Open your Bibles now again to
Philippians chapter 1 passage brother Wayne just read for us
a few moments ago I've titled the message this
morning the life and death of a believer sitting there thinking
This is the great burden in preaching if we're not dealing with the
issues of life and death Every time we preach we're not preaching
This is the issue of life and death, the life and death of
a believer. Paul says in verse 20 Philippians one, according
to my earnest expectation and my hope that in nothing I should
be ashamed, but that with all boldness as always, so now also
Christ should be magnified in my body, whether it be by life
or death. Every believer is not going to,
live the life of the Apostle Paul, do all the things that
the Apostle Paul did in his ministry. But every believer has a life
to live and a death to die. The death to time has been appointed
by our God. None of us know when that time
is, but it's already been appointed. And I think knowing that, the
thing that would be good for us to do is make the most of
the time that God has given us. We won't do most of the things
in the ministry that the Apostle Paul did, but we can do what
the Apostle did here and pray that the Lord keep us faithful.
Keep us faithful to Him. Keep us faithful to His gospel.
Keep us faithful to one another. We can pray that the Lord gives
us boldness to serve Him and to not back down, to believe
Him and keep believing Him, to keep preaching and believing
Christ and Christ alone and to not get off on a tangent. I was talking to a pastor friend
of mine this week, and he and I both, as we talked and discovered
we had the same prayer for ourselves every day, Lord, don't let me
get off on a tangent, but preach Christ. Preach Christ. Every
opportunity that the Lord gives us. That's what Paul wanted.
Now, Paul was in prison. He didn't know if he was going
to get out or not. You know, at that time, you think about
what was going on there in Rome. They were throwing Christians
to the lions for sport. They would dip Christians in
tar and tie them to a pole, and in the evening, they'd light
their bodies on fire to be used as streetlights up and down the
streets of Rome. They would crucify Christians
along the main public roads of Rome. They were trying to stop
this new religion from spreading by scaring people away from it.
You know, this is what happens to people that go after this
religion. So Paul didn't know if he was
going to live or if he was going to die. And what's more, he said,
if the choice were mine to live or die, I don't know which one
I'd choose. He said, I just don't know. But
either way, whether I live or die, Paul said, I want Christ
to be glorified in my body, either by me living or by me dying.
And I can tell you that is the way that I feel too. I'm sure
every believer feels the exact same way. I want the Lord to
use me for his glory. I'm struck me. Um, we'd go to
Mexico for we'd eat brother Cody Groover prayed. This was always
his prayer. Part of his prayer. Lord, use
us in your glory. Use us for your glory. In whatever
little sphere of influence I have, I want God to enable what I do
in this body that he's given me to be used for his glory,
to point people to Christ. I mean, I want that, don't you?
For my friends and my family. And I just don't know which I'd
choose, life or death. And I'll tell you why it's a
hard decision. Because you know what? Now the life of a believer
is good stuff. It really is a life of faith.
It's a blessing. The life of faith in Christ is
a blessing. Yes, there's trials and heartaches
that come with it. Lord told his disciples in this
world you shall have tribulation. And we have those. But there's
blessings to the blessing of faith in Christ. And the death
of a believer. Well, that's good stuff, too,
and that's good stuff. It's so good that the Lord calls
it precious to him. That's why I read that in Psalm
116 to open the surface. Almighty God says when one of
his children dies, he says, that's precious to me. That's good. That's not good for the loved
ones left behind, is it? They sorrow, but it's all good
for the believer. There's not one bad thing in
it. Not one. Look what Paul says about that,
verse 21. For me to live is Christ and to die is gain. But if I
live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labor. Yet what I
shall choose I want not. If the choice were mine, Paul
says, I just don't know which I'd choose. Because the life
of a believer, being able to live for Christ in His service,
live a life of faith, that's good. And the death of a believer,
well, that's even better. He says, so if the choice were
mine, I don't know which one I'd choose. Now every believer
can understand what Paul is saying here. Older believers can understand
it better. Luke as an example. Luke didn't
get up today thinking, maybe this is the day Lord call me
home. You didn't think that. Maybe this is the day I'll die.
He didn't think that. And you know what? That's good. It's
good that he didn't think that. There's a lot of things left
for you to do, isn't there? You're married to the wife of your youth.
You got a little daughter. Luke wants to raise that daughter.
