Alright, let's take our Bibles
and turn to the book of Philippians. Philippians chapter 1. We're only going to look at one
verse today. Verse 21. Philippians chapter
1, verse 21. For me to live is Christ, and
to die is gain. Though we may not be able with
the same degree of faith as the Apostle Paul or with the same
amount of understanding as these early apostles, yet every believer
in his heart ought to be able to make this confession for me
to live is Christ. And beloved, having breath in
this body is not life. When the Scripture is talking
about life, it's not talking about breath in your body. It's
having the ability to walk and talk and think is not life. That's
not life. Being able to solve mathematical
problems or run a big business or raise a family is not life. Natural men do all these things
and they have done these things from the beginning of time and
the scripture says they're dead in trespasses and sins. So whatever
this life is that Paul is talking about, he is not talking about
breath in this body. He is not talking about our existence. Natural men are men and women
born under the curse of sin. And I want to just take a little
while this morning, and I know that you hear these things every
week, but I want you to see these things in the Scriptures. So
turn with me please to Romans chapter 5. Man is alive physically. His
body has color and movement. His mind is capable of thought
and design. But he is void of spiritual life. Now watch this here in Romans
5, verse 12. Wherefore, as by one man sin
entered into the world, now listen, and death by sin. And so death passed upon all
men, for that all have sinned." Now whatever this death is here,
he is not talking about a physical death, he is talking about a
spiritual death. Yes, physical death is the result
of sin, but Adam didn't die immediately when he sinned. But he did die
spiritually. There is nothing in fallen man
to save him from his sin. He cannot rise from the dead.
He cannot climb up out of the pit. That's why he uses this
word death to describe man's condition. When a man dies, we
don't go out to the cemetery and visit him. We don't go out
there and talk to the dead. They can't talk back. They don't
hear you. They're dead. And spiritually,
this is the condition of natural man. He's dead spiritually. He
don't hear things, he don't understand things that are spiritual. He's
spiritually dead. In Jeremiah chapter 13 verse
23, God asked this question, can the Ethiopian change the
color of his skin? Can the leper change his spots? Can you who are accustomed to
do evil do good? No more than the leper can change
his spots or the Ethiopian the color of his skin. Listen to
Job. Job chapter 14 and verse 4. Who
can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? Not one. Not one. Cannot bring a clean
thing out of an unclean. What is natural man? What is
this natural death? He's unclean. He's unclean. And then in Romans chapter 3,
you're all familiar with this. In verse 11, there's none that
understandeth. How come? Because he's dead.
There's none that seeketh after God. Why not? Because they're
dead. Man is dead spiritually. Romans chapter 8. Let's look
at this. Romans chapter 8 and verse 5. For they that are after the flesh
do mind the things of the flesh. As the very actions of God dictate
His character, even so the character of man dictates his actions. Listen, but they that are after
the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. Verse 6, verse 4, to
be carnally minded is death. To be naturally minded is death. If God is pleased to leave you
alone and not intervene, not teach you, not make you willing,
not make you teachable, Not give you any revelation of God in
the Scriptures. If He's just pleased to leave
you alone, that carnal mind, that natural mind that you have
from your birth, passed down to you from your father Adam,
is death. Death. Everything about it. Everything
about it. Because the carnal mind is enmity
against God. It's not subject to the law of
God, neither indeed can be. So then, they that are in the
flesh cannot please God. Cannot. Natural men are dead
spiritually. They live out their days according
to Ephesians 2, verse 3, in the lust of their flesh, fulfilling
the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and are by nature,
by nature, the children of wrath, even as others. We are told in
1 Corinthians 2, verse 14, that the natural man receiveth not
the things of the Spirit of God. This book is written by men inspired
by the Holy Spirit of God. That is what this book declares.
God breathed through these men, and they wrote as they were inspired
by the Spirit of God. And their writings are infallible.
Their writings are to be believed. There's no error in their writings. Their writings were inspired
of God. But the natural man won't receive
that. He won't receive, oh, that's the old English. No, that's the
old man. He receiveth not the things of
the Spirit of God, their foolishness to Him." Why are they foolish?
Because that carnal mind, to be carnally minded is death. This Bible is inspired by the
Spirit of God. It is confirmed by miracles and
wonders and signs, confirmed both by prophecy and the fulfillment
of that prophecy. Everything that the prophets
predicted came to pass. Everything. Natural man despises
God's Word. He despises God's testimony of
man and man's condition. God's testimony of God's purpose
and decrees, man despises. God's testimony of creation,
man won't have it. God's testimony of election,
man says that's not fair. God's testimony concerning particular
redemption, how can that be? How can that be? God's testimony
concerning righteousness and atonement. God's testimony concerning
the preaching of the gospel. God's testimony concerning regeneration. God's testimony concerning His
free and sovereign grace. God's testimony of His own attribute. The natural man receiveth not
the things of the Spirit of God. Why? Because he's dead. He's
dead. You cannot take the Word of God
and convince a sinner of anything apart from the work of the Holy
Spirit in his heart. He receiveth not the things of
the Spirit of God. The natural man is spiritually
dead. He's got no interest in God,
no affection for God, and there's no fear of God before he dies.
