the end of the Philippian study today. So I'm kind of sad about that, to be honest with you. I think we've got up to almost 70 messages. So we've been on it for a long time. But then I'm happy over how much we've learned. It's been incredible. The Holy Spirit's illuminated the scriptures for us. And I'll tell you what, I saw things that I've never seen before in reading Philippians and just how the Holy Spirit's taught us, looking at the Greek words too and some of the definitions and seeing the love that Paul had for the Philippian church. It's just been absolutely amazing.

So open your Bibles if you would to Philippians chapter four, Philippians chapter four, I named the message Paul's Final Greeting. Because this is the final greeting, excuse me, this is the final greeting that he gives to the Philippian church. And it's wonderful. And we'll be finishing this study. It's been a wonderful study through this book, as I've said. We've learned a lot. Paul's writing this wonderful little letter. It's a letter in the original, so it's a letter to the Philippian church. Remember, there's no chapter breaks, so if you can read it sometimes without chapter breaks, it's a real blessing, too, because that's how it was originally written. Chapter breaks have been put in there by man, the translators of the scriptures. And then remember too, as you're going through in the King James Version, every italicized word is not in the original text as well. So you can sometimes read it without that and it's pretty neat too to see how things come out even more.

So Paul's writing this letter to the Philippian church and he's going to send back Epaphroditus to the Philippian church But he's not going to send them back empty-handed. He's going to send them back with this letter. And this letter was actually penned by Epaphroditus and dictated by Paul. But ultimately, it's the words of the Holy Spirit of God, isn't it? Because he moved upon Paul to write these words. And here we are, 2,000 years later, finishing up our study in this wonderful book. It's just been amazing. It's just been amazing. And it's been just as practical for us, hasn't it, Dee, as it was for the Philippian saints. The words, the application of the scriptures is still true today as much as it was back in the day when it was first written. And that's the amazing thing. This is what I find amazing, that the scriptures, they cross time, they cross cultures, they cross generations, and they're still the same. They're still the same. They can still bring the same comfort to us Brother Charlie, as they bought to the Philippian church. By the Holy Spirit taking those words and applying them to our hearts. Isn't that amazing? That's truly amazing.

My. So let's read verses 19 to 23 to see the context of these verses here. Paul writes to them. Verse 19 and remember he's it's all tied in with contentment Several people take this verse and they use it they misapply it to God will give you whatever you want That's not what that means in the context of this Paul saying I'm content. I whatever situation I find myself in, and God will supply my needs through that, and your needs too. Through whatever He puts you through, because right, it's all according to God's providence, He will supply your needs. And who are ultimately all our needs are supplied in, we're gonna see here, by Christ Jesus. According to the will of God too, which is just amazing. And remember, this is our needs, not our wants. I always think I need more than, or I always want more than I need. Do you? It's natural. It's natural for us. It's amazing how little we need. If we have Christ, we have everything. We are the richest people in the world.

So let's read verse 19, it says, but my God shall supply all your needs, that's spiritually and physically, according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. That's the key right there. And then here's our, now unto God and our Father be glory forever and ever, amen. And the next three verses are our text.

Salute every saint in Christ Jesus. The brethren which are with me greet you. All the saints salute you. Look at this. Chiefly they that are of Caesar's household. Oh, there's a little nugget in there. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen. To the Philippians written from Rome by Epaphroditus.

So Paul dictated this letter and Epaphroditus wrote it. But ultimately it was the Holy Spirit having Paul say the words that he wanted him to say. My, oh, my. And last week, again, we marveled at how each believer in Christ, Jesus our Lord, can proclaim by the grace and mercy of God that God the Father is my God. Remember that, Charlie? My God is mine. Just like Paul said, my God shall supply all your needs. My. My God. It's personal, isn't it, Brother Brian? He saved our souls. My God. My. And now we know Him who we didn't know before. Brother Chris, He's my God, isn't He? He's your God. You can say my God. I can say my God. He's my God. Isn't that wonderful? My God. My God. He's personal. My King. Every believer can say that. Every believer can say that. Isn't that wonderful?

