If you will turn back with me
now to Philippians chapter 1. I want to concentrate on verse
21. For me to live is Christ. I wonder as I look into the eyes
of my hearers, not talking about right here this morning, right
here at this time, but over time. and see anger and frustration
and disgust. What exactly it is that they
hear and interpret as such a breach of conduct or spiritual etiquette? What is it that I'm saying that
riles men up and makes them so angry? Disgusted. I wonder at how a fallen man
can so twist the love and mercy and free grace of God into a
violation of their rights. I marvel at how something so
precious and so valuable and so great can be so tainted in
the minds of men, so twisted in the minds of men. as to be
counted as an unclean thing. Paul said in Romans 3 verse 8
that some slanderously reported and others actually confirmed
that his preaching encouraged men and women to sin and do evil
that good may come. I've read everything Paul ever
wrote. I never got that impression, did you? But something happens in the
heart of unregenerate men, and they hear these things. They
hear these precious things, these great things. And it so twists them until they
become unclean things, evil things, wicked things. Paul said that men who heard
him said his message encouraged folks to continue in sin that
grace may abound. Do you know what Paul said to
both these accusations? God forbid. God forbid. This reaction to the truth is
nothing new. It's nothing just common to our
little church or common to our age. The New Testament church
was plagued with it. from the very beginning. Stephen
preached the gospel of the grace of God to the Jews. And they took him outside the
city and stoned him to death as a heretic. He told them, he said, you stiff-necked
and uncircumcised of heart, you do always resist the Holy Spirit. You resist his teaching, you
resist his truth, you resist his work. The apostles preached the gospel
of Christ and the Sadducees, a sect of the Jews laid hand
on them and put them in prison. Paul and Silas were jailed at
Philippi for preaching the gospel. And Peter warns us that unlearned
and unstable men will wrest the doctrines of Christ as they do
also the rest of the Scriptures to their own destruction. And
then he says, Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before,
Beware, lest ye also, being led away with the air of the wicked,
fall from your own steadfastness, but grow in grace, now listen,
and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, to
whom be glory both now and forever. Amen. There are several things that
must take place in the minds and hearts of men as they're
called out of darkness into the marvelous grace of Christ. These
things must come to pass and they do come to pass when God
calls a man out of this world to himself. Several things. First of all, they must, by the
power of God's Spirit and the preaching of the gospel, Be shut
up to the Word of God. Now, I'm telling you as clear
as I know how to tell you. Until you submit yourself to
this book as God's testimony, nothing of any value is ever
going to come to pass in your soul. You're going to bow to
His Word. You're going to receive His Word.
You're going to base everything that you believe on this book. And if you don't, nothing good
will ever come your way from God. Now that's just so. That's
just so. So long as folks cling to their
religious ideas and traditions and understandings, so long as
people continue to operate on this world's philosophy
and vain deceit, I can't do them any good. I can't do you any
better good. The first work of grace in a
man's heart is to shut him up to the Word of God. You can't
convince a man of sin until he's been shut up to the Word of God. Until he is. He'll continue to reason and
think and make his decisions on what seems right to him. I've read men things out of the
Bible, didn't add a single word to it, just read it to them out
of the Bible, and they said, well, that don't seem right. Do what? Don't seem right that you would
say such a thing about God's Word. That's what don't seem
right. Our Lord said to His hearers,
listen to this, if you continue in My Word, then are you My disciples
indeed. Now what? And you'll know the
truth. And the truth will set you free. Where are you going to learn
it? In His Word. In His Word. We must be brought
to the place where we can say with Paul, let God be true and
every man alive. Can you do that? Can you do that? Can you lay aside your longstanding
thoughts and ideas and submit your mind and heart to the Word
of God? Until you do, I've got nothing for you. I just don't
have anything for you. It would be a waste of my time
to go out here in the parking lot and argue with somebody that
wants to argue stuff based on Confucius or Mohammed or somebody
else. It's a waste of time. First of all, we must be brought
to the place where we're willing to take God at His word to receive
it, even though it runs contrary to everything we think we know. If we submit our minds and hearts
to the Word of God, we shall know the truth. That's what our
Lord said. You're going to know the truth.
The first truth you're going to learn is that all have sinned
and come short of the glory of God. That's what we discover
in the Word of God. When the power of the Holy Spirit
comes into a man, comes into that preacher, and he begins
to preach and to teach and to tell men the truth, The first
work in that man is to convince him of sin. Convince him of sin that all
have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Turn with me
to Romans chapter 3. While you're finding your place
there, let me quote you something out of one of John's epistles.