That's what the Scripture says. He loves darkness. He loves it. He is not just in darkness, he
loves darkness. He prefers darkness. Darkness
is all he has ever known. He was born in it, lived in it,
walked in it, reasoned in it. And when light came into the
world, men loved darkness rather than light. Why? Because light exposes what he
is. Natural men hate light. It reveals
the hidden truth. It reveals false motives and
false affections. false ways and false wills. Natural men hate gospel light
because it uncovers their ignorance concerning their sin and concerning
the God of the Bible. Natural man is spiritually dead. He will receive anything, anything,
no matter how foolish it is, except the truth. Now you just think in your mind
about some of the foolishness that goes on in religion. And
men receive it without question. They'll take a man and put a
hat on him, looks like an Easter egg, and men will come up. I'm
talking about from all over the world. They'll journey from halfway
around the world to come over and get in his presence and come
up and kiss a ring on his finger. But they won't receive the gospel. Won't receive the testimony of
God. He'll worship men and birds and
four-footed beasts and creeping things. He'll worship a piece
of carved wood or an image made out of stone.
He'll hang a symbol of the saints out of silver around his mirror
and say, that's for good luck. Give him something to do, and
the more ridiculous, the better. He'll do it. Jim Jones led a
group of men down to a foreign nation and
caused them to participate in mass suicide in the name of religion. And they did it without question.
Without question. In ancient times, men and women
brought their children before a red-hot bronze And they built
a fire in this thing, and it'd just be glowing red. And they'd
bring their children and lay it in those red... He had those
arms out, and they'd lay those babies in that red-hot... sacrifice
their children to a bronze statue. Tony Alamo convinced all his
people to give their young daughters to him to wife. Need I go on? You go on and on and on and on. Tell men he can be saved if he
speaks in an unknown tongue. And he'll do it. He'll do it.
Natural man spiritually dead. Tell him that some ancient prophet
revealed himself to him out in the wilderness. And revealed
himself to a man named Joseph Smith and gave him two golden
tablets and told him only he could translate those two tablets.
And so he did. And he put it into what's called
the Book of Mormon. And millions, millions upon millions
of people follow him right into hell. Organize masses into religious
denominations and millions will join them and become two-fold
more the child of hell than they are. Natural man is not alive. He's dead spiritually. Everything
he does is an abomination to God. He is like the whited sepulchers. He is clean to the eye. But within,
he is full of dead men's bones. Are you listening? When God begins
to work in men, His first work is to raise him from the dead. He raises him from the dead. He gives him a mind to perceive. It gives them ears to hear. Men
don't hear. They hear what they interpret
you saying. They don't hear what you say. God gives men, when He raises
them from the dead, He gives them ears to hear and eyes to
see and a heart to know. He makes them willing. In the
day of His power, He sends Him a preacher and makes His gospel
to come in power. Life-altering power, life-giving
power that makes that man obedient and makes that man to reason
with God and teaches him about the things of God. He makes him
meet, the Scripture said, to be a partaker of the enlightened
saints. He whose mind despised the Word
of God now hangs on every word. He who couldn't be brought into
subjection now becomes a follower. Paul said, you become a follower
of us and the Lord. He who knew only ignorance and
superstition now has an understanding of the true and living God. He
who walks in the light now serves. Now he serves. He serves with love and gratitude. He worships in spirit and truth.
Paul said, for me to live is Christ. That's why I went through
all that. For me to live is Christ. It's Christ. It's not church. It's not pretense. It's not worldly wisdom. It's not looking at evidences.
It's Christ. Christ. And when a man's given
life, that's what he sees. That's what he rejoices in. He
focuses on that. It's just like the sun when it
comes out. Everything else disappears. The
only thing you can see in the sky is the sun. And that's the
way it is. When a man's born of God, he
sees Christ. And the glory of Christ blocks
everything else out. He just sees Christ. For me to
live is Christ. Well, what is it to live in Christ? It's to know and experience the
grace of God. God in His sovereign grace selected
you. You who are here today who believe,
who truly believe, God selected you from among other men for
reasons known only to Himself. Reasons arising from His own
character, His own love, His own mercy and grace. He selected
you, made provision for you, arranged everything in your life
to bring you to Christ, gave you an understanding, created in you a new man, gave
you a hope that transcends anything this world could ever imagine.
By grace are you saved, Paul said. through faith, and that
not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. To live in Christ
is to know and experience the sovereign grace of God. And then
secondly, to live in Christ is to experience a peace that reigns
over all trouble, persecutions, trials, and hardships. Nothing
can get to this peace. Now, we might leave the peace
ourselves and fret and worry. But the peace never leaves you.