Why us? Why do we cry, my God, when our family members don't? Because of the grace and mercy of God. According to His will and purpose. It's amazing. It's absolutely incredible. My God. We also see in verse 20 that all glory be unto the Father forever and ever. Amen.

What did Christ come into this world to do? He came in this world to save his people from their sins. Right. And to be perfectly obedient to the law of God. Before God, our Father, to give us a righteousness that we could stand in, clothed in, clothed in the righteousness of Christ, and that we would be accepted by God in that state. Born again, given faith to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and clothed in His perfect, spotless righteousness. My, It's amazing, isn't it, sister? It's wonderful.

So that when we get the glory, we'll be able to stand in the presence of God Almighty. And God will say, I don't see any sin in you. Oh, my, because it's all being bought and paid for by the blood and righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. And these people that Christ came into this world to save, they were given to him in eternity, which we'll see in our study of Ephesians, where we're going next. And he did all this. Why did he come to this earth? Why did he come to save his people? Why did he obey the law perfectly? To glorify God the Father. To glorify God the Father. That God might be a just God and the justifier of his people. My. Praise be to God for salvation by his blood and righteousness. Praise be to God by the Lord Jesus Christ, God in the flesh. We are saved by his blood and righteousness. And he saved us from how many of our sins? Some? A few? Huh? All. Amen. All our sins. Isn't that wonderful? All our sins. God in the flesh did that. Glory to his wondrous name. Glory to his wondrous name. Now let's look at verse 21 of Philippians chapter 4, where, see, Paul gives his final greeting to the saints at Philippi here. In these last three verses, and let us mark, let us even mark in these last three verses, God's grace showing to sinners. God's grace showing to sinners. It's all through these last three verses.

Look at verse 1, or 21. Salute every saint. Well, the only way we can be called saint is by the grace and mercy of God, right? Nothing else. And look at this. Here's the key again. It keeps coming up. I love how the Holy Spirit keeps making this so emphatic. Because there's no salvation outside of Christ. Look at this. Salute every saint in Christ Jesus. not in a profession, not in doctrine, not in a denomination, in Christ Jesus. Right? That's the key, right there.

The brethren which are with me greet you. Again, mercy. There's not just Paul who's being born again, there's the brethren who are with him. Timothy, Epaphroditus, and others. that are with him. And note how Paul includes all the saints at Philippi. Salute every saint in Christ Jesus. He's saying salute every one of the brothers in Christ, or sisters in Christ. He's not saying salute all of Philippi, is he, Brother Brian? No. He's being specific and distinguishing. slew all the saints.

I remember when the Lord first saved me. And I was talking to my mom one time, and she was Catholic. And I said, mom, I'm Saint Wayne. She looked, like her eyes bolstered. She's like, what? I said, I'm a saint. Oh, don't say that. I said, no, it's true though, the Bible tells me a saint. And I took it to Romans, right? Called to be saints. We see it here. We're saints. Saint Charlie, right? Isn't that amazing? Saint Brian. Tell your family, I'm Saint Brian. kicking out of the house. Oh gosh, St. Chris here, right? And then the ladies, saints too. Isn't that amazing? But you tell your Catholic family that, they about die. My mom, she just about fell off her chair. But it's true. We're called saints. We see it right here. We're saints.

And who's made us saints? We didn't make ourselves saints, did we? See, there's a church in the world that makes supposed people who die saints. Well, we're saints and we're alive. I don't need no man making me a saint. Do you, brother? Christ made us saints. Isn't that wonderful? It's wonderful. So greet each other. Hey, St. Brian. Oh, my. Yeah. It's true, though. It's true. And who are the saints? All who are in Christ Jesus. Look at that. That's God's discriminating grace, right? All the saints are in Christ. Tell your Catholic friend you're a saint, Charlie. Say, Christ made me a saint. I don't need no man in a fish hat to make me a saint. No. Funny pointy hat, right? Oh, my. I'm digressing, aren't I? I'm sorry. Oh, my.

