Thank you, Pastor Greg. We have spent some time remembering Bill. We have spent some time reminiscing on his faith. We would like to see how that is grounded now in the gospel of Jesus Christ. There’s nothing more refreshing to our hearts than that, and so I will be reading, first of all, from Philippians chapter one, beginning with verse 18.
Here the Apostle Paul, writing to the church at Philippi, says, “Yes, and I will rejoice, for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, this will turn out for my deliverance, as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed but that with full courage now as always, Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means faithful labor for me, yet which I shall choose, I cannot tell. I’m hard-pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account.”
Two Possible Outcomes
In the setting here, the Apostle Paul is writing from a Roman prison. He was in prison for his ministry of the gospel. He is in Rome at the time, and he’s writing to the church at Philippi. And he sees two possible outcomes. One, he’ll be released, or two, he’ll be put to death.
But what’s remarkable about this passage is how the Apostle Paul sorts out his preferences with regard to those two alternatives. Now it’s not—it is not a “to be or not to be” kind of situation where either alternative is a bad one. This is for Paul a puzzling and a perplexing thing to decide because both alternatives are good. “To live is Christ.” If I live, if they release me, I continue my service for Christ and that will be good for you and for others. But for my part considered, if I die, that’s gain.
What’s interesting is how he characterizes that alternative. He says that will be gain. “To die is gain.” Or as he says in the next verse, to be with Christ—that’s what it means to die for him. It will be to be with Christ, he says, which is far better.
Pastor Greg mentioned the words—it stems back as far as we know to the 18th-century evangelist John Wesley: “Our people die well. Our people die well.” Just highlighting the fact that the people who know Christ, the people who know the gospel, have such a confidence in Christ that they reflect what the Apostle Paul has here: a confidence even in the face of death. Such a confidence that when death is coming and they know it, it’s okay. To die is gain.
And as we’ve mentioned here this evening, all three of us, that was very clearly the case with Bill. There have been many occasions in pastoral ministry where I’ve gone to deal with someone in some particular difficult situation, whether it’s bereavement or terrible sickness or whatever, and you go with the intention of ministering to them, and go away thinking they’ve ministered to me instead. That’s happened many times, and it was the case certainly with Bill. There was with him a wonderful confidence in Christ, and I don’t mean something that was cranked up, talking to the preacher the way you’re supposed to. It was almost a nonchalant kind of confidence. “Oh look, I’m not worried. It’s okay, I’m not concerned about this, Pastor. Whatever God has is fine with me.” That kind of confidence, and it reflects what the Apostle Paul has here in Philippians chapter one.
A Heaven to Be Gained and a Hell to Be Feared
Now I want to say that’s not natural. Death is an enemy, and we all fear it. We know naturally what it is to fear death. And to face death with that kind of a calm confidence is not a natural thing. The key that makes it all so is what Paul says here: “To die is gain because to die is to be with Christ, which is far better.”
Now, in our Christianized West, if I can put it that way, everyone goes to heaven and everybody knows that. And all you have to do is die to go to heaven. And anytime anybody dies, well, he’s in heaven now. And we all assure ourselves that that’s where he is or that’s where she is. And all you have to do is die and you go to heaven. That’s the way it works.
But you have to wonder, with all of that talk, the same Bible that tells us about heaven tells us not everybody will get there. And in fact, the same Bible that tells us about heaven tells us that no one deserves to get there. The same Bible that tells us about heaven tells us about hell. It tells us about a place of punishment, a place of God’s justice, where his justice is meted out against sinners in wrath because of their sin. It makes us uncomfortable to talk about it, but the biblical writers don’t shy away from it at all. That’s just right up front and prominent. These are important issues. There is a heaven to be gained and there is a hell to be feared and to be avoided. And the biblical writers don’t shy away from that. It’s very prominent in their message.
And in fact, it’s not just in their message, but I suspect it’s true to say that there is in fact something in every last one of us that already knows that. We’re created in the image of God. Created in God’s image, there’s his thumbprint, as it were, on us and on our soul. And intuitively, we know not only that he is there, but intuitively we know we’re obligated to him. Intuitively we know we’re accountable to him. Intuitively we know there’s right and there’s wrong, and there’s a sense of justice. Intuitively, we all know that.
And in fact, we recognize intuitively, even though we may suppress it because it’s disturbing, we all recognize that we’re accountable to God and those that sin are worthy of punishment. We all recognize that because there is this image of God in us. We recognize that he is. We recognize that we’re accountable to him. We recognize that there’s justice. We recognize that accounts must be settled. And it’s disturbing. As I say, we may repress that, may try to suppress it, but we all recognize that it’s there.
