Philippians chapter 1, if you
care to follow in the Scriptures. I want so very much for God to
bless the message tonight. I want, sir, so very much to
preach the truth and the beauty and the great comfort of this
text. Let me read the text. But I might
add more than that, I want to experience this. I want to experience
this. In verse 20 of Philippians 1,
according to my earnest expectation and hope, that in nothing I shall
be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also
Christ shall be magnified Christ shall be magnified in my body,
whether it be by life or by death. Whether I live or whether I die,
it matters not. 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, whether
to live or to die, I really don't know, for I am in a straight
Betwixt the two, I have a desire to depart and be with Christ,
which is far better, far better. Nevertheless, for me to abide
in the flesh for various reasons is more needful, not for me,
but for you. Now, as I say, I want to preach
the truth of this text, the beauty of it. But more than just preaching
it, I want to experience it personally. I want you to experience this
text. Truth is God, and God is truth. If a person believes God,
he believes truth. If he believes truth, he believes
God. Our Lord said, you shall know the truth, and the truth
shall make you free. But truth is to be embraced.
Truth is to be experienced. Brother Ralph Barnard used to
say that a person really does not believe anything until he
has actually experienced it. That's when he believes it. It's
not grace in the head, it's grace in the heart. That's what we
need to covet and desire and seek after. I know hundreds of
people, I know literally hundreds of people who believe the doctrines
of grace. literally hundreds of them all
over the world. I know most of the people who
preach and who contend for what we call the doctrines of grace,
I know them or of them, many of them, hundreds of them. But
I know a few people who know something about the grace of
the doctrine. Now let me repeat that. I know hundreds and hundreds
and hundreds of people who know something about the doctrines
of grace and who say they preach it and believe it. But I know
a few people who have by experience entered into the grace of the
doctrine. There is a difference. Somebody
said one time, the greatest distance in the world, do you know what
it is? They say from pole to pole. That's a great distance. The greatest distance in the
world, what, from east to west? No, sir, the greatest distance
in the world is 18 inches. That's the greatest distance
in the world. It can only be spanned by God's grace. And that's
between here and here. That's the greatest distance
in the world. You see, as a man thinketh in his heart, so is
he, not as he thinks in his head. The Scripture says, with the
heart man believeth unto righteousness, not with the head. The Scripture
said God looks not on the outward countenance, he looks on the
heart. So this is the thing, I read these verses and we preach
from these verses and teach from them and it's truth, truth, truth,
I know it's truth. But truth is of no value unless
it's embraced and believed and experienced, that's what He said,
unto them was the gospel preached as well as unto us, but it didn't
profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard
it. Truth is really condemning if it's not believed. If it's
not experienced and entered into, it'll bring us great sorrow and
great loss. He that increases knowledge increases
sorrow. Yet that knowledge is not accompanied
by the grace of God. So the greatest distance in the
world is from here to here. Oh, if I could get this down
into here, you know, what I believe. Someone asked in the study tonight,
we were discussing something about getting one-on-one with
preachers and finding out what they believe. Get one-on-one
with a man, sit down in his study, sit down in his home and find
out what he believes. But I contend this. You can't find out what
a man believes one-on-one. You can't find out what a man
believes sitting and asking him one-on-one. You know where you
find out what a preacher believes? When he gets in the pulpit and
it costs him something to preach it. That's when you find out
what he believes. And that's when you find out what anybody
believes. When they come through trial, when they come through
sorrow, when they come through these places where God puts us
to try and reveal faith, that's when you find out what a man
believes. Not what he says he believes. That's what has gripped
his heart, laid hold upon his heart. And here in this text,
this is one of Paul's prison epistles. Here this unusual man,
I could go back and pick up his background, it's one of great
power, prestige, learning, influence, and so forth, Saul of Tarsus
was known and admired and all of these other things, and God
brought him down, brought him to the knowledge of Christ, anointed
him and commissioned him to preach the gospel. He was a writer of
something like 12 or 13 of the New Testament books. He founded
churches. He traveled all over the world
preaching the gospel. He was known and loved everywhere.
