And turn with me to Philippians chapter one. If you haven't gone there yet, Philippians chapter one. And I have preached this verse a number of times. I have actually preached this verse at a funeral for Tim Schiller. Many of you remember Tim Schiller, our good friend who is with the Lord right now. And I preached this. for him. And so I went back to those notes and printed out a shortened form of those sermon notes for the funeral there. But let's look at Philippians 121 because really just for the few minutes that we have together, I want to exhort my own heart and I want to plead with you to listen in as well. And I trust the Lord will encourage you as well, that we would live all out for Christ, that we would live all out for him. So Philippians 121, it's a well-known verse, a familiar verse, but let me read it here for us. The Apostle Paul says, Philippians 121, for to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. Father, again, we lift our hearts together. And we ask, oh God, that you would teach us from your beautiful, perfect, sufficient, living, and active word. It is sharper than a double-edged sword. It pierces to the division of soul and spirit. It is your word that is our comfort in times of affliction. And so, Lord, for this church family, as we look into your word, Lord, would you help me in my weakness and would you strengthen us and show us Christ and help us to live even more resolutely for his glory, however long you may give us in this life. In Jesus name, amen. So maybe a brief way to title this might just be living is Christ and dying is gain. I was in the room just a few hours ago with my uncle and my mom and my dad and nurses coming in and out and doctors coming in and out and they're giving him the morphine that he needs and making sure that he's comfortable and And it sort of hit me as I was sitting there next to him as my mom was just reading psalms and reading psalms and reading scripture. And my dad would chime in and give the gospel again and again. What struck me was so profound and yet it was so simple. And here's one of the things that struck me. In the final moments and hours of life, however long he may have, the TV wasn't on. Social media was nowhere to be found. The cell phone was nowhere close by. He loved music. My uncle Richard loved guitar. He loved keyboard. He loved the trombone. He loved jazz music. He lived his life recording and mixing and publishing, but none of that is anywhere to be found. The money that he had from his oil business that were to be found. All of the things that we might live for and spend our time doing and the things that occupy much of our energy and mind and efforts and hours each day. None of that was anywhere to be found in that room. A man lying on a bed. with the breathing tube struggling for each breath. None of that was anywhere to be found. And when you think about the end of life, and when you think about what God has for all of us, unless the Lord comes first, we're all gonna be there. We're all gonna come to the end of our life at some point today, tomorrow, in years, a couple of decades, whenever it may be, we don't know. But whenever we come to the end of our lives, it's not going to matter. The TV shows that we watch, the social media that we partook in, the emails that we send, the financial condition that we had, the work particular environment that we lived in. What really will matter when everything is stripped away is your soul is naked before the Lord. And do you stand as a friend of God, a child of God, a servant of the Lord, or do you stand as an enemy of the Lord? The Apostle Paul in Philippians chapter 1, I think, gives such a great and needed reminder for us, thankfully, that we can read this now before it's too late. We can read it now in our lives and say, I want this to be true for me, just like it was for Paul in his own testimony. I want to read this. I want to know this. I want to live this out. I want to obey this with my life. And Paul says, for to me, to live is Christ. And to die is gain. And you know the book of Philippians, Paul is writing from a Roman jail. He's in a cell. He's in a dark cell. It's a cold, gloomy dungeon cell in Rome, as he pens a letter to a small little assembly of Christians in the city of Philippi. And in their afflictions, the whole book of Philippians reminds the believers to rejoice. to rejoice in the Lord. But that's the key, to rejoice in the Lord. How do you rejoice in affliction? How do you rejoice in the final moments of life? How do you rejoice when you're with loved ones who are in the final moments of life? To rejoice in the Lord. That's what Paul says in Philippians 3, 1 and in Philippians chapter 4 as well. He's writing to a church and Paul exhorts them to have joy in the midst of their afflictions. He wants them to have joy. And Philippians 1 is amazing because it's all about the advancement of the gospel. Here's how you can live your life all out for God and truly have joy if you have your mind on Christ and on the advancement of his gospel. So in this verse. You can really break it down into three little phrases. I know it's a short verse as it is, I get that. But