Thank you again for the kind words of welcome. It's good to be here with you tonight. I really enjoyed this morning's worship and this morning's sermon about Mary and her great statement of faith in God. I've had a good week. The sunshine is relentless. It's so nice. So different from home. Many highlights over the week. I think the best highlight was going down to San Francisco Bay, and it was a beautiful day. We went up on the mountain or the hill behind the Golden Gate Bridge, and we took photographs down, looking at the city, Alcatraz. It was worth coming, what, 5,500 miles just to see that. I wonder, are you aware just how beautiful part of the world is. It's good to be here with you. Well, we've thought today about Mary and her great statement of faith in God. We're going to look at another statement of faith by Paul in Philippians chapter 1. We read some verses from this chapter last Sunday night. We're going to read some more now. We're going to turn to Philippians 1 and verse 12. through to verse 26. The Word of God in Philippians 1 verse 12. I want you to know brothers that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel so that it has become known throughout the whole Imperial Guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ. And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear. Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from goodwill. The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. the former, proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment. What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice. 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 honoured 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 fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I cannot tell. I am hard-pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, which is far better. But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account. Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all for your progress and joy in the faith so that in me you may have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus because of my coming to you again. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for the living and enduring Word of God. We thank you that your Word is forever settled in the heavens. We thank you that your Word is truth. We remember that thing that Satan whispered into the ear of Eve. Has God really said? We thank you that you have really said. We thank you for your eternal word. We thank you for our study of it today already and for the opportunity to think about it again tonight. And may we know the help of its true author, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth, who will lead us into the truth and then give us grace to live it out. in our lives. We pray it for our sake, for our benefit, but most of all, we pray for the sake and the glory of the Lord Jesus. Amen. Philippians 1 verse 21, For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. To die is more of him. It's one of the greatest statements ever made by the Apostle Paul and he made many of them. This surely is one of the greatest. It's also one of the greatest statements ever uttered, ever written in the whole of human history. Now it's a great statement, yes, But I want to show you tonight that it's also the biblical standard of true Christianity. It's a statement of fact. It's a statement of living reality. It's a statement of testimony. It's a statement of living experience. I want to take some time to analyze it so that we might understand it. And then we need grace from God to live like this. to have this as our text, as our verse, as something that characterizes our Christian lives. We discovered last Sunday night that Paul is writing this beautiful letter of thanksgiving to his friends at Philippi in northern Greece, and he's writing it from a prison cell in the city of Rome, which was the capital city of the world at the time. He was there charged with treason. He had committed no such offense. But he's there. He's there really as a Christian. He's there because of his Christian faith. And sometimes things happen to us as Christians and we get very upset and very annoyed, become very disappointed. We can become disappointed with God, even bitter towards God. We can become discouraged, even depressed in our Christian faith. But we don't find any of that with the Apostle Paul here in the prison cell in Rome. Far from it. He's rejoicing. He's actually rejoicing in God, and that is a remarkable thing. Truly amazing. We looked in verse 12 last week. I want you to know. His friends were worried about him. They were praying for him. They had sent a very generous gift to him. Thank you for your gift, but I want you to know something. that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel and I'm rejoicing in that so please don't fret don't worry don't be anxious about me that's not how I'm feeling about myself and my circumstances I wish my circumstances were different to what they are but in the providence of God here I am and God is working all of this out my imprisonment for the advance of the gospel and in that I am so I'm so happy. I rejoice in what God is doing through these painful circumstances. And then in verse 20 he