Well, I want you to take your
Bible and turn with me to the book of Philippians, Philippians
chapter 1, and I'm so thankful that my good friend Stephen Nichols
assigned me this section of Scripture. I love this portion of Scripture.
So we're going to be in verses 21 to 26, depending upon how
quickly I can go through this, how quickly you can listen. The
title of this message is, To Die is Gain. Philippians 1, I'm
going to begin reading in verse 21. We'll see how far we get
through this. This is God's inspired, inerrant,
and infallible Word. Let God be found true. Let every
man be found a liar. Beginning in verse 21, To live is Christ, and to die
is gain. But if I am to live on in the
flesh, this will mean fruitful labor for me. And I do not know
which to choose, but I am hard-pressed from both directions, having
the desire to depart and be with Christ. for that is very much
better. Yet to remain on in the flesh
is more necessary for your sake. Convinced of this, I know that
I will remain and continue with you, with you all." See, Paul
was a Southerner. Continue with y'all. For your
progress and joy in the faith. so that your proud confidence
in me may abound in Christ Jesus through my coming to you again."
The year is 62 A.D., and the place is Rome, the seat of imperial
power of the empire. Rome is the city of Caesar's
palace. and the Roman Senate, and the
marching armies of Rome that hold sway over the known world. It is the very nerve center of
the empire. And the Apostle Paul has always
wanted to go to Rome. to preach the gospel, because
to preach the gospel in Rome is to set in motion a ripple
effect that will spread to the entire empire. So Paul has always
had Rome in his crosshairs, to preach the gospel there. But
Paul had no idea he would go to Rome this way. He is there,
held captive as a prisoner. of the empire, he is imprisoned
under house arrest, and he is held there for two long years. The apostle Paul is an industrious,
dynamic figure, and for Paul to sit still in one house and
in one room for two long years is in and of itself a death sentence
for the apostle Paul. He is chained to Roman soldiers.
day in, day out, throughout the night, throughout the day, throughout
this entire time. He's like a caged animal. And
Paul is awaiting his trial before Caesar, which will mean life
or death for him, as Caesar possesses the authority and the power of
death over his life. And Paul knows that. And the
average believer, the average person might easily be discouraged
and downcast and even defeated, but not Paul. Coming out of this
Roman imprisonment is this book of Philippians, which is a note
of triumph. It is a note of victory. You
would think he's sitting in heaven itself as he is writing this.
And Paul's faith is contagious. And as he writes this letter,
he gives us the secret regarding how can anyone live under such
circumstances that are confining and restricting, and yet for
his heart and his spirit to be soaring to the heights of heaven,
as he will repeatedly say throughout this epistle, rejoice in the
Lord always. Again, I say, rejoice. And we will discover the answer
in these verses. And what was true of Paul must
be true for you and me as well, because we too find ourselves
often between a rock and a hard place, often in the valley, often
in difficult circumstances of life with family, with finances,
with business, with children. And we too must maintain a note
of victory and triumph as we live our Christian lives. And the greatest testimony that
you and I will have is most often not when we're on the mountaintop,
but when we're in the valley of difficulty, like Paul is here. And for our faith to be so vibrant
and to be so real. that it sends forth a triumphant
note of our faith in Jesus Christ that rises above the circumstances. So I want us to look at this
text. I want God to write this text afresh on my own heart tonight,
and I want Him to impress this upon your soul tonight. As we look at this passage beginning
in verse 21, I want to give you four headings for this message
for those of you who are note-takers. I always want to identify the
elect as… Yeah, that's true. That's true. These are vessels
of mercy taking notes tonight, prepared for wonderful things.
