Thank you. I want to thank you
all again for having me. It's been a great blessing. Thank
you, ladies, for the meals. They've been outstanding, just
outstanding. And thank you so much for your
hospitality. And I had a wonderful time with
the men yesterday, too, at breakfast. And it's just been good to get
reacquainted with you all. I have to speak up. I know it's
sad. to get reacquainted with you all and to see you again. But I thank you so much for,
again, your hard work. And I thank the Lord that he
knit our hearts together years ago and that I'm able to come
here and visit you guys. Thank you for having me. It's
been a great honor and a great blessing to be here. Your pastor's
a pretty special fella and so is his dear bride. And we get
to have the privilege of having them come in two months, so it'll
be wonderful. We're looking forward again to
seeing them. And greetings from the church,
too, at Almonte, Michigan. I was listening to Travis filling
in, and he was saying, please pray for Wayne and the Saints
and the Dalles today, and so they love you guys and love your
preacher, even though they've not met some of you, they already
know a lot about you, so. I always brag about you guys
and how wonderful you treat me when I come out here and how
wonderful you've been to me through the years, so it's a great blessing. Okay. Turn with me, if you would, to
Philippians chapter 2. Again, we'll be looking at verses
5 to 11. But the verses for today that
we'll mainly be focusing on is verses 9 to 11. So let's read
verses 5 to 11 of chapter 2. Again, this is one of the clearest
portions of scripture on the divinity of Christ, the humanity
of Christ, and where he is right now. He's ruling and reigning.
He's not waiting to rule. He's ruling right now. He's exalted
to a place far above all princes and principalities. I asked Norm
if I could read this in the Berean Study Bible. In whatever version
you have, you can follow along. The reason I want to read this
in the Berean Study Bible is because of one section where
it says he's given the name an a-name above all names. In the Greek, it's the name. The name. There's no other name
like His. He's the name. The name of Christ
Jesus, our great God and Savior. That's wonderful. So let's look
at Philippians chapter 2. We're starting verse 6. And again,
I'll read from the Berean Study Bible here. Let this mind be
in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, existing in the form
of God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped."
So he's God. He's king. Right? Before he comes to this earth.
And let us remember he's born king. And let us remember he's
risen and he's still king. And he's king forever and ever
and ever. That's our Savior. That's our
savior. Goes on to say, but emptied himself,
taking the form of a servant, being made in human likeness,
fully man and yet without sin. And being found in appearance
as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death,
even death on a cross. A specific death. Remember the
one that's reserved for criminals and non-citizens of Rome. Therefore,
God exalted him, I like this too, to the highest place. No one's above our king. Everyone,
we're all beneath him. To the highest place and gave
him the name, I love that, singular, the name above all names, that
at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow, in heaven, and on
earth, and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus
Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Isn't that wonderful? That's our Savior. That's our
King. That's our God. That's our Redeemer. Who shall bring any charge to
God's elect? It's God that justifies. God
justified us, beloved. This is wonderful. And then we
read in Romans chapter eight, there's therefore now no condemnation
to those who are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh
but after the spirit. Condemnation there in the Greek
is judgment. I used to think when I was in
religion that God was gonna put a TV screen up and judge me for
all the things I did as a Christian. I wasn't even a Christian then.
Thought I was, but I wasn't. And then I found out after the
Lord saved me that there's no judgment for God's people. You
know why? Because the judgment due us fell on our King. Isn't that wonderful? That's
wonderful. That's good news for sinners,
isn't it? Such as we. Oh my, that's the best news this
sinner's ever heard. I'll tell you what. My, so let's
read verse nine again. It says, wherefore God also hath
highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every
name. And again, in the Greek literal, the name above all names. The name above all names. Nothing
compares to him. And marvel here. God, the word,
humbled himself. He humbled himself that we might
be saved. And saved from what? Our sins.
Whether we believe it or not, we're sinners. We are by birth,
nature and choice. But the wonderful thing for the
believer in Christ is the condemnation of our sins has been taken care
of. The guilt of our sins being taken care of. The penalty of
our sins being taken care of by the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
wonderful. And you know, think of this too.
