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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:

  1. Death is, for most people, a frightening time.
  2. Death is unknown, feared, awful
  3. Paul sees the advantages in dying.

Death frees us from:

Sin

  1. Sin is a mark of our humanity on earth.
  2. Sin is:
    1. Missing the mark, falling short of our goal – Romans 3:23
    2. Crossing the line, transgression – 1 John 3:4
  3. When death comes – sin stops – Romans 7:1

Doubt

  1. In this life we begin to doubt if it is all worth it. Is it real?
  2. John in prison doubted Christ
  3. Our faith – Have we “wasted” our faith on a myth?
  4. Our future – When death comes – what if there is nothing else?
  5. At death – all our doubts will end.

Temptations

  1. We are tempted – enticed to sin – by Satan, situations, people, greed, etc.
  2. All enticement to sin will end at death.

Enemies

  1. There are three kinds of enemies
    1. People we don’t like
    2. People who don’t like us
    3. People who misunderstand each other
  2. Matthew 5:44 – Love your enemies
  3. Romans 12:18 – As much as lies in you – live peaceably with all men
  4. Enemies are a normal part of living in a sinful world.
  5. When we die – we will be separated from our enemies.

Sufferings

  1. We are tested, tried – by suffering, persecution
  2. Hardship – natural, economic, inter-personal
  3. This life is not easy
  1. 1 Corinthians 10:13 teaches us three things:
    1. Not the only one – common to mankind
    2. Tailor made – not get bigger than you can handle
    3. Escape is possible – God will make a way of escape

Death itself

  1. The last enemy has been conquered
  2. Nothing else to fear, dread, conquer

 Conclusion:

  1. In addition to the above points we must add a grand finale.
  2. 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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