Yeah, there you go. I bring greetings
from Almonte, Michigan and the Saints in Almonte. You guys are very dear to us.
And of course, you know, I tell Norm every year just to mark
it in his calendar for next year. So I think you've been coming
now for quite a few years, haven't you? Probably five or six years
steady, I think. We just love him back there.
The folks already can't wait to see him. They told us to send
the love to you guys. And I told him how much you meant
to me here and, and to Vicky too. You've been a great blessing. And when we were in central point,
you guys would help us out. It was just amazing. And, uh,
our hearts have been knit to Nancy and Norm, their mom and
dad. So we love them dearly. And,
um, I love you guys, too. I've seen you through years now.
Isn't it amazing? Each time we see each other,
it's like we just pick up where we left off, eh? It's absolutely
amazing, isn't it? So, absolutely incredible. Open your Bibles, if you would,
to Philippians chapter two. The name of the message is equal
with God. Equal with God. Philippians chapter
two, now Philippi was the first European city that Paul ever
went to. And of course we know through
the Bible narrative that that's where the Philippian jailer was,
Lydia was there. It's an interesting thing, as
Lydia was, where was she from, Thyatira? And an interesting
thing is, we've been going through our study in Acts, is Paul was
forbidden by the Holy Spirit to go into Asia, which is where
Thyatira is. And here she is, by the eternal
plan and purpose of God, she's in Philippi. And she's one of
the Lord's lost sheep. She must hear the gospel, right?
She must hear the preaching of Christ. And so she's there. the cellar of purple, and at
God's appointed time, Paul walks down to the river, and they have
a prayer meet, and they have a meet in there, don't they?
And the Lord saves her soul, opens her heart, opens her heart. And remember, too, the Philippians
were idol worshipers. The city of Philippi, like all
Roman cities, it was a Roman city, it was actually a high
Roman city, they called it Little Rome. It had such prominence
in Roman society. And so here comes Paul. He's
a Roman, and he's gonna preach the gospel. Everywhere Paul went,
he went to the synagogue, and he preached Christ and Him crucified. Now, I believe Paul was a genius.
I think he had a genius mind. I really do. And I think he could
have went toe to toe with the philosophers of the day and with
all these different things that people get wrapped up in. And
he said, I am determined to preach Christ and Him crucified. And
that's what we do. That's what gospel preachers
do, Brother John. We preach Christ and Him crucified. We do not get caught up in other
things. We preach him. And in the section
we're gonna look at, we're gonna look at one section, but four
different messages from this one section. And I believe it's
one of the clearest, one of the clearest portions of scripture.
showing us both the humanity of Christ, but more importantly,
the divinity of Christ too. They're both of equal value,
but we will see the divinity of Christ first tonight. This
is what we're gonna be looking at, that Christ is equal with
God. And then, in the following messages,
we'll look at him becoming a man, a servant. Think of this, the sovereign
became a servant. And the same word for servant,
doulos, is the same word that we are. Paul says, I'm a servant of Jesus
Christ, doulos, a bond slave. So here comes Christ, he's God,
but yet he's fully submissive to the Father's will. We see in verse seven, the word
reputation, is he emptied himself in the Greek. Let's start in Philippians chapter
one. We'll read all the way to verse 11, but our main text for
the messages this weekend will be from verses five. We'll just
touch on five a little bit. Actually six to 11 will be our
main portion of scripture. So let's read verses one to 11.
If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, that's comfort in
the Greek, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the
Spirit, if any bowels and mercies, fulfill ye my joy that ye be
like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord and
of one mind. Let us remember too, the churches
in that time, just like us, were under attack by false teachers.