Past, present, and future sins. You ever heard somebody say this
to you? Well, if I preach that, then people go do whatever they
want. Not God's people. They're restrained by the Holy
Spirit of God. The love of Christ constrains
us. It was my sin that put him on the cross. The reason he went
was for me. And we learn what love he has for
us. It's amazing what grace is showing
on Calvary's cross. And as a result of that perfect,
sin-atoning work of the Lord Jesus Christ in the room and
place of his people, God has highly exalted him. What did that one say? To the
highest place. He's king. He's over all, isn't
that, it's wonderful. To be shown, his brother, our
dear brother Lawrence showed us in the scripture, the Holy
Spirit, that half of it's not been seen. And then when he saves us, we
see it through a glass darkly, but what we learn, oh, what a
Savior. What a Redeemer is Jesus Christ,
my Lord. He goes to the cross and pays
fully for our sins. And then he dies. He's dead. And he rose again, didn't he?
For our justification, beloved. And that's wonderful news. Because
we could never justify ourselves before God. but every single
one of God's sheep are justified in Christ Jesus our Lord. And
again, all our sins are forgiven. I had someone say to me one time,
and again, the fact that our sins are forgiven, we realize
we don't have a license to sin, that's antinomianism, as I said
last night, and we don't believe that, we don't preach that. We're
constrained by the love of Christ. But think of this, I was talking
to a fellow one time, and he said to me, well, how can you
say all your sins were forgiven in the future? And I said, well,
When Christ died 2,000 years ago, all my sins were in the
future. Right? And he said, it's finished. He paid for it all so I can rejoice
in the fact that all my sins, the ones I know I do, the ones
I don't know I do, are forgiven under the blood of Christ. That's
why we can say hallelujah, can't we? We can say praise ye the
Lord. That's all hallelujah means,
it's wonderful. Don't let some groups out there
steal that wonderful word. That's a wonderful word, hallelujah. Oh my, it's a wonderful word.
So let we who are the redeemed of the Lord marvel. The Son of
God strips himself of his glory, empties himself, becomes a servant. Last night we saw he becomes
obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. A humiliating
death. And you know why? All for the
Father's honor. All for the Father's glory. And
in the process, He brings in a greater revenue, both of glory
and honor to the Father, by saving his people from their sins. Marvel
at this, beloved of God. It must be found that Christ,
as the sinner's representative, had made a surety by God himself. I have a friend of mine that
does contracts for the Air National Guard of all Colorado. And I
asked him, I said, when you put up, make these contracts, do
you have a surety? And he says, yeah. And I said,
tell me what they are for you guys. He says, it's a guarantee.
If the contractor can't do the work and go solve it, this fellow
will step in and finish the work. Oh, we couldn't save ourselves,
could we? We had no hope. There's our surety,
the Lord Jesus Christ. And he does what we could never
do. Because with man, it's impossible, right, to save ourselves. But
with God, all things are possible. And he saves a number that no
man can number as he dies on Calvary's tree. Oh, it's amazing. Think of this. Think of this. As the sinner's representative,
the Lord Jesus Christ has done more to honor God than all the
sins of man have done to dishonor God. That's amazing. Isn't that wonderful? And he did that for us, beloved,
in our room and place. So infinitely precious, so vast
in greatness is the death of Christ and the redeeming of his
people. So vast the merits. and the bloodshedding of Christ
and putting away sin by the sacrifice of himself, that over and above
the honor restored to God by the Lord Jesus Christ, there
is a vast ocean of merit, beloved, in Christ alone, in his sacrifice. Now think of this, that millions
of ages can never take away. As the ages pass in eternity,
we are forever saved. It's so vast, the merit of Christ. It's so immeasurable, the merits
of Christ for his people. That the payment of our sins
is paid in full and nothing more is due. That makes us rejoice,
doesn't it? We who are the people of God. All our sins are being put away.
put away, carried away into the wilderness by the scapegoat.
It's wonderful. And he was not just the scapegoat,
he's the fit man taking them out there. My, oh my. And they've been so far taken
away, Brother Mike, that they'll never be brought against us again.