says a remarkable thing which sort of characterizes his life. He says, 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. And it's that little phrase, those three words there, now, as always. Now, there's Paul. There is the consistency of Paul's life. the consistency of his righteousness and his holiness and his walk with God. This is his attitude in life. Now, as always, do you see the consistency there? Now, he's in the last chapter of his life. He could well be in the last few pages of the final chapter of his life. But I just pray that now, as always, as it has always been, my desire, whether by life or by death, Christ will be honored in my body. So, he's focused. A Christian is someone who is focused mentally, Focused. Intellectually focused. Emotionally focused. Focused on what? Focused on Christ. Now, as always, Christ will be honored in my body. And it's because of that, he can then say in our text, verse 21, for, when you see the word for, In the New Testament, it's a link word between what's come before and what's about to come now. For, in view of what I've just said, in view of my attitude to life, in view of my Christ-focused life, for, to me, notice how personal that is, he's opening up his heart to his friends. I want you to know this about me. For me, It's very personal. For me, to live is Jesus. And to die is more of Jesus. So I'm rejoicing. I'm better than okay. I'm rejoicing. So please don't worry about me. Thank you for your love. Thank you for your support. Thank you for your gift. But I'm actually okay. Because for me, to live is Christ. To die is gain. It's believed that Paul faced two possibilities in prison in Rome. One, he would either be put to death. And we know that that did happen. The second possibility was that he would just stay in prison. The third possibility of being released, it really wasn't a possibility and that did not happen. So faced with that prospect, either I'll be put to death, executed on the orders of the Emperor or I'll just remain here in chains. You see, for me to live is Christ. To die is more of Jesus. And now we begin to see the secret of Christian joy. It's not based on our circumstances, which come and go, which are good and then change and become bad and then change and become good. Our joy is not based on what's happening to us. It's based on our relationship. with our Lord Jesus Christ. This text tonight is really raising for us the most basic and fundamental question that we could ever ask ourselves. What is life? What is living in this world really about? What is your view of life? See, everybody has a view. Everybody. Everyone in this room. Everyone in this city has a view of life. If you talk to people about their view, they're only too glad and willing to tell you what their view is. What's your view of life? What would you say? You take Paul's words. For me, personally, You open up your heart to ask tonight, what would you say? Well, for me, to live is, is what? What is living for you? For me to live is chasing the dollar. For me to live is, is what? You just go, take this text, go right to the core of your being. You put yourself face-to-face with the Word of God. You look into a mirror. What do you see? What do you see? For me to live is... is what? What is life? Well, there were many different views about life back in Paul's day, just as there are many views of life today. to think about a few of them. Maybe you'll be able to relate to some of these. Maybe you're not a Christian and you have adopted one of these views of life. I want to mention them and then show you how different Paul's view of life is compared to the way that people think. The first view I want to mention to you was very popular in Paul's day, very popular in the ancient world. When I mention the name, you might not be aware of the name, might not have heard of the name, but when I mention what the view is, you'll understand immediately what it is. It's called, or it was called, the Epicurean view of life. Epicurus was a philosopher and the Greeks loved their philosophy. They loved to sit about, the men especially, to sit about all day and they would talk philosophy, to talk about life, the meaning of life. The Epicurus taught that life is to be enjoyed. Life is about a search for pleasure. It was all summed up in the phrase, and you'll know this phrase well from scripture, let us eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we die. So you come into this world, you know you're going to die one day, You hope that day will be a way off in the future. So what do you do with life? Well, you try your best to enjoy it. Let's eat. Let's drink. Let's be merry. Let's party. Let's be happy. Let's go for it. Bobby McFerrin, back in the 1980s, had a song called, Don't Worry, Be Happy. Be happy. It's simple, isn't it? How do you become happy? Eat and drink and be merry and party. When I was a teenager I was an Epicurean. I didn't realize I was an Epicurean. I'd never heard of Epicurus, but I was as a teenager and most teenagers are Epicureans. They are, I once was, a hedonist. Pleasure. The only thing that counted was Seeking and finding pleasure. I was in Epicurean. I hated school. A lot of teenagers hate school. You can't wait for the bell to ring and