The Grace of Our Lord Jesus Christ

Introduction: The Climactic Note of Grace in Paul's Letters

0:04 This sermon was preached on Sunday morning, March 14th, 1982, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. Now will you turn with me, please, to the last chapter of Paul's letter to the Philippians, Philippians chapter 4, and the very last verse, not only of this chapter, but of course the letter itself. Of Philippians chapter 4, in our consecutive expositions of this, perhaps most warm and intimate of all of the apostles' letters to the various churches, we've come to the last verse of that letter, Philippians chapter 4 and verse 23. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. With your spirit. Now these words, by which the letter to the Philippians is concluded, will form the focus of our meditation this morning as we terminate our verse-by-verse study of this portion of the word of God.

1:19 Now to anyone familiar at all with the letters of Paul, it is not surprising to find that these words, in which there is, an attention drawn to the grace of Christ, are the final and climactic expression of the apostles' mind and heart to the Philippians. In all of the Pauline letters, we find him concluding his communications with this note of grace. In a very real sense, we might call all of the epistles of Paul his epistles of grace. For after he, introduces and identifies himself as the sender and author of the letters, and identifies the recipients of the letters, his first word to the people of God and to individuals to whom he writes, is the word grace. And so most of the epistles begin with the words grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. And that great apostle, who was himself so conscious of being the recipient of grace, not only begins his letters with the note of grace, but he concludes them with that same note. Now in some of the epistles,

2:44 he gives the most abbreviated form of this expression of grace towards the people of God in this phrase, grace be with you. And that's the form that you will find in Colossians 4.18, and in 1st Timothy 4 in verse 21. Now in some of his epistles, you find the more expanded construction.

3:07 He writes, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. 1st Corinthians 16.23 and Romans 16 in verse 20. In yet other letters, he writes in a striking and unrepeated form, such as 2nd Corinthians 13.14, The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Or, in the Ephesians 6.24 conclusion, grace be with them that love our Lord Jesus Christ with a love incorruptible.

3:46 But here, to the Philippians, he concludes with the words, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. And this form of his closing words is repeated in the letter to Philemon and it's also found at the end of the Galatian letter, Galatians 6.18 and Philemon 25. Now the fact that there is this rich variation and diversity of the Apostle's closing words should indicate something to us at the very outset of our study.

4:26 It should indicate at least two things. First of all, that this language in which he pronounces grace upon the people of God at the conclusion of his letters is not a mere meaningless social custom devoid of mental activity. If it were, there would be no variation. There would be a flat sameness about all of the expressions of grace found at the end of the letter.

4:59 And so we learn at the very outset that this is not a meaningless social custom devoid of mental activity on the part of Paul. And we also learn from this diversity that it is not a wooden liturgical formula devoid of spiritual reality. There are certain liturgical formulas that are accurate expressions of divine truth. But when we say them over and over again, they can so easily become stripped of any spiritual reality in the saying of them.

5:34 Like the phrase coming to God in Jesus' name. It can become an empty liturgical formula devoid of any spiritual reality. That is, any felt consciousness that the only ground of our approach to God is to be found in the person and work of the Lord Jesus. Well, it's evident, you see, from this rich variety in which grace is always central, but in which the manner in which that grace is pronounced is diversified, we learn that the Apostle's mind was very active when he penned or dictated the words and that there was spiritual reality in the expression of his mind and of his heart. So that when we come to this closing expression in Philippians chapter 4, we are coming into living contact with the crowning expressions of apostolic perspective and desire for all of the churches and for all of the individuals to whom he writes. It's a perspective which sees the people of God placed under an overarching canopy of grace. And it is a desire which would have them think, live, and worship in relationship to that canopy of grace.

Defining 'Grace': God's Undeserved Favor and Its Provisions

7:04 And I trust that as we attempt to open up something of the significance of this closing word, which is often called a benediction, that God will help us so to come to grips with it that when we're reading in our own Bible reading through the epistles, we will not simply allow our eyes to glance over those closing expressions in which grace is central, but that they will constitute for us what they were intended to constitute for the Philippians, namely, the crowning expression, not a fade-out, but a glorious crescendo of spiritual desire and perspective when the apostle wrote, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Well then, seeking to attain something of that goal, let us consider the meaning of the words of the text. The word grace, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Now, few words in the Bible are of greater significance or of more crucial importance than is the word grace.

