Father, we do ask that you would give us direction this morning. Please be a special comfort to the Bush family. We do ask that it would give them joy in knowing that Marie is in glory with Thee. Father, we ask that Thou would give us comfort from the Scriptures, Allow us to be edified this morning. Allow our spirits to be quieted. May we see the resurrected Son of God and the promises that are found in the written words of God. In Jesus' name, Amen. Please take your Bibles, turn to the book of Philippians, Philippians chapter 2. When you find it, please stand for the reading of God's words. Philippians 2, verse 25 and following. Yet I suppose it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother and companion in labor, and fellow soldier, but your messenger, and he that ministered to my wants, For he longed after you all that was full of heaviness, because he had heard that he had been sick. For indeed he was sick, nigh unto death, but God had mercy on him, and not on him only, but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow. I sent him therefore the more carefully, that when ye see him again, ye may rejoice, and I may be less sorrowful. Receive him therefore in the Lord with all gladness, and hold such a reputation, because for the work of Christ he was nigh death, not regarding his life, to supply your lack of service toward me." May the Lord add His blessing to the reading of His words this morning. Please be seated. If I were to assign a title to the message this morning, the title would be, The Mercy of God. The Mercy of God. When one contrasts mercy and grace, we're familiar with grace. We are also familiar with mercy as well. But when one contrasts mercy and grace, we'll see the fact that grace is receiving something that is not deserved. None of us, no person, no man, woman or child who is trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior really deserves to receive that salvation. While mercy is not receiving something that is deserved. What's deserved of every man, woman and child is a death sentence in hell. the eternal lake of fire, the eternal hell, the eternal fires of hell that one day will be cast into the eternal fires of the lake of fire. Men, women and children can either be born twice or they could die twice. And today is a perfect day to become born again if you're not a believer. If you've not accepted Christ as your personal Savior, today is the perfect day for salvation. There may not be a next time. There may not be a next time. I've spoken to people before. I've stood beside bedsides, couches of people that are dying, the day before they died, hours before they died. and in their instance, next time, never happened. We notice here in this passage of Scripture that Paul is writing to the church of Philippi, and in verse 25, He says, he tells them, he reminds them that it was thought it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus. Epaphroditus here is a messenger, a servant that is trying to minister to the needs of the Apostle Paul. Epaphroditus is the one who is delivering various things to the Apostle Paul. And he is classified here in this passage as a brother, a companion, a fellow soldier, and a minister to his wants. These are the characteristics of this man Epaphroditus. And these are some characteristics today that it's likely that God wants us to exhibit some of these same characteristics. We may not be able to exhibit them all at the same time, all in the same way, because we are all different people. We all have different gifts, and God wants to use us in different ways. But here apathroditis is being discussed. First of all, he says, This does not mean a blood brother, I don't believe. This means a spiritual brother. Which brings up the point, it's necessary when helping others, and in many times receiving spiritual help, the people that are involved must be spiritually saved. Must be a spiritual sister, must be a spiritual brother. They must be regenerated. Regeneration is necessary. Paul wouldn't be assisting the help or the aid from someone who was not regenerated. He was a brother. He was a brother in Christ. And so he's identifying Epaphroditus as a brother. People that we have help us, in spiritual matters and people whom we help in spiritual matters must be born again Christians. They must be trusting in the resurrected Savior for salvation. They must be trusting in Christ alone, by faith alone. Mankind is not saved by works. They're saved by grace, because of God's mercy. That's why we could be saved. That's why we could be delivered from sin. He's classified as a brother. Furthermore, he's classified as a companion in labor. a companion in labor. Labor oftentimes requires work. It should be said without saying. It should be obvious. The work of the ministry that Paul was involved in was difficult, it was challenging, But yet he was supported by Epaphroditus. First of all, Epaphroditus was a born-again Christian. And the work that Paul was doing was very important work. At this particular time, Paul was in prison. But nonetheless, he still had needs. He had spiritual needs. He had physical needs. Today, the same is true for us. There are spiritual needs that each of us have, and there are physical needs that each of us have. Our spiritual needs can be met by the words of God, can be met by God Himself, and they can be met by fellow Christians. Do not look someplace outside of the body of Christ to have your spiritual needs fulfilled. They can only be met from within the body of Christ. And so he says, a companion in labor. He was involved in the work of the ministry of Paphroditus. He was doing an important work. And Paul here is making note of this. He says he's a brother. He's