Turn with me in your Bibles to
Philippians chapter 4. I want to read the last verses
of this blessed epistle. God the Holy Spirit inspiring
the Apostle Paul from a prison in Rome to write to the church
at Philippi. And I want us to go back to verse
10 and read to the end of the chapter, and then I want to make
a few comments. The title of the message this morning is,
Well-Pleasing to God. Now let's look at verse 10. Paul
writes, But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at the
last your care of me hath flourished again, wherein you were also
careful, but you lacked opportunity. The Philippian church had been
faithful to support Paul in his ministry. Paul was a missionary,
he was an evangelist, he was an apostle, and he was supported
by the churches. And the Philippian church was
second to none in their love, and in their prayers, and in
their support of Paul. Ten years before this, Paul had
first preached the gospel in Philippi. God converted a Philippian
jailer. Remember the story we studied
this morning in our Sunday school class. For a time, they had not been
able to help him financially, to send him things that he needed
physically in this world. They had not been able to do
it for a while, and he says, because they lacked opportunity.
Now, what he means by that is they were providentially hindered.
Now, you know what that means. What is providence? That means
God's government. God makes a way. God opens a
door. God closes a door. Sometimes
we'll want to make a move, we'll desire to make a move, or we'll
desire to do something, and the door's just closed. Not through
any fault of our own or any power of our own. God just shuts the
door. Paul wanted to go into a certain
area to preach the gospel, but the Holy Spirit revealed to him,
no, you're not to go there. There's another place for you.
Sometimes those things are hard to figure out, aren't they? We
just have to go day by day and submit to the Lord's will. But
the Philippians had lacked opportunity, but now they sent Paul some support
through a man named Epaphroditus. Some say he was the pastor of
the Philippian church. I don't know that. The Bible
doesn't say, but he was apparently a man well trusted and a leader
in the church. And so he brought things to Paul
to Rome from the church, things that Paul needed, whether it's
clothing or money or whatever, but things that Paul needed.
And Paul says, I'm just overwhelmed by your care of me. And I'll
tell you, any true minister of God who is supported by the church
feels the same way. I'm just overwhelmed by your
care and your love and support because you're supporting the
ministry, supporting the gospel. That's one way we all come together
in the preaching of the gospel. Look at verse 11. Now, Paul says,
not that I speak in respect of want or lack. That word want
there means lack or need. For I have learned in whatsoever
state that I am therewith to be content." Paul had learned
to be satisfied with little. You remember last week when I
was preaching on Christian contentment, one of the secrets to contentment
is to be satisfied with little. And that's tough to do, isn't
it, in this day and age, when we're told that we, not only
that we want more and more, but we're told we need more and more,
as I use the example of TV, you know. Their commercials are geared
to showing you something that you don't have and you've got
to have it. And you need it. But Paul says,
I've learned to be content in whatever state I'm in, therewith
to be content. Paul did not mean to imply to
the Philippians in his gratitude for their gifts that he was speaking
in the way of need or lack, though he possessed nothing. He was
in prison here. He was in dire straits. He had
all things in Christ. Now, that's one thing that we
as believers need to constantly keep in our mind. That's Christian
thinking. Whatever I'm without in this life, I have all things
in Christ. Eternally speaking, spiritually
speaking, I lack nothing in Him. That's what Paul meant in 1 Corinthians
1, verse 30, when he was talking about God has made Christ unto
us wisdom and righteousness and holiness and redemption. Wisdom
I need, I don't find in this head up here, but I find it in
Christ who is my head, who is my Redeemer, who is my Lord.
And His wisdom is revealed in His Word. I could just learn
to walk and to live and to act and to react according to His
Word. Don't you desire to learn that?
And He's all the righteousness I need. There's no righteousness
in me. God has regenerated me, given me His Spirit, and I have
a desire to be like Christ, but all my righteousness before God
is in Christ. Righteousness is not imperfect.
It's not incomplete. I'm complete in Him. He's all
my holiness. One day I'll be holy in myself
when I leave this world and be perfectly conformed to His image.