And in every last human heart, there’s the recognition that we have to somehow, if we are going to be safe, we must somehow find a way to be rid of sin. We may repress that thought because it’s disturbing, but we know it nonetheless that we’re accountable to God. And it may comfort us ourselves to say of someone after he dies, “Well, he’s in heaven now.” The fact is, I think we all would acknowledge that before death, most people are not marked with that kind of confidence. And I think most of us, at least in the back of our minds, wonder if it’s so. And we all have to recognize that the confidence that marked the Apostle Paul here, as he writes to the Philippian church—and I want to say the confidence that marked Bill—is not the norm. But then again, I want to say it is the norm for all of those who know the gospel of Jesus Christ. Our people die well.
God Has Provided a Savior
Now, how is that? Well, the Bible doesn’t shy away from the difficult questions. It faces the questions head on, and it’s given to us for just that exact purpose. And the Bible comes to us and warns us very frankly that we have sinned, and that’s a very serious matter. And the Bible comes to us very frankly telling us that our sin has been an offense to the God of heaven, and that our sin merits eternal punishment. The Bible, biblical writers are never shy to tell us that and to press the matter.
But the biblical writers—in fact, the Bible is given to tell us this wonderful message that God himself, despite all of that, despite our offense against him, God himself has provided a way out. He has given us a Savior who has himself lived the life that God has required. And he has offered in his death on the cross a sacrifice to God in place of sinners so that they may go free. Here is the Savior that we each need, someone, the Lord from heaven who has come and offered himself in place of sinners.
And God comes to us telling us up front: you can’t make it yourself. You have no hope; you deserve condemnation. But God has provided a Savior who has offered himself in place of sinners, and in his death bore the curse, the condemnation of God against sin, and now offers himself to those who will come to him in faith and bow before him turning from their sin. He will have them and they may be saved.
And the amazing thing about the gospel message is we don’t have to come to God pretending that we have done well enough. In fact, we come to God—and he encourages us to do it—to come to God confessing frankly that we don’t deserve salvation, confessing frankly our sins and pleading instead just Jesus Christ alone, who is for sinners all that God requires of sinners. And that is our only hope.
Found in Christ
And that, in fact, is the testimony of the Apostle Paul. We could turn over a page here in this letter to the Philippians. And he tells us that in terms of his own testimony. He tells us his background and how he came to where he is now. And he had a religious heritage that most would think very admirable. In fact, he thought it was admirable. He was a religious man. He came from a religious home, deeply devout. He was sincere in the study of the word of God himself. He was zealous in obeying and living for God. He was in a Jewish context. In our context, more likely that would be he was born into a Christian home. He was baptized. He served in the church. He gave money to charity. An impressive record.
And Paul felt rather self-satisfied with it all, he tells us. Rather self-accomplished. It was an impressive record. But Paul came to recognize that all of the accomplishments that he had were not enough to present himself in good standing before God, that all of his efforts had fallen short of God’s righteousness, that he had not made the grade. And besides, whatever good he had done, there was still the fact of his sins that remained, and how will they be accounted for? Finally, the Apostle Paul says, “I realized I was lost.”
And he says, “I finally just gave it up altogether.” And I recognized there was nothing I could do to present myself in good standing before this righteous God. And what I did instead was abandon myself entirely to the Lord Jesus. And he tells us from Philippians chapter three that his whole hope before God was that when he stands before him in judgment, he will be found in Christ, not having his own righteousness, but having the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ.
And that, and that alone, was the ground of Paul’s confidence in facing death. “I have someone who is for me all that God requires of me, and I’ve abandoned myself to him, and entrusting myself to him, I will be safe.” And so he pleads the Lord Jesus Christ and Christ alone. That was Paul’s whole hope, his whole confidence, as we say it, his whole confidence in life and in death was Jesus Christ alone. Trusting in him, he knew he would be safe forever.
That’s what explains the Apostle Paul’s confidence. That’s precisely what the gospel of Jesus Christ offers to every man or woman. Come to Jesus Christ and find in him everything that God requires of you. Bow before Him in faith and in submission and find in Him all that God requires of you. That’s God’s promise. We are, in fact, sinners deserving of wrath. But God will accept us freely when we come to Him by way of His Son, Jesus Christ.
And I want very much to tell you that for all of this talk that we have had this afternoon about Bill’s confidence facing death, wonderful as it was, I want very much to tell you that that confidence was not grounded in some delusion or some pretending that he had been good enough. That confidence was grounded in the fact that he had a Savior who was good enough and who had stood in his place and had borne the punishment of sin.
As that great first question of the Heidelberg Catechism reads: What is your only confidence in life and in death? Answer: That I, with body and soul, both in life and in death, am not my own, but I belong to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ, who with his blood has satisfied for all of my sins.
That is the gospel of Jesus Christ. That is what is offered to us all. And with that, and only with that, can we have the confidence facing death that the Apostle Paul reflects here and that we have seen wonderfully in the dying days of Bill Lee.
Let’s bow together for prayer.