Go with me back to Philippians
chapter one. Philippians chapter one. And let's read from verse 21
to 26. For to 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 No,
not. I just don't know. For I'm in
a straight betwixt two, having a desire to depart and to be
with Christ, which is far better. Nevertheless, to abide in the
flesh is more needful for you. In having this confidence, I
know that I shall abide and continue with you all for your furtherance
and joy of faith, that your rejoicing may be more abundant in Jesus
Christ for me by my coming to you again. Last Sunday at our
fellowship dinner at the park, I had a conversation with a sister,
and we were talking about how quickly time is flying by. And it is. It is flying by. I know that sometimes it doesn't
seem like it's flying by, but it really is. In the middle of
the day, it may seem so slow, but the years are flying by. They're just flying by. And we got on the subject of
death for a believer, specifically
for a believer. We talked about death for a child
of God. What eternity, you know, life
after this, it's just hard to fathom, but life after this,
what it's gonna be like. And then Tuesday morning, I was
talking to a brother and he was spilling his woes to me. And
he said, I just want to go be with Christ. And he said, don't get me wrong.
I don't have a death wish. I just want to go be with Christ.
I just want to go be with the Lord Jesus Christ. And we talked
about that for a minute, what it'll be like. And at first we acknowledged
that our fear of that moment has to do with the unknown. We think about that moment, we're
looking toward that moment. As a matter of fact, our whole
life on this earth is pointing to that moment. And there is some fear involved
with it. And it's because of all the unknowns. And that was brought up and we
mentioned it. But the more we talked about
it, the more we realized we know a lot more about that moment
than we think. We know a lot more about that
moment than we realize. Our Lord has revealed a lot more
in His Word about eternity than we realize. And all of that talking and all
of that thinking and that brother's comment saying, I just want to
go be with Christ, that led me to Philippians 1. Verse 21 says,
for to me, to live is Christ. To live is Christ. Life is Christ. Life is Christ. For a child of
God, life is Christ. Before God calls a sinner and
quickens a sinner, you know, you grow up in this world and
honestly, life is not Christ. It's other things, you know,
we're just given to other things. But by God's grace, not by any
of our doing, not because of our resolve, and not because
of our anything, because of God's grace to us, He has caused us
to realize life is Christ. This life, that life, is Christ. It's all Christ. He's the giver of life. He's
the substance of life. He's the object of life. He's the point of life. He's
the point. I told you about that girl that
I used to work with a long time ago and she made that statement.
Why are we here? Why is mankind on this earth? Here's the answer. Christ. Christ. We're here to worship and to
serve our Creator, our Lord, and our Savior, Jesus Christ. Verse 21 says, For to me, to
live, is Christ. In Him we live and move and have
our being. Our lives are hid with Him in
God. He is life. When the Lord sends
His Spirit and gives us that moment to enter into Christ,
you know, and it's, they seem so few and far between, but when
He does send it, don't you live and move and have your being
in that moment? Doesn't your heart resonate with it? resonate with him, yes, he is
my life. He is my life. He is life. He said, I am the
life. He is life. He's the hope of
life. And therefore, Paul said in verse
21, to die is gain. If I died with him, It's gain. Look with me at Galatians
chapter 2. Galatians chapter 2 verse 20,
Paul said, I am crucified with Christ. I died with Christ. Nevertheless, I live. Yet not
I, but Christ liveth in me. And 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. To live is Christ and to die
is gain. It's not loss, it's gain. It's not loss at all, not for
the child of God, it's gain. When a person dies, you know,
it's very common for people to say to that person's spouse or
that person's family, I'm so sorry for your loss. And for those who are still left
on this earth, it is a loss to them. But if the person who died was
a child of God, there's no loss to him or her. None whatsoever. It's only gain. It's only gain. And we would be so blessed and
so encouraged if we could get a hold of that. When that moment
comes, gain, an extreme amount of gain is coming. Now there
are some things that the believer will lose in death. It's not that the believer doesn't
lose anything. There are some things that the
believer will lose in death. But losing the things that the
believer loses is not loss. It's gain. What are some of the things that
a believer, and I'm talking about a chosen child of God, I'm talking
about one of his elect people, eternally loved, particularly
redeemed people. What are some of the things that
a believer loses in death? Turn with me over to Romans 6. Romans 6, this is talking specifically
about those who are in Christ. Not every soul is in Christ.
Not every soul is in Christ. This doesn't apply to every soul.