But right now I'm as holy as I'll ever be in Christ. And he's
all my redemption. What that means, I believe, he's
talking about final glory there. He is the assurance that I will
be redeemed out of this earth, out of this world, and brought
into glory by Christ. Because he not only saves me,
but he keeps me. His blood washes me clean from
all my sins. His righteousness justifies me. His Spirit regenerates me and
gives me life and eyes and ears, spiritual eyes and ears. But
He also keeps me. He holds me up. That's why that
song, a shelter in the time of storm. If we were on our own,
the storm would squelch us and squash us. But He's our shelter
in the time of storm. He keeps us. And He keeps us
unto the end. He's able to save to the uttermost
them that come unto the Father by Him. And so He's our redemption. And we will be eternally glorified. There's no possibility that we
could ever be lost if we have Christ. Understand that. And so we learn that whatever
we lack in this life, we know we'll never go without because
of Him. Brother Joe, read that Psalm
34 over here. When it says in verse 4 of Psalm
34, I sought the Lord and He heard me and delivered me from
all my fears, fears of men, fears of the world, fears of myself. Well, how are you going to be
delivered from those fears? Seek the Lord. That's simple,
but it's so. Most solutions As far as those
things are concerned, they're pretty simple, aren't they? We
just like to complicate them. Like the story I told you about
the man who had a hard time preaching a message. And after he got through,
he went to an elder in the church and he said, man, that was deep.
And the elder said, no, it wasn't deep. You just made it deep.
And that's the way we do it. We just make it deep. We just
make it complicated. Well, he says here, the psalmist
in Psalm 34, 5, they looked unto him and were lightened. In your
sinner reference, that term were lightened, it may read something
like this, they flowed unto him. Read it like that. They looked
unto him and they flowed unto him. Look to Christ and flow
to him. Flee to him. And then it says,
and their faces were not ashamed. The poor man cried and the Lord
heard him. The Lord heareth the poor, poor
in spirit, and saved him out of all his troubles." We may
have to go through some troubles, but he's not going to leave us
destitute. Those troubles are not going to separate us from
his love. Those troubles are not going to separate us from
his grace. He told Paul, he said, my grace is sufficient for thee.
He says, the angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that
fear him, them that worship him and respect him. and trust him,
and rest in him, and delivereth him, O taste and see that the
Lord is good." And that's what Paul is talking about here when
he says, I've learned to be content in whatever state I'm in. He
had learned it now. Verse 11 of Philippians 4, when
he says, I've learned it, that means it didn't come naturally,
even in regeneration now. In regeneration, the seed is
planted, the desire is given, The life is given, but it still
doesn't come naturally. We still have to learn it. That
means learn it by experience. That's the school of hard knocks
right there. That's what Paul's talking about. He had to go through
some things. The term there, learn, as I said
last week, is the same that was used of our Lord when it said
He learned obedience by the things which He suffered. What that
means is He experienced those things personally. What Christ
went through in his obedience unto death and his suffering,
no man can describe. No man can explain it, and we
certainly can't doctrinalize and theologize it. It is something
that is beyond our understanding, but we know he suffered in his
very soul without sin, based on sin laid to his charge. And
he hurt, he cried, he sorrowed, he was in pain, he was in agony. It's called the passion of Christ.
You've heard that term. That means his suffering. That's
what that means. It was a passionate thing. It
was a real thing, you see. Sin was not in him, it was on
him, but he suffered because of it. He suffered in his soul. And it was sinless suffering.
There wasn't one point during his suffering that you could
say he was in unbelief or that he hated his father. See, that's
sin. But all that time, all that time
he was suffering, For our sins, the sins of his people were laid
upon him, and he learned obedience. Well, Paul is saying here, I've
learned to be content. And that's something we have
to learn. It's a life lesson. Look at verse 12. He says, I
know both how to be abased, that means to be brought low, and
I know how to abound, that means to be exalted. I know how to
live low, I know how to live high, he says. Sometimes it's
harder to live high than it is to live low, isn't it? Somebody
wins the lottery and the first thing they do, they forget God. They forget worship. Move to
the Bahamas. Lay in a hammock. They don't
appreciate, see, those things that God gives. They don't seek
the Lord. First thing we do when we're
brought low in sickness, in poverty, is cry out. Cry out to God. Isn't
that right? Nothing wrong with that. We need
to cry out to God at all times. But Paul says, I know how to
be brought low. I know how to be exalted everywhere.