we can really kind of break it down into three little phrases and maybe we might even say they're most important phrases. Most important phrases that deal with my eternal soul and they deal with your eternal soul as well. And let's just take a few minutes kind of in this meditation and look at each of them in turn. Notice first in the opening three words of this verse, Paul says four to me, which is kind of paused right there. Here's the first all important phrase. The one who believes in Christ exclusively. We must believe in Christ exclusively. Paul says, for to me, I'm the one who believes in Christ. I'm the one who has my exclusive confidence in Christ. It's a personal resolve. Isn't it interesting that Paul doesn't say, hey, for you church, hey, for you neighbors, hey, for you jailer, hey, for my family. He only speaks for himself individually. For to me. Are you the one who believes in Christ exclusively? This is Paul's decision. This is Paul's will. This is Paul's heart. This is Paul's passion. This is Paul's desire. No person, no authority, no deed, no religious service could ever make him a Christian. But he alone. must come to that point where he would put his faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. He says in the book of Philippians that religion can't save you. He says in the book of Philippians that morality and good works cannot save a person. We read in the Word of God that even the priesthood, even offering sacrifices day after day after day, could never save someone. Even works, good efforts, could never save someone. No one will ever be made right with God by works of the law. Paul says, for to me, to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. It's a good way for you and for I to sort of step back and say, is that true of me? Is that my profession? Is that my affirmation? Is that my confidence? Not my wife, not my husband, not my children, not my church, not the pastor, not the elders. But can you say, verse 21, and really make it your own, for to me, this is the person who believes in Christ. exclusively. This is like that hymn that we've been singing recently. My only hope in life and death is Christ. Christ alone. Christ alone. That is Paul's first affirmation. And it is a very important affirmation. It's not Christ and anything else. It's not Christ and his works. And nobody could make Paul a Christian. Nobody else could do that work for Paul. He must come to Christ and say, This is my determination. I must come to Christ and believe upon him and him alone. What does God require for someone to go to heaven? What does someone need to escape the punishment of their sins in hell? And what do they need to get to heaven? Well, Jesus said, you got to be perfect. You got to be complete. You got to obey the law in every possible way. You need a righteousness. And the only way that can be found is a righteousness outside of you and found only and fully and sufficiently in the Lord Jesus. If someone dies and even in the final moments of life and they're trusting in themselves and they're trusting in their own good effort and their own good deeds and they stand before the Lord at the very instant of death, affirming and proclaiming and confessing their own inherent goodness and what they've tried to do for God. That is not the gospel that saves. The only gospel that saves is clinging to Jesus Christ alone. And so Paul's affirmation right here at the beginning of the verse is the one who believes in Christ must do so exclusively. He alone can save. But let me give you just a second way that we can look at this verse, verse 21. Paul not only says that he, to me, my own personal confession, but look at this second all-important phrase in verse 21, to live as Christ. Actually, there's no verb in the original language for me to live Christ. What's the very definition of life? For Paul, it was Christ. It's not that it will be Christ. It's not that it was Christ. It's not that I hope it will be Christ. It's life Christ, that there's no other way to put it. It must be an ongoing pursuit. And so here's the second all-important phrase. The one who lives for Christ must do so entirely. The one who lives for Christ, Paul says in his own example here, must do so entirely. Not only first, the person who believes in Christ should do so exclusively, but the one who lives for Christ must do so entirely. Oh, Paul says, oh, to live my life, to suffer for Christ, to be in jail for Christ, to do ministry for Christ, to preach life. It's not about preaching. It's not about missions. It's not about being busy for God in the church. It's not about money. It's not about work. Life is Christ. To live fully and to live joyfully and to live peacefully and to live confidently and to live happily is to take Paul's words and make them your own. For me to live. Christ. Christ. Think about that just with your own life. All the things that occupy our hearts. All the things that can occupy our minds. All the things that can distract us. All the thorns, as Jesus might call it, even in a way of being on guard from things that can distract in life. What are some of those things that so often can creep in and you