The Gnostics had come in, the Judaizers had come in, We see
here at Philippi, there's little bits of rumbling. I remember
when I was in religion, they said, oh, this is the epistle
where there's no trouble at all. And I believed that for years,
until we started studying this book. And I think it was Hawker
said, there was some rumblings going on. Look what he says though. Let nothing be done through strife
or vainglory. But in lowliness of mind, I love
this, let each esteem others better than yourselves. Look not every man on his own
things, but every man also on the things of others. And then
this statement is made, let this mind be in you which was also
in Christ. So he's exhorted them to put
others before yourself. What did Christ do? He's the
ultimate servant. He's the ultimate servant. He's
the epitome of servitude. And think, he lowered himself
to a servant state. That's the lowest state one could
be in the Roman Empire. They had no rights. Nothing. So he comes to do the Father's
will, and this is amazing. He put himself in full submission
to the Father's will. How do we know that? He says,
not my will, but your will, Father. He's in absolute submission to
the Father. He's still God, though. He's
God in the flesh. It's absolutely amazing. And
he did this for us, beloved. It's so incredible. It's so foreign
to what we would think. It's all grace. It's all grace,
beloved. And look at this. So now he's
gonna put before them the example of a perfect servant. And as
we were going through this section, one thing that really struck
me is humility leads to unity. And notice he's not saying, well,
you gotta do this and you gotta do that and you gotta be like
this. Remember religion? He used to tell us, you gotta
have more joy. Man, I tried to be more joyful and I got more
miserable. Right? And then I realized when the
Lord saved me, by the grace of God, that it's the fruit of the
Spirit, as I mentioned Wednesday night. It's not the fruit of
our doing. It's the fruit of the Spirit. It's God working
in us. He gives us love. He gives us joy. He gives us
grace. And I like what Henry said in the message last night,
that those who receive mercy, give mercy. Give mercy, it's
wonderful. And the love that's spoken of
in this text, too, is a gap-bay love. That's a love that's foreign
to us by nature. We have love for those around
us, friends and family, but this
love, It's an agape love. It's an agape love. Now he says,
let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who
being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with
God. Now look at this, but made himself
of no reputation. That's emptied himself in the
Greek. And took upon him the form of
what? A servant, doula, same as what Paul calls himself. We're
bond slaves. It's wonderful. And was made
in the likeness of man. He's fully man, but you know
what? He is sinless. He's perfect. We're born sinners. We're born men and women, but
we're sinners. He was born a man, but perfect. And he lived that way, and you
know what? He died that way. He was absolutely sinless at
his death. It's wonderful. Couldn't be our
savior if he wasn't. Right? God only accepts a perfect lamb
without blemish. Oh my, it's wonderful. It's wonderful. And being found in fashion as
a man, he humbled himself. Look at that. Oh, he becomes
the lowest of the low. A servant. Become obedient unto
death. This is all for us, beloved.
It's wonderful. He did all this for you and I
as believers. It's wonderful. Even the death
of the cross. As I was studying, again, for
these messages too, one commentator said the crucifixion was only
reserved for the worst criminals. Spartacus. Think of all, they
rebelled, right? They crucified 3,000 of them,
150 feet apart. My, oh, my. But they were considered
traitors, the worst of the worst. My, and here our Lord is. He
goes joyfully to the cross to redeem us from all our sins.
That's the whole reason he came. to save us from our sins. Thou shall call his name Jesus,
for he shall, there's that word, shall, that we talked about Wednesday,
shall save his people from their sins. Praise the mighty name
of Jesus. It's wonderful, it's wonderful. Look at this, wherefore God has
also highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every
name, 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. Oh my. This is our savior. This is our king. He's God. And
he's man. 100% God and 100% man. And we're seeing as we go through
this passage that the deity of Christ bought forth. It's so
clearly bought forth. And even the humanity of Christ
is so clearly bought forth. And then His exaltation. What
was He raised for? Our justification. Isn't that wonderful? He's raised
for our, God is fully satisfied with the sacrifice of Christ,
and He's raised for our justification. That's why we say hallelujah.
That's why we say praise God. We couldn't save ourselves, could
we? There's no ability. We're dead in trespasses and
sins. And you know, that's where God finds us, that lost sheep.
He's lost out in the wilderness. He don't even know where he is.
And who comes and gets him? The shepherd. Shepherd comes
and gets him. And you notice that what he does?
He places them on his shoulders. You know why? In religion, they
used to tell us, I don't know if they told you this, that he
used to break the legs of the sheep. Well, that sheep would
be lame then. He doesn't do that. He lovingly
puts that sheep upon his shoulders, you know why? So that little
sheep can just gaze at the face of the shepherd. Ain't that wonderful? What grace, what mercy. And then he gets home and he's
rejoicing, isn't he? He's rejoicing. My. So tonight we're gonna look at
how he's equal with God. He's fully God and yet fully
man, and it'll be so brought forth clearly in this text. It's so clear, it's so clear.