Verse 12, and in all things I'm instructed both to be full and
to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. He'd learned
to be independent from his circumstances. He said, I know how to be treated
with contempt by men because Paul had been. He'd been falsely
accused. He'd been beaten. He'd been whipped.
He'd been jailed. He'd been put in the stocks.
He'd been run out of town. He said, I know how to do that.
You say, well, that's something I'd rather not know how to do.
Well, Paul had to go through it. He said, I know how to go
through that. And then he'd learned to live
in a humble condition. He'd learned to work with his
hands. He learned to be hungry, learned to be cold, yet not to
be depressed and cast down or murmur against God. And then
he said, I know how to be held in esteem of men, to have an
abundance. Yet not to be lifted up with
pride and forget that the Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away.
Blessed be the name of the Lord. Paul's saying, I've learned of
God how to behave toward these temporary things of the earth
that we go through, how to put them in proper perspective. Look
back at 2 Corinthians chapter 4. He deals with it here. He's saying here that we have
the greatest treasure. that God can give a person on
this earth the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, the
gospel of God's grace. There's nothing greater. But
he says in verse 8 of 2 Corinthians 4, he says, we're troubled on
every side. That means there's no place that
I can turn where there's not trouble. Have you ever been in
that situation? Seems like there's no place you can turn that there's
not trouble. And then he says, but I'm not
distressed. In other words, this is not rocking my boat. This
is not upsetting my apple cart. He says we are perplexed in verse
8. What that means is there's a
lot of things I don't understand. You ever been there? Sure you
have. There's a lot of things I don't
understand. Somebody says, I don't understand
why that person did this or said that. I don't even understand
some things about myself. Do you? I wonder, why did I do
that? Why did I say that? Why am I
going through this? What purpose is this? Have you
ever said this? I've said this a lot. What good
purpose could this serve? But you know, the Bible says
God works all things for good to his people, men that love
God and are called according to his purpose. So Paul said,
I'm not perplexed, but not in despair. Or I am perplexed, but
not in despair. There are some things I don't
understand. But I don't get to the point where I despair. I
feel like I'm helpless, because God is my help. You say, well,
I feel helpless. Well, you are in yourself, and
men can't help, but God is your helper. That's what the psalmist
wrote. God is my stay and my help. He says in verse 9, persecuted
but not forsaken. When Paul was beaten with stripes
three times, when he was put down in the lowest part of the
prison in Philippi and put in the stocks, even though men wanted
to get rid of him and snuff him out, he says, God has not forsaken
me. And you know what? If you read
that, we read it this morning in Sunday School, in Acts chapter
16, Paul and Silas were down in that prison and they were
singing praises to God and praying. He learned that. You say, well,
I don't know if I'd act that way or not. On your own, you
wouldn't. And on my own, I wouldn't. But by the power and grace of
God, by His Spirit, that's what we do, isn't it? And that's why
Paul says, I'm not in despair, not forsaken. He says in verse
9, cast him down, but not destroyed. They may put him in the prison,
but they're not going to destroy him. And even when God is pleased
to call him home, man hasn't destroyed him. You see, he may
have gotten rid of him out of their sight for a little while,
but Christ is the victor. The fight and the war is not
ours, it's his. So he says in verse 10, "...always
bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that
the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body."
What he's saying here is when I suffer for the cause of Christ,
for a good cause now, now we suffer a lot sometimes just for
our own pitiful bad behavior. But when I suffer for the cause
of Christ, I'm bearing about in my body the dying of the Lord
Jesus. I'm identifying with Christ in
His suffering. And in doing that, I'm also identifying
with Christ in His life. He was resurrected. He died.