And then I love this part. As I was looking at this verse, I thought, oh, I wonder what salute means there. Because in the Romans, they saluted. And, you know, an army salute doesn't mean that. It doesn't mean that in the Greek. This is wonderful.

And notice he says, Salute every saint in Christ Jesus. That means all of them who are born again, whether they're rich in this life, whether they're poor, whether they're in between, there's no discrimination. Right? We're all one in Christ. We're one in Christ. No matter who we are, no matter what our genealogy is, no matter what the pigment of our skin is, we're all one. We're one in Christ.

He means all the born-again, blood-washed saints, as well as the officers of the church, too, the deacons and the bishops, the preachers, the teachers. I was thinking about that, how Now, the greatest compliment someone can give a preacher is, all you do is preach Christ. A true preacher. Oh, man, that's the, thank you. Put it on my tombstone, as Brother Scott Richardson said. Right?

But you know what else is a great encouragement for a preacher? I had someone in the congregation here tell me this. They said, you're one of us. That lit my heart up, you know that? Because I'm no better than any of you. I've just been called to preach. And it was Brother Zane who said that to me. I just gave him a big old hug and said, Zane, that's one of the most wonderful things you can say to a preacher.

Because we strive not to lord over anyone. Because we're just safe sinners. I'm the same as you, Sister Dee. We've been saved by the same blood. We've been saved by the righteousness in Christ and the blood of Christ. No different. I'm a sinner who's saved and born again, and everything I have and everything I know comes from Him. You know?

I was thinking about that and how there is a tendency, and it's natural for man, it's natural for man to, when they're put in a place of leadership, to become a little. But the Lord keeps us low. And that's how it should be. That's how it should be. He keeps us low. Because I'm no different than any of you. I'm just a blood-washed Saint of God. And I love how Paul just lumps all the men together. Salute all my brethren. And the brothers here with me, notice I didn't say in the lessors. The brothers here, same level. They salute you too. I love it. It just makes my heart sing. And I think we have that here. I really do. I think we really have that. Even amongst the leadership in the church, right? We're all, we're servants, aren't we, Brother Brian? We're servants for the body. My. And we're all here. according to the electing grace of God, and according to the will and purpose of God.

Now note the important and vital words here, in Christ. In Christ. Now let's salute every saint in Christ. That's so key. In Christ. In Christ. One can only be called a saint And yes, that is all true believers, right? That is all true believers. But one can only be a saint in the Lord Jesus Christ. There's no saintship outside of Christ. And man doesn't make us a saint, God makes us a saint. See the difference? Yeah, there's a great imposter out there, isn't there?

yeah oh my and who is christ well he's our covenant head he's our representative he's our surety he's our redeemer he's our substitute he's our god so paul said he's my all in all amen amen and again note note that that Paul hasn't only sent his greeting to the Philippian church by himself, but also a greeting from those who are with him. Turn over, if you would, to Philippians chapter two. These are those who've been effectually called by God the Holy Spirit, born again and given faith to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and repentance before God. Isn't it wonderful? Look at Philippians two, verse 19. Who is with him? Well, Timothy. He says in 19, chapter two, but I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy, I'm just gonna say Timothy, shortly unto you, that I also may be of good comfort when I know your state.

So he's desiring to send Timothy to them so he can know what their state is. My. He knows what their state is, when Epaphroditus came, but now it's been many months that have passed because Epaphroditus was sick, remember? Nigh unto death. But God had mercy on him and on Paul, and didn't take him home right then.

And then look at verse 23 of chapter 4. We see that Paul dictated the book in Epaphroditus, penned it down, so this greeting is also from Epaphroditus. Look at verse 23. So we see that Timothy and Epaphroditus were there with Paul. There may have been others, but they're not mentioned. And this is when he's in Rome. And this would have bought Paul great comfort to have them with him. To be able to fellowship with the brethren. While he was under house arrest.