But again, unless the Holy Spirit gives us an understanding, we'll
never see it. It must be revealed to us. And
when he reveals it to us, we rejoice over this wondrous Savior,
the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh my. So Paul, by inspiration
of the Holy Spirit, he sets forth Christ as an example of the greatest
servant. The greatest servant. Again,
humility leads to unity, right? As he said, when we esteem others
better than ourselves, it is gonna go good. Because we don't
think we're anything. Norm and I have been talking
about how we preachers There's no difference with us and you
all, except we get to preach the gospel. Do you know the ground
for the cross is level? Isn't that wonderful? There's
no preacher mound or no mound of this. We're all on level ground. And we're all washed, we who
are redeemed, we who are born again, are all washed by the
same precious blood, the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. who
saved us from our sins. My oh my. Another verse five,
let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ. So again,
the circumstances that these Philippians are going through,
they're being persecuted within and without. They're having divisions
within and false teachers are coming at them. They're being
persecuted by their fellow countrymen because they've turned from idols
to serve the living God. Remember, That Philippian jailer,
we went through that not long ago in our study in Acts, and
I said, that Philippian jailer, he went to work a pagan idol
worshiper. And he came home rejoicing in
Christ. Isn't that wonderful? All because
of the grace of God. He had no idea he had a divine
appointment. He had no idea, but God knew,
didn't he? And he sent Paul, all according
to his divine will and purpose, sent Paul from Thessalonica to
Philippi because he had some lost sheep there. And that's
the start of the Philippian church, is Lydia and the jailer and his
family. Isn't it wonderful? It's wonderful. And then Paul spent some time
with the Philippians too. That's why he's really close
with them. He's writing this from house imprisonment in Rome. And the neat thing is, he's got
a Praetorian guard that is constantly changing. I believe it was four
watches in the 24 hour period. So every, I think it was six
hours, he has a new audience. And do you know what the Lord
did? Take a look at chapter one tonight. The Lord saves some
Patorian guards. Because when it says of Caesar's
household, in the Greek, that's the Patorians. And they were the elite of the
elite. They were hard men. The Lord
got around. You're stuck with Paul for six
hours, he couldn't tell you about it. But they weren't stuck. It
was all according to God's will and purpose. Isn't it wonderful
how God works? Nismus, Lord saved Nismus. He had to go all the way to Rome
to hear the gospel. It's amazing, absolutely amazing. So they're
going through, they're going through persecution. Now this
first message again, I'd like to bring from verse six, verse
six. And we're gonna see how Christ,
he's God. He's God, he's not a mere man.
He's God in the flesh. And before he ever came to earth,
he's God. As much God as the Father and
fully as much God as the Holy Spirit. The three are one. Do you know that there was a
time when they existed in eternity and they had need of nothing? And they were perfectly, the
Trinity was content just being God. And He created all this so that
salvation's plan would be brought forth for His glory, for His
honor, for His praise. We will be a people who will
eternally worship the Lord Jesus Christ, all because of the perfect,
complete, Sanatani work of the Lord Jesus Christ at Calvary's
Cross. That's the only reason. Because it pleased God to choose
us in Christ. before the foundation of the
world, before there was ever any angels, before there was
ever any creation. Isn't that wonderful? That's
absolutely amazing, isn't it? And think of this too. God's
eternal love has been set upon his people forever. Forever. And it was manifested
to us when Christ became a man. and died on Calvary's cross.
And then we found out about it. Do you know I've been redeemed?
And you've been redeemed if you're a believer. We were redeemed
2,000 years ago. The work's already done. There's
nothing for us to do. All we do is by faith, God-given
faith, look to Christ. Isn't that wonderful? I like
what Spurgeon said, God can save you without you moving a muscle. It's so true, isn't it? It's
wonderful. It's wonderful. Oh my. So we're going to use this verse
here and then we're going to go into John 1, John chapter
1. I think it's very important to
establish in this first message the deity of Christ, how he's
equal with God. So let's read verse 6 again.
Who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be
equal with God. Now, I'm gonna read you this
verse, the same verse out of the Berean Study Bible, which
is a Greek literal Bible. Listen to this, this is wonderful.
Who existing in the form of God did not consider equality with
God something to be grasped. He was already God. He's God,
he's God who's gonna become a man to save his people from their
sins. To do that which is impossible for us, we can't save ourselves.
We can't pay for one sin, let alone, how many, we commit billions
in a lifetime. But isn't it wonderful? Your
sins and iniquities, God says, the Father says, in Christ's
blood, I'll remember no more. Grace, grace, grace, wonderful
grace. Oh my, let's turn to John chapter
one. John chapter one. So I'll read that verse again.