can say, boy, I love living for this. Boy, I love living for that. Boy, I'm so often drawn to this or I'm so often drawn to that. But here's a good reminder to come back to the foundation and say, wait, to live is Christ. To live is Christ. That means that your savior is Christ. If you say that to live as Christ, it means that your focus is on Christ. And if you can say to live as Christ, it not only means that your savior is Christ and your focus is Christ, but it means that your allegiance is Christ. Lord, by your grace, I want my priority and I want my passion. I want my purpose. I want my priority in life to be Christ. If you can say with Paul, to live is Christ, it also means your joy is Christ. God has given in every one of us this automatic pursuit and desire to desire that which we think will make us joyful and happy. Our life is pursuing all kinds of things that they believe will make them joyful and happy. But yet for a Christian, we can say, no, no, no, to live, My joy is Him. To be full of love for Christ, to delight in Christ, to worship Him. To say with the Apostle Paul in verse 21, for to me, to live is Christ, means that your righteousness is Christ. It means that you can say all of my assurance, all of my salvation, all of my confidence, all of my comfort in life and death is all Christ. And to say with Paul in verse 21, to live as Christ also means that your boast is Christ. It means that your boast is Him. And you know, this is what it really is to live life fully. You know, we might say that to live for Christ means that you've really begun to live. But if Christ is not your life, then you haven't begun to truly live life yet. But here's the joy and here's the opportunity to confidently live and to joyously live. And the one who knows that all of my sins are forgiven as Christ died for me. And he drank the cup of God's wrath, which was aimed at my heart. And then Jesus said on the cross, it is finished. took it all, he paid for it all. And I know I can contribute nothing to this work of grace. I can, I can contribute nothing to this work of redemption. It is all a work of Christ and him alone. That's what it is to say to me, to live as Christ. Is that good for you to hear? Is that good for me to hear today? This is what we need. This is what we want. For someone who the Lord has saved to say, for me, an exclusive resolve in my heart, the one who lives must live for Christ entirely. May that be so for me and for you. One of these days, you and I will be perhaps on a bed. Cell phone will be nowhere near. TV will be off. Social media won't matter. The financial condition will be of no value anymore. All of the things and accomplishments and things in the bucket list that we have wanted to do will really be of no eternal value. But yet here's the joy of living and the joy of living life to the fullest is the one who is living for Christ must do so entirely. May God help us to do that. And then here's a third phrase in Philippians 121. For to me, to live is Christ. And then here's the third phrase. It's the final little phrase of this short and small, but yet packed verse. And it's this, to die is gain. To die is gain. Here's the all important phrase. The one who dies in Christ. can do so expectantly. The one who dies in Christ can do so expectantly. This morning I was reading in my own time in the Word and I was reflecting on Job chapter 19. And Job said in Job 19, 25, as for me, I know that my redeemer lives. And at the last, he will take a stand on the earth. Even after my skin is destroyed, yet from my flesh, I shall see God. Job probably lived 600 years before Moses came around. Amazing. that on the earth I will see God from my flesh, whom I myself will behold, and my eyes will see him and not another. Oh, how my heart faints within me. What a confidence the Lord gives to his people. What a confidence that a true child of God can say to live is Christ, but to die, to die is gain. To die is gain. Dying for the saint is always a triumph. Dying for the believer is always victory. Dying for the Christian is always gain. We sometimes say it is graduating to glory. It's always a win for a believer when he dies. It is always a gain for the believer when he dies. But here's the amazing reality that only a true Christian when he dies has gain. Only a true Christian when he dies has gain. But every other person, it is of infinite loss. It is of infinite loss. But here in the verse, Paul's affirmation is, yes, here is my exclusive resolve. And here is my life that I am living all out entirely for God. And yet here is my joyful expectant hope that when I die is gain. To die is gain. Look with me quickly in your Bible. Turn with me to First John, chapter three. In 1 John 3, the apostle John is writing to his beloved church congregation, probably in the city of Ephesus, and he says in 1 John 3 verse 1, See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God, and such we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know him. Beloved, now we are children of God and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when he appears, we will be like him because we will see him just as he is. You see