Storms Creek Church 7-23-2023

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Episode Transcript

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Good morning, and welcome to StormStreet Missionary Baptist Church this Sunday morning radio
program. This morning, we'll bejoining Pastor Kenny Hurts because we once again
open descriptions and study God's work.Okay, this morning we're going to be
in the Book of Philippians. We'rein chapter one, and I want to

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begin reading with verse twenty one andread down through verse twenty six. For
me, to live is Christ,and to die is gain. But if
I live in the flesh, thisis the fruit of my labor. Yet,
while I shall choose, I wantfor I administrate betwixt two, having

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a desire to depart and to bewith Christ, which is far better.
Nevertheless, to abide in the fleshis more needful for you. And having
this confidence, I know that Ishall abide and continue with you all for
your furtherance and joy of faith,that your rejoicing may be more abundant in
Jesus Christ. For me. Bymy coming to you again, I want

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to call your attention, especially toverse twenty one, where Paul writes for
me to live is Christ. Andthen notice the final part of that verse,
and to die is gain. Andthat's what I'm going to use for
the title for this message today,and that is to die is Gain.

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Talking about verse twenty one, MartinLloyd Jones has said of this verse it
is one of the greatest statements thathas ever been made. And I agree.
So one also has said of thisverse, this is the key verse
in this epistle. In fact,it should be a key verse in the
life of every saint of God,every child of God, everyone who's been

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saved by the grace of God shouldhave the same desire to be able to
say the same thing that Paul sayshere in this verse, to live is
Christ and to die is Gain.A few weeks ago I preached on the
first half of this verse, tolive is Christ, and we talked about

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how the unsaved person views life,what do they live for? And then
we looked at the saved person,especially the apostle Paul, and what he
lived for. And it says hesays here he lives for Christ. And
just exactly what does that mean?Well, it means a lot. I've

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just written down here here about fourthings, and you could probably add to
this list. I think it means, first of all, that Jesus Christ
is the source of our life,He is the source of all life,
physical and spiritual life. But Ithink here Paul especially has in mind spiritual
life. We are who we arespiritually because of Christ. I am a

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new creation. I'm a transformed manbecause of Christ, because He's given me
life. But it also means thatHe is the model of life. He's
the pattern of life. We areto pattern our lives after him. We're
to strive to live as he lived, to be like him. In fact,
we know one of the reasons,if not the main reason, why

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God saves us is to do whatto conform us into the image of His
son. So for us to liveas Christ means that we want to model
our lives after Christ. It alsomeans that He is the aim of our
life life. You know, weknow him and we want others to know
him. We want others to experiencethis change that we have, and so

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our aim in life is to makeHim known. That's what it means to
live is Christ then, and finally, He's the end of life. All
this world has to offer doesn't evenbegin to compare to what we have in
Christ now, at the present time, but especially in the future. As

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we look at all that God hasin store for us. So those are
just some of the things that Iwrote down in regard to what it means
to live is Christ. But thismore Now I want to focus on verses
twenty one through twenty six, andespecially the last half of verse twenty one,
where Paul writes to die is gain. Another way of saying that is,

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to die is beneficial to me.Now here is where we see,
well, the difference between how theworld looks at death and how the saved
person does. There's a great contrasthere. How does the world look at
death, Well, it is thatwhich is the end. It's death is

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the end. For them, it'sthe loss of all that they value,
all they hold, dear, allthey love and live for. But for
the believer, well, they don'tlook at death as a loss, as
the end. No, in fact, it's the beginning. You know,

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death is only the beginning of life. Life really begins at death and when
we will fully enjoy all that ourfather has prepared for us. So you
see, there's a difference between howa saved person views death and how an
unsaved person does. Often when Iconduct a funeral, I will point out

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this contract between how people view death. You know, I will point out
the fact that when you talk aboutdeath, it's a subject and most people
try to ignore. They don't wantto talk about it. If you do
bring up the subject, they quicklywant to talk about something else. They're
very uncomfortable talking about death, andthey just would as soon avoid it at

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all possible. Well, regardless ofhow you feel about death, regardless if
you want to talk about it orthink about it or not, the bottom
line is is a reality that we'reall going to face one day. It's
why Hebrews nine and verse twenty sevensays it is a point that the man
wants to die that after this thejudgment, it's an appointment that we're all

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going to have to keep one day, whether we want to or not.
We just need to realize the factthat it's going to happen. You know.
As a pastor, you know,part of my responsibility is as a
pastor, I believe, is toprepare the congregation, my congregation for death,

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for this most important event. Well, with this in mind, I
want to ask you a question thismorning as we begin, and the question
is simply this, are you preparedfor death? Can you say what Paul
says here in this verse, notjust say it. Anybody can read the

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words, but can you actually meanit? Is it true? Of you?
Think with me now? But everythingelse aside. Focus your attention upon
what I'm saying right now? Canyou say for me to die is gain?