John said, we know that we are of God and the whole world life
and wickedness. How did he know that? Because
the Holy Spirit convicted him of sin. That's how he knew it. Can you look around at your friends
and your neighbors and your family members and your communities
and realize in your heart that they're all wicked? All wicked
men. You could if you believe God. In Paul's epistle to the Romans,
he begins with a declaration that all mankind, religious and
heathen, all mankind are under sin. Being a Jew, he asked this question. Romans 3, verse 9. What then? Are we better than they? Are
we Jews whom God separated from this world? Are we Jews through whom all
the prophets were connected? Are we Jews through whom Christ
himself came into this world? Are we any better off than those
Gentiles? We better off than those folks
over there. I watched a thing about India. I like wildlife things, and I
was watching this thing about India, and they were talking
about the Ganges River. And the Ganges River has something
in it that eats up impurities. It's something in the water that
eats impurities. And these billions of people
gathered around this river pollute this river more so than any other
water in the world, and yet they can drink right out of the river
and don't hurt them because there's something in the river. So they,
in turn, worship the river. And the farther up the river
you go, the more pure it gets until you go all the way up there
into those big mountains. And the water that's coming out
of that glacier looks like mother's milk. And they go up there and
drink that. If you drink that, you have eternal
life. But that's it. They worship the river. Are you
telling me that we Jews of whom Christ was born, us Christians
who say we do this and that, all these so-called born-again
Christians all over here, you're saying that we ain't any better
off than those folks over there dipping in that river? Those
folks down there in Yucatan bowing down, worshiping those snakes, those Hindus over there, you
saying we ain't any better off than they are? That's what Paul
said, isn't he? That's exactly what he said.
We're no better than they. We're no better than they. He said, are we better than they?
No, and no wise. Why? For we have before proved. How did he prove this? In this
book. We have before proved both Jews
and Gentiles that they're all under sin. The Gentiles manifested
their being under sin by their rejection of the light of conscience
and creation. Creation testifies that there
is a God and that He sits on His throne. The conscience tells
you that God will punish sin. The Gentiles manifested their
being unto sin by their rejection of the light of conscience and
creation. And they began to worship images made like unto men and
birds and four-footed beasts and creeping things. And they
changed the truth of God into a lie and worshiped and served
the creature more than the creator. And as a result, God gave them
up to vile affections and gave them over to a reprobate mind.
He tells us that in Romans chapter 1. The Jews manifested their
sin the same way. Paul says at the beginning of
chapter 2, Whosoever thou art that judgeth, that is, confirm
God's judgment of the heathen, condemnest thyself, for thou
that judgest doest the same thing. What did they do? They went against
or contrary to the light of God. God gave them a greater light.
And they'll have a greater condemnation than their rejection of it. He
tells us that. Our Lord told them that. He said,
it'd be better on those people down in Sodom and Gomorrah, on
those reprobates, than it will be for you at the final judgment.
Because they just had a little tiny bit of light. If they'd
had the light you had, they would have repented in sackcloth and
ashes. They, too, changed the truth
of God into a lie and worshiped the creature more than the creator.
And they, too, were given over to a reprobate mind. But theirs
was different from the heathen. The heathen manifested their
sin in wickedness, in open idolatry, immorality, and drunkenness.
The Jews manifested their sin in legalistic religion, self-righteousness,
hypocritical judgments. And Paul said, I have before
proved both Jews and Gentiles that they're all under sin. All
right, let's take another step. Romans 3, verse 10, as it is
written. How often does he say that when
we go through the New Testament as it is written? He goes back
to the Word of God. It doesn't matter what I think.
It doesn't matter what my experience is. It matters what God says.
As it is written, that is, based on His Word alone, there is none
righteous. No, not one. Now, my friend,
if this world believed that, they wouldn't be preaching legalistic
religion. There's none righteous. No, not
one. Of one's self and of his natural
birth, of his own determination and effort, by his obedience
to the law of God, there's none righteous. Man is a fallen creature,
he fell in his father Adam, and he has by inheritance a nature
of sin, a nature depraved and wicked. He is a sinner. Now Paul
is not going to tell you anything else about justification, anything
else about Christ, anything else about heaven or heaven's glories
until he proves beyond a shadow of doubt by the Word of God that
man is a sinner. And you won't go past that point
either until you hear it and believe it. Romans 3.11, there's none that
understandeth. What about the Jews? None that
understandeth. What about the wise and prudent?