Never. They're washed away, aren't they,
Brother? under the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
we marvel at that. But it's a fact. And my, we can rejoice. And we go through some dark times
in this world, don't we? All we do is believers. We are
just as susceptible to the things in the world as unbelievers. We suffer. We get anxious. We get depressed. We go through
all different things. Don't let anyone tell you, because
when I was in religion, we would talk about, oh, you never, never
depressed. You tell us, oh, no. You tell
someone, oh, man, I'm really down. They'll just mow you down. Do you know David? Joe Terrell
was talking to me one time about this. We were talking about depression.
And he said, well, you know, David was down. Well, thou cast
down on my soul. And what did he say? Why art
thou disquieted me? Hope thou in God. There's our
hope, right? Even in the midst of those times
of darkness. He's a king. and let this comfort
us. He said, even think of when we
go through those times and the trials of this world, he said,
I'll never leave you nor forsake you. And he's ever with us. Even when we're dying, he's carrying
us across the river. Isn't that wonderful? You ever
see that thing? They used to have that picture. And when I was in religion, I
thought it was pretty neat. Footprints in the sand. You got these two
sets of footprints. You know what, beloved? There's
only one set. It's the Lord carrying us all through this life. Isn't
that wonderful? Oh, my. He carries us, he's so
wonderful. So he's blotting out our sins,
it says in Colossians chapter two. The handwriting of the ordinance
that was against us, that was contrary to us, he took it, nailing
it to his cross, beloved. Blotting out those handwriting
ordinances that was against us. Oh, it's wonderful. And our sins
are being blotted out. and he's given us eternal life
that he obtained. Remember, he's sinless. He's perfect. He's doing that
for us, isn't he, brother? He's dying for sinners such as
we. Wonder of wonders. Wonder of wonders that God the
Son would willingly do that for us. My. Now see, I was reading something
this morning and the fella said the bridegroom had to become
a man. He had to become a man. He's
a lamb slain from before the foundation of the world. But
we're humans, aren't we? He's God. He becomes a man. There's our bridegroom, beloved. The Lord Jesus Christ, and we're
his bride. And he purchased us with his
precious, precious blood. Isn't that wonderful? My, what
love the bridegroom has for the bride. And we only love him because
he first loved us. It's amazing, it's absolutely
incredible. So what a sacrifice, what a sacrifice. And when the heart is regenerated,
when we're born again by the Holy Spirit of God and made joyful
in the Lord. And when I say we're made joyful
in the Lord, I'm not saying we're mountaintop people. That's how
it used to be in religion. You had to always be on the mountaintop.
No, we have an inner peace. We have a joy within us, don't
we? That no matter what the storm is around us, we have a rest
in Christ. We know he's with us. We know
he's holding us. We know he's keeping us. No matter
how dark the darkness gets around us, he's ever with us. Oh, and think of this. Our knee
would never bow to Christ in our natural state, but the knee
of faith bows to him, doesn't it? Willingly. We willingly submit to our King. We willingly bow in our hearts
to our King. Isn't that amazing? Brother Mike,
we didn't willingly, we didn't bow at all before the Lord saved
us. We were, I was, Even though I would say I wasn't
doing that, I sure was. But now our hands are lifted
up in praise, aren't they, brother? Our hearts are lifted up in praise.
It's wonderful. Wonderful. Again, God takes rebels
and turns us into those who praise his mighty name. It's wonderful. My oh my, we confess gladly that
Jesus Christ is Lord. We don't make him Lord, he's
already Lord. He Lord before he even gets here. Oh my. And we confess he's Lord
to the glory of God the Father. Look at verse nine. Wherefore
God also hath highly exalted him and given him a name which
is above every name. I'll read it again in the Greek
literal. Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and
gave him the name above all names. Oh my, that's our King. That's our Redeemer. Remember
he prayed, Lord, Father, give me the glory which I had with
you before the, there it is. There it is. Oh, it's wonderful. And take note of who exalted
Christ. God. God himself. The very one who sent him exalted
him. It's wondrous. And he exalted
him. He finished the work perfectly,
didn't he? Again, every message, and I'm
sure Norm says the same thing, if every message you hear from
us, substitution and satisfaction. Christ is a substitute for his
people, sinners. And God is absolutely satisfied
with that sacrifice. It's wonderful. My. Christ humbled himself, became
a man. The word of God humbled himself and became a man. And
we see God's highly exalted him. In the Greek, the word exalt
means to exalt to the highest rank, the highest power, to raise supreme majesty. And then it says in the Greek,
to be exalted beyond measure. You can't measure how high Christ
is being exalted. That's who holds us in the hollow
of his hand, beloved. What security we have in Christ. It's wondrous. My oh my. And the same power
that quickened us, the same power that raised us from the dead
state we were in spiritually, is the same power, beloved, that
raised Christ from the grave. My oh my. Again, he's raised
for our justification. He's our representative, isn't
he? He's our surety. And because he lives, we live. We live for eternity, aren't
we, brother? All because of what he's done. Oh my. You know why we're free
from sin? Because our surety bore it all.