a companion in labor. And furthermore, going beyond that, he says he's a fellow soldier. Now, a soldier is one who is assigned to do a particular task. In many cases, to fight a battle, to do a specific type of warfare. And in the case of the Christian, in the case of those of us who are born again and say, those of us who are part of the body of Christ, we have to understand the scope and the extent of the battle that's involved in. There is a spiritual battle that is happening today. There are people that are working against us, and there are even the attacks, the oppression sometimes, of Satan himself and his minions who want to do everything within their limited power to get you to do something that is contrary to the words of God, contrary to what God wants you to do. They want to get you off the track, doing things the world's way, rather than God's way. And Epaphroditus, first of all, was a brother. He was a companion in labor, and he was a fellow soldier. And then Paul reminds the church at Philippi that Paphroditus was their messenger. Someone that was just delivering something. Something that was carrying something from one point to another point. But then Paul continues on. and says, and he that ministered to my wants. The Apostle Paul, there in prison, had certain wants. He had certain needs. And certain things that were important to him, physically speaking and spiritually speaking. And we should consider being and acting like Epaphroditus, one who is available to minister to the wants of others. We must be willing to be a companion in labor, We must be willing to be a fellow soldier and we must be a messenger for the Lord Jesus Christ. Notice here in verse 26, the scripture says, for he longed after you all. Again, not only is Epaphroditus ministering and profitable for the Apostle Paul, he was also profitable to the saints there at the Church of Philippi. He longed after you all and was full of heaviness, very, very full of heaviness. A great weight was upon him, a great burden was upon him, because he heard that he had been sick. So even though he was the one that was physically sick, he still was burdened with the fact that people were worried about him. That was something. Epaphroditus was the one that was sick, yet he was concerned about the saints of Philippi who were expressing concern about his health. And so, as believers, as born-again Christians, We must do the work that the Lord has for us when things are going well and when things are perhaps not going so well. As a soldier, soldiers don't have always ideal conditions to work in when they're doing their soldiering. Being a soldier is challenging work. You can read all the historical stories about what soldiers have done in the past, what they studied to do in the present. This is physical soldiers. But a spiritual soldier is no different. The spiritual battle is far greater than the physical battle. A spiritual war is greater than a hot war. even greater than a cold war. We must be willing and understand the fact that we must be, first of all, born again Christian. We must be a companion. We must have unity in doctrine and all sorts of things that are important as far as companionship is concerned. But also have a willingness of being the fellow soldier and yet being a messenger and ministering to the wants of those people who need it. And Epaphroditus was doing that. He was ministering to these wants of others and he was doing so much work. He was being so much of a laborer and a companion and a fellow soldier. that he became ill, became sick, and he was full of heaviness. He had this great, big, huge, heavy burden upon him because that he had heard that he had been sick. The Apostle Paul continues on in verse 27 and states, for indeed he was sick. So were they heard correctly? He was sick. And he was so sick, the scripture says, he was nigh unto death. Now, today, there are people we know, people we care about, that have sicknesses, that are sick. And sometimes they're sick enough that they are very close to death. They're on the brink of death. And this is what the situation with the Paphroditus was. Because of his labor for the work of Christ, he worked very, very hard to assist and minister with and for the Apostle Paul, that he became sick. And he was sick, the Scripture says, nigh unto death. Now, how willing are we to work so hard for the Lord Jesus Christ that it brings sickness upon us. I mean, we don't really consider that. We want to make sure we take care of ourselves. We want to make sure we wear coats when it's cold outside. But he was just working very, very hard. And he was sick, nigh unto death. But the scripture says, but God had mercy on Him. God had mercy on Him. Mercy, not receiving something that is deserved. That's what mercy is. Not receiving something that is deserved. Implying the fact that since the Scripture says He was nigh unto death, God spared His life even though it was not deserved. None of us deserve life. None of us deserve the grace that God has given to us. Receiving grace, receiving something that is not deserved. Mercy, not receiving something that is deserved. And so the Scriptures, God had mercy on him. and not on him only, but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow." This would have been very difficult for the Apostle Paul if Epaphroditus had died. He says he would have had sorrow upon sorrow. Not that God's grace would have been there for the Apostle Paul had Epaphroditus died at this particular time. God spared the life of Epaphroditus, or postponed the death of Epaphroditus, because he was merciful. Not only did that mercy extend to Epaphroditus, but it also extended to the Apostle Paul as well. Some passages of