8:23 The scriptures make it abundantly clear that the very heart and soul of God's saving activity towards men is bound up in the word grace. Such passages as Ephesians 2.8 make this very clear. For by grace have you been saved.

8:44 And here grace is said to be the entire rationale for the process by which we have been brought to salvation. For by grace you have been saved. Or in the language of Titus 2.11, for the grace of God has appeared bringing salvation to all men.

9:09 And in the salvation which God has brought to mankind, Paul says there has been the shining forth of divine grace. So that in his thinking, salvation equals grace. Grace equals grace. Grace equals salvation.

9:26 So much so that in Acts 20.24, he calls the gospel the gospel of the grace of God. For Paul, the gospel was a declaration, a demonstration, a setting forth of divine grace. And therefore, any gospel that does not square with the significance and meaning of grace is something other than the apostolic, gospel.

9:56 Now in the light of this fact of the centrality of grace to the revealed salvation of the Bible, few things are a more accurate index of the state of a man's soul than is his understanding and believing appropriation of what God has revealed about grace. Since Christianity is essentially a sinner's religion, it is a religion of grace. And the extent to which we enter into the soul and the heart and the spirit of biblical salvation, we will find ourselves glorying in the grace of our God. But now, when we try to define the word grace, we find ourselves pressed to the point of holy frustration. Because grace embodies the heart and soul of God's salvation. It is a saving activity towards sinners. It is a vast and expansive, a multi-faceted reality which defies precise definition or clinical analysis.

11:08 Peter calls it in 1 Peter 4.10 the manifold, the many-colored grace of God. And when you think you've just about understood it, lo and behold, you look at another side of it and there's a different light that flashes from the many, faceted diamond of the grace of God in Jesus Christ.

11:31 Although it defies clinical analysis and precise definition, we don't need to have nebulous thoughts about grace, for bound up in the biblical usage of the term are at least these two fundamental ideas. Number one, the undeserved favor of God as existing in his own heart towards sinners. The grace of God is the undeserved favor of God as existing in his own heart towards sinners. 2 Corinthians 8.9 uses the word in this sense. Ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ in that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor. Grace was something existing in him. And we know it, by the activity of his incarnation and his subsequent work on behalf of sinners.

12:34 Again, the grace of God hath appeared, Titus 2.11, but it existed before it appeared. It has appeared in the end of these days in the person and work of Christ, but it did not begin to be. Grace was resident in the heart of God as undeserved favor towards sinners.

12:56 And then the second major dimension of the biblical usage of the word is the full spectrum of the provisions and gifts which God's favor secures and bestows. The full spectrum of the provisions and gifts which God's favor procures and bestows. That is God's grace. For instance, in 2 Corinthians 12, when Paul is praying for the removal of that thorn in the flesh, the answer of the Lord is this, My grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness.

13:40 Their grace is to be understood in terms of a measure of strength supplied to Paul in the context of felt weakness. Now that strength is called a manifestation and a provision of grace. And this is why Peter again speaks of the various gifts with which Christ endows the members of His church as manifestations and exercises of His grace. So when we come to our text this morning and we read the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all, we must think at least minimally of these two concepts. Grace is the undeserved favor of God as existing in His own heart towards sinners. And grace is also the full spectrum of the provisions which that disposition and favor has procured and bestows. Alright?

The Grace of Our Lord Jesus Christ: Inseparable from His Person and Work

14:52 Now notice, it is not grace in the abstract, that Paul pronounces upon the Philippians, but he says, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. That is, it is grace to be found inseparably connected with the full revelation of God in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It is not grace in the abstract, nor is it grace to be conferred merely from God considered in abstraction from Christ and His work, but it is God's grace peculiarly identified with our Lord Jesus Christ. And John's statement in John 1 can perhaps be of help to us in understanding why this is so. For John tells us in the first chapter of his gospel, John 1, verses 14 and following, The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. The glory seen in the incarnate Word was the glory of one in whom there was

16:20 this plenitude, this fullness of grace. Verse 16, For of His fullness we all received, and grace for grace. Any grace we have received has come out of the fullness of Him in whom grace is found in its fullness. For the law was given through Moses.