But here he is, sitting in prison. I mean in jail. And it wasn't
one of these modern cells like we have out at Summit, where
you have television and radio and your food brought to you
three times a day and a nice downy pillow and quilt and mattress
and go out for recreation, shoot basketball and play softball
and not have to pay any taxes or earn a living or go to work
in the morning. That's not the kind of prison Paul was in. He
was in chains. He called it his bonds. And he
was sitting probably on a an old iron book with a stone floor
and a candle to read by, cold and damp. He was a prisoner,
like a criminal in chains. And yet I don't hear him call
himself the prisoner of the Roman government. I hear him call himself
the prisoner of Jesus Christ. He never did consider himself
to be where he was because some man wanted him there. He always
considered that he was where he was because God wanted him
there. He said, I'm a prisoner of Jesus Christ. That's what
Paul said. He never did feel that he was a prisoner of Nero
or a prisoner of the Roman government. He felt like he was a prisoner
of Jesus Christ. And I started to go through this
book while Mike was singing while ago and just count the times
that the word rejoice occurs, rejoice, rejoice, rejoice, rejoice,
all the way through this prison epistle. And it reminded me of
John Newton's great old hymn that goes something like this,
content, content, content with beholding his face. My all to
his pleasure resigned. No changes of season or place
would make any change in my mind. While blessed with a sense of
his love, a palace, a toy would appear. and prisons would palaces
prove if my Lord would dwell with me there." Content. Now,
you and I need to learn something about this. Will we ever learn
it? I don't know. I just don't know. I want to.
I want to desperately. Content. Content. Paul said, I've learned in what
service state I am therewith to be content. I'm not the prisoner
of men. I'm not where I am because of
some unfortunate circumstances if I'm a believer. Now, that's
the question. If I'm a believer, I'm where
I am by the grace of God. I'm what I am by the grace of
God. I'm doing as I'm doing by the grace of God. Be content
with what you have and avoid covetousness. Now, I'm getting
at something here. Contentment with godliness is
great gain. having food and raiment therewith
to be content. You don't meet many contented
people. And a discontented Christian
is a problem. He's a problem for himself and
for God and for everybody else, if such is the case, if he is
a Christian. There's a question about that. I went several years ago to visit
in the hospital in a large city. to visit a minister whom I had
known for many, many years, who's one of the toughest preachers
of sovereign grace you ever heard. He's got all the books in the
library, all these old Puritans and works on God's sovereignty
and God's purpose and God's providence and all these things. And he's
one of these preachers that really ride it, you know. God's on the
throne. If you don't like it, you can
lump it, you know, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. We went
in the hospital room. He'd had a heart problem and
had surgery. And we went in to visit with
him and with his wife, and we stayed a good while. He was recuperating. He was getting well. And we went
out, and as we walked along, I turned to Doris, and I said,
what's wrong with you? She said, I'm distressed. She
said, I'm so disappointed. She said, we were in that room
for 30 or 45 minutes. And that man's a preacher. He'd been preaching
and pastoring for 25 years. And I never heard one word of
rejoicing out of his mouth. I never heard one word of praise
for Christ. All I heard for 30, 40 minutes
was griping, fault finding. That's all we heard. Finding
fault with the hospital, the nurses, the doctors, his condition,
with God and with everybody else. Those things speak a whole lot
louder than our sermons do, a whole lot louder. Paul, here he is
in prison. I'm talking about in prison.
And he's talking about, you know, so that Christ may be magnified
in my body, whether in jail or outside, whether in bonds or
free, or whether in life or death. I'm content in whatsoever state
I am, content with the providence of the Lord. When we find fault
with our circumstances, we find fault with the God of circumstances.