He was buried. He arose again, not for Himself,
but for me. That's what Paul said. He bore
my sins away. He was buried for me. He arose
again because of my justification. I'm accepted before God in the
Beloved. And in all these things that
we're going through for the cause of Christ," he said, that's an
identification. Now look back at Philippians 4. He says in
verse 13, he says, I can do all things through Christ which strengthened
me. What is he talking about there? You know, you've heard
that verse quoted quite a bit, and people say, well, that means
you can do anything you want to do in Christ who strengthens
you. That's not what it's talking
about. He's talking about contentment here. That's his subject. He's
talking about thinking like Christ. I can go through these things,
not on my own, not by my own power, not of myself, but through
Christ who strengthens me. It's His power. It's His goodness,
it's His grace, you see. That's how I can go, how can
we do it? What Paul's saying is, I'm totally
dependent upon Christ for all these things. There's no way
I'd be content in this life but through His power. There's no
way I'd be going through these things singing praises unto God
and praying unto Him, but by His power. There's no way I'd
get through it. He's able to save to the uttermost
them that come unto God by Him. Paul said in one place in 2 Timothy
1.12, I believe, he said, I know whom I have believed, and I'm
persuaded that He's able to keep that which I've committed unto
Him against them that day. You see, the blessings we have
are not of ourselves. of God in his Son. And the trials
we face are from God for our good to lead us to trust him
and to love him more. And the derisions and dangers
we face cannot destroy us because Christ has overcome the world.
Look at verse 14. Now, here in this passage here,
he gives us, I believe, one of the greatest keys to what I think
is Christian contentment, being satisfied. And what he's talking
about here, I believe, is this. You know, a person whose discontent
is always consumed with their own problems, their own needs,
their own desires, and modern day culture supports that. You
see, even churches. Why do you go to a certain church?
Somebody said, because they meet my felt need. Well, how about
going to church for this? Because they preach the Word
of God. How about long because they worship God there? They
preach Christ! Who is my hope? How about that?
To fellowship with God's people, to meet your felt need. Now what
does that mean? Well, all your felt needs. How
many felt needs do we have in here this morning? You know,
we'd have to get a couple of psychologists to just lay us
all on the couch and talk to us for about an hour and then
pay them a big bunch of money. Now don't get me wrong, psychologists
have their place. But listen, that's not why you
come to church. See, a person who is discontent is always worried
about themselves. Always talking about, this is
what I don't have but must have. What Paul is saying here is to
be content. Is to be consumed with everybody
else's needs. Look at verse 14. He says, notwithstanding
you've well done, now well doing. I'm going to talk about well
pleasing. That you did communicate with my affliction. Paul saying,
you weren't thinking of yourself, you were thinking of me. And
he says, now you Philippians, verse 15, know also that in the
beginning of the gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no
church communicated with me, that means shared with me, as
concerning giving and receiving, but you only. They were at one
time the only church that did support Paul. Not that they were
the only ones who should have. Paul was used greatly, mightily
of God. to start churches in other towns.
Corinth, this church in Macedonia, Thessalonica, Aldi. But he said,
at one time you were the only church that shared with me. Verse
16, for even in Thessalonica you sent once and again unto
my necessity. We don't know what was wrong
with the ones in Thessalonians, whether they had the means or
whether they just didn't want to. He had to admonish the Corinthian
church. They were a very wealthy church.