16:44 Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. And because our Lord is the great reservoir, as it were, of God's grace and all of the favor of His heart is funneled through the Lord Jesus. And all of the gifts that that favor procures and bestows come to us in and through Christ. The apostle could not think of the grace of God in abstraction, and therefore he pronounces the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ upon the Philippians.

Unpacking the Titles: 'Our Lord Jesus Christ'

17:24 Now you have been reminded many times from this Pope, that when you find this full title of our Lord or this combination of His names and titles to be more accurate, you must never pass over it lightly. When you find this combination, our Lord Jesus Christ, you have a divinely given distillation of the entire message of the gospel. Bound up in those names and titles is a distillation of the glory of God's salvation in the person and work of His own beloved Son. Let me spend just a few moments expanding on that. Paul says to the Philippians, Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. And whenever we find the word Lord in conjunction with our Savior, it points into two directions. One objective, the other subjective.

18:32 Objectively it identifies Him as nothing less than God. In 1 Corinthians 2.8 Paul says, If the rulers of this world had known who He was, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. He is the Lord of glory.

18:52 The one crucified was not a demented man who had mistakes, making notions about his identity. When he said, I and my Father are one, and the Jews regarded that as blasphemy and picked up stones to stone him, it was not a madman who spoke. He was self-conscious of his identity as God. I and my Father are one.

19:22 He was and is and ever shall be the Lord of glory in the verse of 1 Corinthians 2.8. The virtue of His own inherent eternal Godhood. Uncreated, He is God.

19:37 And then the word Lord also points to Him objectively as the exalted Redeemer. Acts 2.36 He speaks, Peter does, in that Pentecostal sermon of Christ being raised from the dead, exalted to the right hand of the Father, and says this, God has made this Jesus whom you call God, who crucified both Lord and Christ. He is Lord in terms of the dignity of His own inherent Godhood.

20:09 He is made Lord as the exalted Redeemer. He is put in the place of supreme sovereignty and majesty and power as the reward of His obedience in the work of redemption. And then subjectively, the word Lord points us to the biblical concept that in His presence all of His people regard Him not only as God in terms of a theological confession, but they regard Him as God in terms of the subjugation of their own hearts and souls to Him in loving obedience. When they call Him Lord, it is no mere parroting of a title. It is the expression that He is sovereign, I am servant. He is Lord and Master. I am subject to Him.

21:07 That's why our Lord can say in Luke 6.46, Why do you call me Lord and do not the things which I say? You give me the title which you would give to one to whom you are subject, but your feet and your lifestyle does not express that subjugation. There is a discrepancy between the title and the pattern.

21:29 And so when the apostle says the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you, it is grace that flows from the one who is true God, the exalted Redeemer at the right hand of the Father. Somewhere in the vast universe of God this morning there is that glorified God-man. And if we could be transported there, we could touch that glorified body. We could touch that body.

22:00 We could look upon it with wonder. He is the exalted Redeemer.

22:06 But He pronounces grace upon the people at Philippi who constitute the church. Grace that is to be found in conjunction with the Lord, not only who is their Lord objectively, but who is their Lord subjectively. Who have come by the operations of the Holy Spirit to see in Christ something so lovely, so infinitely worthy of love and homage that they have said with the apostle, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And they have lovingly, freely, and joyfully given themselves up to be His without reservation.

22:51 And grace flows down from Him upon His people. His people, who are they? Those who acknowledge Him to be Lord, in the objective reality of that confession and in the subjective experience of it. But He is not only the Lord, but He is Jesus.

23:14 That name given to Him at His incarnation. You remember the incident recorded in Luke's Gospel and again in the Gospel of Matthew from a differing perspective. Joseph is troubled as he receives the information that Mary is with child. And the angel comes to him and says, Joseph, do not be troubled.

23:35 Don't be afraid. Take unto you Mary to be your wife. That which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she shall bring forth a son.

23:46 And thou shalt call His name Jesus. For He shall save His people from their sins. And that name Jesus, which means Jehovah saves or Jehovah is our salvation, is the name by which our Lord is identified at the incarnation. And it becomes the name by which the reality of His humanity is stamped upon the Gospel records.

24:16 The great emphasis of the Gospels is that Jesus does this. Jesus does this. Jesus goes here. Jesus says this.

