Well, may it please Almighty
God to help us as we've come to the end of this wonderful
epistle that the Apostle wrote to the Philippians. And this
evening we'll just consider the last five verses. And that's
beginning at verse 19. So we'll read from verse 19.
But, my God, shall supply all your need according to his riches
in glory by Christ Jesus. Now unto God and our Father be
glory for ever and ever. Amen. Salute every saint in Christ
Jesus. The brethren which are with me
greet you. All the saints salute you, chiefly
they that are of Caesar's household. the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ
be with you all. Amen. Perhaps this 19th verse is one
of the most beautiful and wonderful verses in the Word of God and
how the Apostle was able to speak such words from his own personal
experience and therefore to encourage the Philippians as they journeyed
on through life. And may such words be an encouragement
to us tonight. And so we read, but my God shall
supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ
Jesus. Well, the apostle speaks of it
here very personally, and surely it's a wonderful thing if you
and I can also speak of it in a very personal way. He doesn't
say, but God. He says, but my God. And that surely is very humbling
and very wonderful to think that the almighty ruler of the universe,
the creator of all things, is indeed, by his grace, our God. And so the Apostle was able to
therefore venture forward with this wonderful statement, but
my God, no one else, only his God. And the same for us today. It's only our God, only my God
can actually do that, which the Apostle speaks of here. And what
does he speak of? Shall supply all your need according
to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Now, we have a God who
is so great that all those things which he has really are limitless. You and I can try and fathom
such a depth as this, but it's not possible. They are so wonderful
to think that this God shall supply all our need. And I believe that falls into
two categories really. It falls into a natural category
in our lives and it also falls into a wonderful blessing of
a spiritual situation. What a wonderful thing it is
then. for us tonight to be able to consider that this God therefore
will supply all our needs in this natural life. It may not
always, as I've sometimes said, be all that we want, but it will
be all that we need. And there is a large and great
difference, but the Apostle had proved how the Lord had supplied
his need. So many difficulties the Apostle
had passed through, God had never failed him. God had always supplied
his need, naturally. And then what a blessing it is
to look ahead and to consider this with reference to our spiritual
need, which of course is really a far greater need than our natural
need, because it brings with it eternal realities. To think then this evening, we
have a God who will supply all our spiritual need. And he gives
us this wonderful statement, we might say it's a qualifying
statement, according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Well, our God is a great God. When he wrote to the Corinthians,
the second epistle, he wrote these verses in the eighth and
ninth verses, and God is able to make all grace abound toward
you. Just think of that. It's a tremendous
statement, isn't it? To make all grace, all the wonderful
unmerited favours in the spiritual realm abound toward us, that
ye always, having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to
every good work. Now, clearly the Apostle directs
us to these great blessings. Indeed, he speaks of it as the
abound to our account, which are his own riches in glory. In the epistle of Paul to the
Ephesians, he tells us in the third chapter, he says that he
would grant you according to the riches of his glory. We just
ponder that. It's limitless, isn't it? Our
God has everything in his control and therefore he can grant us
everything, everything that we need, shall supply all your need
according to the riches in glory by Christ Jesus. And it's wonderful
to think, therefore, the Lord does open our spiritual understanding
to come to that blessed, favoured position of realising what the
blessed Jesus has done for us in order to redeem our soul. Well, it's a glorious work, my
friends. Let us never weary. in meditating
upon what Christ has done. Let us always rejoice when we
are led by the Spirit to the cross of Christ, and thereby
faith to view the Lord Jesus Christ suffering there, bearing
the cost of our sin, in order that they would be all removed
and taken away through the shedding of his most precious blood. Well, what a mercy to recognise
the truth of this, this supply to our souls, our spiritual life,
the soul of God, according to his riches in glory, and it's
by Christ Jesus. The Lord Jesus rules and reigns,
and it's through him is our hope of eternal life, it's through
what He's done on our behalf that we stand in that blessed
spot amongst the redeemed of the Lord, without His life, without
His death, that great and glorious crucifixion, without the resurrection,
without the ascension, there would be no hope for us. let
us bless God today for these riches which are to be found
in Christ Jesus. Let us truly rejoice in them. As the Apostle said when he wrote
to the Ephesians, and he wrote such a Beautiful words in the
third chapter from verses 16 to 19. He says, that he would
grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened
with might by his Spirit in the inner man, a new man, a new nature,
that Christ may dwell in your hearts. by faith, what a blessed
gift faith is, that ye, being rooted, a good foundation, rooted
and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend, to spiritually
understand, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length
and depth and height and to know the love of Christ, which passeth
knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God. That is a wonderful statement,
is it not? And that was the Apostle's desire
for the Ephesians. And really it's his desire for
the Philippians. Indeed, may it be, our concern
that we today may be truly taken up with these riches. You see,
the Lord Jesus came into this world, blessed be God, to save
sinners, as the Apostle said, of whom I am chief. It means
that no one can be outside of this blessing. It's a wonderful
favour, isn't it? to realise that there is this
supply which will never run out, never run out. To all those who
He has redeemed, to all those whose names are written in the
Lamb's Book of Life, eternal life is theirs through this wonderful
blessing of receiving this great supply of the riches in glory
by Christ Jesus. They emanate, don't they, from
heaven itself where Jesus is. He sends down the blessing. He
touches hard hearts. He warms our hearts. He encourages
us in the things of God so that we can indeed rejoice in Christ
Jesus and bless him that he is our God. Well tonight, may we
be able in some measure to enter into the fullness which there
is in this verse, but my God, my God, personal may it be to
us tonight, may we go home rejoicing in the evidence that my God,
the blessed Lord, has come to us, so that by his grace, we
can say, but my God shall supply. All your need accord is riches
in glory by Christ Jesus. So he goes on then to say now
unto God and our father. Well, what a blessing again for
us tonight if we can come like this and say yes unto God and
my father. Sometimes there's a reluctancy
to actually come to God as our Father. But the reality is, if
Christ is our Saviour, then God is our Father. And that's a very
blessed and a humbling consideration. And yet you see the Lord Jesus
directed his disciples to pray in this way, our Father. What a mercy when you and I can
come in a right way, believing that our Father does rule and
reign and our Father looks upon us as his children and to realise
we are the children of our Father in heaven. And He looks upon
us as such. Yes, what a mercy then to be
blessed with this wonderful favor. And so says the apostle here,
now unto God and our Father be glory forever and ever. It's not something which is going
to fade away. It's not something which is going
to stop forever and ever. That's the glory. that the saints
of God can look forward to eternity, forever and ever, in glory, with
the Father, with the Son, and with the Holy Spirit, and with
the whole household of faith, the whole Church of God, there
throughout eternity, to praise and glorify our great and wonderful
triune God. May our hearts be moved as we
consider the fullness which there is in such a truth. Yes, what a fullness there is.
Father, Son and Holy Spirit. So he says, now, now having come
really to the end of this letter to the Philippians, and as we've
read through it and meditated on it, the beauty of all of it,
but some very special verses it contains. And we come down
then to this last statement, as it were. Now unto God and
our Father, may we have faith to be able to come truly to God
as our Father. Be glory forever and ever. Amen. So let it be. Glory to God. And then you see, the apostle
comes on and he says, Salute. That really can also be translated,
greet. Every saint in Christ Jesus,
the brethren which are with me, greet you. What a good thing
it is, you know, when we meet one another, is to greet one
another in a scriptural way. So often it's not so. And yet here the apostle says,
Salute or greet every saint in Christ Jesus. The brethren which
are with me greet you. I often think of that wonderful
time, the New Testament time, when the early church, when they
used to meet one another with that beautiful salutation, the Lord is risen. Surely that would turn our hearts
in a right direction. If when we meet one another,
we greet one another with such a wonderful statement, The Lord
is risen, directs us to the conquering Saviour. Can't be any better
thing, can there, for our souls to meditate upon? So, greet every
saint, all the saints of God, in Christ Jesus, because we are,
by the grace of God, one in Christ Jesus. This is where the truth
of the Word of God is very precious and very real. Every kindred,
yes, and every colour will be amongst those who are one in
Christ Jesus. And then all the saints salute
you, chiefly they that are of Caesar's household. And that's
an interesting statement, isn't it? He was, of course, in Rome,
where Caesar was. And quite clearly, there were
those who'd been converted unto Christianity in Caesar's household. You see the evidence then, don't
we, of the Apostle's sojourn here in that place in Rome. Yes, the Lord graciously used
him. and blessed his exposition and blessed his example and blessed
his words so he's now able to say all the saints salute you
and he highlights these of Caesar's household chiefly they that are
of Caesar's household well it was a very special privilege
no doubt wasn't it to be able to mention these people who had
been converted by the great Spirit of God, the same Spirit which
had converted the Apostle Paul those years ago on that Damascus
road. Well, all the saints salute you,
greet you, chiefly they that have Caesar's house on. And then
he comes down to the final statement, The statement which so many of
the epistles and close with the grace, the grace, the free unmerited
favour of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen. Yes. What a favour. For the whole Church of God.
To dwell under. Such a wonderful statement. and
to know that there is that unitive spirit in Christ Jesus. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ
be with you all. Amen. Well, surely that's our
desire tonight, that we may know the wonderful blessing of the
Lord in all of our souls and be able to rejoice in Christ
Jesus and have no confidence in the future.