He paid in full, didn't he? You know, when I was a kid, when
I was a kid, I used to go grocery store with my mom and dad. And
it wasn't like nowadays where they got the receipts coming
out of the machines and all that. They did have a thing where they
would write down certain things and they'd come to a, they'd
come to a total and they'd have this and they'd write the total
on this pad. And my dad and mom would give them the cash. And
I'd say, can I stamp? And they'd say, yeah, go ahead.
And I took this little stamp and I stamped it. And it said,
paid in full. Paid in full. And we'd take those
things home, wouldn't we? Paid in full. You know what?
The blood of Christ says, paid in full. The penalty for our
sins, paid in full. The condemnation for our sins,
paid in full. The guilt of our sins, paid in
full. Who shall lay any charge to God's
elect? Again, it's God who justifies
it. And this is true of everyone who's trusting and resting in
the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's why we preachers say,
you know, if you do not know Christ, look to Christ. Look
to Christ and live. The spirit and the bride say
come. He's the only hope for sinners. And remember, this is
just one sinner telling other sinners where to find bread.
Right? My oh my, like Lawrence said,
we don't know him until he reveals himself to us. Then we find out
what we are. But oh, we find out who he is. The savior of sinners. Wonder
of wonders. My. And there's a likeness between
his resurrection and our quickening. Number one, his resurrection's
called a begetten. He's the first begotten from
the dead. Our regeneration is termed a
begetten. First Peter 1.3. His human body
was lifeless. He was dead. He was dead. Well, natural man are without
spiritual life. His human body could not raise
itself. We cannot give ourselves life, right? We see God exalted
him, didn't he? Oh my, his resurrection, now
this is wonderful. His resurrection was a pure unaided
work of God, just as our regeneration. Isn't that wonderful? My brother Travis today was preaching
on Jonah 2.9, salvations of the Lord. That's it. From beginning
to end and everything in between. Oh my. Number five, his resurrection
led to his exaltation at the right hand of God. He's our representative right
now. He's our mediator. Well, we who are the regenerated
are said to be already seated in heavenly places with Him and
in Him. Oh, it's wonderful. So rejoice,
beloved of God, our great King. He's been exalted. Our wonderful,
merciful Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, is at the right hand
of the Father, reigning right now and ruling. It's marvelous. It's marvelous. And you know what he's above?
He's above all the cares of this world, beloved. He's above all
the trouble of this world. And his eye is on every one of
us. Don't ever think, if you're one
of the Lords, don't ever think his eye's not on you, because
his eye is right upon us. And he's right with us. Someone
says, well how can he do that? He's God. He's God. He's omnipresent, he's
everywhere, he's almighty. My oh my. Let's read verse nine again.
Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him and given him, I'm
gonna just say the name, which is above every name. So God made
his name above every name. Singular, the name. Oh my, this name is not his title
of Christ. That was his given name, his
human name is Jesus. Acts 2.36 says this, therefore
let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made
that same Jesus whom he crucified, both Lord and Christ. See, God beat anyone to making
him Lord. God made him Lord in Christ.
We don't make him anything. He's already Lord. Isn't that
wonderful? Our Savior's Lord. Our Savior's
Christ, the anointed one, the Messiah. The long prophesied
Messiah has come and saved his people from their sins. And in
Acts 4.12, I love this verse, neither is there salvation in
any other, for there's none other name, remember the name? There's
no other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be
saved. The only way we can be saved
is by the Lord Jesus Christ in him alone. There's no other way,
beloved. There's no other way. So the
emphasis is put on that name because he is human, a human
being, earned the right to be Lord over all. He already was,
but as a human too, he earned the right to be Lord of all.