24:26 And that great emphasis comes through again and again that the grace that we have we sinners receive does not come from a phantom. A concoction of the most elevated religious notions that are ever thought by mankind and are projected upon someone to whom we've given the name Jesus. That's not Christianity.

24:50 No, no. Christianity is embedded in the very enfleshment of God. The womb of Mary.

25:01 She went through real birth pains and brought forth a real child who cried out to God. Who cried and who kicked against real hay in that manger. And who was nourished at a real breast. And who had real births when he was put over a shoulder.

25:21 And had real gurgles and goos and coos that made his mother and father delighted. Who had real effort to learn his alphabet. And had to be taught how to tie his shoes or buckle his sandals.

25:39 Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. The emphasis of Scripture is this is not just the embodiment of noble religious ideals. The grace that he pronounces upon the Philippians is grace bound in this person who is not only objectively and subjectively but is Jesus. The one who was incarnate in the womb.

26:07 The one who was born, who lived, who died and was raised from the dead. But then, he is Christ. And the word Christ is more a title than a name. When you kids speak about President Reagan.

26:22 President is not a name, it's a title. It identifies an office. We speak about prime minister. We speak about general so and so.

26:35 Well, the words president, prime minister, general, they speak of an office. And when we see this word Christ, it is not, so much a title as it is an ascription of office and simply means God's anointed one. The one upon whom the father has poured his spirit, equipping him to function in all of those ways that God had said the Messiah, the anointed one would function. He would be that prophet raised up greater than Moses, but like unto Moses, to whom we must hearken, upon threat of punishment if we do not heed him.

27:18 He is that great priest who would come and offer the final sacrifice for sin. He is that great king who would sit upon the throne of David to administer all of the covenant promises of God to his elect people. He is Christ. He is the anointed one.

27:40 This is why the biblical record is very clear. It is very careful to record his miracles. This is why the biblical record is very careful to underscore in great detail from many perspectives that he had all the credentials of the one spoken of by Isaiah. Behold the spirit of the Lord God is upon me.

28:02 He hath anointed me to preach to open the eyes of the blind, to unstop the ears of the deaf, to preach liberty to the captives, the opening of the prison, Prisoned to those that are bound. And you remember when John was in prison and sent messengers to Jesus. Are you the one? Who the anointed one?

28:23 I stood in the waters with you. And I saw the Spirit come upon you. And you seem to have all the insignia of that office. Are you the one?

28:33 Or do we look for another? What did Jesus say? Go back and tell him what you see. Tell him what you see.

28:40 Tell him what you see. Lay all of his doubts to rest. That I am truly the Christ. Because my credentials have cleared my claims.

28:54 Now bring it all together dear people. And what do we have? Paul as it were from that prison in Rome. Stretches his hands out.

29:03 Hundreds of miles. And stands in the assembly at Philippi. And says to his dear Philippians. The grace.

29:11 The unmerited favor and kindness of God. Existing in his own heart. Together with all the gifts and graces it procures and confers. Grace.

29:25 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Grace that is found flowing from him. In all the glory of his person as God and man. In all the perfection of his work.

29:39 In life and death and resurrection. In all the power and glory of his office as Messiah. Christ and King. All Philippians.

29:49 Grace be upon you. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The Specificity of the Benediction: 'Be with Your Spirit'

29:58 But then notice. He does not merely make a general pronouncement of grace. Grace found in conjunction with our Lord Jesus Christ. But he uses this peculiar terminology.

30:12 Found only. In the two parallel passages in Galatians and Philemon. Look at the text. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.

30:23 Be with your spirit. Now you've been told before that there are no verbs. In these pronouncements of blessing. The salutations and benedictions.

30:34 We must supply them. And so we do supply it. May this grace. Let this grace.

30:43 This grace. This is from the Lord Jesus Christ. But his desire is that it be with their spirit. Now pray tell.

30:57 What does he mean by that? Well the term spirit is used in this context. In the sense in which we find it in passages. Such as 1 Corinthians 2.11.

31:07 There Paul says. Who knoweth the things of a man. Save the spirit of a man which is in him. Right now.

31:16 And some of you children look at me. I hope you're thinking about what I'm saying. But I don't know. You know what you're thinking about.

31:23 You may be thinking about that cute little guy. Who sits next to you in your math class. And you can't wait till tomorrow so you can see him. Now you may be.