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One of my favorite missionary stories isthe story of Jim Elliott and four
of his friends who with their familiesleft the United States and went to Ecuador
back in nineteen fifty five. Theywanted to reach a group of people who
were called the Alca Indians. There'sanother name that they go by, but

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I usually think of the Alca Indians. They wanted to reach them with the
gospel. Well, these were peoplethat outsiders had never been able to make
contact with. They'd never been ableto reach them. Anytime someone from the
outside tried to make contact with them, it usually ended in death. They

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looked at outsiders as a threat andan enemy, and so these men were
determined that they were going to takethe gospel to these people. At first,
everything looked promising. That they flewdown and what they did was they
flew over the jungles where they lived, and they would drop down presents to

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the people. Well, eventually theyhad put a contraption together where the people
there on the ground, if theywanted to, they could put something in
the net and then they would drawit up to their plane, And so
they started leaving gifts. Then forthese five missionaries, well, they decided
that it was time maybe to tryto set up a camp there nearby and

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to reach them. So that's whatthey did, and one day one of
the alc Indians came out, andthey couldn't really communicate with each other because
they didn't really know the language,but they were able to do the best
they could and to try to showthem that they weren't there to harm them,
that they were there to help them. And it looked good. But
then five days after this tragedy struckthese savages, these five missionaries to death.

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They all died there on a riverbedin the Jungles of Ecuador. Now
what's interesting about this story is thefact that these five men not only did
they go down to South America totry to reach these people, knowing the
danger that they were going to face, but they had already decided that if

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they were attacked, they weren't goingto defend themselves. See, they had
guns, they had weapons. Theycould have defended themselves and kept themselves from
being put to death, but theychose not to do that. And here's
the reason why. They said,we're ready to die. We're going to
go to heaven. These men arenot ready. Now. When I read

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that, it brought tears to myeye. I thought, what a response.
You see, these five missionaries livedout what Paul says here in Philippings,
chapter one and verse twenty one.For me to live is Christ and

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to die is Gain. Let meask you another question. Could you could
I face the prospect of death theway that these men did, or the
way the apostle Paul did. Someonehas said of Paul's attitude towards death.
Death didn't put him into a cemetery. It ushered him into a sanctuary,

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meaning into the presence of Christ.Now his body would be put in the
grave, but his soul, thereal hymn, would go to the presence
of Christ, waiting for that resurrectionday when he would be given a new
glory or find body. See,Paul knew what it was to be absent

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from the body, but to bepresent with the Lord. Speaking of a
cemetery, in Indiana, there isa tombstone in a cemetery that reads Paul's
stranger when you pass by, asyou are now so once was I all,
I am now so you will beto prepare for death and follow me.

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And then later someone scratched these wordson the bottom of that tombstone to
follow you. I am not contentuntil I know which way you went.
Well, we know which way Paulwent, and that's why we can follow

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him. That's why we are tolive for Christ and to die is gained
realizing this what a game that's goingto be Well this morning. With that
being said, I want to lookat these verses. I want to think
about Paul and how Paul viewed death. And in fact, there's two truths

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that I want us to look atin regard to Paul's attitude. We're gonna
look at Paul's dilemma and then we'regonna look at Paul's declaration. Now I'm
gonna look at these in reverse order, because Paul's dilemma is really found in
verses twenty two through twenty six,and his declaration is found in verse twenty

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one. But we're gonna look atthe dilemma first, then it's declaration.
So let's look at the dilemma versetwenty two. But I live, But
if I live in the flesh,this is the fruit of my labor.
Yet, what I shall choose whatnot? For I am in a strait
betwixt two, having a desire todepart and to be with Christ, which

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is far better. Nevertheless, toabide in the flesh is more needful for
you. Paul is looking to thefuture, waiting to go to trial,
wondering what's going to happen to him. Is he going to be set free
or is he going to be executed? Is he going to live or is
he going to die? That ishis dilemma. Now he says that if

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it was up to him, ifhe had to say in the matter,
if it was his choice, said, that's an easy choice, said,
he would choose to do what hesays in verse twenty three, to depart
and go be with Christ, thatwould be his choice. But he also
knows to live would be of morebenefit to the Philippians. That's why he's

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willing to postpone what is for hisbenefit for what would be of the benefit
of others. You notice in versetwenty three he uses that word depart It's
an interesting word. It has severaldifferent meanings, different ways it can be
used. It means to unloose,it means to take down, it means
to set free. For example,a boat that's tied to a dock is

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well, it's untied, so theboat then can sell out into the water.
That's one way you can look atdeath. A soldier takes down his
tent and is ready to move onwith his true I think that's the picture
of the Christian and the Christian's death. These bodies that we have are likened
to a tent that we live infor a short period of time, and