Scripture that talk about mercy. When we think of the Old Testament system, in the tabernacle inside the Most Holy Place, the Holy of Holies, the Ark of the Covenant, on top of that Ark of the Covenant was the mercy seat. We know that in Exodus, Chapter 20, verse 6. The Scripture talks about mercy. We'll look at a few verses on mercy. Then we'll look at a few verses on grace. Exodus 20, verse 6. This is the characteristic of God. and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love Me and keep My commandments." And as long as you remain there in the book of Exodus, we see here the characteristics, the characteristic of God. He shows mercy unto thousands of them that love Me and keep My commandments. And the question is asking, are you loving? The Lord Jesus Christ, are you loving God today? God is a merciful God. Salvation is not by works, but it's by grace. The Scripture tells us, for by grace are you saved through faith, and not of yourselves. It's the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. What Epaphroditus was doing, he was not working his way to heaven. He was a believer. He was a born-again Christian. He trusted the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior, as the only way of salvation. And as I said earlier about the mercy seat, a couple of chapters after Exodus 20 and 25, we see the Scripture talking about and discussing the mercy seat. Exodus 25 and verse 17, And thou shalt, beginning of verse, going back to verse 16, and thou shalt put into the ark the testimony which I shall give thee. That's the law. Three things were put inside the ark. Aaron's rod that budded, the law, and then the pot of manna. And thou shalt make a mercy seat of pure gold, two cubits and a half, shall be the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof. And thou shalt make two cherubims of gold of beaten work, shalt thou make them in the two ends of the mercy seat. And one cherub on the one end, another cherub on the other end, even of the mercy seat, shalt thou make the cherubims on the two ends thereof. And the cherubim shall stretch forth their wings on high, covering the mercy seat, and their wings and their faces shall look one to another toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubim be." So in the Old Testament, we see here the mercy seat being introduced. The whole system of what took place in the tabernacle was a picture of what ultimately would take place on Calvary's cross. The cross on which the Lord Jesus Christ died, shed His blood upon that cross for the sin of the world. Scripture says in John chapter 3, Verse 16, "...for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish." And so, if you do not want to perish, and if you have not done so already, you must trust the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior, because God is merciful. God showed mercy to Epaphroditus in two ways. First, by giving him salvation, and second, by sparing or postponing his death, letting him overcome this particular sickness he was going through when he was ministering to the Apostle Paul. If you still have your finger in Exodus, look over in chapter 34, Exodus chapter 34 to learn a little bit more about the character of God. I mean, I think Mercy's overused the character of God. Exodus chapter 34 in verse 6. Let's go back to verse 5. And the Lord descended into the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. And the Lord passed before him, and proclaimed, The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that we'll be by no means clearer the guilty, visiting iniquities of the fathers upon the children, upon the children's children, upon the third and fourth generation." And Moses made haste and bowed his head to the earth and worshiped. And he said, if now I have found grace, something that's not deserved. If not, I found grace in thy sight, O Lord. Let my Lord, I pray thee, go among us, for it is a stiff-necked people, and pardon our iniquity and our sin and take for us thine inheritance. We're noticing things about God's character. part of his attributes, his characteristics. God is merciful. God's long-suffering. He cares for you. He cares for me. And no matter what type of situation that you may be in, God cares. And God wants you to be obedient to His Word. If you're living in a disobedience, God wants you to obey His Word. God wants you to change. God wants you to look into the perfect law of liberty and to conform to it. Too often today, men, women, children, they want to change the perfect law of liberty to make it look like them. They want to remove things from Scripture. They want to ignore things from Scripture. They want to justify the way that they are behaving. But God expects us to conform to His Word, to be transformed by the renewal of our mind and not be conformed to this world. In Deuteronomy chapter 5 verse 10, going back to verse 9 I guess, better. Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them, For I, the Lord, thy God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquities of the fathers upon the children of the third and fourth generation of them that hate me, and show mercy upon thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments." This is the second time Moses is reviewing the law for the second generation of the children of Israel. The first generation of the children of Israel that came out of the land of Egypt, as you remember, they were in bondage for for 40 years, pardon me, 400 years, and they want over 400 years, 430 years, depending on how you count, whether it's when you count the time that Joseph came in. But nonetheless, over 400 years they were in bondage in the land of Egypt. And then, the first time they were to go into Jericho, they sent 12 spies into the land, to spy out the land. Ten spies brought back a bad report, an evil report. They were speaking, they were being human, and saying, we as humans cannot take this land. Two of the spies, Joshua and Caleb, came back and said, yeah, we're human, but God's not human. God's able to give us this land. God's able to give us the victory in this land. Well, the 2 million people or so, 600 men plus women and children, they sided with the men that gave the report of the 10 spies. And so consequently, the punishment was for them to wander in the wilderness for 40 years until that generation, those men who were 20 years old and upward, had died. And all the, I suspect, all the wives and so forth, as long with them. And so at Sinai, they got the law the first time. And this is the second giving of the law here in Deuteronomy, in this passage in chapter 5, for a new generation, a new generation that is going to go in. Their fathers did not trust God, did not believe God could give them the victory. In the case of Epaphroditus, he was trusting God. Epaphroditus was receiving the mercy of God. We see that God is merciful in verse 10 of the book of Deuteronomy, chapter 5, verse 10, "...and shall be merciful to thousands of them that love Me and keep My commandments." If you want to receive the mercy of God, like Epaphroditus, first you have the saving mercy of God. You have to make sure you receive that first. If you're not a believer today, if you do not trust the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, you have to make sure that you are trusting Him, that you come to Him for salvation. Because you cannot save yourself. Works will not save you. To be a nice person, doing good things, will not save you. It's by the blood of Christ. The blood of Christ is the only thing that can save you. Nothing but the blood can save you. It's not what you do. Sure, you may be a nice person on the outside, you may do some good things, but that will not save us. It's the blood of Christ that could save us, that will save us. The Scripture says in the book of Titus, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy. According to His mercy, He saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing the Holy Ghost. In the book of Hebrews, Hebrews 4, verse 16. Hebrews 4, verse 16. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. There may be a need you have today. Epaphroditus, he had a need. And Epaphroditus, during his time of need, he found grace. and he obtained mercy during his time of need. So there may be a time of need you have right now. There may be a time of need you may have a few weeks from now. And the source and the relief of that need is based upon the mercy and the grace of God. And the Scriptures let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace. No longer do we need to have that tabernacle system anymore. That's been away with. That veil in the temple was raised from the top to the very bottom when the redemptive work on Calvary's cross was completed. No longer do we have to go to the tabernacle. We go through the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the Savior. We know that the Scripture tells us in Genesis 6 that Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. God was merciful to Noah, and God had opened up an opportunity for the entire population of the earth at that time to come and to be delivered from the destruction that was pending in the ark. We know the scripture says only Noah and his family entered the ark. We know that God was the one that shut the door. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. And as far as mercy and grace are concerned, looking back, going back to Genesis, Genesis 19, 19, again, this is a discussion about a lot. Lots of scripture says that he was a righteous man. He vexed his righteous soul from day to day. But in Genesis chapter 16, he had his problems. We all have our problems. In Genesis chapter 19, we all have a Savior as well. We come to the Savior, come to the Lord Jesus Christ, who is merciful, who is gracious, who can fix our problems. But in Genesis chapter 19, verse 19, going back to verse 18 for a moment, And Lot said unto them, O not so, my lord. Behold, now thy servant hath found grace in thy sight, and thou hast magnified thy mercy, which thou hast shown unto me in saving my life, I cannot escape to the mountains, lest some evil take me, and I die. Behold now, this city is near to flee unto, and is a little one. Oh, let me escape thither. Is not it a little one? And my soul shall live." So Lot recognized the fact of God's grace and the fact of how God's mercy was magnified, how God's mercy was expanded, made bigger for him. Epaphroditus, and we know that God is immutable. God does not change. He doesn't mutate in one way or the other. He does not change. God is eternal. God is all-powerful, God is all-knowing, God is everywhere present. And so, the God that was merciful to Lot, the God that was gracious to Lot, He was gracious and merciful to Paphroditus. He was gracious and merciful to the Apostle Paul, and He is gracious and merciful to you as well. In Genesis 39, verse 21, Genesis 39, 21, the Scripture talks about God's mercy to Joseph. Genesis 39, 21st verse, going back to verse 20. And Joseph's master took him and put him into prison, a place where the king's prisoners were bound, and he was there in prison. But the Lord was with Joseph and showed him mercy and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison. The mercy, the source of the mercy, was God. The source of grace is God. Today, the source of grace is always with God. The source of mercy is always with God. We're familiar with Ruth Moabitess as well, in Ruth