on that back table, in addition to the outline for tonight is that one page document. That's kind of a guide for praying for revival. I found that to be helpful in my own time of prayer. So we can, we can use that perhaps a little later on as we pray for revival. Well, we come to the end of the letter of the apostle Paul that he wrote to the Philippian church. Great little four chapter book. It may be small in size, but very rich and deep in content, right? Great, great letter. I want to read these final couple of verses. You know, we get caught up, and rightly so, in the memorable verses of the book Philippians. We have our favorite paragraphs and our favorite verses, and rightly so. And these final couple of verses could sort of be left aside. And sometimes as we're studying, we, we, we don't think much about the greetings or the farewells or the goodbyes, but every word is inspired. Every word is given to us by inspiration from the Holy spirit written by Paul. So, so we want to look at these final verses in Philippians chapter four and Church family, I just want to encourage us tonight with two final words of pastoral encouragement to a faithful church. Not just to Philippi, but even to us here at Christ Fellowship tonight. So, with that, you have your Bible open in Philippians chapter 4. Follow with me as I read these final couple of verses. Philippians 4, beginning in verse 21. I'll read to the end of the book. Here's the word of the living God. Greet every saint in Christ Jesus. The brethren who are with me greet you. All the saints greet you, especially those of Caesar's household. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Oh, God, would you give clarity to me as I preach? and give humble, open, submissive hearts to every single one of us, that you would be our teacher, that we would be your students, that you would convict us, that you would change us, O God, that you would conform us, that you would bring revival, that you, O God, would show us what we can do, how we ought to live, how we ought to think, what we ought to remember as saints of the living God by the grace that you have bestowed upon us. Teach us tonight. We pray in Jesus name. Amen. Well, final words can be very, very memorable. Final words can be very unforgettable. They can be, they can be tender. They can be imprinted on our minds. Maybe you have a a loved one or a family member, maybe a close friend that as you reflect on their passing and the final words that they said to you, and maybe that's imprinted upon your mind and your heart because you remember that person and the final words that they spoke before they passed. Or maybe you think of the words of our Savior, His final words on the cross, the seven sayings of the cross, the wonderful sayings that we know and love and cherish from our Savior when He was hanging on the cross. Or the final words before He ascended into heaven, go into all the world and make disciples of all nations. We come here in the book of Philippians to some final words. Some final words in Paul's letter to his beloved and affectionate congregation there in the city of Philippi. In the ancient Greco-Roman world, when you would write a letter, there was a typical way to conclude letters. There was a standard way of formatting your letters. And at the end of most letters, the way the author would typically conclude is that he would sort of give a short farewell and then kind of a short wish tagged on at the end. They were short. They were terse. They were well-wished and they were hopeful, full of good wishes and good hopes. And Paul's final words right here, after the body of the book of Philippians, he ends his letter with some concluding words that follow the general format of ancient letters. But there's a couple of distinctive marks. They show, these words of Paul here, they show the warmth and the glory of true Christian love. In fact, this is an important lesson for us because in these verses tonight, Christian love is richly found in the section and we are called by God to live lives of love one to another in these verses before us tonight in Philippians chapter 4. In fact, there's really kind of three things that Paul does. Really, first, he calls believers to be actively involved in greeting one another. Let me say it again. He calls all the saints to be actively involved in greeting all of the saints with Christian warmth, with tenderness, with love. with intentionality. And then second of all, Paul, Paul encourages believers in in sharing with one another how the gospel has impacted the very heart of Caesar's empire. Here's what God is doing in my life and in me and through me and penetrating the the deep, dark, hard places of society. And then third, Paul reminds the believers of the wondrous grace that comes from our God and Savior, Jesus Christ. Now, I want us to think and to ponder for just a couple of minutes. How might God strengthen us as a local church? How might God grow us as a local church? How might God refresh us as a local church? If, if we learn from Paul in these verses to greet every single believer in the congregation here, every believer with, with warmth and with intentionality and with love and with grace. If we speak with one to another