our Bible today to Philippians
chapter 4. Appreciate that music just now,
beautiful hymn, sweet hour of prayer done so well. This is the last message that
I'm going to be bringing at this time from the letter of Philippians.
We've been studying from this letter for several months now.
And the title of my message today will simply be Paul's Benediction. He closes this letter in these
three ways. First of all, by giving praise
unto God in verse 20. Now unto God and our Father be
glory forever and ever. Amen. All things in this world
are for God's glory. God never determined anything
to come to pass that does not ultimately bring glory to Him. Nothing else would be worthy
of God. And the Apostle Paul closes this
letter to this church Now unto God our Father be glory forever
and ever. I want to read an Old Testament
benediction like this from a saint in the Old Testament. This is
found in First Chronicles. Wherefore David blessed the Lord
before all the congregation, and David said, Blessed be thou
Lord God of Israel, our Father forever and ever. Thine, O Lord, is the greatness
and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty for
all that is in the heaven and in the earth is Thine. Thine
is the kingdom, O Lord, and Thou art exalted as head above all. Both riches and honor come of
thee, and thou reignest over all. And in thine hand is power
and might, and in thine hand it is to make great and to give
strength to all. Now therefore, our God, we thank
thee and praise thy glorious name. What a benediction was
that of David when he was almost at the end of his reign, the
end of his life in this world. What a benediction this is, the
Apostle Paul writes. The second thing we see in this
is he salutes, he sends greetings to every saint in Christ Jesus
in Philippi. 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. Caesar was a wicked ruler. That is Nero, rather. This Caesar
was a wicked ruler. And his court was a debauched
place to be. And yet even in his household,
The gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ had claimed and saved
some of God's chosen people. The gospel is like leaven. When
you put leaven in a lump of dough, it permeates, it spreads. And the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ, since he went back to heaven, he has commanded his
church to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every
creature. And the gospel has gone forth
and all over this world today, there are those who know him,
love him, and serve him. And yes, even in this wicked
ruler's household, there were some who trusted in Christ and
served him. And then the last thing we see
the Apostle Paul does, he says the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ
be with you all. Amen. The grace of our Lord Jesus
Christ. We sang that hymn just a few
minutes ago. Oh, the wonderful grace of Jesus. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ
be with you all. Now, notice that the Apostle
Paul ended six of the eight New Testament letters that he wrote
to local churches with this same benediction, with these same
words. Now he wrote more New Testament
letters than eight, but he wrote eight specifically to local churches. And of these eight, six, he ended
with these same words, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with
you all. The two exceptions. 2nd Corinthians,
and he ended it like this, the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ
and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you. Amen. And then the church at
Colossae, he ended that letter with these words, grace be with
you. Amen. And then the letter to
Philemon, and he acknowledged that there was a church in his
house, he ended that letter with these same words, the grace of
our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen. Now I want
us to think about three things concerning grace today. First,
the Lord Jesus Christ is full of grace. I want you to look
with me back in John's Gospel, John chapter 1. The Lord Jesus
Christ is full of grace. Verse 14, John chapter 1, And the Word,
we know the Word as he says in verse 1, In the beginning was
the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The eternal Word, not the spoken
Word, the living Word. He who is one with the Father
and with God the Holy Spirit. The Word infinite, eternal, omnipotent,
omniscient, omnipresent, who never changes. The Word, the
eternal Word, the Son of God, the Word was made flesh. That is, He took into union with
His person, this eternal Son of God took into union with His
person that body which was prepared Him of the Virgin Mary by the
Holy Spirit so that He has two natures. He's God and He's man
in one divine person, the God-man. The Word was made flesh and dwelt
among us. In John's first letter, he said,
we touched him, we saw him, we handled him. The Word, life,
was manifest. The eternal Word of God came
into this world as a man. John said, we beheld his glory,
the glory as of the only begotten of the Father. Now God has many
sons by adoption. He has many sons by creation,
but He only has one Son, like this Son, His only begotten Son,
that is, one who is one with Him. The Word became flesh and
dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory as of the only begotten
of the Father, now notice, full of grace and truth. Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ
be with you all. My first thought is that the
Lord Jesus Christ is full of grace. This God-man who is the
one mediator between God and man, he is full of grace. I don't think there's any way
we can truly appreciate and comprehend this statement that Jesus Christ,
this God man, that He is full of grace. He's like a reservoir
of grace. We live in a state where men
have built a number of reservoirs to collect water and to save
it. and to use it in time of need.