God hath hid these things from the wise and prudent. None that
understandeth. What about the educated? None
that understandeth. And what about the religious
of this world? There's none that understandeth,
and there's none that seeketh after God. Not of their own accord. or by
their so-called free will because of their talents and abilities,
there's none that seeketh after God. Verse 12. They are all gone
out of the way. They are together become unprofitable. There's none that doeth good,
no, not one. He goes on in this chapter and
tells us that the nature of a man under sin is that of a viper. That of a viper. Their expressions
are likened to an open grave. They open their mouth. He said
that open mouth is like looking into a grave, into an open sepulcher. Bangs under their lips, mouths
full of cursing and bitterness, feet swift to shed blood. Destruction
and misery are in their ways and the way of peace they've
not known. They cry, peace, peace. where
there is no pain. Now watch this, verse 18. There
is no fear of God before their eyes. Of all the evidence and
manifestation of man's depraved nature, this is the worst. He has no fear of God before
his eyes. You can't plead with him, can
you, Richard? You just can't do it. You can't plead with him
because there's no fear of God before his eyes. You can't move
him. There's no fear of God before
his eyes. I don't care how sincere you
are. I don't care how many tears you weep. I don't care what you
do. You can't move that man or melt
his heart at all because there's no fear of God before his eyes. They live out their days doing
whatever they want to do and justifying themselves in doing
it without any fear of God before their eyes. They breach the law of God without
any fear of the lawgiver, rebelling against all authority as if God
was not the head of it, refusing to believe the testimony of God
as if God would not hold them accountable. The whole world,
John said, lies in this wickedness. The whole world. Mankind's not
broken down in need of repair. He's not ill in need of treatment.
He's not confused in need of direction. He's dead. Spiritually
dead in trespasses and sins. You have to acquit them who were
dead. God saved you who were by nature,
Paul said, children of wrath even as others. God shuts chosen
sinners up to his word, his testimony, his judgment, his word. All right? And when he does,
he teaches us who we are and how we are. and of the utter
impossibility for us to save ourselves. Once a man's convinced
of sin, he throws out the window any idea he ever had about working
his way to glory. Now, you might contemplate that
without any knowledge of God. But the man who's down there
in Angola Prison down there in Louisiana, he's already been
convicted. He's there for life. He's been
in there most of his life. He's sitting in there. He doesn't
contemplate freedom. His freedom's gone. He doesn't
contemplate saving himself. His word doesn't mean anything
anymore. He's guilty. Guilty. And then thirdly, when sinners
are fully convinced of their sin, God reveals to them the
remedy, Christ in you, the hope of glory. Until then, Christ don't mean
much. It's just a word that men bandy about. The man who knows
and sees man as he is, condemned in Adam, condemned by his own
decisions, condemned by his own will, condemned by his daily
practice and love for the darkness he lives in, who sees himself
reserved in chains of a fallen nature awaiting the final sentencing
of God. He's not awaiting judgment. He
that believeth not is condemned already. He's condemned already. He's
not awaiting judgment. He's awaiting the final sentence. And the man who enters into God's
testimonies concerning his son will rejoice to learn that before
man's fallen Adam, God was pleased to choose some in Christ and
make a way of escape. that were chosen in Christ before
the foundation of the world. You can find that in Ephesians
1, 4, 2 Timothy 1, 9, Romans 11, 5 and 6, Romans 9, 11 through
13, and 2 Thessalonians 2, 13. You can find it all through the
Word of God. All of a sudden, rather than
being something unfair or something to be disgusted about or something
that violates man's will, all of a sudden, election becomes
an open door. God's not going to send the whole
world to hell. He's going to save some. It pleased God before He ever
put man on this earth. And the reason why He made the
earth and made man was to save some for the glory of His name. As Adam was the federal head
and representative of all mankind, Christ is the federal head and
representative of all His elect. And so Paul sums up the life,
death, and resurrection of Christ, saying, as in Adam all die, even
so in Christ shall all be made alive. God's going to save somebody. He's going to save somebody. Who's He going to save? Those
who believe in Christ. In Romans 5, Paul gives several
statements concerning the fall of Adam and the salvation in
Christ, but one of my favorites is in verse 18. He says, therefore,
as by the offense of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation. Even so, by the righteousness
of one, The free gift came upon all men under justification of
life. And that all men refers to all
that were represented by these two heads. Christ is, as our
federal head, the head of the body, the church, the firstborn
from the dead. He lived for his people a perfect
life. A life of love and dedication