Who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be
equal with God. So in this wonderful verse, we see that Christ is
equal to God the Father and to God the Holy Spirit. Now in John
1, the prominent and dominant theme of the Gospel of John is
the deity of Christ, the deity of Christ, that he is God. And
here, as nowhere else in scripture, the Godhead of Christ is presented
to our view. First, the relation of Christ
to time, the relation of Christ to time in the beginning. which
shows us that Christ is eternal. The Word of God is eternal. Number
two, the relation of Christ to the Godhead with God. Christ
the Word is one of the Holy Trinity. Then the relation of Christ again
to the Holy Trinity was God. So he was with God and he was
God. Christ the Word of God is the
divine revealer. We don't know anything about
God unless Christ reveals it to us. And you know, he's the
one who God speaks through. Hebrews chapter one tells us
that in sundry times, God spoke through the prophets, but now
it's Christ alone. My oh my. And then the relation
of Christ to the universe. We'll see this in the first four
verses. All things were made by him. Christ, the word, is
the creator of all things. He spoke it all into existence.
This is our savior. This is the one who saved us
from our sins. It's wonderful. It's absolutely wonderful. And
then we're seeing this text here, the relation of Christ to man.
Christ is the word. He's the giver of life. He's
both the giver of physical life and he's also the giver of spiritual
life. We would know nothing if he didn't reveal himself to us.
And it's wonderful. It's marvelous that he does that. What love, what grace is set
before us. Let's read verses one to four
of John chapter one. In the beginning, So there's
our time, right? Before time ever was. In the
beginning, in eternity. In the beginning was the Word. My, oh my. And the Word was with
God. And the Word was God. There He is. The Word of God. The same was
in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him and
without Him was not anything made that was
made. Now, we humans, we make things
out of things provided. He spoke the world out of nothing. Isn't that amazing? That's our
Savior. That's our Lord. That's our King.
It's wonderful. And then here we see, he's the
giver of life, both physical and spiritual, we know. In him
was life, and the life was the light of man. My. So the Apostle John opens up
the gospel, again, by inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God. He's
the true author of the scriptures. with the deity of Christ, presenting
Christ as not as the son of David, nor as the son of man, but as
the son of God. God himself, which is again the
theme of the book of John, is the deity of Christ. It's wonderful. In the beginning, this is the
beginning of creation, the beginning of time, before time ever was. Or as Moses wrote in Genesis
1, in the beginning God the heavens and the earth. My oh my. He was in the beginning. He's the creator. Our savior
is the one who created all things. My oh my. So you can go back
to the remote point that can never be imagined. In Christ
it's without beginning. He's without beginning. We have
a beginning and an end, don't we? He has no beginning and no
end. It's amazing. He's God. And he's also God's alphabet.
He's the alpha and the omega and everything in between. He's
the A to Z of our salvation, of creation, of providence. He's
a sovereign Lord, sovereign God who rules over all. None can
thwart Him. None. What Paul wrote, nay, who
are you to reply against God? Oh my, my, oh my. In verse three, all things were
made by Him. Without Him was not anything that was made. Creation
is here ascribed to the Lord Jesus Christ. And let us remember,
none but God can create We create out of things that we can get.
He created out of nothing. It's amazing. It's amazing. And so the whole creation we
see here is ascribed to the word of God. The word of God. Which is the second person of
the Trinity. All things. He's before all things. He's
eternal. He's the originator and the creator
of all things. Everything. I love looking at
little birds. I love birds. I get to sit in
my back porch and watch the birds in the spring and I love it.
And I see all the different colored cardinals and Baltimore Orioles
and all these little chickadees and blackbirds and all these
beautiful birds. Sometimes an owl comes by. Just
beautiful. And I look at those and I think,
Lord, you take care of every one of them. Why do I ever get
stressed out? We're sinful creatures, aren't
we? Oh my. But God's grace covers everything
for us. So he's the creator. He's the
original originator and the creator of all things. He's omnipotent.