regularly and intentionally, how the gospel is working in us and through us. Not just make the effort to greet one another with Christian love, but we speak one to another. Here's how the gospel is working. Here's how God is using me. Here's the people that have received the gospel this week. Pray for them. Let's consider them together. Third, think of how God might work in our local congregation as we remind each other of God's grace that not only saved us, but it keeps us and it sustains us and it carries us all the way to glory. Wouldn't that be a remarkable way? that God might see fit to apply that to every one of our hearts and lives as believers. If every Christian is actively engaged in greeting one another, in speaking of the gospel work in our society, and then third, of reminding and encouraging one another of the grace of God that is found in the gospel. What conversations, what depth of love and warmth and encouragement and strengthening that would be for a local assembly if every believer were to grab a hold of these three things and say, by the grace of God, I want to be faithful to do that. Well, in these final words of farewell here in this book, Pastor Paul shows the open warmth of Christian relations. He shows the unity that we have in Christ. He reminds them of the deep theological truths that they enjoy and the glory of sinners coming to faith and the grace of God that permeates all that we are. This is a profound way that Paul concludes this little letter to the Philippians. I remember reading In my preparation to begin the book of Philippians, the commentators would say that this is out of all of Paul's letters. This is the most heartfelt. This is the most tender, maybe the most personal, the, the warmest letter that Paul wrote out of any of his letters. And I, I agree. I think Paul is just bubbling forth with personal love and affection for this little congregation in Philippi that he loves and cares for so much. So let's work through these three verses together to prepare us for a time of prayer. And as we conclude the book of Philippians, I want to give you two warm pastoral encouragements from Pastor Paul. I want to give you, I want to give you two warm pastoral words of encouragement so that we can, we can love one another so that we can honor our savior. And so that we can be a faithful local church. We, we want to, we want to learn these warm pastoral encouragements from God to us so that we can be a loving, a Christ honoring and a faithful. local church. This is not a sermon that is meant to chastise us, not at all. This is a sermon that is meant to encourage the people of God. This is a sermon that is meant to build up the people of God. This is a sermon that is intended to say, you're doing this, but excel even still more. So two pastoral, warm words. They're very simple. You see it in your outline there. Number one, greet every saint. And then number two, remember God's grace. Greet every saint, remember God's grace. Ponder with me. What if we just had those two phrases plastered on our eyeballs as church members? I want to greet every saint. We're going to talk about what that looks like and how to do it, but to greet every saint and to remember God's grace. Let's look first at this pastoral encouragement of greeting every saint. Look at verse 21, how Paul concludes the letter. He says to the Philippians, greet every saint in Christ Jesus. Now let's just pause real briefly and just state this. If you are a Christian, you are a saint. If you are a Christian, you are a saint. And what that word means is you are a holy one. You are a holy one. Because the spiritual sphere in which you live and move and function is the sphere of being in Christ. Of being in Christ. So your identity, child of God, your identity, let me rephrase that, who you really are. is you're a saint, you're a holy one. You're a sinner saved by grace. True. But Paul doesn't begin his letters by saying to the sinners at Ephesus, to the sinners at Corinth, to the sinner. No, no, no. He says to the holy ones, to the saints. Why? Because your identity, who you really are, what makes you, you is that you're holy. You're, you're a saint. You're set apart. You are with and in and bound up and united to Jesus Christ. Paul, Paul even called the troubled saints in the Corinthian church. Those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus saints by calling first Corinthians one and verse two. Hear this, a saint is not a superhero. A saint is, is not somebody who's attained some special achievement. A saint is not somebody who's gotten a high honor or a high merit. Rather, a saint is anybody who has eternal life in Christ. And Paul writes to the church that he loves and he says, church, I want you to greet every saints. I want you to greet every Christian. Who are you as bad as you failed today? Maybe as bad as you think you may be, as much as you think that you've out sinned God's grace is as, as, as sour of a day is full of complaining and pride and bitterness. Your identity as a child of God is not a sinner, but a saint. Not because of you and your performance, but because of Christ. And insofar as you believe in Christ and you're united to Christ, God views you as a holy one because