When we find fault with our condition, we find fault with the God who
ordains these things. Does he or doesn't he? Just last
week, I was down in Alabama preaching in a meeting, and I asked about
a preacher friend I used to preach for years ago. He's now 70 years
of age, and he pastored a church for about 30 years. I held several
Bible conferences and meetings for him. He's another of our,
what we call, sovereign grace preachers. Fight for it. Tooth
and nail. Stood fine. Wouldn't have anybody
in his pulpit but a sovereign grace preacher. Well, he's 70
years old now, and very frail and sickly. and wasting away,
he doesn't weigh over 110 pounds, but with good, keen faculties,
mentally and so forth. And he and his wife are both
in a rest home down in Alabama, and the government's taking care
of much of their needs and so forth, and they picked them up
out of helplessness and squalor and dirt and so they couldn't
take care of themselves and moved them into And I asked my friend,
I said, well, I'd like to go see him. And he said, well, it's
a good little drive down there. I said, let's go. I want to go
see him. I hadn't seen him in years, and maybe the last time
I'll ever see him on earth. And I just would like to go see
him. I'd like to go talk to him and
tell him I love him. Well, he will go. All right.
The next morning, we got in the car and drove down there. And
I walked in. Now, here's this. And I know I'd rather not be
in a rest home. I'm not saying that at all. I'd
rather not be in one. I'd rather not be in a hospital,
but thank God for a hospital if you need it. I walked in this
restaurant, a very beautiful place, beautiful, brand new. And here he sits in the vestibule
there, and I walked in, he greeted me, he's glad to see me. And
they have a beautiful place and a nice room, he's got a television
in his room and a radio. They wait on him hand and foot,
he's not able to walk, and a wheelchair. From the time I sat down to the
time I left, it was gripe, didn't like the food, didn't like the
room, didn't like the place, didn't like the personnel, didn't
like anything about it, didn't like the going to get out of
here, just on and on and on. And my heart just kept sinking
lower and lower and lower. And I'm not saying what my attitude
will be, but I'm saying what it better be. The man had three good meals
a day, he had a nice bed to sleep in, he had clean sheets, he had
a newspaper and television and magazines and folks waiting on
him hand and foot and fruit and all these things all around him.
They just came through there with fresh fruit and all these
things constantly, but he wanted to be somewhere else. And isn't
that our human nature? We want to be somewhere else,
but we need this nature conquered and we need to learn to give
thanks. I thought while I was sitting there, some of you all
have been to Mexico and see how those people live in dirt floors
and hammocks and squalor and poverty and just wondering where
their next meal was coming from. Here was a man that had everything
the God of heaven could give him except feet to walk on, and
he's griping and finding fault. And those people down there are
not griping. It's sad. It breaks my heart
that we are overcome by... I tell you, we've had so much,
we expect more. We're so spoiled, we have everything
that our hearts desire, our natural, foolish, sinful hearts desire.
We have all of this. And if God's pleased to remove
one thing, we want to take him down off his throne. We want
to complain and gripe. And I tell you, we just better
learn hear what we claim up here and learn to rejoice in the Lord
and give thanks, to give thanks. We're blessed above all people
on the face of the earth. We have having food and raiment
therewith to be content. Do you have food and raiment?
Then let's quit complaining. Therewith to be content. Whatsoever
state I am, by the grace of God, to be content. You know the chief
sin of Israel beside unbelief? Murmuring. That's what brought
the fire to the surface, murmuring. And I'll tell you, if God gave
us a snake bite every time we murmured, we wouldn't find a
spot on us that wouldn't have a hole in it. And we just need
to get out of it, because it's dishonoring to God. It's dishonoring
to what we claim to believe. Now, if you were an Arminian,
I expect you to murmur, because if you don't have something,
it's your fault. But if you believe in the grace of God, I don't
believe we ever ought to find fault with His providence. whatever
state I am therewith to be content. When I listen to verse 12, Paul
says, I want you to understand, brethren, that the things which
have happened to me, and brethren, some things have happened to
him, some difficult things, but they've happened to me and they've
fallen out rather to the futherance of the gospel. I want you to
understand that what has happened to me has actually served to
promote and advance the true gospel. Now, if God puts me somewhere
and I accept God's providence in God's hand and where God puts
me, then it can advance the gospel, it can promote the glory of God.