But every once in a while we see on the news some of these
reservoirs are going dry. There's a drought and the reservoir
begins to decrease more and more and more and sometimes until
there's not even water left in it. The Lord Jesus Christ, He
is full of grace. He is a reservoir of grace. And think about from the time
of the beginning, in the beginning, until today, men and women have
come to Christ for grace, because there's grace nowhere else to
be found, grace for sinners. And yet, here's the truth. He's just as full of grace today
as He was in the beginning. When the first sinner looked
to Christ and trusted in Christ to take away his sins, to save
him, receiving the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. How many have
come since then? How many have drunk of this water,
of this reservoir? And yet today, thank God, he's
full of grace and truth. All the grace that you will ever
need is in Christ. Don't look for it anywhere else.
Don't look for it in the church. You know, if your grace, the
grace that you have, the grace that you're trusting in to save
you comes from a group of men, a church, or anything like that,
well, it's going to run out. And the thing is, it's going
to run out at the very point when you need it the most. I
mean when that cold sweat of death is on your brow and you
are about to leave this world and go out into eternity to face
God Almighty. If you've ever needed grace,
you need it now. But if your grace is not drawn
from Jesus Christ, there will be no grace. He is full of grace. So that's my first point, the
Lord Jesus Christ is full of grace. The Old Testament said
it like this, hold everyone that thirsteth. Are you thirsty? Is anyone here thirsty today?
Oh, everyone that thirsteth. How can a man say that? How can
an invitation like that be given out? Everyone. Oh, everyone. Just as many as are thirsty. Well, maybe you don't have enough
water. Maybe you don't have enough grace. No danger of that. Oh, everyone that thirsteth,
come ye to the waters. The Lord Jesus Christ, remember
in John chapter 7, he stood on the last day, that great day
of the feast of the Jews. And that's what he said, wasn't
it? If any man thirsts, any man. Well, maybe there's a million
people here in Jerusalem. That doesn't matter. If any man
thirsts, let him come unto me and drink. The Lord Jesus Christ
is full of grace. Now, my second point is this.
Grace given in eternity is experienced in time. Let me say that again. Grace
given in eternity is experienced in time. And I want you to look
with me to 2 Timothy. 2 Timothy chapter 1. 2nd Timothy chapter 1 and verse
9. Who hath saved us. 2nd Timothy
1 verse 9. Who hath saved us and called
us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according,
now watch this, to his own purpose and grace. He hath saved us and called us
with an holy calling, not according to our own works, but according
to His own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ
Jesus before the world began. This grace was given unto us
in Christ before the world began. In other words, in eternity.