That's why it says over there in Acts 2.36, that God hath made
this same Jesus whom he crucified, both Lord and Christ. My, he's
Lord as his deity and he's Lord as a man. And now he's exalted, isn't he?
The God-man who's Lord over all. That's our Savior. That's our
Redeemer. That's the one who's saved us.
And you know what? He keeps us. He keeps us. It's wonderful. And now is the perfect man in
glory. He's Lord both of the living
and the dead. Romans chapter 14 says this,
for whether we live, we live unto the Lord. And whether we
die, we die unto the Lord. Whether we live therefore or
die, we are the Lord's. So God's people always been his
people. Whether we're living or dead.
When we're dead, we just, you know how we go through these
doorways to come into places? Death's just a doorway. You pass from the land of the
dead, spiritually, to the land of the living, beloved. I was
saying to Norm, Brother Dwayne's more alive now than he ever's
been. He's in the land of no mores.
Think of this, this world's a world of sorrow. In heaven, there's
no more sorrow. And on the surface, there's tears. In heaven, there's no more tears. Oh my, there's no more pain. We all have pain. We get older
and oh man, no more pain. But you know what the most important
thing about heaven is? Worship Christ. or see the Lord
Jesus Christ. I remember when I was a religious,
I said, oh, I hope I go see this person. Now, I'm just looking
forward to gazing at my king, are you? And you know what, we're
gonna be so enamored, sister, we're just gonna be overwhelmed
looking at Christ. My, oh, my. It'll be wondrous. For whether we live, we live
unto the Lord, and whether we die, we die unto the Lord. Whether
we live, therefore, or die, we are the Lord's. For to this end,
Christ both died and rose and revived, that he might be Lord
both of the dead and the living. Romans 14, verse eight and nine.
Wonderful. To his enemies, this is the ultimate
terror. My, oh, my. Brother Zane back
home says, you know, when a person dies without Christ, they meet
the king of terrorists. My, oh, my. But when a saint dies, precious
in the eyes of the Lord is the death of his people. Precious
in the Hebrew there means valuable. Isn't that wonderful? We're like diamonds to the Lord. We're so valuable, he shed his
blood to save us from our sins. That's amazing. We say sin is
such as I, yeah. Wonderful, what a savior. What
a redeemer is Jesus Christ our Lord. And right now he occupies
the throne of Lordship, beloved. He was king before, right? Remember
this, too. He was king. That little baby's
king of the universe. When he goes to the cross, he's
king of the universe. He's king still, isn't he, brother?
And he will be forever. Oh my. It's wonderful, I'll tell
you. What grace, what mercy we have
received in and through the Lord Jesus Christ. As I said a couple
nights ago, undeserved mercy, we never sought this mercy out.
And God in his love with cords of love drew us to Christ. Cords
of love. And we've fallen in love with
Christ, haven't we? Well, he's always loved us. We just found out about it, didn't
we? And we're still in awe. We're still in awe of that. Oh,
but to his enemies, he's the ultimate terror. To his friends,
he's the ultimate peace, the ultimate epitome of assurance. He's our savior, our redeemer,
our king, our lord. And again, he occupies, just
remember this, our king occupies the throne of the Lordship of
Christ. And whatever's going on in this
world, don't be alarmed by it. Don't be alarmed. He's sovereign, isn't he? He's
king. And you know, men will do the
most evil thing to men. People seek after peace, don't
they? But you know why? They make peace, oh yeah, we're
gonna have peace now. And then somebody gets bent out
of shape, and next thing you know, there's no more peace.
Because we're all a bunch of sinners. But marvel at this, beloved of
God. We have peace with God now. Through the Lord Jesus Christ.
Oh my! It's wonderful. and were accepted
by God in Him. My, oh my. Therefore God also hath
highly exalted him and granted to him the name above every name. Greek literal again. Therefore
God exalted him to the highest place. There is no higher place
than where Christ is. None at all. And gave him the
name above all names. The name. The name. My oh my. And rejoice, you know, because
Christ has earned that exalted place, hasn't he? He's earned
it. By dying for us. By fulfilling
God's law perfectly. because of his perfect obedience
unto death as we saw last night, even the death of the cross.