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then one day is going to betaken down and we're going to go and
to be with Christ. You know, as it's not something that's you're to
live in permanently. It's only temporary. Well, these bodies that we have
now are only temporary. They're notour permanent dwelling place. So it's like
a tent that death. That tentis taken down and then we are ready
to move on. Or politically itdescribes a prisoner who's set free. Well,

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God's people while they're in this world, Yeah, we are freed from
our bondage. To sin and praiseGod for that. But we still have
have these physical bodies, we stillhave these tents. We still have this
unredeemed flesh that still gives us trouble, that still holds us into a type
of bondage, that we're limited,that we face temptations. Well, at

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death, we're going to be setfree. So however you want to describe
this, whether it's a unloosing takingdown being set free, what death is
is a departure from this world tothe next world. It's a change of
location for the believer. I cameacross this story while I was preparing this

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message. There was a bank ina town in New York, the state
of New York, that sent acard and some flowers to one of their
competitors who were moving to a newlocation. I guess it's just a good
will gesture on their part. Well, the floors mixed up this order with

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another order that was meant for aperson who was at a local funeral home,
and the floors was greatly embarrassed overthis. See, the bank received
the card and flowers that read withour deepest sympathies, whereas the funeral home,
the person who had passed away receivedthis card in flowers, congratulations on

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your new location. Now, thoughthis was a mix up, the wording
on the one card was certainly appropriateif the person was a believer, because
that's what it is. It isa change in location. It's a new

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location, you know. Verse twentythree dispels the false teaching of what is
often referred to as soul sleep thatonce we die we enter into a state
of unconsciousness until the resurrection. Well, that simply isn't true. This verse

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tells us that Paul says, tolive as Christ, to die is gain.
Paul doesn't think that he is goingto be unconscious until the Lord comes
back. In fact, he toldthe thief on the cross today, you're
going to be with me in paradise. So why I said earlier he said
that to be absent from the bodyis to be present with the Lord.

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Then, when you look at versetwenty four, he says, nevertheless,
to abide in the flesh is moreneedful for you. As long as the
Lord has a work for Paul todo here on the earth, Paul expected
to well, Paul expected that hewould live. Someone has said that at

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is immortal until his work on earthis done. Death won't touch you until
God is through with you. You'lllive as long as the Lord intends,
as long as he has work foryou to do, and then he'll take
you, He'll take you home.Do you believe that I do. I
fully believe that that the Lord's goingto keep us here as long as he

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has work for us to do.And when that work is finished, and
now we don't know where that isdo it. But I believe that we
are immortal, that we are goingto stay here in this world until that
time comes. Then, he saysin verse twenty five. And having this
confidence, I know that I shallabide and continue with you all for your
furtherance and joy of faith and yourrejoicing may be more abundant in Jesus Christ

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for me by my coming to youagain as long as the Lord had or
I'm sorry you're on worse. Paulbelieved that the Flipping still needed him,
not that he had an inflated viewof himself that somehow or another he couldn't
be replaced. No, he justbelieves that his ministry was not yet complete.

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That's why he was confident that hewould remain, Not because God had
somehow revealed this to him. No, if that were the case, if
God had somehow or another, youknow, revealed to Paul, Paul,
you're not gonna die at this time, You're gonna live, You're gonna be
set free, Then why write whathe writes in verses twenty two through twenty

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six, There would be no reasonto know Paul's dilemma is is that,
yeah, he does believe he's goingto live, just simply because he feels
like the Lord still has work forhim to do. But he doesn't know
that for sure. And his limais as whether to stay in this world
and to serve Christ or to departand to go and be with Christ.

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And then we see secondly, Paul'sdeclaration. That's why he says, first
one we want to die is gainedor to die is a benefit to me.
And once again the unsafe person doesn'ttalk this way, do they said
earlier? Death is the greatest ofall losses. Everything that a person lives
for, that they love, thatthey value, is all tied to this

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world. Death is that which theysimply are not prepared. For example,
when someone takes out health insurance orlife insurance, or they have an ra
the retirement plan. People don't say, oh, you're foolish for doing that.
That's that does that's not that's thatdoesn't make any sense, you shouldn't

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do that. No, they're praised. They're looked upon as someone who is
wise, because you need to beprepared for what might happen in the in
the future. But when it comesto death, the most important event that
a person is going to face andone that is certain to happen. You
know, when you think about health, health insurance or a retirement plan,

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you know it would be possible thatyou never use that, you might not
have to use your health insurance,or you might die before you're able to
retire, and so all the moneyyou paid into these things you're really not
able to get any benefit from.Well, death, on the other hand,
is that which is most certain tohappen. But then most people,