We also see in verse 25 of Philippians chapter 2, go back to chapter 2 again. How much of a blessing Epaphroditus was to Paul. And this is true of all who labor with the preacher in the teaching and preaching of the word. Yet I suppose it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother, and companion in labor. He's preaching the gospel with him. He's helping him. And fellow soldier. But you're a messenger, and he that ministered to my wants. Look at that. God knew exactly what he needed, so he sent Epaphroditus.

My. But you notice there? You notice something? Paul calls him there. Hey, Chris, my fellow soldier. Charlie, my fellow soldier. Gee, my fellow soldier. We're fellow soldiers in Christ. We're in this together, beloved. We're not alone. We're here. We bear one another's burdens. We love each other. We encourage each other. Through times of trial and sorrow and trouble, we pray for one another. We labor with one another for the furtherance of the gospel, knowing that it's God that's going to be effectual. Make it effectual, right? It's wonderful.

And in all this epistle, in the final greeting, Paul makes the mention... Have you noticed something in this whole letter? Now, we went through this whole letter, right? Paul's in Rome. Have you noticed who he didn't mention was in Rome? Peter. There's a church out there that claims Peter was the first bishop of Rome. Peter wasn't in Rome. We'd never seen Peter, did we, Brother Brian, through all the book we studied? When we studied 1 and 2 Peter, he was way over with other saints, the Jews that were scattered all over the place. He was nowhere near Rome. Oh my. So Peter wasn't in Rome, and he wasn't a bishop of Rome. And he even mentioned in this epistle as being in Rome. Now, if he had been in Rome, Paul would have mentioned him. My, the deception.

Now, let's read an amazing verse. Remember how I said grace is all through this verse? All through these verses? It's absolutely amazing. All through this, we see in verse 22 that some of Caesar's household believed the gospel of salvation through Christ. Now this is his household. This isn't just, remember we saw in the first chapter about the, about the, um, Praetorian guards? This is his actual household. They've been born again by God, the Holy Spirit, beloved. They've been given faith to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ to the saving of their souls. Look at verse 22. All the saints salute you, chiefly they that are of Caesar's household. Do you know who Caesar was this time? You ever hear of a monster named Nero? Some of Nero's family the Lord saved, Brother Brian. Nero was a monster. He's no different than any of us in our natural state, but Nero would have Christians tied up around where he sat in the back and tied up on sticks and lit them up like candles to keep the light in his place where he wanted to sit. Nero was a wicked man, and his court went right along with him. His court went right along with him, but they said that there's one who was in his court who the Lord saved. I can't remember what his name was, but here we see in the scriptures that the Lord saved some of Nero's household.

Grace. See, where sin abounds, grace does much more abound. Isn't that amazing? Isn't that amazing? They may have seen some of those Christians slaughtered in the Colosseum and heard them crying out to Christ. They may have even heard Paul, because Paul, he had to go before Caesar. They may have heard Paul speaking to him, telling him of the gospel. Somehow they heard the gospel. It may have been a Praetorian guard who the Lord saved, telling them, you need to trust in Christ. He's the only Savior. My, but marvel at the grace shown here in this, this is amazing.

The most wicked, or one of the most wicked emperors that Rome ever had, one of the most wicked Caesars, and God saved some of his household. Oh, grace. Grace can reach anywhere, not Gannet. Now, we're not told who they are, but we're told they're part of his household. And notice it says, chiefly they that are of they, not he or she. They. They. Multiple they that are of Caesar's household. We don't know how many they are, There was multiple. Oh, my. This is amazing. In the very household of one of the most wicked emperors, God has a people who he saved, who are born again, who've heard the gospel. He has an elect people among them.