31:31 I don't know. You see I'm not inside you. I can't read what you're thinking. But your spirit can.

31:38 Who knoweth the things of a man. Save the spirit of a man. The spirit of a boy. The spirit of a girl.

31:43 Which is in him. It's the same word used. In the Bible. In the same sense.

31:47 When Mary said. Recorded in Luke 1.46 and 7. My soul rejoices in God.

31:54 My spirit exalts. My spirit. From my inner being. I rejoice.

32:00 I'm not just mouthing words of praise. What's coming out of my mouth. Is boiling up. From the depths of my being.

32:08 It's the word used in Acts 17.16. When it says. Paul beholding the idolatry of the city in Athens.

32:15 At Athens. It says his spirit was stirred within him. That is in the depths of his being. There was this consciousness.

32:25 Of deep spiritual agitation. Now you get a feel for the word spirit. It speaks of that which is the seat. Of our insight.

32:34 Of our feeling. And our will. Now the apostle pronounces this benediction. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.

32:44 Be with your spirit. That is. May it exercise its powerful influence. Upon the deepest springs of thought.

32:54 And feeling and will. May your whole. Be steeped in grace. The grace which is found in conjunction.

33:04 With the Lord Jesus.

33:07 Calvin. Hits the nail right on the head. When he comments on this and says. He prays not only that grace.

33:15 May be bestowed upon. Upon them freely. But that they may have a proper. Feeling of it.

33:22 In their minds. It is only really enjoyed. By us. When it reaches to our spirit.

33:31 Now when you hear people say. Oh you people are Calvinists. You'll seldom hear that term from this pulpit. Once in a while you will.

33:40 But people say. Oh that produces a doer. Sour heartless. Colorless religion.

33:46 All strictness and moroseness. Listen to Calvin himself. He prays not only that grace may be bestowed upon them. But that they may have a proper feeling of it.

34:02 Feeling. Feeling. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. The feat of feeling as well as insight and will.

34:14 And he goes on to say. It is only really enjoyed. The chief end of man is what? Only to glorify God.

34:26 But to enjoy him. To find light in God. To find delight in God. As he's revealed as a gracious God.

34:37 In the Lord Jesus Christ. Well. That I understand to be the meaning of Paul's words. Now what effect should those words have had upon the Philippians?

The Desired Effect: Ultimate Source of Strength

34:49 What effect should those words have had upon the Philippians? Those words have had upon that congregation. What effect should they have upon us? Well get in your time capsule.

34:59 And try to go back with me. To the assembly at Philippi. That day. When Epaphroditus returned from Rome.

35:07 With this letter from the apostle. And either Epaphroditus himself. Or one of the elders. Or one of the brethren who had a special gift of public reading.

35:17 Is reading the letter to the congregation. They're bent over. And their benches are on whatever they sat. And they are drinking in every word.

35:27 From the opening words. Now as he draws to a close. And says as we examined last week. Greet all the brethren.

35:36 Greet one another. And then these words are read. Slowly and carefully. As though sucking sweetness from every word.

35:45 The reader in the assembly sees. That he's come to the end of the parchment. These are the last words. And he's reluctant almost.

35:53 To conclude his reading. Because in that reading. A living bond has been established afresh. Between the Philippians and Paul.

36:01 His mind and heart and spirit. Are as it were being poured out. Upon the congregation. By means of that letter.

36:10 And as he sees with his eye. That he's drawing near to the end of the parchment. Perhaps he read it something like this. Salute every saint in Christ Jesus.

36:19 The brethren that are with me. Salute or greet you. All the saints greet you. Especially those of Caesar's household.

36:29 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Be with your spirit. In a short time the assembly breaks up. And the people of God at Philippi.

36:46 Must go back to that world. Described in the second chapter. As a crooked and perverse generation. They must go back.

36:54 To seek to work out. With fear and trembling. All of the biblical directions. The apostle has laid upon them.

37:02 And as they do. What words does the apostle want. To have ringing in their ears. These are the words.

37:10 That when the assembly breaks up. And the individual members go. To their respective homes. He wants this note ringing in their ears.

37:18 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. Be with your spirit. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. Be with your spirit.

37:30 The effect it should have had upon them. And upon us. Is a three fold effect. Number one.