and service to God. He was obedient, the scripture
says, unto death, even the death of the cross. And he said, now
let that mind be in you. Let that mind be in you. Having
fulfilled all the law's demands and having committed himself
into the hands of his father, our great representative cried,
it is finished. What was finished? The work of
redemption. The work of redemption. Every
sinner represented by the Savior has been provided with a perfect
righteousness. Christ has become to him, through
faith, He's become to him the end of the law for righteousness
to everyone that believeth. That's Romans 10.4. Abraham believed God, and it
was counted to him for righteousness. He believed God's testimony concerning
his seed, and it was counted to him for righteousness. And
it was not written, the Scripture said, for his sake alone, but
for ours also, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our
Lord from the dead, who was delivered for our offenses and raised again
for our justification. This divinely inspired book is
God's record that He's given to us eternal life, and this
life is in His Son. He that hath the Son hath life. A preacher, what must I do? Embrace
the Son. And now we see it over there
in Psalm, what is it, Psalm chapter 2? Kiss the Son. Embrace the Son. Believe on the
Son. That's where life is. He that hath the Son hath life,
and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. To be a believer is to live. Now listen to me. This is where
I'm going with it. To be a believer is to live every
day of our lives with the knowledge and assurance that we're complete
in Him. That's what it is. I just don't know how to live
a holy life. That's how you live a holy life.
Live every day of your life with the knowledge and assurance that
we're complete in Christ. Our sins have been paid for in
full, buried under His blood. and that His righteousness has
made us holy, unblameable, unreprovable in God's sight. I can't get any
more perfect than I am in Christ before the living God. His righteousness has made us
holy, unblameable, and unreprovable in God's sight. What will you
hope in? What's your hope this morning?
What will you hope in, your righteousness or His? What's going to put you at ease?
What's going to still that aching conscience? What's going to put
you at ease, your righteousness or His? What's going to give
you the rest, your works or His? What will you follow, your will
or His. Your ability or His. Believers walk in Christ. They're
rooted in Him and established in Him. And they abound with
thanksgiving in Him. This new man, Colossians 3.10,
which we have received by faith, is renewed in knowledge after
the image of Him that created him. Oh, my soul. And listen to this. In that One
newly created in Him, there is neither Greek, nor Jew, nor circumcision,
nor uncircumcision, barbarian, sithian, born, or free. But Christ
is all and in all. That's it. Now, I'm telling you,
if you have Christ, You have everything God has for sinners. If you're seeking a higher level,
if you're seeking to get up on the next plateau, if you think
somehow through progressive sanctification you're getting more and more
holy and so on and so forth, you've missed Christ. If you have Christ, you have
everything God has for sinners. Believers live out their days
hoping in Christ, believing on Christ, rejoicing in Christ,
looking to Christ, resting in Christ. This is what it means
to believe. And this is how the believer
walks. This is where his fellowship is established. He doesn't have
any fellowship outside of Christ. If we walk in the light as he
is the light, we have fellowship one with another. And the blood
of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from all sins. I don't know how this gets twisted
around in the minds and hearts of men, but what I'm saying to
you is that there is no other hope but Christ. There's none
other name under heaven given among men whereby you must be
saved. You'll be saved in Him or not
saved at all. That's what that verse is saying.
Outside of Christ, God is a consuming fire. I hear men talk about God
in this, I don't even know, I don't even have the word to put on
it. It's just the vanity of their mind. And they begin to talk
about God in some seeky, mysterious way, ruling over their lives
and all these things. But they hate Christ, and they
hate his work, and they hate his gospel. This whole world, outside of
Christ, God is a consuming fire. And this whole world, Peter said,
are being kept in store, reserved under fire against the day of
judgment and perdition of ungodly men. And they're allowed to continue
on because God's not willing for even one of His elect to
perish. Isn't that what Peter said? God
not willing for any to perish, any what? Any of His elect. But
that all should come to repentance. Now, with all these things in
mind, let me just read my text. Philippians 1.21. For me to live
is Christ. Huh? Does that allow that to have
a little impact on your heart? For me to live. It's Christ. It's to know Him. It's to rejoice
in Him. And it's to have Him as the hope
of glory in my heart. And he said, to die, if this
is my hope, if this is what it is for me to live, for me to
live is Christ, then to die is gain. Because the only thing
I'm going to lose in death is this flesh. To be absent from
this body is what? to be present with the Lord.