four words which demand your
attention. I'm not going to keep you in
suspense. I'm going to read three texts from God's Word. I'm going
to set before you, right at the beginning of the message, these
four words which demand your full attention, either now or
sometime. Preferably now. Philippians Verse
21. For to me, to live, word number
one, to live is Christ. And to die, word number two,
is gain. Now let me just quote the other
text. I'm going to read two more, quote two more. You're familiar
with them. Hebrews 9, 28. As it is appointed
unto men once to die, Word number two. After this, judgment. Word number three. We have three
words. For me to live, that's number
one. That's life. Is Christ to die? Word number two. Is gain, after
this, judgment. And then word number four is
found in Matthew 25, 46. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment,
but the righteous unto life eternal. Eternity. There are four of the
most important words you'll ever encounter. There are four words
that demand your full attention. It doesn't matter who you are.
It doesn't matter how old you are. It doesn't matter the color
of your skin. It doesn't matter your religious
persuasion. You've got a life to live. You may be very sick, but you're
living. You may be very well, but you're living. You may be
very rich, but you're living. You may be very poor, but you're
living. You may be very ignorant, but you're living. You may be
very wise, but you're living. You have a life to live. That's
it. A life to live. Secondly, you have a death to
die. This preacher, someday, sooner
or later, is going to die. All men have to die. It's appointed
unto men once to die. It's appointed. It's decreed. It's ordained of God. You are
going to die. Somebody in this congregation
is going to die this year. Somebody's going to die next
year. Somebody's going to die the next year. Twenty, thirty
years from now, most of this congregation will be dead. We're
going to die, folks. We have a death to die. And then
the third word, we have a judgment to face. Turn to Revelation chapter
20. Revelation, the 20th chapter,
it says it's appointed unto men once to die after this judgment.
The scripture says we must all stand before the judgment seat
of Christ. We have a life to live. We have
a death to die. We have a judgment to face. Listen
to Revelation 20, verse 11, And I saw a great white throne, and
him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven
fled away, and there was found no place for them. And I saw
the dead, small and great, stand before God. And the books were
opened, and another book was opened, which is the book of
life. The dead were judged out of those things which were written
in the books. according to their works. And the sea gave up the
dead which were in it, and death and hell," that is, the grave,
delivered up the dead which were in them, and they were judged
every man according to their works. And death and hell were
cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death, and
whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast
into the lake of fire. I have a life to live, I have
a death to die, I have a judgment to face, I have an eternity to
spend. Turn back to our text, if you
will, in Philippians. Notice how closely these words
are related. In the text, in Philippians 1.21,
there's just a comma between life and death. For me to live
is Christ, comma, and to die is gained. There's a comma between
them here in the text. Actually, in reality, there's
just a breadth between them, life and death. Just a breadth. In reality, they are one and
the same, for me to live and to die. All who live will die. All who die are judged. All who
judge face eternity. They're inseparable brothers.
You cannot separate these. Charles Spurgeon said this, life
is but death's vestibule. You can't separate the two. They're
really not even separated by a comma. When I'm born, my heart
begins to beat. But my heart begins to beat as
someone said, a funeral march to the grave. Each heartbeat
brings me a step nearer. Life is but death's vestibule. And then he went on to say, and
death is but the vehicle that takes me to judgment. And the
judgment but separates the just from the unjust to be received
by eternity. So eternity is really the final
stop. Eternity is really the final
goal. Eternity. That's where I'm really
headed. This life is but a vestibule.
that leads me to death, and death is but a vehicle that escorts
me to the judgment, and the judgment is but a place where the righteous
are separated from the unrighteous and cast into eternity. So there's
no need to spend our time this morning establishing the reality
of these matters. We know the reality of them.