Thereby he redeemed us. He redeemed his people with the
shedding of his precious blood. And again, I keep saying it over
and over and over again, because I'm so happy about this. He saved
us from all our sins. That's never gonna get old, is
it brother? It's wonderful. Oh my. My oh my, therefore God exalted
him to the highest place and gave him the name above all names. And this name was graciously
bestowed upon Christ. It's not just a name, but it's
the name. The definite article appears
in the Greek and it refers to a particular name, the name. The name. And supposedly, the
name is a very common Hebrew title denoting rank and office
and dignitaries. The name of God appears in the
Old Testament, singular, the name of God. It denotes the divine presence.
It denotes the divine majesty. especially as the object of adoration
and praise. The context here dwells upon
the honor and worship bestowed upon Christ. Bestowed upon Christ. This name was bestowed by the
Father, and the bestowing of the name was upon the Lord Jesus
Christ, the Son of Man, the man Christ Jesus. He's already God
the Word. But this name above all names
was bestowed upon the man Christ Jesus, who is God the world, or who
is God the word voluntarily laid aside his glory during his incarnation. And this name above all names
is speaking again of the humanity of Christ. Christ our Lord, who's
clothed with all majesty. He's clothed with all glory.
He has all power. Think of that, the one who saved
us from our sins, the one who's been exalted, right, above everything
to the highest place, the one whose name is above all names,
is the one who has us in his grip. That is absolutely wondrous. Words can't describe that, can
it? how that feels for the born again blood-washed believer.
It's absolutely incredible. It's true. It's true. My, oh my. The God-man who stooped to the
depths of humiliation, right? The word became flesh and dwelt
among us, is raised as the God-man Going back to heaven as the God-man
and he's raised to an infinite height of exaltation. Only for deity by deity. Isn't that wondrous? There's
absolutely nothing and no one above him. It's the answer of the Lord's
Prayer in John 17, 5, if you want to write that down, it says
this, And now, O Father, glorify Thou me with Thine own self,
with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was. There's
his prayer answered. Remember we saw when he said,
I pray not for these only, but for those who will believe on
it, that was us. Isn't that wonderful? He prayed for us in the garden.
And now in verse five of John 17, I'll read it again. Now,
O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self, with the glory
which I had with thee before the world was. There's the answered
prayer. He's highly exalted. Back to glory. Isn't that amazing? And I love
the fact that God invented time and space. so that he could come
into this world, purposed and planned our salvation. The lamb
slain in God's economy, it's done. But it has to take place
in time and space too, doesn't it? And he invents time and space. He creates it. That he might
come here to redeem our eternal souls. Oh my. It's the glory of the deity,
that glory shining in perfect contrast to and with his glorified
humanity, raised now to a place of equality. He humbled himself,
right? Now raised back to the place
of equality with God the Father and the Holy Spirit. My oh my. He's God, he's the
God-man in glory. Let us marvel at what's set before
us, the perfect and beautiful combination of the exaltation
of deity and the humility of deity as seen in the incarnate
Lord Jesus Christ. It's amazing. And this wonderful
name, that is above all names, was chosen by God and revealed
to Joseph. In Matthew 1.21, the angel said
to Joseph, and she shall bring forth a son, and thou shall call
his name Jesus. Doesn't end there, no. Listen
to this. For he shall save his people from their sins. Ain't that wonderful? It is finished
was the king's cry. The cry of victory. Oh, it's wondrous. He shall not fail, Isaiah says,
of the Messiah. It is finished. My, we can rejoice,
can't we, beloved of God? We can rejoice. God has lifted
the God-man, Jesus Christ, high above all the counsels and valor
of wisdom and might of this world. High above all authority and
rule of this world. And you know what? Sorry. His name is precious to
God's people. Precious to us, isn't it? Wasn't
precious before he saved us. But it sure is precious now,
isn't it? Oh my. I like what Solomon wrote. He's
the fairest of 10,000, my soul. Or what was written about, well,
it's about Christ. The bride says that. Oh, he's
the fairest one. He's the pearl of great price.