So, I want you to note first Paul's priority in life. Paul's priority in life because
Paul begins this section by making one of the most dramatic statements
to ever come from his inspired pen or from anyone's pen. He begins with these few words,
"'For to me to live is Christ.'" We can have the whole conference
on just those words. Please note, Paul says, to me,
it's very personal. Whether anyone else is living
for Christ, whether no one else is living for Christ, whether
everyone is living for Christ, I'm not looking to my right,
I'm not looking to my left. For me, he's looking up to Christ. He will live for Christ, no matter
who is or who else is not living for Christ. That's where you
and I must be tonight. And he says, for me, to live
is Christ. To live for Christ is not a mere
superficial existence of an association with the name of Christ. To live
for Christ means to know Christ, to adore Christ, to worship Christ,
to surrender to Christ, to submit to Christ, to obey Christ. to follow Christ, to serve Christ
your entire life. The alpha and the omega, the
sum and the substance is Jesus Christ. That's what this means. And literally, in the original
language, the verb, is, is not in the original language. It's
supplied by our English translators. And as Paul writes this, he writes
it very dramatically and very emphatically. This literally
reads, for to me to live, Christ. He doesn't even want a verb between
Christ and him. Everything in Paul's life revolves
around Christ. Christ is the center, not the
circumference. His whole life is consumed with
Christ. Everything in his life is bound
up in Christ. Christ is the cornerstone of
his life. Christ is the linchpin of his life. Christ is the anchor
of his life. Christ is the center of gravity
of his life. Christ is the foundation, the
pillars, the pinnacle, top to bottom. Christ is everything
in Paul's life. That's what he is saying here.
Christ is the greatest priority. He is number one. Everything
else is a far distant second in Paul's life. Christ is his
greatest passion. He loves Christ more than father
or mother, or brother or sister, even his own life. Christ is
His greatest possession. To have Christ, you have everything.
To not have Christ, you have nothing. Christ is the power
of His life. I can do all things through Christ
who strengthens me. Christ is the greatest pattern.
He emulates Christ in everything. He wants to walk like Christ
and talk like Christ and teach like Christ and share the gospel
like Christ. Everything in Paul's life is
from Christ and through Christ and to Christ. This is the way
you and I must live. Everything else is secondary. This is primary. Even good things
are secondary. For this which is greatest and
best. And so as you look at your life
tonight, may these verses, and specifically this verse, be a
tug on your heart to come back to your first love, to come back
to the primacy and to the centrality of Christ. It's not even your
church, it's not even your ministry, it's not even your denomination,
it's Christ. And Christ will put you in a
church, and He'll put you in a ministry, and He'll put you
in a denomination. But Christ is the head, and we
are but the body. So this is what Paul begins. Paul's priority in life is Christ. Second, I want you to note Paul's
prophet in death. As Paul is staring death square
in the eyes, Paul's not sitting at Starbucks someplace, sipping
on a latte. Paul is looking down the gun
barrel at death itself. This is where Paul finds himself,
but notice what he says. This is, this testimony must
be my testimony, it must be your testimony tonight. For me to
live is Christ, now here it is, and to die is gain. To die is gain. This was a real
possibility for Paul, who will soon, as far as he knows, appear
before Caesar to have his life taken. And it will be a gruesome
martyr's death in which his head will be severed, and it would
eventually be, tradition tells us, on the ocean road on the
outside of Rome. But he says, If Caesar requires
my life, to die is gain." The verb, is, again, is not in
the original. It just literally reads, to die,
gain. And this word, gain, this is
no hyperbole. This will be the greatest profit
Paul will ever experience. To die. Because to die as a believer
in Jesus Christ means you go immediately into the very presence
of Jesus Christ, which is even greater than serving Him at a
distance down here. Paul will go from the grave to
graduate to glory, and death will usher him into the immediate
presence of Christ. Death will be the glorious usher
that will take Paul by the hand and bring him into the presence
of Christ. Death for Paul will not be a
tragedy, it will be a triumph. And I want you to know, if you
do not live for Christ, for you to die is loss. There is only
one way for death to be gain, and that is to live for Christ
in this lifetime and in this world. And what is this gain? What is this greatest gain? Let
me tell you what it's not. It's not streets of gold. It's
not gates of pearl. It's not even reunion with loved
ones as wonderful as that is. It's not the absence of sorrow
and tears. The greatest gain in heaven for