They're true. We are living. I'm living. You're living right
now. However I'm living, I'm still living. If I'm living for
the glory of God, I'm still living. If you're not living for the
glory of God, you're still living right now. You're a living human
being. But death awaits each one of us, and judgment, and
eternity. And there's no need for us to
take our time this morning establishing our part in the matter. We're
going to die. This is one of the most difficult
things for people to face and to realize, that they're going
to die. They believe this person is going to die and that person
is going to die, but not me. If I were to ask you the question
right now, someone in this congregation is going to die this year, every
one of you, everybody here would name somebody else. You'd either
pick a very sick person and say, well, now they're going to die
before I will, or a very old person, they'll die before I
will. Or maybe a person who lives in
a dangerous fashion. It doesn't occur to any of us
that we may be the one to go in the next few moments, in the
next few days. But we're going to. We are living,
we're going to die, and then just as sure as we're here, we're
going to go into the judgment. They may take you into the judgment
kicking and screaming. They may take you into the judgment
boasting of your good works and righteousness. They may take
you there resting in Christ, but they're going to take you
there. We're going to stand before God. This is a date every man's
going to keep. This is an appointment for which
you're not going to be late. You're going to meet Almighty
God. We may refuse to deal with this
book now, but we'll deal with it one day, maybe tomorrow. We may refuse to give ourselves
to consideration of the things of Christ, but I guarantee you,
they'll stand some day before him. the Lamb on his throne. The Father judges no man, he
hath committed all judgment to the Son. There's no need for
us spending our time this morning trying to establish the reality
of these matters. They're real matters, whether
we choose to face them or not, they're real. There's no need
arguing about our part in it or trying to find a way out of
it. I've got a life to live, just one. I've got a death to
die, whatever that death is. Maybe it's in bed, maybe it's
on the highway, maybe it's in the hospital. I don't know, but
I've got a death to die. God knows. God knows. And God has set that day. Mr. Spurgeon was talking, rather
he told about a man talking with another man one time about the
dangers of the sea. This particular man was a sea
captain. And the fellow said to him, this
was back when it was dangerous to go to sea, more than now.
They travel with sails and all that sort of thing, and they
didn't have the navigational equipment and the weather equipment.
But anyway, the man said to the sea captain, he said, you spend
all of your time at sea, that's right. He said, aren't you afraid
to go to sea? Well, he said, no, I've never
been afraid. Well, he said, but there's so
many dangers at sea. He said, well, there may be.
And the man said, well, how did your father die? And the sea
captain said, well, he was lost at sea. The man said, well, how
did your grandfather die? He said, well, he died at sea.
Well, how did your great-grandfather die? Well, as far as I know,
he died at sea also. The man said, see that? All of
your fathers have died at sea. Well, the sea captain thought
a minute, and he said, where'd your father die? The man said,
in bed. He said, where did your grandfather
die? He said, in bed. Where did your great-grandfather
die? He said, as far as I know, he died in bed. He said, aren't
you afraid to go to bed? My friend, God is on the throne.
The people of God are immortal until God is pleased to take
their lives. But maybe God, John, would be
pleased to do it tomorrow. That's what I'm saying. He has
the keys of hell and death. The Lord killeth and maketh alive.
So I have a life to live in his providence. I have a death to
die in his purpose. I have a judgment to face to
satisfy his righteousness and I have an eternity to spend either
in his presence or eternally separated from him. But those
things are true. Now what I'm concerned about
is this. This is what I'm concerned about. I want to spend my time
trying to find out how a man can be happy in life. I'm talking
about happiness. I'm not talking about foolishness
and accomplishments and all that sort of thing. I'm talking about
the genuine peace and rest and joy of a happy life. I'm not
talking about existence. I'm talking about life. How can
a man find happiness? I'm not saying we're going to
be happy all the time. I know we sing that little chorus,
happy all the time. Remember, happy. I'm not happy
all the time. But I have a, Jay, I have a I
have a permanent happiness. I have a condition and an attitude
and a spirit and a relationship with God that gives me happiness. I have mountaintop experiences
and I have valley experiences. I have times when I'm very joyful
and I have times when I'm very sad. But the tenor of my life
and the bent of my will and the direction in which I'm going,
by God's grace, is happiness. Happiness is Christ. Happiness
is knowing Him. Happiness is sins forgiven. Happiness
is eternal life. Happiness is peace with God through
Christ. Happiness is having a sin offering.
Happiness is having an atonement. Happiness is having a hearing
at the throne of grace. Happiness is knowing that God
ordains everything that takes place in your life for your good
and His glory. Happiness is knowing that your
name is in the book of life. Happiness, that's what it is.
And I'm not saying you're going to go around clicking your heels
all day, every day, seven days a week. You're not going to go
around with a silly grin on your face. That's a phony religion. That's a veneer religion. That's
an external religion. That's a religion that's put
on for somebody else's benefit. But I'm talking about an inward
peace. That when the billows are tossing, the boat is smooth.