But if God puts me somewhere and I complain and kick and resist
and murmur, it's not going to accomplish that for which he
put me there. It's not going to accomplish the glory of God
nor promote the glory of God. I'm going to be not taken up
with the gospel of God and the glory of God, but I'm going to
be taken up with my selfish desires and my selfish wants. And Paul
is taken up with the glory of God. He said, where I am and
what I'm doing has advanced the kingdom of God, has promoted
the glory of God. That's what he said. You know,
God moves in a mysterious way. his wonders to perform. The hymn
writer said he plants his footsteps on the sea and rides upon the
storm. And listen to this verse. His
purposes will ripen fast, unfolding every hour. The bud may have
a bitter taste, and sometimes it does, but sweet will be the
flower. So ye fearful saints, fresh courage
take. The clouds you so much dread. are full of mercy and will one
day break with blessings on your head, if you look to him. In the 13th verse, he said, so
that my bonds in Christ are manifest in all the palace and in all
other places. In other words, he says, God
has me here in the prison of Nero to preach the gospel to
those in the royal court. Paul was where he was by sovereign
decree to preach the gospel to some of God's sheep. And he said,
out there in the palace and in the courtyard and in other places,
they're talking about me, and talking about my bonds, and they're
talking about my Lord, and they're talking about my gospel. Yes,
they are. In verse 14, he says, and many
of the brethren in the church, in the Lord, many of the brethren
in the Lord have been blessed by my state, my condition, where
I am. Many brethren have been blessed.
That's what he's saying. They've waxed confidence by my
bonds, by my chains. That word is chains, by my imprisonment. And they're much more bold to
speak the word without fear. You see, Paul's trials were used
of God not only to stir up some folks outside the church, but
to be a blessing to some folks inside the church. Now, think
about that preacher in the hospital. He could have been a help to
Darcy and I, but he wasn't. He was depressing. And I just
imagine that he not only was depressing to us, but to everybody
who came in the room. I expect he was visited by lots
of people. And I imagine that every one
of them went away with the same message, message of doubt and
fear and questioning God's promise. So Paul said, this thing not
only went outside the church, but he said brethren in the church,
these believers, these preachers, they saw me and heard from me
and they were aware of my condition and my state and my chains and
my attitude, and they went out with more boldness to preach
the gospel. Oh, he said some of them preached
the gospel out of envy, see verse 15, and out of strife and some
of goodwill. Some of them preached the gospel
out of contention, not sincerely, hoping to add affliction to my
bonds, verse 17, but the other of love, knowing that I'm set
for the defense of the gospel. Now listen to me a moment. Whoever
these men were who preached in envy and strife and contention,
or these who preached in goodwill and love, whoever they were,
I'm sure of one thing, they did preach Christ, or Paul wouldn't
have rejoiced. That's exactly right. Whatever
the end being strife and contention was over, it wasn't over the
gospel, because Paul said, if any man preach any other gospel,
let him be accursed. You see what I'm saying? So I
do know this, I do know, and this is going to help us right
here and now. He was in jail and he said, my message and my
attitude toward God's providence and all these things. has gone
out into the palace and the courtyard and other places, but it's also
been used in the church to strengthen and to give boldness and courage
to some preachers." Oh, he said, I know some of them don't like
me personally. They preach out of envy and strife,
hoping to add to my bonds, hoping to trouble me even more. Some
of goodwill and love, but he said, I don't care. Like you
read it, it matters not. Christ is preached. Christ is
preached. So I know this, these men preached
Christ. They preached the gospel of substitution.
Now then, let me dwell on that a moment. He said some preach
Christ of envy. And this is not scriptural to
envy anybody. It's not commendable. It's not
of the Spirit of God, but it's normal human behavior. It's normal
human behavior. And these men were envious of
Paul's guilt. They were envious of Paul's power.
They were envious of Paul's success. Now, I say that's not commendable,
but envy and jealousy is a trait that we have to keep suppressing.
We have to fight it all the time. We have to mortify it and crucify
it and press it down and push it out because it rears up its
ugly head in so many places. And I tell you, it's often difficult
to fail. And somebody else here may be
of inferior gifts to succeed. Or maybe you feel like, well,
I can preach better than him. Why is he so successful? I've
got more education than he has. Why has he got such a fine church? That's the way we think. That's
human nature. And this is what Paul is saying.