Paul will be to stand with the Lord Jesus Christ. and to be
in His very presence, and to love Christ, and adore Christ,
and worship Christ, and serve Christ forever and ever and ever. He is so limited here, it will
be unlimited there. Death will give Him Christ. As you are facing the reality
of death, the government has come up with a new statistic
One out of every one person dies. Just tweet that. See law. And this will become a reality
for you if Christ should tarry. And we all have loved ones who
are entering into a phase where they are facing death. And for
us as believers, death holds no sway or hold over us. Christ has removed the sting
from death, and He has given to us the victory over death
through His resurrection. So this is Paul's prophet in
death, and it is your prophet in death if you are a believer
in Jesus Christ our Lord. But I want you to notice third
now, Paul's perplexity in soul. In verses 22 and 23, Paul He's caught between living for
Christ here, dying, and going to be with Christ in heaven. And it's like he's in the middle
of a vice grip that is clamping down on him. Which way do I go? And so he says in verse 22, but
if I am to live on in the flesh, which is a real possibility and
would actually turn out to be what would happen in this first
of the two Roman imprisonments. If I am to live on in the flesh,
this will mean fruitful labor. for me." Paul understood that
if he is allowed by the sovereign providence of Almighty God, who
has numbered all of our days in His book when as yet there
is not one of them, if the Lord extends His time, this will mean
extended opportunities to preach the gospel in so many places
to countless people, and it will be fruitful labor. Souls will
be won to Christ. New believers will be built up
in Christ. Churches will be planted for
Christ. The gospel of Christ will go
forward. Christ will be magnified here
upon the earth if God will extend the number of His days here. But then he says in the middle
of verse 22, and I do not know which to choose. Do I want to stay here and preach
Christ? and be with Christ. And Paul
says, I do not know which to choose. How strange is this? Paul was one of the most decisive
men to ever walk this earth, and yet he finds himself here
paralyzed, not knowing which way to choose. He is like being
pulled in both directions, and he says in verse 23, But I am
hard-pressed in both directions. Would to God this could be the
experience in my heart and in my life and in your heart and
in your life. when he says, I'm hard-pressed,
in the original language, it speaks of a person walking down
a tight road with two walls on both sides, and the walls are
becoming narrower and narrower until you are closed in as if
you are in a vice grip, and Paul is undergoing one of the most
agonizing trials within his soul. I mean, his life is like a tube
of toothpaste, and he's being squeezed. And everything on the
inside of him is coming out as he is looking death square in
the eyes. But for Paul, he wants to go
be with Christ, which is indescribably better. And so he says, In verse
23, I have the desire to depart and to be with Christ. You see
that? The word desire, it's a Greek word, epithumia. It means a strong
desire. It means a deep affection. It
means an intense longing. It's the word that's used in
1 Timothy 3, verse 1, that if any man aspires to the office
of an overseer, it is a noble calling. He desires. He desires
to do. This is what Paul is feeling
in his heart. He is anxious to go and be with
the Lord. And he says, having the desire
to depart. And this word, depart, speaks
metaphorically of his death. It's a Greek word that means
to loosen something, like a ship that's tied with a rope to a
pier, and the current is pulling the boat downstream, but because
it's tied to the pier, to the dock, it's held tight, and then
someone comes along and loosens the rope and unties the knot,
and the ship is just taken away downstream by the powerful current. And Paul says, I desire for God
to just untie the knot and loosen my hold on this world because
I want to go be with Jesus Christ. The desire to depart, and he
says, and be with Christ. Do you see that there in verse
23? That's what heaven is for Paul,
is to be with Christ. Now, I have a father and a mother
in heaven, and I can't wait to see them. And I've got my mentor
R.C. in heaven. I want to see him.
And I want to see Luther and Calvin and Whitefield and Edwards
and the rest. But they're going to have to
wait. They really are. They're just
going to have to wait, because I want to be with Christ. who
suffered and died and bled for me upon Calvary's cross, and
who raised Himself from the dead for me, and has ascended to the
right hand of the Father, and has saved my soul from the wrath
of God." He says he desires to be with Christ, and this will
take immediately. The very second that Paul would
die, he knows that he will open his eyes in the very presence
of the Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Corinthians 5 verse 8 says,
Paul writing, we prefer to be absent from the body and to be
at home with the Lord. Paul says, that's my preference.