Luke wants to be there to teach her and support her and raise
her. That's good. Look at what Paul says in verse
24. Nevertheless, to abide in the flesh is more needful for
you. Luke, it's more needful for Michaela,
the sailor, that you stay here a while, be with her. It's more
needful. So a young believer, they don't feel that way just
yet. But an older believer, now a
young believer can understand what Paul's saying. But oh, an
older believer understands it well. Leaving this world to go
be with Christ is far better than being left in the world
of sin. An older believer understands that better because we've lived
in this body of sin longer. We've lived in this world of
sin longer. And the longer you live with
it, the more tired you get of it, the more ready that you are
to leave it. Now, I guess I'm somewhere between
three score and 10, and Luke says somewhere in between, but
now I've touched. I'd like to live long enough
to see the Lord save some of my loved ones. I'd like to have
some fellowship with them around the gospel. I would. I'd like
to live long enough to pastor here. See the Lord save our young
ones. See the Lord reveal his mercy
and grace to folks young and old alike, those that I care
so much about. I'd like to live long enough
really just to do simple everyday stuff with Janet. Just whatever
it is. Sitting and eating together.
We're sitting out in our back porch. If you've ever been to
our house, our backyard is very, very, very small. Janet calls
it our back 40. She thinks she's real funny because it's 40 feet,
not 40 acres. We're sitting there looking at
our back 40. I'd like to do some more of that. I would. I'd like
to go on some family vacations. I'd like to do what we're going
to do today. Get together and eat and have some fellowship
and talk together. I like to grow old listening
to the gospel. Those are things that I like
to do, and those are good things to look forward to enjoying in
this life. God's given them to you who believe.
That's what those things he's given them for. But I tell you, I look forward
to the time I can lay down this nature of sin and this body of
sin. I'm getting pretty tired of it. I look forward. Oh, how I look
forward. to awakening glory, to see Christ the Savior face-to-face
and be made just like Him. To face-to-face say, thank you,
Lord. Thank you for your mercy. Thank
you for your grace. Thank you for your love. Thank
you. Oh, thank you. I look forward to that. I look
forward to worshiping without my sin distracting me. Don't
you? So life or death, which would
I choose? I don't know. And I'm thankful it's not my
decision. I'm thankful that those things are in the Lord's hand.
Listen, it's best that the Lord make that decision. Because he
won't make a mistake. I make a mistake in everything
I do. He never made one. It's best those things be left
in his hands. So I want us to look at the life
of a believer. Why is it such a blessing? This life of faith,
why is it such a blessing? I want us to be aware that there's
something we can do to have this life be well spent. And now I
want to show you why Paul says the death of a believer is far
better even than that. First, let's look at the life
of a believer. The life of a believer is a blessing because the life
lived without fear of condemnation of the law. How many people live
fearing death? and the judgment which is to
follow. They live fearing it. A believer doesn't have to do
that. If you have faith in Christ,
you live without fear of condemnation of the law, without fear of death.
A believer has spiritual life, eternal life, and you know why
they have it? Because the Son of God died in their place. Woo! The Son of God died as a substitute
for his people. God's elect lived because Christ
died the death that we deserve. Now you think of the wonder of
that. The wonder that the son of God
would die for the likes of us so that we would live. That's
the life he's given us. The Lord Jesus took the sin of
his people away from them and he made it his. He called it
mine iniquity. He took the sin of his people
into his own body upon the tree and he died because the penalty
for sin is death. Christ died because that's what
the law demands. Well, now that sin can't condemn
anyone for whom Christ died. Christ already died. The law
is satisfied because Christ died the death that we deserve. That
sin has been put away under the blood of Christ and God's justice
demands everyone for whom Christ died live. Just like his justice
demands death for sin, God's justice demands that all of his
people live. because Christ suffered condemnation
for them. They have no sin left to condemn
them. The blood of Christ put it away. They must live. Now that's the life God's given
you to believe. Now that ought to make us thankful
every day. We have life because Christ died
in our place. And because of the death of Christ,
believers don't live under the threat of the law or the rule
of the law. The sword of the law and constantly
hanging over our heads, waiting to fall and chop our heads off,
you know. We don't live a fear of the law. We don't live under
the law at all. The believer lives a life of grace. Look at
Romans chapter six. Romans chapter six. Verse 14. For sin shall not have dominion
over you, for you're not under the law, you're under grace. The believer's life is a life
lived under the grace of God, under the grace because Christ
died as our substitute. All right, next look at Galatians
chapter two. The life of a believer is a blessing because the believer's
life is Christ living in us Galatians chapter two, verse
20. I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless
I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. In the life which
I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God,
who loved me and gave himself for me. Now Paul says he's dead
with Christ, this is what he means. Christ died for me. He died the death that I deserve
for my sin. Now this thing of Christ dying
for me, it's more than a legal transaction. Now there was a
legal transaction that took place there. The blood of Christ paid
the sin debt of his people. That price must be paid. But
Paul saying I'm crucified with Christ means a whole lot more
than that. It means that when Christ died, I died in him. When
he lived, I lived in him. When he died, I died in him.