you're out and you can have fun and you can enjoy yourself and as a teenager in Northern Ireland with my friends on a Friday night we would go to what was called the Off Licence and we would buy our our tins of beer and we would go down, it's a seaside town and there was a pier in Bangor. We'd go to the end of the pier and the police wouldn't see us. I would spend the whole night drinking cheap beer to get what we'd call tanked up on the cheap before going into the nightclubs. And I all week long longed for Friday because I was an epicurean. and I couldn't wait to have fun and to have pleasure because Monday to Friday was dull and school was dull and life is dull and we need something to make life exciting and pleasurable and enjoyable and so soccer sport in general but soccer in particular and alcohol and girls Not necessarily in that order. And as an Epicurean and my mates were all the same. Let's eat, drink and be merry because you know we're young. Death is over there somewhere and let's just enjoy life. Epicureanism sounds great, doesn't it? It sounds so attractive. There's one problem, there's many problems with it. There's one problem with it. It doesn't work. It doesn't work. And if you're a teenager and you think it does work, just have a word with anyone over the age of about, about 30, and we'll be able to tell you, hand on heart, it does not work. It does not satisfy. the deepest longings of your heart. For me to live is hedonism and pleasure and drink and drugs and sex and music. It doesn't work. It just doesn't work. That brings us to the second view that was very popular in Paul's day, and it was the complete opposite of Epicureanism, and it's called the Stoic's view of life. Stoicism was a Greek philosophy that captured the imagination of a lot of people who recognized that Epicureanism didn't work. Stoicism stated life not to be enjoyed, life is to be endured. Life is hard. You go out and try and have a good time and something happens. Something goes wrong. Something bad happens in your life. Life is going smoothly. Things are going well. And then all of a sudden, bang! Something happens in your life. And from going up and it being good, all of a sudden you're on the slippy slope and you're going down and you're wondering, what's going on? The Stoics realized that there's far more to life than pleasure. Pleasure is good if you can get it, said the Stoics, but it's hard to get because life is tough. Life isn't about pleasure, the Stoics said. Life is about tears. Life is about suffering. Life is about pain. Life is hard. Life means endurance. Life means perseverance. Life means determination. Life means holding on and just getting through somehow. In the UK we call it the British Bulldog Spirit. Stoicism. The stiff upper lip. Life comes at you. It's hard. You just, you hold your ground. Like Winston Churchill, you're strong and you're dogged and you're determined. Stoicism. Is that what Paul is saying here? For me to live his grim determination through all the storms of life? Is that what he's saying? No, he's not saying that. He's giving us something way better than that. Epicureanism, Stoicism. And then thirdly, there is the cynical view of life. Common in Paul's day and so common in our day. Cynicism. Summed up in three words. What's the point? What's the point? Strange how many teenagers, in their search for pleasure, come to a point in their lives, maybe in their mid-twenties, late-twenties, and they move from epicureanism into cynicism. What is the point? What's the use in anything? What's the use of religion? What's the use of politics? What's the use of life? Solomon, when he looked at life apart from God, became a cynic. Meaningless, meaningless, everything is meaningless. Vanity, vanity, all is vanity. Life becomes pointless without God at the center. Cynicism. And I don't know what it's like among young people, especially young men in California, but go back to Northern Ireland, especially the city of Belfast. The suicide rate in young men from mid-teens up to mid-twenties is appalling. It's shocking. Cynicism. I thank God that Paul gives us something much more than cynicism. For me to live is. And then fourthly, the humanist view of life. Such a popular view of life today. Humanism claims and states very doggedly that there is no God. Because there's no God, we are all that there is. It's just humans. It's all there is. We're at the top of a tree. Humans. There's no God up there. So we rely on ourselves, and we look to ourselves, and we trust ourselves. We rely on our own wisdom, and our technology, and our thoughts, and our ideas. Religion is a thing of the past. It's humanism. We're at the center of life. And humanism informs so much of the political thought back in the UK. I'm sure it's the same here. God has put out beyond the boundaries and it's just us at the centre. And so in that humanistic political world, life becomes an opportunity for being good and doing good. It's about making the right choices. It's about working hard. They're chasing your dreams. But God is not in that. He's been pushed away. It's the human who's at the centre, not the divine. It's all summed up in the words of John Lennon's famous song, Imagine. Imagine there's no heaven. It's