Before there ever was a star in the sky, before there was
a blade of grass, or anything for the grass to grow on, He
hath given us. This is what the Apostle Paul
tells us. He hath given us grace according
to His own purpose and grace which was given us in Christ
Jesus before the world began. What kind of grace is this? But
the point, before I go on, let me emphasize again, this grace
is in Christ. It was given us in Christ. Grace for sinners is in Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ is full
of grace. Don't look for grace, God's grace,
anywhere else than in Christ. And this grace was given unto
us according to His purpose which was given us in Christ Jesus
before the world began. Now what kind of grace would
we call this? Grace that is given unto us before
the world began. Well first of all we would call
this electing grace. Electing grace. Blessed be the
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, according as He hath
chosen us in Christ. and blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in Christ before the foundation of the world." This
grace that was given us in Christ before the world began, the first
thing we would say about this grace is it's electing grace. Our Lord told His disciples,
you didn't choose me, I chose you. And so much preaching today,
false preaching, begins by making an appeal to men to choose God. Here's the truth. According to
the Word of God, God chose His people, His bride, before the
foundation of the world, and chose us in Christ. This is electing
grace. That's the first thing I'd say
about it. And number two, this is grace that loves, loving grace. Yea, I have loved thee, God said,
with an everlasting love. And this would be adopting grace
also. He adopted us as his sons before
the foundation of the world. Now, here's my point. This grace
given in Christ Jesus in eternity, it results in saving experiencing
salvation in time. And we're not going to separate
them. They're two friends. What God has joined together,
let not man put asunder. And yes, grace was given us from
before the foundation of the world in Christ. But in time,
when we come into this world, we, if we were given grace in
Christ, before the foundation of the world. We are going to
experience this grace. It's going to result in us experiencing
grace. What kind of grace do we call
this? Well, first of all, we call it saving grace. Calling
grace. That's what the Apostle said.
Notice the text. Who hath saved us and called
us with an holy calling not according to our works but according to
his own purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus
before the world began. Do you see that the apostle says
we were given this grace before the world began, but in time
he has saved us and called us with a holy calling. When a person is called, this
holy calling, When a person is called by the grace of God, by
the Spirit of God, then this calling grace also becomes forgiving
grace, justifying grace, sanctifying grace. All of this grace is found
in Christ, in Him. Believing sinners, when we are
brought to experience this grace, we believe in Christ. We trust
in Him as our Lord and as our Savior. Go into all the world
and preach the gospel to every creature. Whosoever believeth
and is baptized shall be saved. Whosoever believeth not shall
be damned. We experience this grace which
was given us in eternity past. We experience this in time. And this is calling grace, this
is saving grace, this is forgiving grace, this is justifying grace,
this is sanctifying grace, and all in Christ, in Him. Think about this, forgiving grace.
Sinners need to be forgiven. We all do. We need to be forgiven.
We have sinned against God. You say, why do we need to be
forgiven? Because we've sinned against God. And remember this,
my friend. Every sin that I commit, every
sin that you commit. We may sin against a brother,
we may sin against a sister, against whoever. But every sin
ultimately is against God. David said, Against thee and
thee only have I sinned. Now, we need to be forgiven. We need our sins forgiven. Forgiving
grace. Forgiving grace comes to those
who believe in Christ, for Christ's sake. The Apostle Paul said it
like this, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. No one
is ever forgiven because he's done this, he's done that, he's
done the other, he's joined here, he's joined there, he's been
baptized, he's been sprinkled, he's learned this. No, no, no,
no, no. For Christ's sake. And that's
the only reason God will ever forgive any sinner, any sin,
for Christ's sake. Because Christ suffered for that
sin. Because Christ paid for that
sin. For Christ's sake. And believing
sinners are not only forgiven for Christ's sake, but they're
justified. They have the righteousness of
Christ accounted to them. Imputed to them. The scripture
says, for he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin,
that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. And then sanctifying
grace we see is also in Christ, in his name. 1 Corinthians 6,
you are sanctified in the name of the Lord Jesus. The saving
work of God on our behalf is all accomplished by the grace
of God. For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. No aspect
of salvation derives from the efforts of men. That's one of
the most difficult lessons I think it is for any of us to learn,
that salvation is free. It's free. We just come into
this world thinking we've got to do something. We've got to
earn it. We've got to deserve it. You never will deserve it.
Never will earn it. Salvation is by grace. And if
you could deserve it, it would not be by grace. It would be
by merit. It would be by justice. For by
grace are you saved, the apostle said. By grace are you saved
through faith. And that not of yourselves, it
is the gift of God. Not of works, he said, lest anyone
should boast. If salvation were not of grace,
if it were part of grace and part of works or all of works,
like some people believe, then heaven would be hell. It really
would. Heaven would be turned into hell.