When he arose, I arose in him. That's the very first thing a
believer does in confessing Christ, doesn't it? In believer's baptism.
This is what we're confessing. I was in Christ. This is the
hope of my salvation. When he lived and he obeyed the
law, I did too. Because I was in him. When he
suffered and died for my sin, I died in him. The law is not
hunting me anymore. Justice is not hunting me anymore.
I already died in Christ. And when he arose, I arose in
him. I rose to new life in him. Christ is my federal head. I
did what he did. So I've already died to the law
in Christ. Now, since I died, the law has
no more demand on me. None. Because Christ fulfilled
every demand of the law. The law says the soul that sins,
it must die. Well, I died. I died in Christ,
I was crucified in Him, and the law satisfied. The law doesn't
have any more demand that I die because I died in Christ. Even
man's law does that. You know, a murderer is condemned
to die, and he's put to death in the death chamber, and the
law says, I'm satisfied. Now, all the time they held that
guy on death row, they never would release his body to the
family, would they? Once he dies, they do. His body, because the
law is satisfied. Now I'm dead with Christ. I died
in Him. I died to satisfy the law when
I died in Christ. Yet I live. Here I am, I live. I live spiritually. And Paul
says it's not just me that lives, it's Christ in me. Christ is
my life. That new man that's been born
in me is Christ. The life of Christ is in me.
and the spiritual life that I'm living. I live by the faith of
Christ. You know, as Paul says there,
I live that by the faith of the son of God. Yes, it's faith in
Christ. That's how I lay hold on life. That's how I lay hold on Christ.
But I live because of the faith of Christ, the faithfulness of
Christ to do everything it took to save my sinful soul and satisfy
God's law and God's justice for me. Christ is our life. And he lives in the hearts of
his people. That's a blessing. That's a blessing. Thirdly, look at Colossians chapter
one. The life of a believer is a blessing because Christ in
us is our hope of glory. Colossians chapter one, verse 27. whom God would make known what
is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles,
which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. I tell you so often
this word hope here doesn't mean I hope it doesn't rain today.
I don't know if it will or not, but that's not what it means.
It means an expectation and a believer has an expectation by faith. The believer can expect some
things. because we believe Christ. We can expect Him to do what
He said He's going to do, can't we? We can expect salvation in
the end if His blood truly cleanses us from all sin. There's some
things we can expect because we trust our soul to Christ. Now, I don't know what's going
to happen between now and the day that I die. But I tell you
what, I fully expect at that moment when I die open my eyes
in glory and to awake in the likeness Christ the Savior and
be satisfied and be satisfied. I really do expect to live in
a sinless body, in a sinless world, worshiping Christ eternally
in heaven. Now my human mind can't grasp
that, can't get around that, but I expect it. I surely do.
I expect to see Christ the Savior face to face. And you do too if you believe
it. And it's not wrong to expect that. Now I think it's fair to
always kind of look at myself and think, well is that presumption?
Am I just presuming something or is that confidence? Which
is it? Well that's presumption. If any of our hope is based on
what I do or what I don't do. It's presumption if I think,
well, It'll turn out all right in the end. I mean, I don't know
how God will do it, but God's got a plan. I don't know how
He's going to do it, but it'll turn out all right. That's presumption.
It's presumption if you think, God is so loving, He won't send
somebody like me to hell. I mean, He'll send somebody like
Hitler or whatever, but now He's not going to send me to hell.
That's presumption. That's presumption on the character
of God. But this is holy confidence. If your faith and your trust
is in Christ. See, Christ is, Christ personally
is our hope. And the believer's expectation
to appear in glory is completely and totally based on who the
Lord Jesus Christ is. He's the Lord, our righteousness. Our hope is based on what he's
accomplished for his people. Since he's the son of God, he
has the power, the holiness, the righteousness, the love,
the compassion, The ability to save his people from their sin. And I trust him to do it. Christ
sacrificed himself for his people. And when he did, I want to tell
you something. He saved everybody he intended to save. He wasn't
trying to save people who were going to perish. He saved everybody
that he intended to save. Now, believing that the blood
of Christ put away my sin is not presumption. It's faith. It's faith. If Christ died for
me, Matter of fact, it's wrong for me not to believe it. It's
wrong. The Lord Jesus prayed. He said,
Father, I will. I better not pray that way. You
better not pray that way, but the Savior did. The Son of God
did, Father, I will. That all those whom thou hast
given me be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory. Now that's not presumption to
assume But that's true to believe that that's going to happen.