That when the wind is blowing, the soul is calm. And when the
storms and the lightning is flashing, the heart's at peace. That's
happiness. That's happiness. You're built
on a rock, Christ Jesus. I want to find out how a man
can find some comfort in death. I don't want to die screaming
and yelling for mercy. I want to find some way that
I can find comfort and joy in death. That's what I'm interested
in. I'm going to die. But I want,
let my death be like the death of the righteous. Let my latter
end be like his. Let me die the death of the righteous.
I want to die like the Apostle Paul died, who said, I have a
desire to depart and be with Christ. I want to find comfort
in death. I want to find justification
at the judgment. I'm going to be there. But I
do not want to account for my sins. Do you want to account
for yours? I don't want the judgment of God to be on the basis of
what I've done or haven't done. I want Christ to represent me.
I want to have a representative at the judgment, a representative
with some power, with some influence, with a price to pay. I want to
have Christ as my mediator at the judgment, and then I want
to hope for eternity. Now Paul gives one word. Let's
look at verse 21, Philippians 1. One word. One word. That is the key to happiness
in life. One word that's the key to comfort
in death. One word that's the key to deliverance
from God's judgment in wrath. One word, that's the key to hope
for eternity, and that one word for me to live is Christ. That's the one word. It's not
works, it's not good deeds, it's not merit, it's Christ. If Christ is your life, then
you have peace with God through the Lord Jesus Christ. If Christ
is your life, you have redemption through the blood of his cross.
If Christ is your life, you have no fear in death. If Christ is
your life, there is no judgment. You know what scripture says?
There is therefore now no condemnation to them who are in Christ. No
judgment. That word is judgment. There
is no judgment. To those who are in Christ, there is no judgment.
If your life is Christ, then you are a joint heir with Christ
and an heir of God. And in fact, you are already
seated positionally on God's right hand. I'm already there.
I've already been glorified, if Christ is your life. This
is the key, this is the key word. The merchant man sits at his
ledger and he says, as he looks up, to me to live is gold. Houses and land, prosperity,
merchandise, that's my life. To me to live is gold and silver. I see a lot of Christians. I
get a little worried about these things. I'm not going to talk
about it too much, but I get a little worried about these
Christians that are converting their money into gold and silver.
It would be better if they converted it into souls. That would be
a more profitable enterprise. You say, well, preacher, someday
the paper money is going to be gone and the gold and silver
won't be worth a plug nickel. When God Almighty breathes his
breath of wrath on this earth, you hang on to your goal. Hang
on to it and see what good it is. Why, it won't be worth any
more than the sand in the street. You wouldn't even stop to pick
it up when you were running from his wrath. It won't be any good. I'll tell you what will be good,
and that is the hope that you have in Christ Jesus. Lay not
up for yourselves treasures on this earth, but lay up for yourselves
treasures in heaven, where moth and rust doth not corrupt, and
thieves do not break through and steal." But I'll tell you
this, I know this is what the Apostle said, that if a man hoards
the greed and covetousness, the things of this world, when he
comes to the judgment, the rust on that gold will be judgment
against him. You know what it says, Charlie?
That's what it says right in this book. I tell you, you can convert it
into some kind of effort to reach people with the gospel. You can
convert your gold and silver into some way to get Christ's
name out to those who haven't heard him. But the merchant man
sits there and he says, my life, my life, my existence, this life,
here I am, God gave me one life. And every waking moment is spent
in one direction, to get a little bit more of this world. That's
what my life is. Analyze your life. That's what
my life is. My life is gold and silver. And
the laboring man says, my life is to gain a living. And I know
a man has to. There's responsibilities that
he has. He has to gain a living. But that's the life of most men,
just to make ends meet, you know. Go to work in the morning, come
home in the evening, watch a little television, read the paper, go
to bed so he can get up and go to work in the morning, spend
his day at work, come back home, watch a little television, read
the paper, go to bed, get up the next morning, seven days
a week, and Sunday is his day to kick off his shoes, you know,
and clean out the yard so he can get up and go to work in
the morning, you know. And God is not there. The Word of God
is not there. He doesn't read the Bible, doesn't
pray, Doesn't seek God's face, doesn't seek the fellowship of
God's people, doesn't worship God in his house when the people
of God meet together, doesn't study the things of the Lord,
he's going to make a living. No, what he's doing is making
a living. That's what he's making, a death that will always abide,
the second death. My life is to make a living.