chapter 2. Joshua judges Ruth. Ruth chapter 2, we notice that God demonstrated grace. Grace to Ruth. Scripture says in Ruth chapter 2, verse 2, And Ruth the Moabitess said unto Naomi, Let me now go to the field and glean ears of corn after him, in whose sight I may find grace. And she said, Go, my daughter. And then turning to Zechariah for a moment, Zechariah chapter 2, Zechariah is one of those twelve of the minor prophets. Zechariah chapter 12 and verse 10, the scripture says, And I will pour upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace, and of supplication they shall look upon me whom they have pierced and they shall mourn for him as one mourns for his own son and shall be in bitterness for him as one is in bitterness for his firstborn." In the gospel of John, John chapter 1 verse 14, and the word was made flesh and dwell among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." Full, not half full, not empty, full of grace and truth. If you need some grace today, if you need saving grace and you need saving mercy, come to the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation. But if He's sanctifying grace, if He wants sanctifying mercy, the Scripture says He's full. He's full of grace and He's full of truth. The source of grace is the Lord Jesus Christ. The source of truth is the Lord Jesus Christ. Don't be led astray in following false truth. Follow the truth of the Scripture. the truth of the Bible, Epaphroditus. He was sick, nigh into death. But God had mercy upon him. God was gracious to him. The only way that one can be justified, that is, that is declared righteous, is by the grace of God. Romans 3.24, being justified freely by His grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. And we have to understand that the book of Hebrews tells us, in Hebrews chapter 4, and verse 16, the Scripture reminds us, going back to Verse 14, I guess, would be a better place to start with. Seeing them, we have a great high priest that is passed into the heavens. A great high priest. Somebody that's far superior than Aaron. Someone who's out of the line of Melchizedek. A great high priest that is passed into the heavens. Jesus, the Son of God. He's the Son of God. He is the eternal Son of God. Let us hold fast our profession For we have not in high priests which cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities." So any infirmity you have today, whether it's great or small, the Lord Jesus Christ understands those infirmities. who cannot be touched with the feelings of infirmities, but was at all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. He is the sinless Son of God. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need." I'm not positive. what your needs are today. But we do know that whatever they might be, you can come boldly to the throne of grace and find help in your time of need. The Apostle Paul was grateful. He was thankful that God was merciful in extending the life of Epaphroditus. I sent him," he says in verse 28 of Philippians chapter 2, I sent him, therefore, the more carefully, with extreme care, that when ye see him again, ye may rejoice. Of all those things he was valuable, a valuable person, and he wanted them to rejoice, that I may be the less sorrowful. understanding the fact that by the absence of Epaphroditus ministering to the Apostle Paul, and going back to help those in Philippi, Paul was able to be, and understanding the fact that they would be rejoicing in what service Epaphroditus would be doing for them, the Apostle Paul says he'd be less soreful. He'd be less soreful. And so the Apostle Paul tells them, gives them an imperative. He says, receive Him, receive Him. There's two imperatives here. The receive and the hold. Receive Him therefore in the Lord. And how were they supposed to receive Him? With all gladness. They were to receive Him with all gladness. this man who is a valuable person, they were to receive with all gladness and hold such a reputation. And again, he's giving a reason, verse 30, because for the work of Christ, not the work of somebody else, but because the work of Christ He was made nigh unto death, came real close to it, real close to death, nigh regarding his life to supply your lack of service toward me. Epaphroditus was a valuable person in the ministry of the Apostle Paul. And the question that I'm wondering today is how valuable are we in ministry? Are we valuable in doing what God wants us to do? Are we valuable in serving other Christians? Are we valuable in being obedient to the Lord Jesus Christ? Now, there are some today who want to do things that are contrary to the Scripture. They want to disregard, disobey what the Scripture says. But we have to be like Epaphroditus. We have to be as an Epaphroditus. My brother and companion in labor, and fellow soldier, but your messenger and he administered to my wants." I'm not positive as far as what the need is today that you might have, but I trust the Word of God has encouraged you. We have to understand God is merciful, God is gracious, And God is always there for us. You take your hymn book, please, and turn to hymn 535. 535. You may not be a believer today. You may be dead in your trespass and sin. But there's always room at the cross for you today. You may be a believer today, and there may be some things that God wants you to do. He may want you to be obedient to Him in believers' baptism if you've not been obedient to Him already in such and such things. I'm not sure what God wants you to do today. But He's full of mercy. He's full of grace. He cares for you. He cares for me. He cares for us. And He wants us to be supportive of the work of the ministry, like a patronitis. So let's stand and sing hymn 535.