation. Those believers who are set apart
into Him and His brethren. He says, and again, I will put
my trust in Him, and again, behold, I and the children which God
hath given me." You see, there are so many people who think
they have eternal life and they do not know, they have not a
clue that God gave to His Son in the everlasting covenant before
the world began, out from Adam's family, a people out of every
nation and kindred and tribe and tongue, a people or children. that He gave His Son. Now listen,
for as much then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood,
He also Himself likewise took part of the same. In other words, God's Son, the
Eternal who is God of very God, the second person of the Godhead. In accordance to that covenant,
in accordance to the eternal will of the triune God, in accordance
to what was necessary to save that people, He took upon Himself
this human body. The Bible says that the Word
was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory as
of the only begotten of the Father." Well, if God had given him a
people, if he in that covenant had given him a people, chosen
them in Him and blessed them with all spiritual blessings
in Him, why was it necessary that He come into this world
and take upon Himself human flesh? Listen here in verse 14. For
as much then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood,
he also himself likewise took part of the same that through
death." You see that? That through death. He might
destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil,
and deliver them who through fear of death were all their
lifetime subject to bondage. For barely he took not on him
the nature of angels, but he took on him the seed of Abraham,
wherein in all things it behooved him to be made like unto his
brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things
pertaining to God." To make reconciliation, to make
peace. to make reconciliation for the
sins of the people. He came and took on Himself a
human body, a perfect, sinless body that He might, through death,
make a reconciliation for their sins. When the Lord Jesus Christ went
to that cross, He was not simply laying down or giving His life
as a general blank sacrifice for whoever would let Him save
them. He said, I lay down my life for
my sheep. I lay down, I give my life for
the sheep. I give my life I die for the
brethren. I lay down my life for my friends. And the way Christ is life to
his people is that by his death, that death put away their sin-demanding,
or their death-demanding sins. Now, you think about this. God
is a just God. God is an all-knowing God, and
there is no way that He would receive as this just God the
payment for the sins of a people that He did not save. In other words, if Christ had
died for that man that he already had told us in Luke 16 was already
in hell, if God received of him the payment of that man's sin
debt and still cast him into hell, he would not be just. And we live in a day when we
have so many so-called churches, we have so many services, we
do so many things, we have so much activity, and yet it is
not like Paul says, we preach Christ crucified. Who is He? And what did His death accomplish? His death is life for His people. That's what he means. This is
the record that God has given unto us eternal life, and this
life is in His Son. This life is through what He
accomplished in His life and death and resurrection before
God. You see, the Bible says the wages
of sin is death. It says that the soul that sins
shall surely die. And there is only one remedy
for that death, and that is a perfect life. That is a substitute to
take the place of those whom God will save to die in their
place. That's what the blood is all
about. It's not literal blood that if
that was rubbed on you, you'd say. Just think, those men that
crucified Christ, it's not unlikely that as they drove the nails
in His hand or thrust the spear in His side that that blood of
the man Christ Jesus didn't literally spatter on them, but it didn't
save them. Because it says, he is that one
high priest taken from amongst the people who is appointed of
God, and ordained of God, and accepted of God, and provided
by God to offer up things pertaining to God. That's what he did. That's what he did. He became
to His people the source of their life. He is to them the sustenance
of their life, the Savior of their life, all their life. He is their gain. What do you
mean? Well, the Bible says that God
according to his will and by his own free grace has given
to his people Christ who he has made unto them righteousness
and wisdom and sanctification and redemption. In their darkness
he's given Christ who is the light. In their desperate state,
he's given Christ, who is their food, their raiment, their riches,
their joy, their peace, their comfort. Many, many years ago, in the
opening pages of this book, God forbid that the people of Israel,
those who would worship Him, He forbid that they should eat
or drink the blood. He said, you go and you take
this animal, you offer him up to me in a sacrifice, you can
take these animals and eat them for food, but in neither case
do you drink or eat the blood?" Now, what did he mean by that?
He said, for this reason, he said, because the life is in
the blood. Now, we know that when the blood
pours out of an individual, Just like so many of those horrible
pictures out of India, those big pools of blood where we know
that somebody had to die there. The life is in the blood. But he was not so much showing
that as he was showing in all the types of sacrifices that
would be offered and the blood taken and sacrificed to God sprinkled
on the altar, the mercy seat. That the life is in the blood. The life that God's people need. The life that alone can save
us from our sins and death, that life is in the blood-shedding
of Jesus Christ. You remember Paul, who was certainly,
as we all are by nature, such a self-righteous man. And what
he claimed as his great hope, as what he once thought was what
brought him in a good standing before God, the fact that he
was himself an Israelite, a Hebrew, and a Pharisee, and a law keeper,
and a moral man, and praised of his peers. As a matter of fact, if he had
walked into most of the churches in our day and time and the pastor
knew it, that man would have been a member of that church
before the day was over. Nothing to question. He's a good
man. He's a religious man. He has some biblical knowledge. He's a moral man. He's so well
respected. He is without spot and without
blemish as far as man is concerned. Do you remember what Paul said?