That's really my priority and my desire. And you remember the
thief on the cross? Remember me when you come into
your kingdom? And in Luke 23, 43? Jesus said,
today you will be with Me in paradise. This is the hope that
we have as believers. Not tomorrow, not next week,
not next month, not next year, today you will be with Me in
paradise. And we will be like Christ. At
the end of chapter 3 and verse 20 and 21, I don't know whose
feet I'm stepping on right now that's going to be preaching
this. I get to do it right now, so Philippians 3 and verse 20
and 21, for our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we
eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform
the body of our humble state into conformity with the body
of His glory. by the exertion of the power
that He has even to subject all things to Himself. Let me tell
you, right now, you and I have a redeemed soul inside of an
unredeemed body. And there's coming a day at death
and at the end of the age when there will finally be a redeemed
soul inside of a redeemed body. And in that day, we will be made
fully like the Lord Jesus Christ, as much as anyone can be made
like Christ and still be a creature. We will have a glorified body,
just like Jesus has, and we will have glorified eyes to look upon
Him. We will have a glorified tongue
to sing His praises throughout all of the ages to come. We will
have glorified hands to cast our crowns back at His feet.
We will have glorified knees as we will fall before Him in
worship. We will have glorified feet with
which we will serve Him, and as we will travel about and carry
out the assignments that He will give to us. And more than that,
we will see Him. We love Him now by faith. We
will love Him all the more by sight. In Revelation 22, verse
4 says, we will see His face. Ancient kings would not reveal
themselves to their subjects and to the peasants who worked
in their kingdom, but we have a King who will invite us into
His presence and to come before His throne and to look into His
eyes and to look into His face. It is the greatest blessing that
will ever come to a redeemed soul. We will see Him just as
He is. And so, Paul's caught in the
middle. He doesn't know which way to
go. And he, in his heart and soul, he wants and prefers to
be with Christ, which he says at the end of verse 23, which
is very much better. Not just better, and not just
much better. It's a double superlative. It
is very much better. And so this is the perplexity
within Paul. It's the same perplexity that
is in you and me as we see a father who is a believer in the Lord,
a mother who's a believer in the Lord, a grandparent, a child,
as they come to the end of their life. We want to hang on to them. We want them to continue to be
with us. But from this eternal perspective,
how much better is it for them to go immediately into the presence
of the Lord? And our loss is their gain. So finally, I want you to note,
beginning in verse 24, Paul's persuasion. Paul's persuasion
in spirit. And he begins in verse 24, which
is actually in the middle of the sentence. But he says, yet
to remain on the flesh, in the flesh, meaning to live here in
this earthen body, is more necessary for your sake. It's a very humble statement.
This is a man who's denied himself and taken up a cross and is following
Christ. This is a man who has died to
self and who dies daily. And this is the struggle that
we all face between what I want to do and what is best for others. And the sacrifice I must make
for the good of others, and this is what Jesus had to go through
in the Garden of Gethsemane when He said, not My will, but Your
will be done. And we must all know what it
is to be willing to sacrifice our own personal desires for
the higher good of others coming to Christ and being built up
in Christ. And I want to put a footnote
here of application. As long as you and I are left
here upon this earth, there is work for you and me to do for
Him. And if you are here tonight and
you are breathing, there is gospel labor for you to do. Otherwise,
the Lord would have already taken you home to be with Him. We never
retire from God's work. You may retire from the office,
you may retire from your classroom, you may retire from whatever
vocation you've had, but you will never retire from your ministry
endeavors for the Lord. And as long as the Lord gives
you breath and keeps you here upon the earth, your purpose
is to glorify Him by serving Him. And I'm 67 years old, and
those of you who are in my age bracket and even higher, this
is the time for you to widen your stride and pick up your
pace and to sprint all the way to the finish. May none of us here tonight just
cruise into glory. May we go with our chest out,
our knees pumping, and our leaning to the finish line that we will
win this race for the Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 15, 58,
therefore be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work
of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord. That's Paul. Look at verse 25. I'm convinced of this. I'm reading out of the New American
Standard. I don't know what your translation
is, but convinced is a very good translation. It's a Greek word,
paitho, and it means to be persuaded deeply of something. It's used
in 2 Corinthians 5 verse 10, for example, therefore, knowing
the fear of the Lord, we persuade men. And Paul says, he is persuaded. He is convinced. He is moved
of this. I know that I will remain and
continue with you all for your progress. I want to go to heaven. I want to be with Christ. But
I'm willing to stay. to help your faith, and to build
you up, and to teach the Word of God to you, and to help you. And please note what follows,
and joy in the faith. Let's just stop right here. There
is no joy unless you progress in your Christian life. The order
here is very important. You must mature, you must grow,
you must advance in your faith in the Lord in order to know
the joy of the Lord Jesus Christ. The cause is your progress. The
effect is the joy, your joy in the faith. And when he says faith
here, you need to understand there's two – faith is used in
two different ways in the Scripture. There is subjective faith, and
there is objective faith. Subjective faith is the peace
of God in our heart and in our soul. Philippians 4, verse 6
and 7, "'Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and
supplication, with thanksgiving. Let your requests be made known
unto God, and the peace of God shall rule in your hearts in
Christ Jesus.'" That's subjective faith. But this is objective
faith. which is the body of Christian
truth, sound doctrine, the truth as revealed in Scripture, the
faith once and for all delivered to the saints, Jude 3 and 4.