But to every soul that's in Christ, verse 4, Romans 6, verse 4, it
says, therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death. That like as Christ was raised
up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also
should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together
in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness
of his resurrection. Knowing this, that our old man
is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed,
that henceforth we should not serve sin. Verse seven says,
for he that is dead is freed from sin. Is that not good news? What does a believer lose in
death? Sin. He that is dead, the moment a
person dies, the moment a believer dies, a child of God dies, he
is, he loses sin. Look at verse eight, it says,
now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also
live with him. Knowing that Christ, being raised
from the dead, dieth no more, death hath no more dominion over
him. What does a believer lose when
he dies? Death. What does a believer lose when
he dies? You know, Paul said, who shall deliver me from the
body of this? Death. A believer loses death. You say,
that doesn't make any sense. Actually, it makes a lot of sense. Believers go to the land of the
living. They go to the land of the living.
Our Lord said, I am not the God of the dead. I love that. He said, I'm the God of Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob. I'm not the God of the dead.
And you know, they thought, well, they're all dead. What he was
saying was, no, they're not. They lost death. That was counted
lost to them. He said, I'm the God of the living.
It's death here, but it's not death there. First Corinthians 15 says, when
a believer dies, right then, the believer loses mortality,
death. Right then, the believer loses
corruption, all corruption. This flesh is so full of corruption. Everybody's trying as hard as
they can to fight decay and corruption. The moment a child of God dies,
it's gone. It's completely gone. Go with me to 1 John 1. First John 1 verse 5, it says, this then is the message which
we have heard of him and declare unto you that God is light and
in him is no darkness at all. None. No darkness at all. Look with me at Revelation 21. This is speaking of eternity,
it's speaking of heaven, glory. Revelation 21 verse 25, it says,
and the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon to shine
in it, for the glory of God did lighten it. And I'm sorry, I'm
reading verse 23, but let me just keep reading. And the Lamb
is the light thereof, and the nations of them which are saved
shall walk in the light of it, and the kings of the earth do
bring their glory and honor into it. Verse 25, and the gates of
it shall not be shut at all by day, for there shall be no night
there. No night, none, none. We just
had a solar eclipse last Monday. Right? Some were in the path of totality. Anybody know anybody who was
in the path of totality? When that solar eclipse happened,
and for four minutes, the moon got in between those who were
in the path of totality and the sun, right between them. Does anybody know what happened
all around? Does anybody know what happened in that moment
whenever that moon, that solar eclipse happened, and it was
right there between the sun and the people in that space? Does
anybody know what happened? As you look, did you take your
glasses off? Did y'all take your glasses off? Did you look around? What was it around? Darkness. It was darkness. When a believer
dies, the believer loses darkness. The moment that a believer dies,
that believer will never know the experience of being in darkness
ever again. In just a moment, we're all gonna
experience darkness. And the moment a believer dies,
never again. We will never know the experience
of being in darkness, physically, spiritually. Never again. What a good illustration an eclipse
is. If you can't see the sun, it's darkness. When a child of God dies, that
child loses sin, that child loses death, that child loses darkness. Look right here at Revelation
21 verse 3, it says, And I heard a great voice out
of heaven saying, behold, the tabernacle of God is with men
and he will dwell with them and they shall be his people. And
God himself shall be with them and be their God. And God shall
wipe away all tears from their eyes. The moment a believer dies,
the believer loses all tears. You better shed all the tears
you can right now, because the moment you die, no more. No more. He went on to say, there
shall be no more death, neither sorrow. That's something
we lose. We have it. It's so prevalent
with us. It's so We're so prone to it. It's just
at our disposal at all times. Sorrow. I'm sorry, but we lose it. Something
a believer loses. Won't know anything of it. No
crying, neither shall there be any more pain. I could inflict
pain on myself right now somehow if I wanted to, but the moment
the child of God dies, it's not a possibility anymore. You lose
that. Isaiah 65 says the believer loses
all bad memories. The former things shall not be
remembered nor come into mind. I have quite a few bad memories
I'd like to lose. If I could lose those, it would
be gain to me. John 17 says we're going to lose
all divisions. And all separations, our Lord
said, we will be one. My people will be one as he and
his father are one. We could just go on and on with
this. We're going to lose all tiredness, all fatigue. All weakness. We're going to
lose all anger. We're going to lose all jealousy.
God's people lose all those things. Never to possess them ever again.
All right. And this is what they gain. Go
with me back to Philippians 1. I won't be long. Philippians
1. Philippians 1 verse 21 says,
For to 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 know not. For I'm in a strait betwixt two,
having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ. When a believer dies, that believer
gains Christ. And I know, I know that we have
him right now. I know that we do. But we gain
the ability to stand there with him in his presence. I believe He's in our presence
right now. I believe He is standing with
us right now, but I don't have the ability to see
Him. And the moment that my body drops and He calls me home, I'm
gonna gain the ability to physically see Him as He is. We're going to gain the ability
to touch the nail scars in his hands, just like Thomas got to
do. Thomas is not the only one who's going to get to do that.