I believe that the father is going to give Christ the mediator
everything he asks because his mediation is always based on
his blood, on his sacrifice, on his righteousness, on his
person. And the father is going to accept
it. He always accepts the blood of Christ. He always accepts
his person. He always accepts his righteousness.
It's not presumption to believe the father is going to give his
son everything he asked for. That's faith. It's faith in Christ. How can the father not give the
son what he asked for? He pleased his father well. He pleased him
well. Our faith, that's who our hope,
our confidence is in him. And Paul describes salvation
in the book of Galatians as Christ being formed in you, in you. See, Christ is our hope, all
of our hope of glory, all of our expectation of salvation,
eternal life. It's all based on the Lord Jesus
Christ. It can't be based on anything I've done. It's all
based on Him. Well, Christ in you, why is that
so important? Christ in you is the evidence
that God saved you. See, salvation is a whole lot
more than a legal transaction. Like I said a minute ago, it
is a legal transaction. That legal payment had to be
made. The blood had to be shed to ratify the atonement or the
covenant had to be. But salvation, a whole lot more
than a legal transaction. There's got to be a new nature.
God's got to give a new nature. And if Christ dwells in your
heart, God's given you the down payment of what's coming. He's given you the down payment
of the glory that is to come. Now, what a precious gift it
is. We go through this life, this
veil of tears, with a good hope. With a good hope of the glory
that's coming because God's given me the down payment. That's a
blessing, isn't it? Here's how this life, it's a
blessing, the life of a believer. Here's how it can be well spent.
It's by living for God. We're born by God to live for
God. Look at 2 Corinthians chapter
5. 2 Corinthians 5. Verse 15. And that he died for all, that
they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto
him which died for them and rose again. You know, the life of
a believer is a blessing. And it's well spent if we live
that life for Christ. We're to live unto Him. To everybody,
I don't care who they are, believer, unbeliever, religious person,
heathen, wherever they are, everybody wants to be happy. Everybody
wants to be happy. I'm talking just to believers
now. You know how to be happy? I'll tell you. Quit living your
life for yourself. and start living it for Christ,
unto him that sacrificed himself for you. A believer's gonna be
happy living for Christ, living for the glory of Christ, seeking
the good of his cause and the good of his people, not just
mine. If I live my life just trying
to be happy, seeking whatever it is to make me happy, I'm gonna
be miserable, because it'll never work. But if I live trying to
make somebody else happy, trying to be a blessing to God's people,
believer will be happy in that. A life well lived is a life lived
for the glory of Christ. It's seeking to be a blessing
to others. Now, this is just a kind of an
aside. I wish we'd all take this to
heart and seek to be a blessing to others. But if you can't be
a blessing to others, At least don't be a discouragement. By
your bad attitude and anger and anger about everything and criticizing
everybody. It is a thing in our society
today to look. I mean, just for every sentence
somebody says, looking for some reason to be offended. This is being critical. And I
don't know if you've ever noticed this or not, but I'm sure this
is true. The people who are the most critical
spend the most time critiquing everybody else or the people
that do the least. If you can't be, that's just
so discouraging. If you can't be a blessing to
somebody, at least don't be a discouragement. You know, at least keep your
mouth shut. A believer is going to be happy living for Christ,
living for the good of God's people. It's to have a life that's
motivated by Christ's glory, not mine. Not seeking my glory,
not seeking my recognition, but seeking his glory. It's a life
lived seeking, not what I want, or you know, seeking to make
somebody else happy. What is good for somebody else?
What's good for God's people? It's a life lived following the
way of Christ. And what's the way of Christ?
It's a life of faith. Looking to him, believing on
him, clinging to him. Look back here at Philippians
1. Our text here, verse 24. Paul says, nevertheless, to abide
in the flesh is more needful for you. It's more needful for
you right now. He said, I stay and preach Christ to you. And
having this confidence, I know that I shall abide and continue
with you all for your furtherance and joy of faith. See, if Paul's
going to live, this is what he wants. I want to be able to help
you for the furtherance of your joy and of your faith. Everybody knows people like this.
The room's better off when they leave it. Everybody knows somebody
like that, don't you? Don't be that guy. Make the room
better off when you come into it. Seeking the furtherance of
somebody's joy and the faith of our brethren. That'll make
you happy. If you're a believer, I promise
you, that'll make you happy. And it'll be a life well lived.