Never leaves you. Nothing that comes our way is
unforeseen or without purpose from God and to be used for our
good. We're complete in Him, Paul said,
who is the head of all principality and power. This peace transcends disease
and death. The doctor comes in. I said this
once before and about three days later my wife was diagnosed with
brain cancer. But that doctor is going to come
in one of these days. Maybe not today. Maybe not tomorrow. But he's going to come in and
he's going to be shaking that head. And he did, didn't he?
He said, you just got so long to live. And it didn't disrupt your peace
at all, did it? You still had peace. This peace transcends these things. It transcends disease and death. To live in Christ is to experience
a peace that rules in our hearts and it cannot be disturbed. Cannot
be. To live in Christ is to experience
the mercy of God. God who is rich in mercy. Paul goes through Ephesians 2
and tells us that we were by nature children of wrath even
as others. But God, who is rich in mercy,
and for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were
dead in trespasses and sins, hath quickened us together with
Christ." When did He do that? Well, He did it first of all
in eternity past. Quickened us together. Chose
us in Him. Adopted us in Him. Accepted us
in Him. Let me tell you something. Anything
this side of hell is mercy. Your next breath you get from
God is by the mercy of God. It belongs to Him. He can take
it back quicker than you can think about it. Somebody said
grace is receiving what you don't deserve. Mercy is not receiving
what you do deserve. Listen to the Scripture. It's
not of him that willeth. It's not of him that runneth.
It's of God that showeth mercy. Think of it, you that know the
Lord. Was it not by His mercy that He intervened in your lives?
Huh? You just going happily down the
trail. You wasn't seeking God. You wasn't interested in God.
You playing church or playing on the river or playing somewhere.
And God intervened. God began to make some changes.
God began to throw some stumbling blocks. God began to slow you
down. And He arranged His providence
to bring you to here and give you an understanding. And all
that by the mercy of God, an act of pure and sovereign mercy.
Was it not an act of mercy that set you apart from other men
and hedged you about? I should have been dead a hundred
times. Should have been. God hedged me about the same
way He did Joel. He hedges us about in His providences. He keeps us safe from those who
would do us harm. Listen to what He told Moses.
He said, I'll show you My glory. Keeping mercy for thousands. Keeping mercy? Keeping mercy. You couldn't keep it, but He
kept it for you. Keeping mercy for thousands.
Oh, and forgiving transgression and sin. To live in Christ is to know
and experience the mercy of God. So what is it to live in Christ?
It's to know and experience the grace of God. To know and experience
the peace of God. To know and experience the mercy
of God. And then fourthly, it's to see
the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. That's what it is to live in
Christ. to see the manifested glory of
God's justice satisfied for guilty sinners through the mediatorial
work of Jesus Christ. That man nailed to that cross
at Calvary, satisfying the very justice of God. We did esteem
him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. tells us being justified freely
by His grace, but listen, through the redemption that is in Christ
Jesus, whom God set forth as the propitiation for our sins. And seeing the glory of God's
righteousness rot out for filthy sinners. Oh, I tell you, if God
ever reveals your righteousness to you, you won't want to be
found in it. I'll tell you that. Because it's a sham. It's a shame. I read an article this morning.
I think Danny Parks wrote the article. And he was talking about
clothing. How people, they buy something
that really looks good. Boy, and they strut and they
look at themselves in the mirror and all. He said clothing. Clothing. I don't care what it is. I don't
care if it's a mink coat or a piece of rag. Clothing. is given to
hide your shame. He didn't need any clothes before
the fall. Clothes are given to hide your
shame. And the glory in that would be
like the old beggar, the glory in his blanket, or glory in that
old piece of rag that he's wrapped up in. Christ is the end of the law
for righteousness to everyone that believeth. And seeing the
glory of God's sovereignty, we see that too. The glory of God's
sovereignty and the salvation of His elect through the reigning
King of glory. He arranges all things, all things,
to bring them to Christ. All that the Father giveth me,
now listen, shall come to me. Isn't that what it says? Everyone
ask one of them. Well, how are they going to come,
John? They have to hear. How are they going to hear without
a preacher? He can't preach unless he's been sent. You can't come
unless God draws you. You see God's hand in this bringing
you to Christ? You don't just come. Seeing the glory of God's sovereignty
and the salvation of His elect for me to live. He's Christ. And He said, to die is gain. That's gain. Why? Because I go
to be with Him. I go to be with Him. I have a
good hope through grace that when I depart from this world,
when this earthly tabernacle be destroyed, I have a house
not made with hands in the heavens. to serve Him, to promote Him,
to preach His gospel, to live in honor for Him, and to die
is gain. That's gain. God give us an understanding
of that verse.