of Christ. That's your unchanging and eternal position. So Paul says, greet every saint. The word greet in the Greek language has the idea of a tender, a very warm, a very affectionate greeting of brotherly love. In fact, in the ancient, in the ancient culture, the Greco-Roman world, and in the Christian world to greet somebody like this, it often included two things. It often included an embrace and it often included a brotherly kiss. Now in that culture, And at that time, that signified deep, brotherly, affectionate, Christ-like love. Paul's point is for us to warmly, to tenderly, to affectionately greet one another with such heartfelt, brotherly kindness. not just our favorite saints, not just those that are like us, not just those that sit near us, but Paul says it here, greet every saint. And by the way, verse 21, it's an imperative. I know it's easy to sit and to remain to myself. And sometimes we just don't want to get up and be proactive and intentional in meeting new people and talking to, but, but, but that's what God calls us to do to greet every saint. And so maybe a question for us. Is there somebody here at Christ's fellowship that maybe you don't know very well, maybe somebody that is, you kind of review the membership list and you think, I don't know if I've shaken their hand. I don't know if I've really had a conversation with them. Maybe make it a point in coming weeks to just one person each Sunday to approach somebody maybe new, maybe different, maybe somebody that you've not approached before and greet them in a warm and in a tender and in a loving and in a Christ-like way. Because look at what Paul says, greet every saint, every saint. It's singular, not just all the saints. Paul doesn't just want all the saints. Hey, hey, greet everybody. But he wants you to individually greet each and every saint. Greet the saints in Christ Jesus. There goes Paul again with his Christ-centered emphasis. For 20 times in the whole book of Philippians, he's brought out the phrase, in Christ, in Christ, 20 times. In four little chapters, he brings out the phrase that we are in Christ Jesus, that all that we are, all that we have, all of our position is bound up in Christ. Christian, be encouraged. You getting to heaven has nothing to do with your achievement. to get yourself saved and your performance to keep yourself saved. Notice, greet every saint who is in Christ. You're a saint, not because of your works, not because of your merit, not because of your honors or your degrees or your intelligence, but you're a saint because you're in Christ. Everything that we are and everything that we have comes through Christ. I love what an old commentator once said. He said to be in Christ denotes a comprehensive description of every Christian. I love that. A comprehensive description of every Christian. Friends, are y'all in Christ? Do you know for sure that you are in Christ? It's not about what you've done. It's not about what you've earned. But are you simply and solely clinging to Jesus Christ as the only hope that can rescue you from the punishment for your sins? Are you caught up in him? Are you bound up in him? Are you united to him? Consider that for a moment. Consider this union with Christ, that all that Jesus is, is yours. All of his infinite divine righteousness is yours. All of the taking of God's divine wrath was done for you, that all of his active obedience in obeying the law is yours. And God looks at that for your salvation, not your efforts. That's good news. And Paul says, greet every saint. And how does he define the saints? We are in Christ. Now, the point here is to greet one another. Love it on Sundays. How do we greet one another on Wednesdays? How do we greet one another? When there are visitors, when there are newcomers, when there are regular attenders, fellow members, one with another, when there's people who are visiting people that we don't know very well, Paul's really expressing here. One of the great marks of saints is the sharing and the expressing of a common, a non-discriminating, a welcoming, and frankly, a pretty involved Christ-like love one for another. Jesus said, they will know that you are Christians by your love. This is a mutual desire for each other's spiritual well-being. And the greeting here, this warm, affectionate greeting comes from a deep love and genuine care for every single person in the congregation. The young, the older, those that are like us, those that are very different from us, those that we might have no relationship with if it were not for the blood of Christ. Every single believer. were called to greet them. Some may be different. Some may be in a different stage of life. Some may be a different age. Some may be frankly critical of you. Some, some may be immature believers and in need of much growth. But as believers in Christ, they're They're saints and they are worthy of our deep warmth and our tender affection and our sincere love. Paul models it in verse 21. Notice how he continues, the brethren who are with me greet you. I love this. This is probably Timothy. He mentions him in chapter two. It might even be Luke who, according to Acts 27, was traveling with Paul on these journeys on his way to Rome. under house