easy if you try. And so it is. So easy. No hell below us, above us only sky. So, there's no God. It's just us. So get on with it. Make the best of it. Humanism. You may say I'm a dreamer. And as Christians we would say you're a dreamer. You're just dreaming. It's just imagination. You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one. There's others like me who believe the same thing. But I hope someday you'll come and join us. You'll leave religion behind. It's just us. There's no God. I hope someday you'll come and join us. And then the world will live as one. All you need is love. Humanism doesn't work. Just listen to the news at home and abroad every day and you discover that humanism is bankrupt. It's left God out beyond the boundary of life. We need to get him, says Paul, and put him right back in the very centre. The fifth view of life, again so prevalent, so important in schools and in education, then that's the scientific view of life, which is so influenced by atheistic Darwinian evolution. And life, according to science, means existence. You just exist. You're just here. No rhyme or reason for it. You're just here. And life is an animal condition. Life is a biological condition. You're a collection of molecules, cells, and that's it. You're not a spiritual being. There is no God. That is fantasy. You are just what you are. And your great-great-great-great-great-great-granda was a chimpanzee. You just exist. You just are. We know as Christians that that view of life has lost the dignity of being made in the image and likeness of God. We have not been made in the image and likeness of a chimpanzee. We've been made in the likeness of a God who is moral and spiritual. Then lastly, the religious view of life. Still for many people, life means being religious. performing religious duties, being nice, being good, going to church, going to your temple, going to your synagogue, going to your mosque, good living, doing religion. And still, despite the fact that our world is so influenced by humanism, and science still within our world, there are billions of people still religious. Is this what Paul is saying to us in Philippians 1.21? For me to live is religion? Is this what he's saying? Of course not. I want you to notice specifically what he says and what he doesn't say. For me to live is Christ. I want you to hold that thought. The Jew can and will say, for me to live is God. That's not what Paul says. The Muslim will say, for me to live is God, Allah. That's not what Paul says. The Buddhist or the Hindu, we got a flavour of that this morning in the Sunday school. For me to live is my God's, my religion, All religions in the world will say and affirm, for me to live is religion or God. Paul doesn't say that. He's very deliberate. What he says is different. For me to live is Christ. I wonder, do you catch that? Do you see that tonight? The difference between the Christian position every other faith, every other religion is the centrality of Jesus Christ. As we finish off, I want to ask this question. What does he mean when he says, for me to live as Christ? I think he means three things. And we need to take hold of these three things and apply them to our own lives tonight. First of all, for me to live is loving Christ. A Christian is someone who loves the Lord Jesus. I'm going to ask you two questions. Do you believe in Jesus Christ? Robert mentioned this morning how many people intellectually give assent to the fact that Jesus Christ existed. To deny that is crazy. We believe in this person, Jesus Christ. Now let me ask you another question. It's a different kind of question. Do you love Jesus? That's a question that no one can dodge. That question goes to the heart of your heart. It goes to the core of your being. Jesus I wouldn't say I love him. I come to church. I do religion. I believe in God. I believe the Bible. But then this question goes way deeper, doesn't it? Do you love? Do you love Jesus? Do you love him? Simon Peter denied Christ three times, and three times Jesus asked him, Simon Peter, do you love me? Do you love me? And each time Christ asks that question, Peter's heart hurts more and more. You know everything. Jesus, you know. You know my heart. You know that I love you. And so Christ asks it again. He drives it home. Do you really love me? Love for Christ is the essence of Christianity. Love. Faith. Hope. Love. The greatest. My faith is in Jesus. For my salvation. Faith. Hope. I have an eternal hope. A sure and certain hope in Jesus Christ. Yes. Love. Love. I love Him. I love Him. And this is what Paul is saying in Philippians 1.21, for me, to live is loving Christ. And is that our testimony tonight? I love Him. We sang earlier, more love, more love to Christ. I love Him. Jesus said, where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Where or what is your treasure? For me to live is what? What's the treasure? What's the passion? What's the thing that makes you tick? What's the thing that moves you? Where is it? In that verse in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is putting our treasure up there. In the heavens, Christ with God. It's about love, you see. It's about devotion. I love Him. Jesus is asked, what's the greatest commandment? He said, love. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, your mind, and your strength. For me to live, is loving Christ. And then, moving on from that, for me to live is living for Christ. You see, love always expresses itself through actions. Today we've been celebrating the love of mothers. And mum does not just say, I love you. Mum shows her love. by all that she does. That is the nature of love. And those of us who maybe rang up Mum on the phone and said to her today or visited her and said, Mum, I love you. She was thrilled to bits with that. But Mum will want more than just the words, Mum, I love you. Because in her heart of hearts, Mum wants to see your love. for her. She wants to see it. She doesn't just want to hear it. She wants to see it. Because that's the nature of love. Paul has spent his life from the moment he was converted on the Damascus road spreading the message of Jesus Christ. He's glad when Christ is preached either by himself or by others who are jealous and envious of him and are his rivals. It doesn't matter because all that matters is Christ. I'm living for Christ. I love Christ. And if I live, if I go on living, then I'll continue to do what I've always done, and that is be a messenger who will testify to people about Christ, like these prison guards who are chained to me every day. For me to live is Christ. And if I go on living, that's my ministry. If God's providence brings that to an end and I die, so be it. It'll mean more of Jesus. Love shows itself in action. I cannot say as a Christian, I love the Lord Jesus and then do nothing for Him. We must all show our love for Christ through our various ministries, through the exercising of our different Christ-given gifts. As we heard this morning, getting involved, getting into ministry, getting into service. Paul says in Galatians 2.20, the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. Jesus didn't shout down from heaven to us, I love you, I love you, and back off. Oh, he says to us I love you and he comes down to the womb of a virgin. Love is active, not passive. Love does things. And this is what Paul is saying in this great text. You see, for me, to live is Christ. So, what about you? Is this your testimony? Is this the attitude of your life? If you were arrested, For being a Christian, will there be enough evidence to convict you? For me to live is loving Christ. For me to live is living for Christ. And thirdly and finally, and I think this gets right to the heart of the matter, for me to live is being satisfied with Christ. This is what he needs, for me to live as Christ. We all have a desire to be satisfied. That's how God has made us. There is an inner longing in all our hearts for satisfaction. And the heavenists, and the epicureans, and the cynics, and the stoics, and the humanists, and the religionists, and everybody, we all in our own way are searching, looking, trying to find this thing We want to be satisfied. Paul is saying that it's Jesus who satisfies me in every conceivable way. He satisfies me intellectually. In Ephesians, Paul talks about the unsearchable riches of Christ. I've been a Christian for, what, 27, 28 years now. And intellectually, I love the Bible. And I love the Gospel. I love the Lord Jesus. And I feel after 27 years, I'm still just scratching on the surface. There are depths in it that I know nothing about, still. And I find it intellectually so satisfying. I'm not embarrassed to say that. People think we're crazy for believing in the Bible. People think we're crazy for believing in Jesus Christ. The virgin birth we thought about this morning, the miracles of Christ, the resurrection. People think we're crazy. I think this is fantastic. I love this. Intellectually it satisfies my mind beyond everything else. Way beyond soccer, way beyond alcohol, way beyond drugs. That's so satisfying. And emotionally, I find as a Christian, the Lord Jesus satisfies me emotionally in a way that nothing else can. As a Christian and as a pastor, there are times my heart is so heavy and so sad and sometimes it's broken. Sometimes people, sometimes people break my heart. I'm sure people break your heart. I'm sure you break other people's hearts. It's the way it is, isn't it? And then I come to Christ, and what do I discover? I discover Him coming to me. And He says to me, do not let your heart be troubled. My thing. He is just. Him and His person, and what He says, and what He teaches. It's exactly what I need. In every single Issue in every problem in every circumstance in my life intellectually emotionally and spiritually Spiritually Jesus satisfies me in in ways that that nothing and no one else can I'm sure you've all been in that Kind of position in life with Paul you you have pain. We're not exactly sure the nature of it It was probably physical There's this pain, and it's so sore. And not once, not twice, but three times the great apostle prays to God in his quiet time. Lord, please, I cannot cope anymore with this pain. It's too much. Please, I plead with you, please take my pain away. And the Lord replies, no, no. Paul, I want to show you that my grace is sufficient for you. That was a hard, bitter lesson. I'm sure some of us, many of us have experienced that in our