After he himself in Philippians 3 names all those things, he
says, but what things were gained to me, those I counted lost for Christ. He said, I had everything, but
I was nothing. I had everything that is precious
in the sight of men, and it was sin in the sight of God. Do you remember what our Lord said?
That which is highly esteemed of men. is an abomination to God. You see, Christ died that His
people might live, and now He lives that they might die. You see, the truth is, you're
not living at all until you're ready to die. That's right. And all the bravado in the world,
all the statements of ignorant, blind, foolish sinners as are
heard every day such as this, I'm not afraid to die. Well,
you ought to be. Because he says, for it is appointed
unto man once to die, and after this, the judgment. My friend, don't you see this
is what this is all about? The Lord Jesus Christ came into
this world as the representative and substitute of that people
who God will bring inevitably to believe on Him and trust Him
alone and know God in Him to bear their judgment. You see, God, as a just judge,
has to deal with their sins in a just manner also. Those
who perish and go out into eternity without God, they will do so
because of their sins. But what about the sins of these
He speaks of, His children, His people? Well, Christ came into
the world And He bore their judgment. That's what's going on on the
cross. That's not just a martyr dying there. That's not just
a murder taking place. It says that He came and by the
determined counsel and foreknowledge of God was taken and by wicked
hands were slain. He died, and He faced the judgment
of God for His people. He died their death, the death
that they could not die, eternal death, which for those who go
out into eternity without Christ, the reason that hell is forever
is because their death, their dying, never satisfies the judgment
of God. Somebody said, I don't believe
in an eternal hell. It doesn't matter. You think
God loses sleep over that? That a maggot on the earth who
thinks that he or she is something, that they think a certain thing
when Christ Himself spoke of it so clearly, and that death
will be eternal because they have sinned against the eternal
God. but not so for the Lord's people." Oh, He brings them all to an
end of themselves. He brings them to see that there
is only one life, there is only one remedy, and it is a God-provided
remedy, the life that is in His dear Son. that He sent Him into
this world to die in their place, to suffer that which they were
due, to put upon the cross all that their sins require. And you see, they all experience
gain in life. Because at some point, he reveals
to them the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul, he was just running along,
headed to Damascus, about to persecute some more Christians.
But God, in old eternity, had loved him and chosen him and
determined that Christ would put away his sin and he would
receive him as an object of his grace to his glory. And so He stopped him, just like He'll stop you. He'll
intercept all His people, everyone that Christ died for, because
their debt has been paid, and He must bring to them the good
news of that and make them aware of it, that they might have rest
and peace and comfort and glorify Him forever. He'll bring them to confess,
oh me, for me to live is Christ. What do you mean by that? I mean
everything by that. I mean whatever it is that I'm
in a situation about. If we lose family, if we lose
friends, if we lose health, it doesn't matter what it is, in
the face of the devil himself and my own conscience, because
of sin, for me to live is Christ. I don't have any hope in myself.