37:38 The text points the people of God. To their ultimate source of strength. In living the Christian life. The text points the people of God.

37:49 To their ultimate source of strength. to their ultimate source of strength in living the Christian life. The Apostle began the unfolding of his heart with that marvelous prayer that the Philippians chapter 1 and verse 11 might be filled with the fruits of righteousness. Well, how can they be filled with fruits of righteousness when they have remaining sin, when they live in a wicked and perverse generation, when there is a wicked devil to tempt and to hinder them?

38:24 His answer is the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. That's why he says in Philippians 1.11, they are the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, not in some detached, ethereal, mystical way, but they are fruits born as the grace of Christ comes in living contact with my own human spirit. They are motivating, shaping and molding desire and perspective and giving ability to do that which is pleasing in God's sight.

39:02 As they heard the mandate to work out their salvation with fear and trembling, what was their comfort that God works in them to will and to work for His good pleasure? And so as they leave the assembly filled with that fresh consciousness, this is serious business. This is being a godly man in an ungodly world. This is serious business.

39:25 It demands all of my faculties and energies, fear and trembling. I'm to work out my salvation. But I'm not to do it in my own strength. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ is there.

39:39 And it's there to strengthen and nerve and impel me at the deepest level of my being to will and to work. For His good pleasure, I'm to be content as Paul was, regardless of my lot. How did he come to that contentment? Well, he's told us, I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.

40:02 And what was the rationale for that strengthening? It was the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. And that's why the apostle closes on this note, not as an empty liturgical form, not as a mere social custom. He is saying, In essence, oh, my dear Philippians, I've laid some sobering responsibilities upon you.

40:25 I've called upon you not to have just a little nubby fruit here and there, but to be filled with the fruits of righteousness. I've called upon you to have the very mind of Christ, not to be self-centered, not to look every man on his own things, but the things of others. I've called upon you to live contrary to your native incarnations. I've called upon you, when people come along, and tell you that you need something plus Christ.

40:52 I've warned you about those dogs. I've warned you about those evil workers. I've warned you about those flesh mutilators. Oh, you Philippians, listen.

41:01 If you're to maintain this doctrinal purity, if you're to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, if you're to think of others better than yourself, oh, my dear Philippians, here's the source to which I point you, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. And when that grace is with your spirit, you will not look at the duties that are laid upon you and throw up your hands in despair and say, because God says, my strength is made perfect in your weakness. My grace is sufficient for you. But you see, that grace doesn't come to us automatically.

41:43 We must learn more and more to feed upon the word of grace. That's why Paul says in Acts 20, 32, I commend you to God. And to the word of His grace which is able to build you up. We must lay hold of the word of His grace.

42:01 It's not going to be grace of our Lord Jesus Christ operating in our spirits when we just shift into new truth and wait for some heavenly gale to come and still our sails and carry us along. No, dear friends. We are responsible to be those who meditate in that word of grace. Day and night.

42:25 And we shall be a blessed people. We must believingly appropriate that grace extended to us. We do not want the Lord saying to us, O ye of little faith. O ye of little faith.

42:39 We must in the language of our text this morning frequently plead at the throne of grace to do what? The language is this, to obtain grace. Grace is there, but it must be obtained in the way of God's appointment. And if you allow the busyness of life to crowd out holy seasons before God in prayer that there's no parallel between your life and the standard of the letter to the Philippians.

43:13 And as I said several weeks ago with some of you the fundamental problem in your Christian life lies right here. You simply will not do what you must do so to order priorities as to use the appointed means of grace. Yes. You hope that somehow God will give you a heavenly zapping in the preaching that somehow whoever preaches on any given day may be so caught up in the spirit that somehow there'll be a contagion of the unction on the preacher that'll shake you loose and get you out of your doldrums.

43:49 My friend, it won't happen.

43:52 The soul of the slugger desires but has nothing. But the soul of the diligent, the hand of the diligent, maketh rich. And if we, if we would be rich monuments of the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ then we must be convinced that the ultimate source of our strength is in the grace of Christ and lay hold of it in the way of God's appointment. Then secondly, the text points the people of God to their ultimate source of comfort in living the Christian life.