And yet they refused to support ministers of the gospel. And
he wrote a great chapter by inspiration of the Spirit on that subject
in 1 Corinthians chapter 9. He said, you don't enlist a soldier
into the army and send him out on the front line to fight the
battle and not support him. And he even used the example
of an ox. The ox is pulling the plow. The farmer will let him
eat a little bit. He didn't hold him back and starve
him to death and then put him out to work. And he admonished
them. But here the Philippians were
very generous with him. And he says, given to our necessity. Look at verse 17. Not because
I desire a gift. It wasn't because of Paul's desire
of a gift. It wasn't because of his felt
need. But I desire fruit that may abound
to your account." Because, he said, it's good for you to express
your love and your desire for the grace of God and the gospel
and the salvation of sinners and the edification of the church
in your giving. He said it's good for you. Now
that's not just religious talk from Paul. He's writing by inspiration
of the Spirit here. This is truth, you see, from
the heart. So he says in verse 18, But I have all, for I have
received everything that you sent and abound, I am full, I
am complete, I have all I need. Having received of Epaphroditus
the things which were sent from you, this man Epaphroditus, as
I said, he took the gifts from Philippi to Paul at Rome. And
then he says this is an odor, look at that in verse 18, an
odor of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well-pleasing to
God. Do you see that? What is he talking
about there? Well-pleasing to God. What does
it take for something to be well-pleasing to God? Well, the Bible has a
lot to say about that subject. First of all, that phrase, an
odor of a sweet smell, where does that come from? What comes
from the Old Testament? Back in the Old Testament under
the Law of Moses, there were several things in the tabernacle.
You remember the tabernacle? When you came into the court
of the tabernacle, there was an altar, the brazen altar. And
upon that brazen altar, the priest would take a lamb or a goat or
a bullock and split its throat and shed blood, and they'd burn
that lamb or bullock or goat upon that brazen altar. That
brazen altar, brass in the Old Testament, is a type of God's
judgment against sin. And it was on that brazen altar
that the blood was shed and caught in a basin And the offering was
consumed with fire, fire being God's judgment coming down. And
that was a picture of Christ on the cross, bearing the judgment
of God's sin, of the sin of his people from God, bearing the
judgment of God against sin for his people. The brazen altar,
all pictured Christ. And the smoke that would go up
from that altar was called a sweet savor, an odor, that pleased
God. So if we're going to talk about
that which is well-pleasing unto God, here's where we have to
begin. We have to begin with Christ and Him crucified. Without Christ, nothing pleases
God. God Himself testified of that
in Christ's earthly ministry at His baptism. He said, this
is my beloved Son in whom I am well-pleased. Why is he well pleased with Jesus
of Nazareth and not with me? Because Jesus of Nazareth was
perfect. He is perfect. He did all those
things which pleased the Father. He always did the will of the
Father. He didn't come to break the law. He didn't come to destroy
it. He came to keep it. And he did. You can't keep it.
I can't keep it. We're sinners. In ourselves,
we can't please God. In our flesh dwelleth no good
thing. But in Him, in Christ, There's all pleasing unto God.
He's the perfect God-man. And then when he went to the
cross, he went there not for sins he committed, but for sins
that were laid to his charge, the sins of his sheep. He said,
I lay down my life for the sheep. And he gave himself the perfect,
sinless, spotless Lamb of God, the just for the unjust, to take
upon himself the wrath of God. And it went up just like an odor
of a sweet smell under the fire. Proven by the fact, by several
things that happened when he said it's finished. When Christ
said it's finished, when righteousness was established and his people
were justified by all that he accomplished, God was well pleased
and he proved it. He gave testimony of it when
the veil was rent into, the veil in the temple. which separated
all men from the holiest of all, except the high priest one time,
that veil was ran in two, from top to bottom. That's a way made
open, well-pleasing unto God. Who made that way? Not you, not
me, not our faith, but Christ. Now somebody said in Hebrews
chapter 11 and verse 6, it says, without faith it's impossible
to please God. That's true. But what is faith
there? Okay, exactly what it is. It's
looking to Christ as your hope, as your salvation. Looking unto
Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, he said down in
chapter 12. That's what faith is. Faith is the substance of things
hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. What is that? Faith.
It's Christ and Him crucified. Yes, we believe in Him. Yes,
that believing is a gift from God. But my friend, it's all
wrapped up in what he accomplished on Calvary. He's well-pleasing. A sweet, savor offering. A sacrifice,
Paul wrote here in verse 18, a sacrifice acceptable unto God. Now, where do we find acceptance
with God? Ephesians chapter 1 tells us
we are accepted where? In the Beloved. Well-pleasing
unto God. And that which is well-pleasing
unto God is from God himself. Look over at John chapter 3.