The student says to me to live is learning. I want to be smart. I want to be wise. This is my
life to learn, to get new it, to study Plato and Aristotle
and Socrates and all these other fellows. You know, I read something
one time that impressed me. I hear about the fellows that
they always read in these modern liberal thinkers, you know. They
say, well, you don't have an education unless you read the
opponent. You don't read Spurgeon and Gill and Toplady and Whitefield
and those proven giants all the time. Read some Barth and Tillich
and all these German philosophers and Socrates and Aristotle. Now,
wait a minute. If you give me a piece of meat
that's small, one bite will tell me all I need to know. I don't
have to eat the whole ham to know it's rotten. And I'll tell
you this, if I sit there and eat the whole joint, I'm going
to have some And I pick up a book and it starts off denying one
of the cardinal truths of God's Word. You know what I do with
it? Drop it in a waste can. I don't have to eat Cecil the
whole joint. I want to read these men that
glorify God. This book is true. But to me to live is learning.
The soldier says to me to live is glory. The entertainer says
for me to live is fame. Just see my name in the paper.
I love that. I love somebody say, oh, do you
hear what so-and-so did? Do you hear so-and-so got a promotion,
so-and-so got a raise, so-and-so built a bigger house, so-and-so
did. We like that thing. We like people to have our names
on their lips. It comes in a little old bald-headed
Jew, about 50 years old. And he hears all this going on.
For me to live is gold. To me to live is to make a living. To me to live is learning. To
me to live is arguments and debates. To me to live is human glory.
To me to live is fame. And this little Jew comes in
and looks in the midst of all of them, stands in the midst
of all of them, and says, To me to live is Christ. And boy, they
like that. That's funny. That's funny. And somebody says, will your
Jesus give you gold? And that little Jew says, well,
like my friend Peter, silver and gold have I none. Silver
and gold have I none. Somebody else says, well, will
your Christ give you a comfortable living? And he says, sometimes
he does and sometimes he doesn't. Sometimes the road is smooth
and sometimes the road is rough, but he said, in this world you
have tribulation. Another one says, will your Christ
give you respect and friends? No, I haven't had too much respect,
he said, and I don't have too many friends. Now, those friends
I have are real friends. But I found that my enemies,
or even my own countrymen in my own household, and the Lord
said, Marvel not if the world hate you! Well, will your Christ
give you freedom from sickness and freedom from death? No. Now, I've been sick. My hepatitis
was sick now to death, and my friend Timothy has a stomach
disorder. And we have our problems, yes,
and we're going to die. In fact, all who ever believed
on Christ die. In fact, all who ever trusted
Christ die. In fact, all who ever loved him
die. Then what do you have who say,
Christ is my life? Well, let's see. Let's see what
we have. Let's go back to those four words,
those four essential words. Life, death, judgment, and eternity. Let's see what we have. Let's
stack our benefits and blessings up beside what others have who
do not have Christ. Let's see what we have. Number
one, life. Turn to James 4. Let's see what
it is all about here. Now, turn to James 4. Let's just
see exactly what we have. Will your Christ bring you gold?
No, sir. Will your Christ bring you respect and friends? No,
sir. Will your Christ give you a comfortable living all the
time? No, sir. Will your Christ keep you from
sickness and from death? No, sir. Then what do you have?
All right, let's see. Number one, we have life, a special
life. In James 4, verse 14, listen
to this, verse 14, verse 14, verse 14, verse 14, verse 14, verse 14, verse
14, verse 14, verse 14, verse 14, verse 14, verse 14, verse 14, verse
14, verse 14, verse 14, verse 14, verse 14, verse 14, verse 14, verse 14, verse
14, verse 14, verse 14, verse 14, verse 14, verse 14, verse 14, verse
14, verse 14, verse 14, verse 14, verse 14, verse 14, verse
14, verse 14, verse 14, verse 14, verse 14, verse 14, verse 14, verse
14, verse 14, verse 14, verse 14, verse 14, verse 14, verse
14, verse 14, verse 14, verse 14, verse 14, verse 14, verse
14, verse 14, verse 14, verse 14, verse 14, verse 14, verse
14, verse 14, verse 14, verse 14, verse 14, verse 14, verse
14, verse 14, verse 14, verse 14, verse 14, verse 14, You can
feel it. Feel it's warm. I've felt of
dead people. They're cold. They're not warm. You're soft. They're hard. You're warm and soft and tender. They're clammy. They're dead.