He's God incarnate in the flesh. Look at verse four. In him was
life and the life was the light of man. If Christ created all
things, which he did, as verse three brings forth, And he's
the fountain of life, isn't he? And you know, he's not just the
fountain of physical life, he's the fountain of spiritual life. You must be born again. You must
be. And the scripture says, God sends
the spirit of his son into our hearts, whereby we now cry, I
have a father. And it says, because you are
sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son, the Spirit
of Christ, the Holy Spirit of God. Because we're sons, how
long have we been sons for? From eternity, praise His mighty
name. Isn't that wonderful? It's wonderful. My, oh, my. The light shineth
in the darkness, verse five. Darkness, comprehend it not.
That's our natural state. We come into this world dead
in trespasses and sins. We're in darkness. You know,
we don't think we are. Before the Lord saved me, I didn't
even think I was a sinner, did you? I didn't even have a clue. We drank
sin like water, didn't we? But isn't it amazing? Because
we were sons, Because we were redeemed 2,000 years ago by this
very creator of all things, because he planned and purposed this
from eternity, he sends the spirit of his son, because we're sons,
into our hearts. And now, we who used to be rebels
and, oh, I knocked this thing flying. We who were rebels, now we praise
his name. That's amazing. That's absolutely
amazing. He takes rebels who at one time
cursed his name and turns us into people who praise his name. That's a miracle of grace, isn't
it? That's a miracle of grace. Only God can do that. Only God
can do that. It's wondrous. The light shines in the darkness
and darkness comprehend it not. So there's the state of natural
man. In our minds, the scripture says, we have enmity with God.
We hate God. I had a lady back home come up
to me one time after I preached in Romans and said in our minds
we were enemies with God and bought forth that we hated God. You know what she said to me?
There'd never been a time when I hated God. And I said to her,
then you've never been saved. We, by nature, hate God. And
that's one thing God teaches us, isn't it? He teaches us that. In the scripture, I said, you're
not arguing with me, you're arguing with the scripture. You're arguing
with God. My oh my. Wasn't very long, she
was gone. My oh my. So we see the effects of the
fall. We're in darkness. The darkness
doesn't comprehend Christ. That's our natural state. So
unless he reveals himself to us, we are left in darkness.
But you know what the scripture says that's so wondrous? He translates
us from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of his dear
son. That's being born again and given faith to believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ. And what comes first, faith or
regeneration? Regeneration. Can't believe. We're in darkness. That's why
the Lord said to Nicodemus, you must be born again. You must
be. And then we're given faith to
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Wonderful, it's absolutely amazing.
So by nature we see here in verse five that by nature we hate the
light, which is Christ, our Lord. Man naturally loves darkness. That's what we love by nature.
rather than light. Therefore the unregenerate man
is like one who's blind. He's in the dark. He can't comprehend
the light. And we know that's true because
we were there. But praise God, he had mercy on us, eh? Oh my, it's wonderful. Translates
us from the kingdom of darkness to the marvelous kingdom of his
dear son. So rejoice, beloved God, salvation's all of the Lord,
from beginning to end, planned and purposed. And we see here
tonight that our savior is God. Very God from eternity. And we're
gonna see that he became a man and went to the cross and was
obedient for us fully satisfying God's law in our room and place.
If you get two things out of all the messages I preach, substitution
and satisfaction. Christ is the perfect substitute,
the perfect lamb of God who died in the room and place of his
people. And God, praise his mighty name, is absolutely satisfied
with the sacrifice of Christ. Oh my, my, oh my. So salvation from beginning to
end, all of the Lord, all of the Lord. And we who are the
redeemed of the Lord, we praise his name. Because we know, we've
been taught, it's been revealed to us that we can never save
ourselves. But our sovereign God, he's almighty, he's in full
control, isn't he? Don't worry about the things
going on in this world. They're all happening according
to God's will and purpose. And I'll tell you what, we're
seeing the effects of the fall, right? What men do to each other
is all the effects of sin, beloved. What does God have to do for
a man to go to hell? Nothing. What does God have to do for
a man or a woman to go to heaven? Everything. And it's amazing. He's done it
all, hasn't he? He's done it all. My, oh my. Now, before we go
back to our text in Philippians chapter two, verse six, I'd like
us to read verse 14 of John chapter one. And then we're gonna turn
to John chapter 17. Look at this. So who is the word? It says, in the beginning was
the word and the word was with God. And the Word was God. The same was in the beginning
with God. Now we see in verse 14, the Word revealed. And the Word was made flesh. Call His name Jesus, for He shall
save His people from their sins. The Word, the Word of God was
made flesh. and the word was made flesh and
dwelt among us. Now, I was talking to my son
about this and that the apostles and the people who saw Christ,
but especially the apostles, they were earwitnesses and they
were eyewitnesses to the things that Christ did. They saw him
like we see one another. They heard him like we hear one
another. They watch the miracles. My,