own lives. Lord, please take this away. I can't cope anymore. It's too much for me. And the Lord says, at this time, at this chapter in your life, it remains. But my grace will be sufficient, all-sufficient for you. And when Paul came to embrace that, he didn't do that in five minutes. That took a long time to embrace that lesson. The all-sufficient grace of Jesus in the most painful of experiences. He then came to say, I rejoice now in all my weaknesses, in all my trials, in all my sadnesses. I have now discovered this. It's another one of the secrets of the Christian life. It's when I'm weak, it's when I'm weak, it's then I'm strong. I can do all things, but only through Christ who strengthens me. He satisfies me intellectually and emotionally and spiritually. And it's because of that he's able to say to the Philippians at the end of the book, my God shall supply all your need according to his glorious riches that are in Christ Jesus. And I love the way he's so personal in this letter. He says, my God, my God, Paul, how do you know with such confidence that your God will supply all their need. How do you know he's going to do that Paul? Because he's done it repeatedly for me. He satisfies in every way. Who can cheer the heart like Jesus by his presence all divine, true and tender, pure and precious, oh how blessed to call him mine. every need His hands supplying, every good in Him I see, on His strength divine relying, He is all in all to me." Is that Christian rhetoric? Is that something we sing or say as Christians? Or is that a living daily reality in our lives? He is all in all to me. All that thrills my soul is Jesus. He is more to life than me. more than life to me and the fairest of ten thousand in my blessed Lord I see Christian rhetoric or living reality here is true Christianity for me to live is Jesus any experience that falls short of that It's not Christian experience. This is authentic, New Testament Christianity. When Paul says, for me, and makes it personal, he's not saying that for me it's this, but for you it can be something else. No, this is the real deal. This is it. For me, Christ. Maybe as Christians we've lost this. Maybe we've lost this focus. Maybe through time in our Christian experience, as the years have passed, so many other things have come into our hearts, into our lives, and it's no longer for me to live as Christ. Maybe you're here tonight, you're not a Christian. You may be as an unbeliever, you just can't understand why Christians come to church and sing about Jesus and talk about Jesus and preach about Jesus. And why Paul would ever say, for me to live as Christ, you just can't see it, you can't understand it. Well, it works both ways because we can't understand how you can think that. Why can you not see? Why can you not say this? Why do you not want to say this? For me to live is... And we know why. And Robert mentioned it this morning. It's the selfishness of sin. For me to live is... me. Not for me to live is Christ. And that's why Jesus said, if anyone would come after me, he must Deny himself Take up his cross the symbol of death and follow me Why would anyone want to follow Jesus? Because of who he is And because of what he's done And because of what he's going to do for us in the future Paul, a Jewish fanatic, thought he was pleading God when he went to Damascus to exterminate the Christian church. But on that road he caught a glimpse of the risen Christ. He never forgot the face, he never forgot the sight, and from that moment until the day he was executed for his faith as an old man, from that moment he fell in love with the Son of God. the glory and the majesty of his person. Count Nicholas von Zinzendorf was a very close friend of John Wesley. Zinzendorf was a Moravian leader. He's famous for a couple of things. One, for the hymn, Jesus Thy Blood and Righteousness. And secondly, for his famous saying in church history. Zinzendorf said, I have one passion. It is he. and he alone. And what he said is what Paul says. For me, to live is Christ and to die is just more of Jesus. Paul loved Christ. Paul lived for Christ and Paul was completely and totally and 100% satisfied with Christ and that was why I was at peace in a Roman cell and that was why it had such an impact on the world and even to this night we're thinking about him and we want what he said to be the testimony of our lives for me for us yes yes to live this week In all our days, Christ, and to die one day, will mean more of Jesus. Let's pray together. Father, we thank you for this great text of Scripture. We know it so well. Thank you for the opportunity to tease it out and think it through and to apply it to our own hearts. We thank you for Paul. for your saving, transforming grace in his life, a murderer, a man with blood on his hands, yet a man who became the greatest Christian who ever lived. Thank you for his love for Jesus, for the way he lived for Jesus, and the way in which his heart was totally satisfied with our Lord Jesus Christ. May these words in this text not be black ink on a page. May they become the living testimony of each and every one of us. For me to live is Christ. And may the grace, the all-sufficient grace of Jesus Christ be with us all now and always. Amen.