I don't have any confidence if I live to be a hundred and preach
the truth to the very last day. That won't be my hope. It will
only be Christ. If God in His restraining mercy
and grace keeps me from being at some point or time as wicked
as those who murdered the hundreds of people there in India, if
He does and keeps me from being that, that won't be my hope. It'll be Christ. It'll be only Christ. It won't
be something I did in a revival meeting. It won't be something
I felt here or there or the other. Feelings are so deceiving. we are to believe on, the Lord Jesus Christ. He is to be our hope and we're
to cast off all others. He said, I lay down my life for
the sheep, and then He says, my sheep hear my voice and they
follow me. Salvation is not in praying a
sinner's prayer. I don't read that anywhere in
this book. Salvation is not in accepting
Jesus. I don't read that anywhere else. I do read in Ephesians 1 where
Paul says that those he chose in Christ before the world began
and blessed with all spiritual blessings, that he has made them
accepted in the blood. People talk about your personal
salvation. You better know something about
the Savior. You better abandon all hope in
yourself or your professions of religion or your funny feelings
or your experiences and seek to know about Him who to know
is life eternal. Because only then can you say,
And for me to die is gain. That's what my message was going
to be about this morning for the most part. The gain that
a believer experiences at death. There are really too many things
to number. But the truth is, that which will be gained to
them in death, profit to them in death, advantage to them in
death, increase to them in death, it is because Christ is their
life. The Lord's people, they love
their families. They seek to be kind to their
neighbors. They seek to work and provide. But their life is Christ. Not Christ as they thought He
was, but as He is in this book. There will be a lot of people who thought they had eternal
life. They were told by preachers that
they had eternal life. And Christ said, they'll come
before me. He says in Matthew 7, if you would just be interested
in your soul enough to read it. In Matthew 7, He said, they'll
stand in that day and they'll say, Lord, Lord, have we not
prophesied in thy name? We preached in your name. Have
we not done many wonderful works in your name?" They'll say, we've
even cast out devils in your name. And he says, then I'll say unto
them, depart from me you that work iniquity. Everything they did not only
was not accepted by God, it was counted as sin or inequity, not
equal to what God requires. He says, Depart from me ye that
work iniquity, I never knew you. God help us. God be merciful
to us and reveal to us His grace that is in the doing and the
dying of His Son. God help us to bring us from
these Christless religions, from these false professions of faith,
from these experiences that bring about that Satan delusion and
teach us the truth. God says, if they speak not according
to this law, this Word, it is because there is no light in
them. I don't care how nice they are. I don't care what sweet things
they say about you. I don't care what inspirational
things they say to encourage you. Paul said, God forbid that I
should glory save in the cross of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. He's all. What he did is a finished
work. Those who receive it do so by
grace. The faith by which they believe
on Christ as He is and as He's declared to be in the gospel,
he said, that too is the gift of God. I pray He gives that gift to
you, to me. I pray He enables us to repent
of all we once thought that He was and look to Him as He is. I pray that He will deliver us
from the deception of those three big lies. The first lie being that when
man fell in the garden He didn't really die. He just got very sick. No. He
said, in the day that you eat thereof, you'll surely die. And while he didn't die physically
at that hour, he died to God and went out and hid himself
in the trees from the presence of God. And Paul says in Romans
5 that in Adam all died. God helped us to be delivered
from believing that second lie, and that is that Jesus Christ,
when He hung on that cross, died for all men. You say, Preacher, I believe
He died for everybody. Well, if He did, everybody's
going to heaven then. Because a just God will not send
one soul to heaven for whom Jesus Christ has paid that sin debt. He won't. And then the third lie has to
do with what happens when God saves a sinner. Well, what happens? They cry
a lot. They have all kinds of funny
feelings, or they come down the aisle and pray with the preacher,
or they join the church, or they are baptized. No, no. When God
saves a sinner, and it well may be without fanfare as far as
the world is concerned, but when God saves a sinner, He convinces
that sinner that this Word is true that God is true and everything
else is a lie, and brings them, being quickened by the Spirit,
given life by the Spirit, to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. To trust Him as the One who has
finished all and accomplished all that is necessary for our
full salvation. Oh, to be able to say like Paul.
He was just a man like we are. He was just a sinner like we
are. He was nothing of himself. He was only what God made him
to be by his grace in Jesus Christ. And he said, for me to live is
Christ. He said another place, Christ
who is our life. For me to live is Christ, and
to die is gain. It can't be anything but gain. Let me read you just a few more
words of what he says after that. He says, But if I live in the
flesh, this is the fruit of my labor. Yet what I shall choose
I want not, for I am in a strait. I'm like in a crossroads. Betwixt
two, having a desire to depart and to be with Christ, which
is far better, far better. Nevertheless, to abide in the
flesh is more needful for you. He said, if I die, to depart,
be with Christ, be far better. But it may be that God's will
is that I continue in the flesh for your benefit, to preach and
to teach and to write the gospel of Jesus Christ. Where are you in this test? For
me to live is and to die. God, may it be pleasing to Him
that you can, from your heart, if not before, from this day
forward, rest and find peace in Him and be delivered as one
of those who through fear of death has all their lifetime
been in bondage. Why? Because the wages of your
sin Christ paid by His blood. Because the soul that you are
that sinned, He died in your place. May you lay down tonight, put your head on the pillow, and breathe that sweet spiritual
breath of eternal life. So that Paul said, whether I
wake or whether I sleep, I'm the Lord's. He's my life. Father, we ask this day for that
great grace and mercy by which you bring your people
to truly look to and believe on and rest in Jesus Christ and
Him crucified, to plead His blood, to plead His righteousness alone, and to forsake all others cling
only to Him. Blessed, we do pray, honor Yourself
and use Your Word to Your glory and to call out Your sheep and
bring them to Your Son. We thank You and we pray in His
name. Amen.