Why? Because you would have a multitude of people there bragging, proud,
boasting, and what they have done, what they did. But I tell
you, heaven is not turned into hell. Heaven is heaven, and it
is a place where everyone there does glory and boasts, but not
in himself, but in Jesus Christ. And all the grace is in Him. To the praise of the glory of
His grace, He hath made us accepted in the beloved. We read that
in Ephesians 1. Even our faith. Scripture says,
for by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves.
Even our faith we're told as the Lord Jesus Christ as its
author and finisher. The faith with which you believe
in Christ, you trust in Christ, you lay hold of Christ, you rest
upon Christ. That faith It's given to you. And it's a gift from God. You
believe. You trust. That's true. But that
faith with which you believe and trust is a gift of God. Now here's the third point. Saints
are to continue in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Notice
the Apostle said, The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with
you all. Saints, believers, we are to
continue in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. It's not like
some people may imagine, well, I was saved by grace, so now
it's all up to me. Salvation is by grace, I understand
that, but now living this life, this Christian life, now it's
all up to me. No, we are to continue. Paul
commends these believers. They're believers. They're saints
of God. To the grace of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Now I have four things I want
to give us this morning about continuing in this grace. Number one, grow in grace. Look with me if you will in 2
Peter chapter 3. 2 Peter chapter 3 and verse 18. Be growing. Be growing in grace. Peter says, but grow in grace
and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. To Him be glory both now and
forever. We grow in grace as we grow in
knowledge of Christ. Notice it says, but grow in grace
and the knowledge of our Lord. How do we grow in grace? by growing
in the knowledge of Christ. And I don't believe that we should
understand this simply as learning more about Christ. That's part
of it, no doubt, knowing more about Him, but growing like Him. The scripture said that we are
predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son. Growing
in grace is to grow in knowledge of Christ. Remember, He is the
one who is full of grace. And so as we grow in knowledge
of Him, then we will grow in grace. In grace. Number two, be strong in grace. Be strong in grace. We see this
in 2 Timothy chapter two and verse one. 2nd Timothy chapter 2 and verse
1, Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in
Christ Jesus. The strength that you need, the
strength that I need, that we need to live as Christ would
have us to live, is found in Christ. It's found in Him day
by day. The strength we need, the strength
to overcome temptation, the strength to mortify our body, the deeds
of our body, all of this strength that we need day by day, where
will we find it? We're going to find it in Christ.
He is full of grace. Be strong in grace, the apostle
tells us. You know, the apostle Paul used
analogies. several times, different analogies
to speak of a believer. He used athletes and he used
soldiers. Now if there's one thing that
both soldiers and athletes need is strength, endurance. The road gets long, the road
gets weary. Where are we going to find that
strength that we need? in Christ. Be strong in the grace
which is in Jesus Christ. This grace that we need, He is
our strength. That's what the psalmist David
had learned and that's what he said. The Lord is my salvation. The Lord is the strength of my
life. He didn't say He gives me strength,
that's true, but he said He is the strength of my life. The
Lord Jesus Christ. Grace. He's full of grace. Grow
in grace. Be strong in grace. And number
three, be established in grace. Established in grace. We see
this in Hebrews chapter 13. Be established in grace. Verse 9, Hebrews 13 in verse 9. Be not
carried about with diverse and strange doctrines. You know,
if you've been a believer for very long, you've seen a lot
of strange teachings come down the tube, as people say. A lot
of novel doctrines. A lot of strange things that
people have come up with, professing to be Christian doctrine, professing
to be teachers of the Word of God. And it's sad that you see
some believers, they're moved. They waver by hearing these strange
doctrines, something new, something novel, something different, and
so they run after it. Run after it, whatever it is,
sounds good. It's like a toy to a child, something
that's shiny, appealing. But notice what the Apostle says.
Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines, for it
is good, it is a good thing that the heart be established with
grace, not with meats. which have not profited them
that have been occupied therein. It is good, a good thing, that
the heart be established with grace. Be established in grace. You say, well, how do you do
that? Well, first of all, consider
God's covenant of grace. Consider God's covenant of grace. Meditate. and realize the stability and
the permanence of the covenant of grace. God made a covenant
with himself and with his people in Christ before the foundation
of the world, and nothing's going to alter this covenant. Nothing's
going to change this covenant. Think of the stability. Meditate. Think upon the stability of this
covenant. There's a surety. In this covenant,
there was a surety. Who is that surety? Jesus Christ,
the surety of the better covenant. You say, well, what does that
mean, the surety? It means that He became responsible
to do everything, not most. He became responsible to do everything
in saving the people that God gave unto Him in this covenant
of grace. And He did it. He finished the
work which the Father gave Him to do. Sometimes when you hear
a strange doctrine, you will recognize maybe what it cannot
be teaching. People will come to you and they'll
have some teaching, they'll have some question, and maybe you
don't have the answer on the tip of your tongue, but you do
know this, I know what it's not teaching. I know that. It's not
teaching things that will deny the truth of God's sovereignty,
God's purpose, and God's eternal covenant of grace. Think about the promises of the
covenant. Here's one of the promises of
this covenant of grace that was a great blessing to me recently. And it is all the time, but sometimes
even more so, and it was to me recently. God said, and I will
make an everlasting covenant with them that I will not turn
away to do them good. I will not turn away to do them
good, but I will put my fear in their hearts that they shall
not depart from me." When you are tempted, and I know you are,
when doubts come into your mind, when you're tempted to doubt
God's goodness in some particular thing, something that's going
on in your life, remember God's promise. It's good for the heart
to be established in grace. God's promise in this covenant
is, I will not. Let that sink in. God said that
to you. I will not. I will not turn away
from doing you good. You say, well, I don't understand
how this could be for my good. You don't have to understand
it. You don't have to understand it, but you must believe it.
The psalmist said, I had fainted. Fainted. Given up. Turned back. I had fainted if
I had not believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land
of the living. It's good for the heart to be
established with grace. Salvation is by grace. And then,
here's the last. Be taught by grace. Notice in
Titus, the letter of Titus, chapter 2. Be taught by grace. Grow in grace. Be strong in grace. Be established in grace. Be taught
by grace. Titus chapter 2 and verse 11. For the grace of God. That's why
we're talking about it. The grace of God. The grace of
our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen. There's a fullness
of grace in Christ. Grace given to us in Christ in
eternity is experienced in time. He calls us. He saves us. He
forgives us. Grow in grace. Be strong in grace. Be established in grace. Be taught
by grace. For the grace of God that bringeth
salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that denying
ungodliness and worldly lust, we should live soberly, righteously,
and godly in this present world, looking for that blessed hope
and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior,
Jesus Christ. God's grace teaches us that there
are some things that we should deny. The flesh lusts after these
things. So what do we do? Do we just
give in? Well, if you want to do it, just
do it. That's what the world, that's
the philosophy of the world. If it feels good, do it. But
for the believer, for the child of God, The grace of God teaches
us to deny worldly lust, to deny these things that would turn
us aside, worldly lust and ungodliness. And then it teaches us to live
soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world. And it
teaches us also to look for that blessed hope that the Lord Jesus
Christ is going to come again. He's going to come for his people.
He's coming to receive His own unto Himself. Well, I pray that
the Lord would bless this word to all of us here this morning.
Some people say if you speak too much about God's grace, then
people will become lawless. Just the opposite is true. Just
the opposite is true. God's people who have experienced
the grace of God. No, we owe everything to the
grace of God. So what does that produce in
us? A desire to deny God? To bring reproach upon God? Oh
no, just the opposite. It produces in us a desire to
honor Him, to love Him more, and to praise His name forever
and ever.