It's wonderful. So God lifted the God-man high
above all things in this world to the highest place, high above
all things visible and invisible. In this name, Jesus. The Lord
Jesus Christ is a name which has spanned centuries. Have you
ever thought about this? Have you ever thought about this? Normally, we like history, Some
of you too might like it, but just think of this though. Think
of all the civilizations that have come and gone. The
Roman Empire, huge, right? Persian Empire, huge. Even the
British Empire. All these empires have risen
and fallen, haven't they? All those philosophers of the
days of old, they're all gone. But Christ is still alive. He's
risen. He's exalted. And you ever think
of this? All through the ages, again,
those civilizations have risen, those communities, and they had
all their traditions and customs, and the word of God has been
preserved. Isn't that wonderful? Think of
it, it crosses time, It crosses generations. It crosses civilizations. And it's constant. Isn't that
wonderful? God preserved his word, wouldn't
he? And he has. And who does his word testify
of? The Lord Jesus Christ. And salvation's plan. Isn't that
wonderful? My oh my. My oh my. So this name is a name that spans
centuries and lands far removed from the theater of Christ's
life even. And all through history, it's
a name which reigns in heaven. Which reigns in heaven. So Paul,
by inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God, is not content now with
simply asserting the sovereignty and glory of the name of the
Lord Jesus Christ. We see the Holy Spirit has impend
more. And the name of the Lord Jesus
Christ is the only ground and object of worship. We worship Christ. Our faith,
God-given faith has, again, as I've said, one object, and that's
Christ. That's Christ, and him alone. And the name of Christ, again,
is the only name of which declares in the name of Jesus, every knee
shall bow. Let's read verses 10 and 11,
look at this. And I like in verse 10, because
it's singular again, that at the name of Jesus, every knee
should bow of things in heaven, and things in the earth, and
things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that
Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Now that's
every person who's ever lived. People say, I don't believe in
God. Well, you're going to meet him. You're going to meet him. And I pray
that you bow your knee here by the grace of God and the mercy
of God. Then you bow your knee in judgment. And the only reason we're going
to be bowing our knees in mercy is because God made it so. He
saved us. It's wondrous. Turn with me,
if you would, to Isaiah chapter 45. And we see that these words are
quoted from Isaiah 45, and they occur in one of the most solemn
and majestic utterances of the Old Testament, by the declaration
which precedes, I am God, and there is none else, which again
applies to the Lord Jesus Christ, right? Remember, he said, who
appeared to Moses at the burning bush? That was Christ. That was a Christophany. Who appeared to Joshua? That
was a Christophany. Who appeared to Abraham with
the two angels? That was a Christophany. It's
Christ. Not the body that Christ had. Norm and I were talking about
that because the body of the Lord Jesus Christ was prepared
for him. These are appearances of him. Look at this in Isaiah
45 verses 22 and 23. Now this goes out. Look unto
me and be ye saved. The only way a man or woman can
be saved is by the Lord Jesus Christ. The only way we can be
saved from our sins is by the Lord Jesus Christ. Look unto
me and look at this, and be ye saved. What did Paul again say
to the Philippian jailer? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shall be saved. You mean I don't gotta walk an
aisle and pray a prayer and do a fancy dance? Nope. God can save you without you
moving a muscle. And that's what he does. Wonders. Look unto me and be ye saved.
All the ends of the earth, look at this, for I am God. And there is none else. Think
of all those deities the Romans had and the Greeks had and all
the different things that people have even today and they worship. They're just false idols. There's only one true living
God. He says, for I am God and there
is none else. Who saved us? That one right
there. Christ, who's God and there's
none else. Oh, it's wondrous. Look at this.
I have sworn by myself, the word has gone out of my mouth in righteousness
and shall not return. that under me, look at that,
that under me, we know it's Christ here. That under me, every knee
shall bow and every tongue shall swear. And we go back to our
text in Philippians 2, verses 10 and 11. That's the name of
Jesus. Every knee should bow of things
in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth. And
every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory
of God the Father. So we know that's Christ speaking.
That's the word of God speaking in Isaiah 45. Isn't that wonderful?
That's wonderful. My, oh, my. Now let's read verses
nine to 11 again and take note in our text that this is universal
subjection. This is everyone. Everyone, universal subjection
to the name of Jesus, which is the name above all names. Every
knee will bow. Someone says, I won't bow my
knee. Yes, you will. Yes, you will. And every tongue shall confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.