arrest for two years. So it could have been those who were with Paul in his quarters there when he was imprisoned in Rome. Those who are with me, they greet you, Paul said. And then verse 22, he says, all the saints greet you. Philippians, I want you to know that all the believers that come into contact with me, they greet you, Philippian church. Oh, but then, then he just mentioned something that's pretty amazing. Look in your Bible. at the very end of verse 22, all the saints greet you, especially those of Caesar's household. Now this doesn't mean Caesar's blood family. It's language that may include the highest functionaries or the lowest menials. It's kind of those that are working in Caesar's palace, in the royal quarters where Caesar is, the slaves or the freedmen. The implication here is that Paul won some of the people that were in the pagan quarters of Caesar. They came to faith. They came to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ when Paul was in jail in Rome. And you know what this tells us? That the great joy of saints is to see other sinners come to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul's like, I want you to know that there are believers in Rome in Caesar's palace that have come to faith. That's good news. We ought to rejoice in that. We ought to be happy in that. And let it just be said, when Paul's in jail in Rome, guess who the emperor is? Nero. Now, Nero was tagged by one historian, quote, as an enemy of mankind, end of quote. Nero's rule was marked by tyranny and extravagance. Most Roman sources and historians offer an altogether negative assessment of emperor Nero. He, he was a, he was a compulsive, he was a corrupt, he was a bloodthirsty man. He was very cruel. He was an utter hater of Christians. In the early centuries, there was a church father, a church writer, a church apologist named Tertullian who said that Nero was one of the first of Christianity's major persecutors. Nero is best known for his debaucheries, political murders, his passion for music, and his horrendous persecution of Christians. He was creative. He enjoyed and he was brutal in his persecutions of Christians. And yet, and yet this is one of the reasons that Paul undoubtedly is full of joy all through the letter. All through the letter, he is full of joy, however difficult his circumstances may be, because God is using the pain in his life to bombard the palace of Caesar with the gospel. Paul couldn't have even picked this pulpit. He couldn't have chosen this platform if he wanted it. It was all God's doing that provided this venue for him in the very inner circle of Rome. And think about this. What a tremendous encouragement for the Philippians because after all the Philippians who are living in Philippi as a Roman colony. Remember that? And the emperor and all their emissaries come knocking on the door, even the public gatherings. And they say, you need to say, Caesar is Lord. Caesar is Lord. Christians can't do that. And they won't do that. And they're suffering and they're being persecuted. And what happens When they say, you must say that Caesar is Lord, and believers say, no, no, no, Jesus is Lord. The Philippians are suffering at the hands of the Roman citizens who are loyal to Caesar. They're suffering persecution, and yet Paul's actually a prisoner of Caesar. What an encouragement to the Philippians to know that the word of life that they believe, the gospel that they're believing, has penetrated the very heart of Caesar's empire. The gospel of salvation has penetrated. It has attacked. It has gone into the very heart of Caesar's headquarters. You know what that teaches? That even the power of Caesar, the hater of Christianity, can't stop the power of the gospel. No abortion clinic, no wayward child, no angry heckler on the streets, no atheistic professor on a college campus, no Roman Catholic priest, no Islamic Imam could ever, ever stop the power of the gospel. And that's what Paul's bringing out. He says, Philippians, I want you to know, I want you to know that, that, that the gospel has penetrated Caesar's household. So church be encouraged and greet one another with such words of encouragement, with warm words of intentional affection. Hey, God's, God's gospel is powerful. It changed me and it's changing others. And let me tell you how it's doing. So greet one another. Christians, where can we grow to greet every saint with intentionality? Specifically, even an encouragingly way with affection, with impartiality. How can, how can we, Together, do the work of soul care at Christ Fellowship, not just for the elder or the pastor or that Christian, but all of us in this interconnected intentionality, outgoing perspective of, I want to reach out to the people in this local church. And I want to shake their hands and I want to greet them. And I want to do it with warmth and with love and with affection and with care. May God work that in us and stir us to do that, to greet one another. Well, second, let's, let's conclude the book with the final verse, but it's not less important. It's the final verse. And maybe Paul just saved the best for last. Remember God's grace. Because he says in verse 23, the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. This