that? You see that hope of the believer? And then John says, everyone who has his hope fixed upon this purifies himself. There's coming a day in the new heavens, in the new earth, in Revelation 21, when the tabernacle of God will be among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God will be among them. Oh, for that day when the fullness of the presence of God will dwell among us forever. In Revelation 22, we read in verse 3, there will no longer be any curse in this new world for the believers. No curse. And the throne of God and the Lamb will be in it, and His bondservants will serve Him. In Revelation 22, verse 4, and they will see His face. The face of God. We will behold the face of God. I'm reminded of what the psalmist said in Psalm 11 at the very end of Psalm 11 in verse seven. The Lord is righteous and he loves righteousness and the upright will behold his face. Oh, for that day when dying is gain, when we behold the face of God, in Psalm 17 and verse 15, as for me, I shall behold your face in righteousness, David said. I will be satisfied with your likeness when I awake. Can you imagine that day when you see the face of God, When you are satisfied with the full presence and the likeness of God in 1 John 3, when we see him just as he is in Revelation 22, when the tabernacle, the presence of God, will be with us forever. You see, for to me, to live is Christ. That's the affirmation now. That ought to be our ambition. That ought to be our resolve. And if you have that as your resolve, then you can confidently say with Paul, then to die is gain. But if living is not for Christ, then dying will not be gain. If living is the things of this world, then dying will be infinite loss. It will be infinite loss. What a great verse that is so needed for us to think of gaining heaven, to think of gaining boundless oceans of joy, to think of gaining the beauty of holiness. But really, ultimately, think of gaining God, gaining God, touching God, beholding the face of God, worshiping him with no distraction, with no cloudiness, with, with no hindrance, with no fuzziness, with no coming to an end, but worshiping God forever in the oceans of infinite perfection that he is and that he has. That is what makes heaven heaven. That is to swim in the river of delight. That's what it is to really be satisfied with God in this life and know that heaven is gain. It's gain. You know, I'm I'm so mindful of the preciousness of life, aren't you? You know, we see the headlines and we see all about Russia and Ukraine and all that's going on there and the preciousness of life. and the brevity of life and what is going to happen today and what is going to happen tomorrow. But it's sort of easy to look at all of that out there and think, boy, those are some really big global events out there. But then to think, yeah, but what about when I come to a day when I'm on my deathbed and I have been said by a nurse or a doctor, you have a few hours left to live, a few hours left to live. The phone is nowhere near the grades or of inconsequential value. The financial stability is really of no value at that point. All that we have done in this life is over. It's like William Ames, who was born in 1576 in England. When he was living his short life for the Lord and serving his congregation As a Puritan preacher, he said this, when you don't know what God is doing with you in your life, and when you don't know why God is doing what he's doing with you in your life, here's what he said, then the attributes of God are what you need to lean upon. Because that will tell you what God is and it will tell you who God is. So when you don't know what God is doing and when you don't know why God is doing what he's doing, Puritan William Ames said, look to the attributes of God and remember who God is. And then he would later write in the latter time in his life, Jesus Christ is the chief good. And he is our eternal happiness. May that be true, not just for William Ames and not just for Paul in Philippians 1, but even for you and I here today that we might even resolve yet again to say, you know what? For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. Jesus Christ is our chief good and he is our eternal happiness. Let's live all out for him. Let's live all out for his glory, serving him, worshiping him. He is worthy of our worship and worthy of our love. Father, thank you for this testimony of the Apostle Paul and Philippians chapter one. Thank you, Lord, even just for this very brief reminder that we must make an exclusive Exclusive affirmation for to me, I myself trust in Christ. Our hope is not in ourselves and we can't produce this hope in others, but we must make this resolve for ourselves individually. Lord, help us that we would live fully for Christ to live is Christ guard us with all of the distractions that we have in this life to live for him. And Lord, remind us even this afternoon of the beauty of heaven and the nearness of heaven and the glory of heaven, that you may receive all praise and all worship as we live our life. And even as we come to our dying breath, that we would say to live as Christ, but all to die is gain in Jesus name.