oh, my. Someone says, oh, give me proof
that Christ was ever alive. Well, look, Jophesus names him,
brings forth that he was a real man. And plus, think of this,
how many witnesses does it take to convict someone in a court
of law? One or two, right? Well, you
got 11 of them. 12 with Paul, he sought the Lord. Isn't that amazing? Judas, he
went to his own place. My, oh my. My, oh my, look at this. And
the word, this is, what a wonder. God becomes flesh. Wonder of
wonders. God becomes one of us, yet without
sin. perfect, spotless. Think of this. Think of how, you know, we sin
when we don't even know it, right? He never had a sin thought. He
never had a sin of affection. He never had a sin of deed. And
the scripture tells us when he died, he was without spot and
blemish. He's perfect, he's sinless. Our
sins are imputed to Him. His perfect righteousness is
imputed to us, but He's still the perfect Lamb of God as He
was dying. And you know how we have proof
of that? The Day of Atonement. There was two, two to be offered,
two. And the lot would fall upon either
one for the scapegoat and one for the offering. But no one
knew which one it would be. And the high priest would pull
a lot. And it would be determined which one, but they both had
to be perfected spotless. Christ is both our sacrifice
and our scapegoat beloved. Isn't it wonderful. And he's
a perfect spotless lamb of God in his life and in his death.
Hallelujah. What a Savior, what a Redeemer
is Jesus Christ our Lord. Look at this again. And the Word
was made flesh and dwelt among us. He lived among us. And we
beheld His glory. They saw His glory. My, is the
glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and
truth. Isn't that wonderful? Our great God, our great Savior
is full of grace and truth. It's wonderful. Wonder of wonders. We see here, God himself comes
to this world on one mission, to save his people from their
sins. And he did it. How do we know? It is finished. Now, something finished, Norm
used to work on wood and all that, right? When you finished
it, there was nothing else to add to it, right? Well, he finished
the work, didn't he? That means there's nothing for
us to do. Isn't that wonderful? All we do is what he says in
Isaiah, look to me and live. And the only way we look to him
is by God-given faith, that that faith has one object, and that's
the Lord Jesus Christ. That's it. He completes our salvation, and
then he regenerates us when we're dead in sin, and then he gives
us faith to believe on him. It's absolutely wondrous, absolutely
wondrous, full of grace and truth. And let us remember that the
love that drove him to come here to save us from our sins is an
everlasting, unchanging love because God is the same yesterday,
today, and forever. It's absolutely incredible. Therefore, God's love for, again,
for his people never changes. Never changes. Look at John 17. Let's turn to John 17. I bought
this out on Wednesday night, but I want to bring it out again.
And here we see, before we go back to Philippians chapter two,
verse six. So we've seen John puts before
us the deity of Christ by inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God. Paul
puts before us in verse six that Christ is God, equal with
the Father and the Holy Spirit. He's God. That has to be the
first premise, right? Because he came from heaven.
Think of this, angels are bowing down before him, worshiping him,
praising his name, and he comes down to this sin-cursed world.
He's despised and rejected. A man of souls, acquainted with
greed, and he does all that for you and I as believers. My, I'll
tell you. Greater love hath no man than
this, than the man laid down his life for his friends. My,
oh my. Look at this in John 17. This
is beautiful. Now, he's just said he was gonna pray for the
apostles. Now look at this. Here you and
I are. You know Christ prayed for us 2,000 years ago in the
garden? Look at this. Either I pray I
for these alone, now he doesn't pray for the world, he prays
for his sheep. Because he came to save his sheep,
right? Look at this, this is wonderful. Either pray I for
these alone, that's the apostles, but for them which also shall
believe on me through their word. That's us. Isn't that amazing? He prayed
for us before we ever were. But we were always His sheep,
right? Always, from eternity. It's wonderful. And look at that,
shall what? Believe on me. You have to believe
on Christ, right? And the only way we believe on
Christ is by God-given faith. Being born again and then giving
God-given faith. Isn't that wonderful? Everything
is provided by God. Everything. That they all may be one. We're
one in Christ. Out of every tribe, kindred,
tongue, and nation. As thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee,
that they also may be one in us. Verse 21. That the world
may believe that thou hast sent me. He was sent on a mission. God, the Word became a man. The
Father sent him on this. We see right there, the Father
sent him to save us from our sins and he willingly came. Isn't that wonderful? His love,
we're called the bride of Christ. His love for the bride is so
great. that he leaves the glory and
splendors of heaven, empties himself, makes himself of no
reputation, becomes a servant to God to save us from our sins
by the shedding of his precious, precious, precious blood. Oh,
it's wonderful. Look at this. In the glory which
thou gavest me, I have given them, and that they may be one
even as we are one. I in them and thou in me. that
they may be made perfect in one. Now, we are not perfect in ourselves
at all, but we're perfect in Christ. Now, we're still sinners. I'm not preaching sinless perfection. No, that's a false statement,
isn't it? That sinless perfection. The
only time we're gonna become sinless is when we're in heaven. Sin will never bother us again.