You can feel like, you can see it. I see you. I see your eyes
moving. If you're dead, they won't move. I see you. You see
me. What is your life? What is it that you see and hear
and feel? It's but wind passing through
this world. You're just wind passing through. That's all. The wind, you go
outside, you're working in your garden, and suddenly the wind
gets up. The trees begin to shake and
bend, and everything begins to blow, and your corn falls down. You run in the house, and about
ten minutes later you come out, it's calm. the wind has passed
through. And that's you. You're just passing
through. But now wait a minute. My life's
not a wind. My life's a rock. The rock Christ's
truth. I'm here to stay. Not on this
earth, but in God's providence and mercy and blessing in his
grace. I'm a rock. I'm not a wind passing
through that'll be heard of no more. What is your life? Job
14 says it's a flower to be cut down. blooming today, beautiful
today, to be cut down. My life's not a flower. My life's
a person. He'll not be cut down. He'll
live forever. Job says, My life is but a shadow.
My life's not a shadow. My life's a substance. Not a
shadow, no sir. It's not a shadow. What is your
life, unbeliever? You feel it? You see it, you
touch it, you measure it, and that's all. And it'll be gone
tomorrow. It's like the wind blowing through.
It's like the flower blooming for the moment. It's but the
fleeting shadow that goes on. But my life, you say, Preacher,
where is this life you're talking about? Turn to Colossians, let
me show you. And this will bless you, I hope as much as it blessed
me when I read it. Colossians chapter 3. What is
your life, preacher? What is your life, believer?
What is the life of these who have Christ? Colossians 3, 3. You're dead, and your life is
hid with Christ in God. You can't
see my life. You can't touch it. You can't
feel it. But it's hid with Christ in God.
Now this flesh, just like anybody else's flesh, will fade away.
This flesh, just like anybody else's flesh, will pass away.
It will rot and go back to the dust. But this flesh is not my
life. It's yours without Christ. Your
flesh is all you have. Your relationship on earth is
all the relationship you have. Your fame and glory and accomplishments
and everything here is all you have. You can observe it, you
can see it, you can touch it, you can cash it in, you can do
with it what you want to. It's here, but it's gone tomorrow.
But my life, my real life, my spiritual life is a mystery. And it's something I can't show
you. You say, show it to me. I can't show it to you. Well,
let's touch it. You can't touch it. Well, let's
see it. You can't see it. It's here.
It's hid from you. Sometimes it's hid from me. One
old writer said, talk about my life in Christ, sometimes even
I can't see it. When temptations are violent,
when trials are heavy, when grace is low, when God seems to hide
His face, I can't see it either. But it's there. It's hid. It's hid. Well, when are you
going to get it? Well, let's read the next verse.
And when Christ, who is our life, shall appear, there shall you
appear with human glory. That's the life I'm talking about.
That's the life I'm talking about. So what does Christ give me?
He gives me life. And that life being in Christ
denotes the security of it. It denotes the safety of it.
It denotes the certainty of it. It denotes the secrecy of it.
Christ is my life. He's the source of my life. He's
the substance of my life. He's the joy of my life. He's
the sanctification of my life. He's the redemption of my life.
He's all these things. And that life is not what you
see here. It's here with Christ in God. And when Christ shall appear,
then that life is going to appear. and all of its beauty and glory,
and all of its riches, and all of its blessings and benefits.
You see that? Old Brother of Eden said one
day, I wish I could make that plain. I wish I could make that
plain. This is not all. This is all
for the unbeliever. This is all for the man without
Christ. This is all. Believe me. You better hold on
to your kids. They're all you got. You better
hold on to your wife. She's all you got. You better
hold on to mama and daddy and brothers and sisters. You better
hold on to that natural family because that's all the life you
got. You better establish some accounts. You better establish
some security because that's all you got. You better work
hard on having good health and live as long as you can on this
earth because that's as long as you're going to live. That's
it. When that's over, that's it.
You've cashed in all your assets but my life! It's hid. It's hid with Christ in God. He's my essence. He's my blessing. He's my benefits. He's everything. He's my wisdom. He's my sanctity.
You say, I don't see it. You don't look any different
from me. It's hid. And like I said, sometimes I
don't see it. Sometimes I do. Sometimes I don't. But I tell
you when I am going to see it and when you're going to see
it too. When He shall appear, and I'm going to appear with
Him in glory, I'm going to appear with Him in glory, in the all
full glory of God. That's when you're going to see
it. When the children of God are manifested, when the children
of God are revealed, when the riches of His grace are shown
to this world, to heaven, earth, and hell, everybody's going to
see it. Christ is my life. Brethren,
that's real. That's real. Christ is my life. For me to live is Christ. That's
the key. That's the heart of it. That's
happiness. And you can take anything here.