My. Wonder of wonders, what's set before us here. We see God's discriminating grace, right? They were saved and the others were left behind. See, it's according to wonder of wonders, God saved me. Right? And my other family members amongst the world, they would be seen as more deserving. But God doesn't take any deserving into who he chooses, does he? Because none of us are deserving of grace. He takes the weak. Some noble, not many noble, but some. God has chosen the foolish things, that just means common. The common things of this world, we're common. Charlie, you and I are common guys, aren't we? We've talked about our past, we've talked about, we're just common folks who the Lord saved. Brian, you too. I know Chris and I have talked about that, just common people, man. Not lofty, not high-minded. We know what we know. And we're far past the years of impressing people, aren't we? Right? Don't need to impress anybody. Not that I could. I just want to tell them about the King. I just want to proclaim about the one who saved my soul, the Lord Jesus Christ.

But I love this. All the saints salute you, chiefly they that are of Caesar's household. My. And it's beautiful. It's just beautiful. Do you know what the word salute means? Charlie, you and I do it every Sunday. It means to embrace. We saluted each other, didn't we? Chris and Julie, we saluted each other out in Vesterville. Dee, we saluted each other here. Brian, we saluted each other. You embrace each other. Isn't that amazing? I grew up in a family, and there were no huggers in my family. The only one we hugged was mom. But now I love to embrace my brothers and sisters in Christ, because you're my family. We're saved by the blood of Christ. We're redeemed, beloved. were people chosen out of this world and brought together, all under the blood and righteousness of Christ. It's just amazing. It's just incredible. So it means to embrace. My, wonders of wonders. How did all this come around? How are there people in the household of Caesar who God saved? By the power and might of God the Holy Spirit. Born again, called with an effectual call that they could not deny. Lovingly. The scripture says, with cords of love I've drawn you. They've been lovingly drawn to Christ by cords of love. People say, well you come against, you come to, to God against your will. Oh my, I come willingly. Because I'm drawn with cords of love. Isn't that beautiful? And, and you know what? I would never have been willing unless God made me willing. Amen sister D. Praise His mighty name.

What a Savior, beloved. What a Redeemer is Jesus Christ, our Lord. So marvel at how this all came about by the power of God. I read God used Paul's bonds for the gospel to be bought to Rome. And Paul preached Christ is the only Savior of sinners. And by the means of the apostles' bonds, The preaching of the gospel of God's free grace, showing to sinners through the blood and righteousness of Christ, the gospel, which is the power of God unto salvation, had been made effectual by the Holy Spirit of God, and it had been manifest even in the palace. Even in the palace. Isn't that amazing? My, Christ was made known to some of Caesar's household. Even though Nero was then the reigning emperor, he was so wicked and he was debauched, which we all came from there. Yet the grace of God reached some there. Isn't that amazing? Praise the name of Jesus.

Now no doubt there were many saints at Philippi. Many saints at Philippi. as there were in Jerusalem, and as there are in every church of Christ to this day. But in Christ they're one. We have one glorious head, the Lord Jesus Christ. And we are all equally dear to him. We're all equally dear to the Lord Jesus Christ, so dear that he purchased our souls with his blood. That's how dear we are to him. He gave his life to save us from our sins. And the saints of God are very dear to Paul. Very dear to Paul, too. My, they're the redeemed ones, loved by Christ from eternity. They're his sheep. Jesus calls them his sheep. And Paul so embraces, salutes the saints with an embrace, and lets them know that all the saints at Rome salute them. And again, in the Greek it means to embrace. Paul's saying, salute, embrace all the jewels of Christ, which is what we are. We're precious to him.

Now let's read verse 23 to finish off this epistle. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen. To the Philippians, written from Rome by Epaphroditus. Marvel again. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Grace always precedes peace. And the result of the grace of God, we now have peace with God through the Lord Jesus Christ. So let us join in praise and thanksgiving with the Apostle Paul. As he folds up this wonderful letter, let us give adoration and joy, salute our brethren, pray for the gospel as it goes forth, knowing that everything we go through is for the furtherance of the gospel, as Paul wrote to the Philippians. May his name be praised.