These men did preach Christ. But Paul, because of the hand
of God upon him and the way God used him, And God uses whom he
will. Now, that's all there is to it.
And he uses the foolish, he uses the base, he uses the things
that are not, and so forth. And sometimes the things that
are envy the things that are not, because God uses them. And
this is what Paul is saying, these men envy. They're full
of envy and jealousy. And I recognize it, but I rejoice
they're preaching Christ. And strife and contention. He
used the word strife and contention. Now, the strife was not over
the gospel. Not over the gospel of substitution. There's strife
in what we call a sovereign grace movement. Sure there is. There always will be as long
as human beings are a part of it. There's strife and contention. But I guarantee it's not over
the gospel. I've heard different brethren
quarrel and argue and debate and all this stuff, but not over
who Christ is, what happened in the garden, what happened
on the cross. Substitution, satisfaction, justification. That's what I
don't hear. You know what they strive over? They strive over
rules and laws and government and practice and discipline and
prophecy and all this junk. That's what the conflict over.
And this is what Paul is saying, that these men preach Christ.
But they've got all this strife going over all these other things,
like that scripture you read in the study a moment ago. Days,
holy days, Sabbath days, ritualism, ceremony, all legalism, all these
things. They just put on their gloves
and fight it out over that, you know, and let the gospel sit
over here untouched. But he said, I don't care, just
so Christ is preached. He said, some preach Christ of
goodwill, building unity of spirit and effort. On the one hand,
there was party spirit and envy and jealousy and contention,
but they were preaching Christ. And he said, God be with them.
God be with them. Let them have their ritualism
as long as they preach Christ. Let them have their ceremonies
as long as they preach Christ. Let them have these things as
long as they preach Christ. It's to their loss, certainly. But what does it matter? And
this is what he comes down to, verse 18. What then? Or what
does it matter what men think of me? What does it matter if
they insist on their childish, needless strife? Christ is preached. Notwithstanding every way, whether
in pretense or in truth, Christ is preached, and I rejoice, and
yea, and I will rejoice, for I know that this shall turn to
my," David read it right, deliverance. The word salvation means deliverance,
and he's not talking about the salvation of his soul there.
He's talking about like Peter was delivered from prison, you
know. Well, he'll be delivered through your prayers and the
supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. But what does it matter?
What does it matter? Christ will be glorified. Verse
20, according to my earnest expectation, my hope, that in nothing I shall
be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also
Christ may be magnified in my body, whether by my life or by
my death. For me to live is Christ. Now
here's a question, just briefly, I'll give two or three things.
Here's a question, what is life? Paul said, my life or my death?
for me to live as Christ and to die as King. What is life
to you? L-I-F-E, life. Well, to some
people, life has to do with this flesh. They're concerned about good
health. And I don't know, but you're supposed to have some
concern for your health. While I was down in Alabama,
I kind of hate to admit this, but On Tuesday, some people wanted
me to go out to dinner, and they fed me a steak. On Tuesday night,
someone invited me out to dinner, and they fed me a T-bone steak.
On Wednesday, I went out to eat and had a T-bone steak. Wednesday
night, I went to a man's house, and he cooked them on the grill,
and everybody didn't come close to it. He put a steak on my plate
that was laying over the sides, and he said, put this filet on
top of it. Well, I tell you, I felt the
need for some green vegetables. That night I went to somebody's,
the next night somebody was out and I said, I hope you have beans
and taters and corn, you know, and broccoli and something. You
need to take, you can't eat steak and survive very long. Not long,
Tom. But you need those green vegetables.
And I think a person ought to be careful about their health.
But that's not life. Because brethren, the aging process
you can't stop. I don't care how if you take
your vitamins and eat right and comb your hair and take a bath
and go to the doctor. You're not going to stop the
aging process. It's on you. That's all there
is to it. It's appointed unto men who wants
to die. And I'm a dying creature. I'm
just 13 years from being three score and ten. That's all God
says you can have, unless by his grace you have a little longer.