You say, well, how can anything I do please God? Now, watch this now. Now, Paul, he told the Philippians
there, he said, your support of me, your support of missions
and missionaries, support of the gospel, was well-pleasing
unto God. But look here in verse 19 of
John 3. Now, what does it take to be well-pleasing unto God?
Well, it takes faith in Christ. He is our acceptance. And he
says in verse 19, And this is the condemnation, that light
has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than
light, because their deeds were evil. Now, the deeds they are
spoken of are men's attempts at religion, men's attempts to
please God without Christ. That's what that is, without
faith. You see, those who are seeking to please God by their
own self-efforts, their own works, trying to earn their way into
God's favor, trying to save themselves or keep themselves saved, or
earn their rewards, as they say, those who are trying to do that,
all it is is evil deeds. And they're evil not because
they're not sincere. You know, somebody says, well,
they're just not sincere. Let me tell you something. False
religion. can be real sincere. But why are they evil? Well,
number one, they don't glorify God. They exalt the sinner. You see, if whatever you do in
giving, whatever you do in seeking to obey, if it exalts you, then
it's evil deeds. But if it glorifies God and Him
alone, then how do we do that? We tell sinners that our only
hope is not what we do for Him, but what He did for us. Our only
hope of salvation is Christ and what He accomplished. Nothing
I do, nothing I am doing, nothing I ever will do will ever save
me or keep me or earn my rewards. It's all Christ and Him crucified. My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus' blood and righteousness, and I dare not trust," what? The sweetest frame. That means
your works, your efforts, who you are, who your daddy is, who
your pastor is, where you go to church. I don't trust any
of that, you see. Should we give? Yes, we should give. But we're
not to trust our giving. Somebody said, well, I'm going
to give and God will give me back. That's not giving, that's
investing. That's stock market religion.
Now let me tell you something, God does bless His givers. But
He blesses them with His glory. You see what I'm saying? He blesses
His people in all ways. And we don't deserve any of the
blessings, do we? Have you ever done anything that
you can say, that's a blessing I deserve? Now if you do, You're
not glorifying God. See what I'm saying? And that's
these deeds that are evil. My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus' blood and righteousness, and I dare not trust the sweetest
frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. On Christ the solid rock
I stand, and all other ground is sinking sand. That's what
I'm talking about. Now look on verse 20 of John
3. He says, for everyone that doeth evil hateth the light.
You see, the light exposes the evil. So they hate it, neither
cometh to the light, lest his deed should be reproved or discovered. But look at verse 21. But he
that doeth truth. Now, what is doing truth? It's
looking to Christ. It's resting in Christ. If you're
looking to Him and resting in Him, if He's your hope and stay,
if His blood is your only salvation from sin, if His righteousness
is your only justification before God, you're doing truth. And
he says he comes to the light. Christ is the light. That His
deeds may be manifest that they are what? Look at that. Wrought
in God. That's another way of saying
they're the work of God. They're the work of God. They're
not my works. Look over at Ephesians chapter 2. You see, anything
that pleases God must come from God Himself. Did you know that?