The Desired Effect: Ultimate Source of Comfort

44:27 Not only does it point to their ultimate source of strength but their ultimate source of comfort but their ultimate source of comfort. Sin, failure, dullness, unbelief, and a host of other defects mark the best of God's saints.

44:50 Now that's an ugly reality. But it's a reality. Sin, failure, dullness, unbelief, and a host of other defects. James has to write saying, in many things, we all offend.

45:09 Here's an instrument of divine inspiration writing in the epistle of James and says, in many things, we all offend.

45:21 But now, the true people of God do not regard these realities lightly.

45:27 When they are not full of the fruits of righteousness, they know that God is dishonored. When they do not have the mind of Christ and when they are self-centered and self-seeking, they know that they do not reflect the image of Christ and they are grieved and they are pained. When they do not shine as lights in the midst of darkness, when they are not content in whatsoever state they are, they don't simply say, oh well, nobody's perfect, I'm one of them, so be it.

45:58 No true Christian talks that way about his defects. No true Christian reacts that way. No one says, oh well, we all have our failures. No, the spirit of a Christian is made, heavy in the face of his real guilt and his real grief over his real sins, which produce real shame and real self-loathing.

46:21 Now, some would come along and say, well, there's your problem. You're just not grasping what you are in Christ. And if you simply focus on what you are in Christ, you don't even need to look twice at your failures leading to self-loathing, leading to grief. And that teaching is being propagated very forcefully, in certain quarters in our own day.

46:45 It's not the biblical answer. That will put you on the high road to hardness of heart and ultimate apostasy.

46:52 What are we to do? Our text has the answer. We are to acknowledge the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we are, as it were, by faith to absorb into the soul that feels its guilt and its heaviness and is under the pressure of true biblical spirit, self-loathing.

47:16 We are to bring into that very context the wonders of divine grace because the wonders of divine grace meet us precisely there. And so when we are conscious of our sin and failure, it is then that the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ needs to be with our spirit. That grace which has provided the perfect righteousness described in Philippians chapter 3. And we need to go back in the face of, of our sin and failure and say again, O God, my only hope of acceptance is in the perfection of the work of your beloved Son.

47:54 And we need to learn what it is as Spurgeon says. He says that repentance is the tear in faith's eye. And I would balance it and say that faith is the gleam in repentance tears.

48:12 And God is never honored by a repentance that has no value. There is no gleam of hope just as he is not honored by any professed faith that has no tear of grief.

48:25 This so-called faith that honors the righteousness of Christ that is a stranger to grief for sin is a pseudo-faith.

48:37 But I don't think that's our danger. Our danger, dear people, is to allow the enemy to batter us down when he's lost ground in trying to get us to rationalize our sins and excuse and extenuate the sins and we do embrace them and we loathe ourselves. Then the accuser comes and says, Aha! Look at the sinner you are.

48:58 You're not filled with the fruits of righteousness. You're not shining as light in the midst of darkness. You're not content in the state you're in. You're nothing.

49:07 You're nobody.

49:10 Well, take his word and say yes, but there's another factor you've forgotten. That I am accepted in the Beloved One. That by faith I am so united to the Lord Jesus Christ that in Him I have a righteousness that is as perfect as He is for it is His righteousness and God the Father can no more find fault with me than He can find fault with His Son for I am in Him. That's the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ being with our spirits in the midst of a spirit that is battered and broken and wounded for sin.

49:51 That's why Paul uses the terminology of Romans 5 1 being therefore justified by faith we have peace with God and then he speaks of standing in this grace. He speaks of standing in this grace. And oh child of God this must become the regulative principle for all of your comfort that when you have failed when you have not been filled with the fruits of righteousness you have not been divorced. From grace feed afresh upon the truth of justifying righteousness in Christ.

50:32 Feed afresh upon the truth of the grace of His advocacy and intercession. 1 John 2, 1 and 2 If any man sin we have an advocate. It doesn't say we may have after we've mourned for an hour or two or six or three days. If any man sin advocates are in separable.

50:59 Our sin does not cut us off from our advocate. It brings us to fresh consciousness of the need of our advocate. And that's the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ being with our spirits. Let your spirit immerse itself in the grace of His cleansing blood. This is what the apostle pronounces upon the congregation at Philippi. Not only pointing them to the ultimate source of their strength to live the Christian life, but also to the ultimate source of their comfort. Oh, child of God, have you begun to learn what that is? Paul begins his letters with grace and he doesn't move on to something else. He ends where he began.