I'm four fifths of the way, Charlie, or five sixths of the way. And
the aging process, you're not going to stop. So life is not
good health and life is not this flesh and life is not beauty
and strength and all these things. It may go tonight. The instrument
of death may be already at work. So that's not life. Then for
some people, life is the accumulation of things. The accumulation of
things, wealth and property and houses and lands. Well, let me
tell you something. We brought nothing into this
world, and it's certain you're not going to take anything out.
That's exactly right. Naked, I came out of my mother's
womb, and that's the way I'm leaving. Somebody said when they
read about a man who died, said, how much did he leave? I said,
all he had. Whether it was a dime or a hundred
thousand, he just left all he had. He didn't take anything
with him. So that's not life. And then somebody else, for life,
life to them is pleasure. Just fun and games, mirth and
entertainment, always fun and games, fame and applause. For
some life is learning and education. But let me tell you something,
and I'm not trying to be a smart aleck, I'm just saying that all
these things will fade away. They'll pass away. There's nothing
you smell, hear, see, touch, claim on that will not be destroyed
by God someday. There's not a relationship in
this building except in Christ that won't be destroyed. Be totally
taken away. The fashion of this world fadeth
away. So what we need to do right now
is put these things in their proper place. They have a proper
place. They need some care, but not
anxious care. They need some conservative attention,
but not all my attention. They need to be taken care of,
but they need to be taken care of lightly and held lightly so
that God can remove them without breaking your fingers. You understand
what I'm saying? Because he'll break them if he
has to. So you can take them away without breaking your fingers.
That's not life. Paul, he said, verse 21, to me,
to me, to live is Christ. Now that to me is to live. That's
life. Well, three things. Number one,
he's the giver of life. This is the record, God hath
given us eternal life. That's life. Eternal life is
life. You see, this is not life. I
have spiritual death in Adam, and Adam will all die. Everything
about me is death. It's spiritual death, physical
death, and eternal death. Everything I got from Adam was
death. But Christ is the source and
giver of eternal life. He that hath the Son hath life.
Life is in his Son. He's the giver of life. Actually,
a union with Christ is the only life. To me, to live is Christ
because a living union with Christ is the only life. If I don't
have a living union with Christ, I'm a withered branch severed
from the tree fit only for the burning whenever it comes. So
Christ is the giver of life. He said, I've come that you might
have life, abundant life. And then secondly, he's the sum
and substance of life. In him, life has a purpose. In
Christ, life has a purpose. Also, in him, life has peace. That's the only place you can
find peace is in Christ. There's no peace in this world. There's no peace in anything
in the world. In Christ, that's the only place you can really
find joy is in Christ. I know that so. You say, well,
they're having fun out there. Not really. Now, not really.
It's an outward fun. They're troubled. I tell you,
the heart of the unbeliever is like the troubled sea. Don't
let him fool you. Don't let him fool you. And you
just let him get in trouble and see who he calls on. He calls
on God. He doesn't call on his old buddies. He calls on God.
He calls on the preacher every time. So he has no confidence
in those things. Christ is the giver of life.
He's the sum and substance of life. And let me ask you this.
Is he not the only hope of life? Now, you just tell me tonight,
anybody sitting here, I want to know, what is your hope of
eternal life if you don't have Jesus Christ? Now, what is it?
But whatever it is, it won't work. By the deeds of the law
shall no flesh be justified, no man is justified by works
in the sight of God, it's evident, only in Christ do we have any
hope whatsoever. There is no hope outside of Christ. He is our hope. When Christ,
who is your life, shall appear, then shall you appear with him
in glory. Brethren, if I have Jesus Christ, I have all that
I need, all that I'll ever need, I'll never be ashamed. I have
life." Now, didn't notice what he said. To me, to live is Christ. He's the giver of life. He's
the sum and substance of life. He's the essence of life. He's
the hope of life to come. And then thirdly, he said, to
die is gain. For me to live, whether in prison
or out of prison, whether in poverty or riches, I know, he
said, I know how to abound. I know how to abound. I know
how to be a base. I know, he said, I've had some things, I've
had some things, and I've lived without them. And he said, either
way it doesn't matter. It really doesn't matter. To
live or die doesn't matter really, just to know Christ. But preacher,
how can any man, in verse 21, to die is gain. How can any man
in his right mind say to die is gain? Now that, how can you,
how do you gain by dying? What could I show you? You say, if I died tonight, I'd
lose my fleshly life. I read in the newspaper where
it says there's a big bomb explosion and loss of life was headed. Well, when a believer dies, he
doesn't lose his life. He gains life. He doesn't lose
his life. He that believeth on me will
never lose his life. A believer gains eternal existence
to die no more. Never hurt again, never no pain
again, never no darkness again, never no sin again, never no
fear again. He begins to live. Somebody said
to an old dying Puritan, they said, well, you're about to leave
the land of the living and go to the land of the dead. He said,
oh, you got that wrong. He said, I'm leaving the land
of the dead. I'm going to the land of the
living. They don't live here. They're dead, twice dead and
plucked up by the roots. This is death. Even the seasons
remind us of death. Everything about us is dying.
