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TITLE: To Die
is Gain
TEXT: Philippians 1:21-24
PROPOSITION: Christians must die with anticipation.
QUESTION: Why?
KEY WORD: Freedoms
SCRIPTURE READING: Same
INTRODUCTION:
- Death is, for most people, a frightening time.
- Death is unknown, feared, awful
- Paul sees the advantages in dying.
Death frees us from:
Sin
- Sin is a mark of our humanity on earth.
- Sin is:
- Missing the mark, falling short of our goal Romans
3:23
- Crossing the line, transgression 1 John 3:4
- When death comes sin stops Romans 7:1
Doubt
- In this life we begin to doubt if it is all worth it. Is
it real?
- John in prison doubted Christ
- Our faith Have we wasted our faith on a myth?
- Our future When death comes what if there is nothing
else?
- At death all our doubts will end.
Temptations
- We are tempted enticed to sin by Satan, situations,
people, greed, etc.
- All enticement to sin will end at death.
Enemies
- There are three kinds of enemies
- People we dont like
- People who dont like us
- People who misunderstand each other
- Matthew 5:44 Love your enemies
- Romans 12:18 As much as lies in you live peaceably
with all men
- Enemies are a normal part of living in a sinful world.
- When we die we will be separated from our enemies.
Sufferings
- We are tested, tried by suffering, persecution
- Hardship natural, economic, inter-personal
- This life is not easy
- 1 Corinthians 10:13 teaches us three things:
- Not the only one common to mankind
- Tailor made not get bigger than you can handle
- Escape is possible God will make a way of escape
Death itself
- The last enemy has been conquered
- Nothing else to fear, dread, conquer
Conclusion:
- In addition to the above points we must add a grand
finale.
- See quote below from Barnes Commentary
Albert Barnes
commentary - to all
this may be added the fact, that the Christian will be surrounded by his best
friends; that he will be reunited with those whom he loved on earth; that he
will be associated with the angels of light; and that he will be admitted to the
immediate presence of his Saviour and his God! Why, then, should a Christian be
afraid to die? And why should he not hail that hour, when it comes, as the hour
of his deliverance, and rejoice that he is going home? Does the prisoner, long
confined in a dungeon, dread the hour which is to open his prison, and permit
him to return to his family and friends? Does the man in a foreign land, long an
exile, dread the hour when he shall embark on the ocean to be conveyed where he
may embrace the friends of his youth? Does the sick man dread the hour which
restores him to health; the afflicted, the hour of comfort? the wanderer at
night, the cheering light of returning day? And why then should the Christian
dread the hour which will restore him to immortal rigor; which shall remove all
his sorrows; which shall introduce him to everlasting day?
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