51:44 And so it is with God's dealings with us. He begins in grace and he shall bring forth the last topstone crying grace. Grace unto it. We are thoroughgoing Christians only so far as we maintain our Christian lives in the orbit of grace.

52:04 That's why Christ can speak about eating of His flesh and drinking of His blood and thereby sustaining life. What's He talking about? He's talking about this very thing. The grace of the Lord Jesus being with our spirits as the food we will eat shortly will become a part of our physical constitution. So we must feed upon Christ so that He becomes His it were part and parcel of our spirits. Then I must close on this final note. This text points the unconverted to the relationship necessary to experience the strength and comfort of Christ. It points to the relationship necessary to experience His strength and comfort.

Application for the Unconverted: The Necessary Relationship with Christ

52:54 Have you asked the question as I've been trying to open up the text this morning? How can grace come from one who is somewhere in the universe of God? I don't know where it is, but somewhere He is there in His glorified humanity. How can grace come from Him to the spirit of every believer in every place in all circumstances in all times?

53:23 What's the connection between the glorified Christ and the spirit of every single believer? Well, the connection you see is found in the very identity of the Philippians in the first verse of the first chapter. Paul addresses them as the saints at Philippi who are where? In Christ Jesus. By the bond of faith from the human side and by the bond of the spirit from the divine perspective and grant we are so united to Christ that whatever the physical distance may be between ourselves sitting here this morning in which our spirits are found and Him that distance is as nothing because we are united to Him. And so Paul can say in one of the unique statements of this closing benediction, 2 Timothy 4 22, he says to Timothy, the Lord be with thy spirit, grace be with you. You see the connection now?

54:32 He says, the Lord, Timothy, be with your spirit, grace be with you. You see where the Lord is, the grace is. The grace is not a commodity given apart from Him. Given out independently of Him.

54:49 It is grace given us with Him. And unless we are in Christ we cannot have that grace ministering to our spirits. Dear unconverted friends sitting here this morning, you may say, well I feel no need of Christ in my spirit. Remember, your spirit's not going to be in that present state forever. A time's coming when it's going to leave that body. You're going to go to death and to judgment.

55:22 My friend, what will you do in that day if you are not united to Christ? Clothed in a righteousness that will stand the test of the last day. Made fit to dwell with the living God. Oh my friend, if you're here this morning a careless sinner, indifferent, think for a moment. God never made you to go it on your own and your sin has cut you off from Him and the tragedy of your sin is it's even dulled you to the sense of your need. But I may be speaking to someone who sits here this morning with a spirit that is wounded and battered and bowed down. And you say, if only I could somehow rise above the crippling influence of the discouragement of the guilt of the despondency, the frustration, the purposelessness that I feel in my spirit. My dear friend, Jesus Christ is set before you in the gospel as the one who comes to take the burdens of sinners.

56:22 But He will not take that burden apart from you embracing Him. He offers Himself. The canopy of grace is broad enough for the vilest of sinners, but it's narrow enough so that every penitent, unbelieving, proud sinner will never be found under it. Oh, that you might run to that canopy of grace by running to Christ this morning.

56:52 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. May God the Holy Ghost write this word upon our hearts and may our lives reflect at least some measure of a believing response to that word. Let us pray.

Concluding Prayer

57:14 Our Father, we would stand amazed again this morning that favor and kindness would ever be extended to the likes of us. We think of those bright spirits who rebelled against you and in that rebellion came under your judgment of whom your word speaks saying that they are kept in chains awaiting the day of judgment. No grace, no mercy shown to one of them. Oh, Father to think that you have shown grace to rebel sinners. We praise you. We worship you. We magnify you this morning. We pray that some who are yet in a state of wrath may run under the canopy of your grace as it is extended in the Lord Jesus.

58:11 We pray particularly for us as your people that we may find in that grace our ultimate source of strength and our ultimate source of comfort. Deliver us from seeking to do what we cannot do for ourselves. Deliver us from looking to ourselves when we should be looking unto him, the author and the finisher of our faith. Seal this closing word of this epistle to our hearts and may it bear its holy fruit in our lives and all unto the praise of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.