All of God's people are going to get to walk up to his hands
and touch the blood-scarred hands that saved our souls. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 13,
now we see through a glass darkly. Then it's gonna be face to face. Right now we hear him speak to
us by faith through his word. The moment a believer dies, he
or she gains the ability to hear his actual words, his actual
voice from his actual mouth. Look at Philippians 3 verse 20. For our conversation is in heaven
from whence we also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,
who shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned like
unto his glorious body according to the working whereby he is
able even to subdue all things unto himself. The moment a believer
dies, the believer gains a new body, a perfect body. The believer
gains a new mind, a perfect mind. The believer gains a new heart,
a perfect heart. The scripture says we're going
to gain courage. We're going to gain strength.
Be of good courage. He shall strengthen you. We're
going to gain health. We're going to gain calmness,
peace. We're going to gain unity. We're
going to gain joy. We're going to gain life. Immortality
in corruption. For the child of God, no matter
how you look at it, it's game. And Paul said in our text, it's
far better. It is far better as he is. So will we be. We're going to
be just like him. And that's far better. Being
like him is far better. How is he? Well, the scripture
says he is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, well-pleasing
to the Father, only doing things that the Father delights in.
That sounds better, doesn't it? That sounds better than how I
lived my day to day. Scripture says he is meek. I'm so glad the scripture says
that. You know what heaven's gonna be like? Meekness. Scripture says he is gracious,
he is patient, he is loving, he is forgiving, he is merciful. That is far better. That's far
better than how I am right now. And Paul said, I have seen that
place. He said, I was called up to the third heaven for a
while. And he said, that's what puts such a dilemma in me. And I'm going to tell you that
this message is almost over. So I can make sure to stress
this point. With that being said, Paul said,
it puts such a dilemma in me. He said, I'm between a rock and
a hard place right now. Because he said, I want to go
back to be there with Christ so badly. Can't you see the Apostle Paul
going, sitting in this prison, writing this letter saying, I
just want to go be with Christ. He'd already been there. But this is what he said. He
said, I know that it's more needful for me to stay here and preach
the gospel to you. Really, Paul, is it really that
needful? Isn't God sovereign? Can't he just save all whoever
he wants to save? Sure he can. But he said, this is what he's
called me to do. I know that our Lord has a means of saving
his people. And Paul said, I bow to him.
I bow to his means. And we should too. This is how
I want to close the message. We should too. Go back to Philippians
chapter one. Philippians 1, I know that this
life can be so overwhelming. It would just be better to go
be with Christ. Lord, let us just go be with
you. But here's the thing about it.
We have loved ones who need the gospel. We have spouses who do not know
Christ. We have parents who do not know
Christ. We have siblings who do not know
Christ. We have children who do not know
Christ. And it's needful that we get
the gospel of Jesus Christ crucified into their ears. It just is. Why? Because he said
so. If it makes it all the way down
into their heart, that's only a work that God Almighty can
do. If he plants that seed in the heart, only God can do that.
But Paul said, God has convinced me of the fact, and I believe
we can say this with Paul. God has convinced us of the fact
that while we're here, we must preach the gospel to men and
women. And that's what Paul's saying
right here. By his grace, I'll stay right here, and that's what
I'll do. By his grace, I'll stay here
as long as he has me to stay here, and that's what I'll do.
We will preach the gospel to men and women. And I pray God
will convince us of that. I desire for Kingsport Sovereign
Grace Church to understand the necessity of getting this word out. in
preaching this gospel to every person who can hear it. Verse
21 in Philippians 1, Paul said, for to me to live is Christ and
to die is gain. But if I live in the flesh, as
long as I'm here, this is the fruit of my labor. This is what I'm called to do. And when people hear it, and
when they believe it, and when they look to Christ and cast
their all, that's the fruit of the labor. That's what makes
it all worthwhile. But he went on to say, what I
shall choose, I know not, or I'm in a straight betwixt two.
That word straight means compressed between two hard places, a rock
and a hard place. Having a desire to depart and
to be with Christ is far better. Nevertheless, to abide in the
flesh is more needful for you. And having this confidence, I
know that I shall abide and continue with you all for your furtherance
and joy of faith, that your rejoicing may be more abundant in Jesus
Christ for me by my coming to you again. I'm so glad the Lord allowed
Paul to stay here and write that word to us. I really am. And
I pray that God will show us, I pray God will convince us,
I pray God will cause us to rejoice in all the gain that is declared
in the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. I pray he will. All right, let's all stand together.