The flowers are dead. The vegetables are dead. The
trees are dead. Everything's dead. We're dead.
But everything in glory lives. To die is to gain. Somebody said,
well, a man dies and loses his place on earth, his place. There's
an empty chair at the old table. Yeah, but there's a full chair
in glory. He gains an eternal place in glory. A man dies and
loses his family. Oh, no! He's forever with his
true family. He leaves his friends. Oh, he
joins his friends. He leaves his acquaintances.
He joins his friends. Well, a man dies and his flesh
decays. You know, everybody wants to
be buried on top of the ground now. They don't want all that
water to seep in. Somebody said, be sure and get
a bolt. A waterproof vault so the water won't see. A man rots
from within, not from outside. Let me tell you something. When
you die and this old flesh decays, we put on incorruption, immortality,
the weakness is laid aside and we put on strength. We lay aside
this shame and put on glory. Actually, I welcome, and I know
you do too, the loss of these things. I'd be glad to get rid
of the flesh, won't you? I'll be glad to get rid of sin.
I'll be glad to get rid of suffering. I'll be glad to get rid of weakness
and temptation and fear and doubt and my poor ignorance. I'll be
glad to get rid of all that because to die is gain. I gain perfect
knowledge, perfect peace, perfect happiness, perfect holiness,
perfect existence. I'll be like Christ. That's gain.
When we see Him, we'll be like Him. We'll be like Him. and trials are over, and I'm
safe on that beautiful shore, just to be near the dear Lord
I adore, that through the ages will be glory for me. Friends
will be there that I've loved long ago, and joy like a river
around me will flow, yet just a smile from the Savior I know
will through the ages be glory for me. or to die. For the believer,
it matters not. That's just so. Because to live
is Christ and to die is gain. And that God may be glorified
whether in my life or my death. And I do know this, I do know
this, that he never makes a mistake. Somebody says, well, what are
these people going to do if so-and-so dies? Well, I'll tell you, there
are hopes not in so-and-so, there are hopes in Christ. What are
you going to do if such-and-such dies? Well, let them go to be
with the Lord. I wish we in this generation
could let people die. You know, my friends, it's a
lot easier to die than it is to live sometimes. Living is
a lot more difficult than dying, if you're a believer. Dying is
the easiest thing in the world. It's just crossing over into
the arms of Christ. So why do we want to hold people
here with our life-sustaining machines and our drugs and all
this? Hang on a little longer to this
old flesh. Hang on a little longer to these
old heartaches. Hang on a little longer. Let
him go. Let him go. If he has a hope and if he has
no hope, he better hang on. He better hang on. But if he has Christ, let him
go. Let him go. To die is gain. Our Lord, we pray tonight that
you'd span that great distance, put in our hearts what we believe
or say we believe in our heads. Oh, that we might know Him and
the power of His resurrection. We may win Christ and be found
in Him. That we may learn the beauty
and joy of contentment, of rejoicing, of thanksgiving. of praising
the Lord, of gratitude and appreciation for your mercy and for your good
providence, that we might find ourselves in the place our God
would have us to be, rejoicing in Him, giving thanks for all
His mercies and His grace in Christ Jesus. Do a work of grace
in our hearts for the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. In His
name we pray. Amen.