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well they ignore they're not prepared forit. You know, they might not
say it's not going to happen,they just don't think it's going to happen
for a while and they can preparelater on. Well, you don't do
that with health insurance, you don'tdo that with a retirement plan. But
so many of them do it whenit comes to death, and those who

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do prepare, those who do seekto live for Christ are often looked upon
as foolish. So how does thebeliever how do they face death? Well,
they conclude they deuce. Paul sayshere, and that is that death
is a benefit. Death is gained. It's not a loss, is a

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gain for him. Now, thisis only true if that person can say
what Paul says to the beginning ofthat verse, that is, for me
to live is Christ, says thatperson who has experienced the new birth,
that person who's justified, a personwho's adopted, a person who's in the

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process of being sanctified. That isthe only person who can truly say what
Paul says, to die is gain. So as we close this morning,
it's listed a few of the benefitsthat we receive when we look at death
as a gain, and I'm goingto make a lot of comments on these.
First of all, we have afreedom from all suffering. Unlike the

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unbeliever, who often looks at deathas an end to suffering, when in
reality it's only the beginning. Thebeliever can look at death as an end
of all physical suffering all pain,all death, where we will have a

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perfect, glorified body. It's alsoa freedom from sin. No more sin,
no more temptations to fight, nomore lust to deal with, no
more rebellion against God, no morelooking at a world that is becoming more
and more wicked, more and moreengrossed in sin. No, it will

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be in a perfect sinless world.Number three, be reunited with family and
friends, those who have gone beforeus, those that we stood at their
graveside, weeping and saying goodbye tothem. Well, it wasn't permanent.
It was only temporary. That's whythe the Bible says that we grieve,
but we don't grieve as those whohave no so hope because we have the

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hope one day of being reunited withthose That's certainly a benefit. That's why
we can say to die is agame. It also means that we will
be like Christ. First John,chapter three and verse two. Beloved,
now are we the sons of God. And it does not yet appear what
we shall be. But we knowthat when he shall appear, we shall
be like him, For we shallsee him as he is. We will

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be perfectly righteous, just like Christ. Is our knowledge will increase, our
capacity for love and joy will increase. There'll be no more envy, no
more jealousy. No, we willbe will be conformed into the image of
Christ. And then number five,we will be with Christ. And I've
saved the best for last because thatis the best, and that goes along

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with what I just said before that, and that is to be like Christ.
That's what death is going to bring. We're going to be like Christ
and we're going to be with Christ. If Paul doesn't say for me to
die is to be free from sin, though that's true, or for me
to die is to be free fromsuffering, although that would be true.
For me to die is to bereunited with my family and friends who are

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saved. That's all those are true, but that's not what Paul says is
the main benefit. Though Paul wantsmost of all to be with Christ and
to be like Christ. See hisdilemma, and I guess I should have
mentioned this earlier. Was not betweenChrist and not having Christ. It's between
Christ and having more of Christ.It's between seeing Christ by faith or seeing

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Christ by sight. See to dieis gain because there will be no more
separation between Christ and his people,and we're going to be together for all
eternity. So I ask you,do you look at death as a loss

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whereas a gain. The only personwho can say to die is gain is
the person who first of all says, to live is Christ. Just make
sure we get these in the rightorder. Here. The prophet Balam once
said, and this is recorded innumbers chapter twenty three and verse ten,
let me die of the death ofthe righteous. Well, that's a good

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goal, that's a good ambition.But there's only one problem with that.
Balim didn't realize before he could diethe death of the righteous, he had
to live the life of the righteous. That's what Paul saying. For me
to live is Christ, but forme to die is gain. And we're
talking about earning salvation. We're talkingabout the evidence of salvation. We're talking

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about the evidence that someone can say, for me to die is gain,
so to live is Christ. Canyou say that, friend? Can you
save? To live is Christ?Is Christ? What you're living for?
I certainly hope. So that meansyou've been saved, you're justified, you're

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adopted into God's family. And whenyou can say that and truly say that,
and I pray that you can thenyou can also then add these words,
but to die is gain. Todie is a benefit to me.
To die is more beneficial to mebecause it means to be absent from the
body, to be taken from thisworld to the next, to change my

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location. To live is Christ.We'd like to thank you for listening to
our program this morning. We praythat God has used this message to draw
you closer to Him. Storm ScreakingMissionary Baptist Church would like to take this

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opportunity to bite to any of itsservices. We have a Sunday School which
starts at nine thirty am, SundayMorning Worship ten fifteen, and our Sunday
Evening service starts at six pm.We also have a Wednesday Night Bible Study
which starts at seven thirty pm.Storms Creek Missionary Baptist Church is also on

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the internet under Sermonaudio dot com.You can go to www. Dot Sermon
Audio, look for Storms Creek MissionaryBaptist Church and listen to any of our
sermons in full length audio. Atthe side. Again, we'd like to
thank you for listening this morning,and may God bless you throughout the week.