is far more than just by Christian, the grace of God be with you. This, this is a reminder that Christian, we are not only saved by grace, but we are sustained by grace. As Romans five, verse two puts it, we stand in this grace. One writer said it like this. We're governed by grace. We are guided by grace. We are kept by grace. We are strengthened by grace. We are sanctified by grace. We are enabled to live Christian life by God's grace. Everything that you do is of God's grace. Everything. Now, let me show you how important this is to Paul. If you look at chapter one, verse two, Paul begins the book Philippians one verse two, grace to you and peace from God, our father and the Lord Jesus Christ. And now he's going to end the book by saying the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ to be with your spirit. It's like he's book ending the whole book. He's bracketing the whole book around this big theme. God's grace, God's grace. It begins with God's grace and it ends with God's grace and it's sustained by God's grace from beginning to end. Our entire salvation is, is all dependent upon God's sovereign grace in the Lord Jesus Christ. We are heirs of grace and recipients of grace. And I love what Paul does. It's like he reaches out with his words in this final closing Paul does. He reaches out with his words to embrace every member of the church, each individual member who is to be greeted. And he says, I want to assure you of the grace of God that is with you. I want to assure you of the grace of God that supports you and upholds you. Paul concludes his letter in second Thessalonians, second Corinthians chapter 13, verse 14, where he talks about the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. In John chapter 1 and verse 16, the apostle John writes and he says, from Christ's fullness, we have all received grace upon grace. We just receive rivers and rivers and rivers of grace that is found in Christ. Christian, remember, you were saved by grace. Christian, remember, you are serving your local church by grace. You're walking every day of your life. As you walk with Jesus, you are walking in grace. You are growing in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. We have our hope in heaven in God's grace. We are forgiven by grace. We are showing forth grace one to another. We are empowered by grace. We're thankful for grace and we're trophies of grace. You don't know what grace is. It's not just undeserved favor. That's true. That's only part of it. It's God's undeserved kindness. But here's the radical part of it bestowed upon those that deserve the absolute opposite. It's God's undeserved favor toward those that deserve his unrelenting wrath. That's the grace of God. Oh, what an amazing thought. And Paul concludes the book and guided by the Holy Spirit. The last thing that he leaves imprinted upon their hearts is this. You are living by grace, by grace. Do you know this grace? Do we thank God for this grace? Can we remind each other of this grace? We don't often say this. May the grace of God be with you this week. May you walk in grace this week. May you grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. May you evangelize, strengthened by God's grace. May you be a godly man or a godly woman or a godly young person all by grace, all by grace. There's a lot here. And you see in your outline there a number of takeaways for us in this Christ-centered epistle. But as Paul concludes the letter, what does he want to bring out? In this farewell, it's far more than just a simple bye. Farewell. See you later. He says, Christians, I want you to greet one another. And then second of all, he says, Christian, I want you to remember God's grace. That God's grace is with you. God's grace upholds you. God's grace gives you joy. God's grace is with you to sanctify you. And God's grace carries you all the way, all the way to glory, all the way to glory. Philippians is a very Christ-centered book. And you know, as we draw this to a close and then head to a time of prayer, What is Philippians all about? I've said really in the beginning part of our study so much, I believe the central paragraph of Philippians is chapter 2 verses 1 to 4, that we would be like-minded and unified as we emulate Christ. So the whole theme of Philippians is not joy. That's important. It's not humility. That's important. Those are themes. But the real main point is that we would have unity in our church family through selflessness. And that is only possible as we are in Christ, as we are united to Christ. So, Christian, let's rest in Christ. Rest in Him. Trust in Christ, focus on Christ. Let's give thanks to our Christ. Let's worship our Christ. Let's live in unity through Christ likeness. May he help us even as we take these final words to greet one another well in our local church and that we would remember God's grace. Amen. Lord, thank you for the book of Philippians. Thank you that you have given us such a precious, Christ-centered, Christ-exalting, Christ-focused little four chapter letter for us. Oh, we thank you for the timeless truths in this book for us. We want to be those who greet one another. We want to be those who remember God's grace. Help us to do that. In Jesus name. Amen.