Your kids can desert you and disown you. That's alright. They
said to Christ, your mother and brother and sister want you.
He said, who is my mother? Who's my brother and sister?
John Halston, that's my brother. Cecil Roach, that's my brother.
John Horan, that's my brother. You have your brothers. These
are my brothers. These are true brothers and eternal brothers
and Christ's children. I belong to another family now.
You can take that other outfit because when they wind up, that's
it. But this outfit here is going to be eternally glorified. All right, secondly, what do
you have? Well, I have joy in death. I tell you, you mention
death, and most men go to pieces. Most women, too. They mention
death, and the natural man just goes to pieces. He ought to!
You say, Brother, I'm afraid of death. You've got a right
to be. You've got a full right to be. Anybody in your shape
ought to be afraid of death. You ought to avoid it. You ought
to skirt around it. You say, I'm afraid to fly. You
ought to be. You say, my goodness of life,
I'm afraid to do this, that and the other. I don't blame you.
If I was you, I'd get in a cage somewhere and get me some security
guards and get a bunch of vitamins and live in there as long as
you can because, boy, I tell you, when God comes for you,
it's going to be something else. But if Christ is your life, you
don't ever die. You just move your abode. You
don't die. Children of God don't die. Christ
said, He that liveth and believeth on me shall never die. You just
go home. You just move out of this house
of frailties and flesh and move to an eternal house built by
God. You don't die. You just go from
this world of trouble to a world of glory. You don't die. You
go from a world of sin to a world of holiness. You don't die. You
go from a place of trial and temptation and trouble to a place
of joy. You don't die. The lost man dies. And you can go in a place where
unbelievers live in all their so-called happiness and so-called
prosperity. And you can't write blessed where
God writes cursing. You can't write blessed, he that
loveth not our Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema, curse! And
I don't care you can go in the White House, or you can go in
the Senate chambers, or in Parliament, or you can go in the wealthiest
home in this land, you can go in the prosperous, popular home
of the entertainer, but the curse of God's on that place, and everybody
in there! And you can't write blessed where
my God says curse it! It's cursed. But you go in that home where
that dear little mother lies, that's lived her life, And she
trusted Christ and believed on him, rested in him, glorified
him. And you see her life slipping away. There's no tinsel and glamour. It's just death resting on her
brow. The rattle of death in her throat.
But I tell you, the angels keep vigil around that bed, waiting
to take his loved one home. And the world says, oh, I wouldn't
want to be there. That's a cursed place. Oh, no,
it's a blessed place. Blessed are they that die in
the Lord. Blessed. And you can't write
cursed where my God wrote blessed. I know the world wants to. The
world says, oh, I'm rich and increased with goods and have
need of nothing. You don't know you're naked and
blind and miserable and poor and you have need of everything.
You know who's rich and has need of nothing? That blessed child
who has Christ. And I don't care if they're sick,
I don't care if they're afflicted, I don't care if they're poverty-stricken,
I don't care if they live on the other side of the tracks,
where our Lord writes, BLESSED! It's blessed. It's blessed. It's not death to die. It's to
go home. It's to go home. And the loss
is not ours when we die, the loss is those who have not Christ,
it's their loss. Then judgment, I have no, turn
to Romans 8. You say, aren't you afraid of
the judgment? Let me answer that as truthfully
as I know how. Yes, if I thought that my sins
would be brought to the front at the judgment, I'd be real
concerned about it. But scripture says my sins were
laid on Christ. If I thought that God was going
to deal with me strictly on the basis of my relationship to him,
to his law, to righteousness, to truth, to integrity, to honesty,
to beauty, yes, sir, I'd be afraid of the judgment. But I know this,
God's going to deal with me on the basis of mercy, that mercy
in Christ. Christ is my righteousness, Christ
is my mediator. And that's the reason Paul said
it. Paul was a murderer. Paul had committed people to
prison. He was a blasphemer, he was an injurious, he was everything
imaginable in his hatred for Christ. But here he is trusting
Christ, believing on Christ, resting in Christ, and he says
in verse 32, 33, Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's
elect? Now, to lay charge to someone
is to judge them. To lay a charge to someone is
to bring them to judgment and call them to account. And Paul
says that nobody can call me to account because God justified
me. I'm justified. Verse 34, who
is he that condemned me? It is Christ that died, yea,
rather he is risen again who is even at the right hand of
God who also makes intercession. So brethren, We don't need to
be afraid of the judgment. Salvation is by grace through
faith in Christ. You know what a man said one
time? He that believeth on Christ is free from the judgment, be
his sins never so great. He that believeth not on Christ
is unto the judgment of God be his sins never so small." Now,
that's so. You just work that over a little
bit. In Christ we're free from sin. In Christ we're prejudged. In Christ we've already been
judged, found guilty, sentenced, executed, dead, buried, risen,
seated, ascended, justified. So somebody says, will the believer
stand in judgment? I really don't know. And I don't
know whether you know or not, and I don't know if anybody does,
but let me ask you this question. What difference does it make?