Look at verses 9 to 11 again. Wherefore God also hath highly
exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name, that
at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven,
and things in earth, and things under the earth, and that every
tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of
God the Father. Look at that. Every knee, every knee, every person that
ever lived will bow their knee to the King and they will confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Now God being God and sovereign,
he has a right to the subjection, doesn't he? Yes, he does. He's a sovereign king. Oh, he has a right as any king
does from a servant to this objection. And again,
whether people believe it or not, Jesus Christ is Lord. Doesn't change the fact. Doesn't change the fact. We're the Lord's property. We're his property, beloved.
We humans, all things visible and invisible. The things we
can't even see. I have a farmer back home and
he tells me, oh, there's so many things on the ground there working
away in the soil and all that. He goes, brother Wayne, they're
all subject to our great God. Oh my. Not one of them little
things that we don't see are doing something all according
to the will and purpose of God. You ever see the sun come in?
You ever see the sun come in on a sunny day and see all them
dust pieces flying in the air? Do you know every single one
of those little pieces is all there, exactly there according
to the purpose and will of God. There's not a maverick molecule
in this universe, is there? Not at all. That's our God. That's the one who saved us,
beloved. Oh, it's wondrous. wondrous, and we owe our very
existence to Him. Saved and lost, we owe our very
existence to Him. He has the rainfall on the just
and the unjust. He has the sun come up on the
just and the unjust, doesn't He? Oh my! You know, we breathe His air. We breathe his air. He's master. We don't think like that, do
we? But it's true. Everything is his. We breathe his air. We eat food
he provides. We wear clothes that he's provided
for us. And we are daily, do you know
we believers are daily loaded down with benefits? And we don't
even see them. I was talking to Jake one time
about coffee. Our brother Jake loves coffee
like brother Norm does. And I said, do you know that
coffee? You ever think about where that coffee comes from,
Jake? He goes, no, not really. I said, well, okay, say you get
some Colombian coffee. There's a farmer out there, he
grows a tree, right? Or grows whatever he grows it.
Coffee tree. Goes out and harvests it at harvest
time. Takes it and sends it to the dealer. Sells it to someone. They take it, they process it,
they make it into coffee. Right? That guy, he sells it
to a warehouse or a wholesaler. That wholesaler sells it to the
store. We go in, we buy that coffee. We bring it home. We brew it and we go, oh, that's
such a good cup of coffee. That comes from the bounty of
the Lord, beloved. And it's not just that coffee,
it's everything we have. We're daily loaded down with
benefits and that's just sustenance. The more important thing is spiritual
blessings. which we are rich. Do you know,
we who are, do you know we who are born again are more rich
than the richest man in this world? Elon Musk got nothing
on us and those other guys, they got nothing on us. We're so wealthy
in Christ. My oh my. And you know, I was
reading in your bulletin there. Let me pick this thing up here.
I dropped it. Look at this. Look what's in
your bulletin here. For God has reserved a priceless
inheritance for his children. It is kept in heaven for you,
for us. Where is that? Hold on, I'll
get there. Pure and undefiled, beyond the
reach of change and decay. 1 Peter 1.4. Isn't that wonderful? That's wonderful. Yeah, I'm just
amazed. My, oh my. You know, if we were
to call to him and say, take what is yours and go thy way,
what would we, if he was to call, what would we have? We'd have
nothing. But you know what Christ is to us as believers? He's everything,
isn't he? You take Christ away, I have
nothing. I'm just a bankrupt sinner. I'm, you know, that's
where God finds us. And let us never graduate from
the fact that we're just sinners saved by grace. Let us remember
that while we toil through this world. We're just sinners saved
by grace. It's the mercy of God who saved us. And it's absolutely
wondrous. By him, all things consist. Our
savior has performed all things for the salvation of his people.
Therefore, let us rejoice, beloved of God. as our sin has been put
away. And the righteousness of Christ
is ours. We're clothed in it. He put it on us. He put it on
us. And we're complete in Christ,
says in Colossians. We're complete in Christ. You
know what that means in the Greek? When it says complete, it means
filled to the brim. You can't add another drop. A wonder of wonders. Oh my, I
pray this being a blessing for you. It's sure being a blessing
for me to be here with you and to preach Christ. Thank you again
for having me. I love y'all.