It'll be wonderful. Oh my, they may be perfect in
one, that's in Christ. And that the world may know that
thou has sent me, again, he says that again, and has loved them. Now look at this, think of, I
mentioned this on Wednesday night, but it's so wonderful. And has
loved them, he's speaking of his people, his sheep, his elect,
as thou has loved me. The father loves us as he loves
Christ. That is so amazing, beloved. And remember, God's love is unchanging
for the son, right? Therefore it's unchanging for
his people. God's love for the son is everlasting,
eternal love. And he's loved us in Christ with
an everlasting love. We didn't know this before, did
we? And it just makes us marvel. It just makes us marvel. Father, I will also that they,
or I will that they also whom thou has given me be with me
where I am. Oh my, that they may behold my
glory. You know, brother Dwayne is now
beholding the glory of Christ. He's seeing them face to face. And Christ is his reward. Isn't that wonderful? And not
soon or not, not, not long. And we'll be there with him.
Not long. And we'll be there with him because
our lives are like a vapor. My, Oh my, look at that. And
remember this has been, I remember one commentator saying that,
uh, when he says here, uh, who knows, give me, be with me. Every
time a saint dies, that prayer is answered. We're with him. Just like that. To be absent
from the body, be present with the Lord. Isn't it glorious?
It's wonderful. It's wonderful. They may behold
my glory, which thou hast given me, for thou lovest me before
the foundation of the world. Now look, okay, he's just told
us that the Father has loved him before the foundation of
the world. And look again up at the verse
23, and has loved them. as thou has loved me. God the Father has loved the
elect of God who he chosen Christ from before the foundation of
the world. That is marvelous. That is amazing. Amazing. I said that normally I've been
telling the folks back home Hell's full of good people and heaven's
full of sinners, saved by grace of God, right? Oh my, and then
we find out that he loved us. Even when we were dead in trespasses
and sins, not just then though, but from before the foundation
of the world. Wonder of wonders, wonder of wonders. So marvel
at what we've looked at. Let's go back to Philippians
2 and we'll look at that one more time. Philippians 2. Verse six, and I'll read it from
the Berean Greek Bible again, too. Who existing in the form
of God did not consider equality with God something to be grasped.
Well, why? Because he's the word of God
from eternity. Because he is God and he was
God and he's always been God. God the word. Isn't that wonderful? And I'll read it in the King
James here. Who being in the form of God thought it not robbery
to be equal with God. He's equal with God. He's equal
with God, the Father. He's equal with God, the Holy
Spirit. And that's our Savior. That's our Redeemer. So we start
tonight with the premise of the deity of Christ. And you notice
that's the order that the Holy Spirit had Paul put it in. He
starts not at the cross and not at the resurrection, but he starts,
Christ is God. A sovereign God. There's only
one true living God, isn't there? Only one. See, the God of man's
imagination is not sovereign over everything, but the God
of the Bible. He's absolutely, fully sovereign. And so we look at the hymn by
him revealing that to us, and we say, praise God, you saved
me. Thank you, Lord. Thank you for dying for me. Thank
you for shedding your blood for me. Thank you, Father, for choosing
me in Christ. And as Norm and I were talking
today, we know how unworthy we are, but praise God, Christ came,
left the splendors of heaven, left the worship of angels to
come and save us from our sins. And tomorrow we'll look at, we'll
look at verse seven tomorrow. And we'll see how he emptied
himself. This is what reputation means
there in the Greek. He emptied himself to save us
from our sins. Praise his mighty name.