What difference does it make? There is no judgment to them
in Christ. If I'm a subject, say, take for example, say the
believer and the unbeliever, say this is true, the sheep on
the right hand, the goats on the left, say everybody's in
the judgment, sane and unsane, believer and unbeliever. Well,
God judges the unbeliever on the basis of his works. Every
man shall be judged according to his works. And he's damned
and doomed. The believer, God judges him
in Christ. He stands in Christ. He's vitally
united with Christ. He lives in Christ. He and Christ
are one, so God's already judged him. There is no judgment. So
it doesn't matter whether I'm there or not there. I'm there
in the person of Christ, my representative. That's the key. Wherever He is,
I am. Wherever I am, He is, representing
me. Last of all, eternity. Turn to
Romans, or rather Revelation chapter 21, Revelation 21. Eternity. Where would you spend
eternity? Every man's going to spend eternity
somewhere. Eternity, that's a long time. There's a life to live. Short
as it is or long as it is, there's a life to live. There's a death
to die. Maybe this afternoon. My brother
was 48. He was a colonel in the army.
He was a robust, strong individual. As far as I know, never in his
life had a sick day, had a little back trouble over in Vietnam
or something like that. no sickness, no sickness in our
family that I know about, as far as he's concerned, no inherited
weaknesses and so forth, except mentally, hearing or something
like that, you know, but no physical. But my brother got up one evening,
he's 48 years old, he's lying in bed with his wife, about 11
o'clock at night, he come in from the office that day over
in Germany, and he's lying in bed and he turned to his wife
and he said, I've got some indigestion. I think I'll take an Alka-Seltzer."
So he went in the bathroom, took an Alka-Seltzer, and came back
to lay down. A few minutes passed, and he turned to Chris, and he
said, uh, I've still got that indigestion. I'm going to take
another Alka-Seltzer. He got up, she heard him walk
to the bathroom, and then she heard him hit the floor. And
she went in there, and he's dead, Jack. Just like that. Now that may be the way I go.
It may be the way you go. I don't know. I just know, I
know who knows. And I'm perfectly willing to
leave it with him, aren't you? Perfectly willing. Our son Robbie,
you know, 21 years old, robust, healthy, fine young man, loved
Christ, sat over there and listened to me preach one Sunday, two
weeks later he's dead. I'm telling you this, you've
got a death to die, my friend, and I have too. You've got a
death to die. And you've got a judgment to
face, and I'm telling you, I don't want to face it without Christ.
I don't want to face life without Christ. I don't, really and truly,
I don't see how anybody stands these things without Christ.
How do you cope with them? When the doctor says to you,
you've got cancer, how do you cope with that if you don't have
Christ? When the doctor says to you, you've got leukemia,
you've got something, how do you handle that? If you don't
have Christ, if you don't have God's purpose, somebody comes
in and says, your son's dead. How do you handle that? If you
have Christ, you can handle it. Say, the Lord giveth and the
Lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. But how
do you handle it? How do you handle problems and difficulties
and trials? Let me ask you this. How are
you going to handle death? I guarantee you, I assure you,
I promise you, it's the only certain thing I know anything
about. You're going to die. Now I want to know how you're
going, I know how, by God's grace, I'll handle it, I'll say, well,
it's the Lord, let him do what he will. He'll give you dying
grace. And I know this, they stood there
in the judgment, they said, wait a minute, Lord, we're church
members. I never knew you. But we gave our money. I never
knew you. But we taught Sunday school.
I never knew you. But we preached. I never knew
you. Boy, to face the judgment knowing him.