That's a pretty good thing, isn't it? The life of faith. But now
the death of a believer. Paul says, as good as the life
of faith is for God's people, the death of a believer is better,
far better, he says, than living in the flesh. You know, a believer
actually gains when we die. It's all gain to the believer.
The death of a believer is far better than the life in this
flesh, because when we die, we gain the release of sin. We gain the release. of a sin
nature. We're finally set free from this
old man. We gain the release from all
the effects of sin. When a believer dies, we gain
freedom from fear and doubt. We gain fear from pain and tears. We gain freedom from grief and
worry. When we die, the believer gains
freedom from weak faith. Matter of fact, we gain freedom
from faith at all. Because then we won't need faith
anymore. We'll see him face to face. We're done with this weak
face. There's no more seeing through
a glass darkly. We'll see him face to face. The death of a believer is far
better. Because when we leave this life, we gain the bliss
of seeing Christ face to face and being made just like him.
No more like Adam, but just like Christ. To be absent from the
body is to be present with the Lord. The death of a believer
is far better, because while we do leave the fellowship of
our loved ones behind, when we die, we gain. We gain fellowship
with Christ himself. Now, I can say that sentence.
You can understand what the words mean. We can't even begin to
lay hold on the bliss of that statement. To have fellowship
with Christ himself, to have the eternal joy, the eternal
peace of being with Christ, the joy of beholding his face. See, the believer, this was the
first thing I said, the life of a believer is such a blessing
because it's a life lived without fear, without fear of death.
The believer doesn't need to fear death. Not at all. For the
believer, death is all gain and no loss. Well, except the losses
and things you'd like to get rid of. The loss of sin. The loss of pain. The loss of
sorrow and tears. The loss of weak faith. The loss
of loneliness. And we gain perfect righteousness,
holiness, We gain the joy and bliss of being with Christ. And
I tell you, I'd make that trade every day of the week and twice
on Sunday. Wouldn't you? So this is why Paul says, I don't
know what I'd choose. Because I just don't know what's
best for me. I don't know. Continuing to live
here on earth and trying to help God's people, that's a blessing
to me. Or departing and being with Christ,
that's far better. That's far better. I just can't
decide. And I'm thankful I don't have
to. My God will decide. I believe this will be a help
and encouragement to you. My God, who loves me, who chose
me in Christ, who redeemed me by his own precious blood, who
called me by his gospel, who gave me life and dwelt in my
heart, who kept me all my life long by the power of faith, by
the power of his grace. The one who did all that, that's the one I want deciding
my times here, don't you? He's always done everything else's
best for me. Then the day of my death, that'll
be best for me too. Because he won't make a mistake.
That'll be best. Now until then, since he Oh,
when you consider what God's done for you, when you consider
the blessing of redemption in Christ Jesus that you live because
Christ died for you, when you consider everything God's ever
done to you, for you, around you as being good, how can you not want to live
for Him and live for His glory, live for the cause of His gospel?
If Lord enabled us to do that, it'll be a life well spent. And it'll help us look forward
even more to that day, which is far better, the day the Lord
calls us home. All right. We're going to have
a dinner after immediately following the service here to honor our
high school graduate, Riley Cook. Riley is just an exceptional
young man. And I'm very thankful that he's
ours. And so I pray God go with you.
Everywhere you go, I pray God go with you, lead you and guide
you. And every chance you get, you come right back here. Now,
you know the drill. The male set up tables, and Riley
gets to go through line first. So you watch him. And when he
starts going, then you go through line too, OK? Let's bow together. Our Father, how we thank you
for your gospel. Oh, how we thank you for your
mercy grace that gives life, life to your people through the
death of your darling son. Father, how we thank you. Father,
I pray that you give each heart here this morning faith to believe
in, trust in our Lord Jesus Christ, to look to him and find in him
everything we need, everything that God requires of us. Father,
cause us to live our lives looking to, depending on Christ and doing
it for his glory, to seek ways to live for his glory, for the
furtherance of the gospel, that your people might continue to
be called out, saved, comforted, and edified. Make us faithful
to serve the cause of Christ to our generation as others have
done for us in the past. Father, we thank you for this
food that we're about to eat. We thank you for this time of
celebration we have to honor Riley. Father, I pray your richest
blessings be upon him as he goes off to school and begins his
military training. Father, be with him in a special
way. Watch over him. Everywhere he
goes, Father, lead him, guide him, and have your hand of mercy
and protection upon him always. Go with him. All these things
we ask and we give thanks in that name, which is above every
name, the name of Christ, our savior. Amen. All right, Sean.