And so what Paul is saying is all our joy is in the faith,
in the truth that tells us about the Lord Jesus Christ. And let
me give you a verse, John 15, verse 11, Jesus said, these things
I have spoken to you, talking about objective truth, these
things I have spoken unto you that my joy would be in you and
that your joy would be made full. And so, the joy that we would
have and know is dependent upon growing in the truth of God's
Word and advancing in our Christian faith. And he says in verse 26,
and this is our last verse, so that your proud confidence in
me may abound in Christ Jesus through my coming to you again. For me to live is Christ. For
you to live is Christ. This is just Christianity 101.
This is not some higher-level form of Christianity. This is
what happened the moment you walked through the narrow gate
and committed your life to Jesus Christ. And in that moment, you
no longer live for this world. In that moment, you no longer
live for yourself. In that moment, you began to
live for Christ when you believed in Christ and you submitted and
surrendered your life to Him. And so therefore, my beloved,
when you die and when I die, It will be the greatest gain
you will ever know in your life. It was less than a year ago,
on December the 14th, that the founder of Ligonier Ministries,
Dr. Robert Charles Sproul, who had
lived for Christ, who had loved Christ, He preached Christ to
the very end. His preaching was growing stronger
and stronger and stronger. In that last sermon from Hebrews
2, verses 1 through 4, how shall we escape if we neglect so great
a salvation? Dr. Sproul was like a runner
pressing to the finish line as he fought that COPD and the air
hunger to continue to have the air that he needed to live. But
in that moment when he breathed his last breath, our mentor and
our friend entered into the greatest gain he had ever known in his
life. as he went immediately into the
presence of Him whom he loved and trusted and served. A couple of weeks ago, there
was a Ligonier tour through Ireland, and I preached at the Belfast
conference, and Chris was there, and Stephen was there. You were
there, weren't you, Stephen? No, you weren't there. I'm so
sorry. Stephen was out of God's will. for his life. So confession is
good for the soul. But I'll tell you who else was
there. Vesta Sproul, R.C.' 's wife, and she toured Ireland,
and R.C.' 's family roots go back to Ireland, and there she
made that journey without R.C. She came back home, she told
me this right before the service tonight. People were coming up
to her and saying, well, I guess it was rather bittersweet, wasn't
it, not having R.C. with you? And she said, and I've
heard her say this with a note of confident, resilient faith,
I am so happy that R.C. has entered into the presence
of the Lord. And in essence, I would rather
have him with Jesus than with me in Ireland. May that be true
of your life, that you'd rather be with Jesus than be anywhere
on planet earth, than to be with anyone else, but until the Lord
calls you home. May you live for Christ. May
you go full throttle for Christ. You only have one life to live
for Christ. May you invest it all in the
service of the Master. And when you die, it will be
the greatest day of your life. You'll be with Christ. Let us
pray. Our Father in heaven, this almost
sounds too good to be true, that someone could live like this
in the face of death, and yet we know it's true because it's
recorded in Your inspired Word that is, as R.C. would say, is
unvarnished truth. So, Lord, put this more deeply
into us. Cause us to have our focus completely
upon Jesus Christ, and may we live solos Christos, for Christ
alone. And as we approach the time of
our departure from this world, may we so long and look forward
to awakening in His presence. Father, the best is yet to come,
we know. So we give thanks tonight in
Jesus' name. Amen.