If it comes from us, it's not pleasing to God. Why? Because we're not yet perfect. And look here at Ephesians chapter
2, talking about grace here. We're saved by grace, not by
works, lest any man should boast. In verse 10, He says, for we
are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus because of good
works. Is that what it says? No, it
says unto good works. You see, good works is the fruit
of his grace and his power and his love. We were created in
Christ when? When he died on the cross, was
buried in Rose again the third day. That's when we were justified
before a holy God, and as a result, the Holy Spirit works in our
hearts to drive us to Christ, showing us our sinfulness, and
from that grace proceeds the good works that God works in
us. Look over at Philippians 2. He says, Wherefore, my beloved,
as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now
much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear
and trembling. It's work out, it's not save
yourself. Work out means to persevere in
the faith by his power. Look at verse 13, it clears it
all up. For it is God which worketh in you both the will and to do
of his what? His good pleasure. That which
is well-pleasing unto God. And then one more. Look over
at Hebrews chapter 13. Hebrews 13. Verse 20. He says, Now the God of peace
that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus. Now you see,
there's our salvation right there. That great Shepherd of the sheep,
the Shepherd who died for us, The Shepherd who provides for
us, the Shepherd who brings us into the fold, the Shepherd who
keeps us through the blood of the everlasting covenant. Now,
where's your works there in all that verse? Huh? It's not even
there, is it? But look at verse 21. Make you
perfect in every good work to do His will, working in you that
which is well-pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ, to
whom be glory forever and ever. That's what the Scripture says
about that which is well-pleasing unto God. Go back to Philippians
4 now. You see, it's all grace. Salvation, the beginning of it,
is all grace. It was begun back in eternity
past when God chose a people. It was accomplished at Calvary
on Christ when He died for us and established righteousness
for us. It's applied to us in the new birth when the Holy Spirit
gives us life and drives us to Christ. And it continues as he
keeps us and works in us that which is well-pleasing in his
sight. And it will be culminated in glory when he brings us on
through and makes us perfectly like Christ. Look at verse 19
of Philippians 4. Now he says, But my God shall
supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ
Jesus. Everything we need, he's saying,
my grace is sufficient for you. Every good and perfect gift cometh
down from heaven from the Father of lights. Everything that's
good for us will be given to us. Did you know that? Now, you who have young children,
you who have had young children, do they always know what's good
for them? No. That's why they're children.
Sometimes you have to make that decision, what's good for them
and what's not good for them. And sometimes they don't like
it, do they? Well, let me tell you something. That's what we
are in God's sight. We're children. We're His children. I know they're
elders in the faith, but they're still His children. Isn't that
right? And sometimes even us elders in the faith, we don't
even know what's good for us. I'll tell you what, if I could
go back and plan out things and mark down, now this is how I
want this to happen. It would not have been like it
all happened. But you know what? I don't know
what's good for me. And I don't know what's good
for you except what God tells me in his word. And he knows
what's best for us. And I'm going to tell you something.
What has happened in our church, in our individual lives, ultimately
is good for us. And that's what Paul means here.
But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches.
And I'll tell you, he's a rich God. We don't even know how rich. In glory by Christ Jesus. Look
at verse 20. And here's a good way to end
this. Now unto God and our Father be
glory forever and ever. Amen. So be it. So be it. Let me read these last three
verses. There's something I want you to take note of here. And
then I'll close. He says, Salute every saint in
Christ Jesus. You know what a saint is. He's
a sinner saved by the grace of God. There's no saints outside
of Christ. That means sanctified ones, set
apart by the Father in election, by the Son in redemption, by
the Spirit in regeneration. And he says, The brethren which
are with me greet you. Now, Paul had some brethren with
him while he was in prison. Most of them could come and go
as they pleased, but they came in and they ministered to Paul
and they fellowshiped with him. But he says in verse 22, all
the saints salute you. That is all the saints that are
with me, Paul saying, salute you who are at Philippi. Chiefly,
now look at this. Chiefly, they that are of Caesar's
household. Now, isn't that amazing? Who
was Caesar? You know who Caesar was. Somebody
said, well, I don't know who the particular one, but I know
the whole bunch. They were idolaters. God-haters. It was common, the
religion of the day, is you had to say Caesar is God, among all
the other gods, but he is God. And you mean to tell me that
members of his household, now that could have been servants,
could have been relatives. We don't know. But why does Paul
say, chiefly, they that are of Caesar's household? I'll tell
you why I believe he says that. I believe coming out of the rank
idolatry that they came out of, they were so thankful that Paul
came to Rome and preached the gospel. And I guarantee you they
were thankful to the church at Philippi for helping him, supporting
him. The Bible says, to whom much
is forgiven, much is required. Oh, don't we thank God for his
grace. his gospel, to save us out of
our idolatry, out of our sinfulness, out of our wretchedness. Chiefly,
those who are Caesar's household. Even old Caesar couldn't stop
the power of God to save a sinner from his sin. Isn't that something? I'll tell you, nobody is going
to stop him. Nobody. So he says in verse 23, the grace
of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.