Open your Bibles if you would
to Philippians chapter 2. The name of this message is called
the incomparable one. The incomparable one. Now, no
one who has ever lived or ever will live compares to the Lord
Jesus Christ, the Messiah sent by God to save his people from
their sins. And who is the Lord Jesus Christ?
Well, he's the Almighty in flesh. He's Emmanuel, God with us, it's
interpreted God with us. He's the Almighty One, the Word
of God, the second person of the Trinity who became a man
that he might save his people. Sinners, that he might, the perfect
one, the spotless one, the Lamb of God, that he might save his
people from all their sins through his blood. shed at Calvary's
cross to redeem their atonal souls in His righteousness, His
perfect life before the law, honoring and magnifying the law
of God in our room and place. Isn't that wonderful? It's absolutely
wonderful. So turn with me, if you would,
to Philippians chapter two, and we'll see that the Holy Spirit
of God has Paul penned these wonderful words about the Lord
Jesus Christ. Let's look at verses five to
11 of Philippians chapter two. And this is speaking of Christ.
Paul's writing to the Ephesians, or Philippians, I'm sorry, the
saints at Philippi, and he writes this in verse five, let this
mind be in you, which was also in Christ. Now, Christ was a
servant, and we're gonna see that. So he's saying, let this
mind, let this mind of servitude be in our minds. This mind of
servitude. We serve Christ. We're servants
of Christ. We're bought with a price. We're
not our own. Oh, look at this. Let this mind
be in you, which was also in Christ, who being in the form
of God, this is speaking of his pre-incarnate state, he's the
word of God in glory, thought it not robbery to be equal with
God. He's God the Son as much, he's
fully God as God the Father is, and as God the Holy Spirit is,
the three are one. Then look at what it says here,
but made himself of no reputation. That means he emptied himself
and took upon him the form of a servant, which was made in
the likeness of man. Look at that. Made in the likeness
of man. He's sinless. He's conceived
by the Holy Spirit of God. We're conceived by our mother
and dad. And because our dad's seed is corrupted by sin, and
our mother is corrupted by sin, all we produce is sinners. But
this child, this man, is conceived of the Holy Spirit of God. He's
sinless. He's made in the likeness of
man. He's fully man. He got hungry. He got tired. He got weary. He's a man of souls
and acquainted with grief. When he was at Lazarus' tomb,
I found that out this week, when he's at Lazarus' tomb and it
says he wept, he's sobbing in the Greek. He's sobbing. His
humanity is sobbing over the death of Lazarus. Oh my. He sees the pain that Mary and
Martha are going through. He loves these people. He loved
Lazarus. In being found in fashion as
a man, he humbled himself and become obedient unto death. Who's
he obedient to? God the Father. He's honoring
God's law in our room and place. He becomes totally obedient.
He who is God, the Word of God, equal with God the Father and
equal with God the Holy Spirit, becomes a servant. Remember he
said, not my will, but thy will be done to the Father? Yeah,
becomes a servant. It's amazing. Being found in
the fashion of man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto
death, even the death of the cross. In order for God's people
to be saved from our sins and the law to be satisfied, the
law says, the soul that sinneth, it shall die. So Christ dies
in our room and places the sinless one, the spotless one, redeeming
a number of people that no man can number. It's wonderful. Absolutely wonderful. And a result
of that. 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. People who are God-haters now,
if they die in their sins, we pray the Lord will save them,
but if they die in their sins, they shall bow their knee even
though they hated God on this world, and they shall say, Jesus
Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. My. So marvel. Marvel as we go outside and we
look up in the stars at night. We see the sun in the day, and
the clouds, the beauty of all that. The heavens declare the
glory of God. and not even the earth in its
fallen state. Even the earth in its fallen
state is a testimony to the greatness of God. You go and look at mountains,
the Swiss mountains, oh, it'll take your breath away. You go
to different places in this world, different sites, it'll take your
breath away. And that's the world in a fallen state. It still proclaims
the greatness of God, doesn't it? It still proclaims His greatness. My, and who made it? The Lord Jesus Christ. He's the
one. But nothing has glorified God as did the Son of God. Nothing glorifies God as the
Son of God glorified God. Nothing glorifies God as the
Lord Jesus Christ, when he was born of a woman and made under
the law. And in that state performed the
will of God to perfection as our substitute. Isn't that wonderful?
He fulfilled the will of God to perfection for we who are
the people of God. That's wondrous. That's wondrous. Brother Marcus's favorite chapter
is John 17, and I love this verse. We've often talked about it,
him and I. John 17, 4, when the Lord spoke these words, he's
praying to God the Father. He says, I have glorified thee
on earth. I have finished the work which thou gavest me to
do. Look at that. Does that sound like God's done
all he can do, now the rest is up to you? No, that's a lying
preacher saying you have to finish the work. But listen to what
the Lord said. I'm going to read that again,
John 17, 4. I have glorified thee on the earth. I have finished
the work which thou gavest me to do. That's the master. That's
God in the flesh saying he has finished the work, the work of
righteousness. He's lived the perfect life.
Now he has to go to the cross to redeem his people from their
sins. that which was planned and purposed by God and executed
is now coming to pass. My. And note that our great Savior
glorified God the Father through his perfect life. Listen to what
he says again, John 74, I have glorified thee on the earth.
How? By his perfect life. He honored the law of God and
he fully fulfilled it. He made it honorable. He did
that which is impossible for us. You know, people often quote
that verse, with God all things are possible. But they don't
look at the context of that, and it's talking about it's impossible
for man to save himself. But with God, all things are
possible. God can save sinners. Man can't save ourselves. Can't
save ourselves, can't save anyone else. But God can save us. Oh, and we who he saved say,
hallelujah, what a Savior is Jesus Christ, our Lord. Think
of this, he brought glory to God all through his life. And
in his death, in his death, when he emptied himself, when he completed
the work that the Father had sent him to do, which was to
save his people from their sins, he glorified God, beloved, like
no other, like no other. And natural men and religious
men and women seem to think that God is glorified by the great
works of man. Oh, they build, they build lofty
cathedrals, big churches, mega churches. Oh, they do all this
stuff. They have a massive choir where
they go and have massive events out in the world. Oh, they do
all these things. And then, have you ever heard
this? Well, the successful Christian businesses are all supposed to
be testimonies to the glory of God. I remember one preacher friend
of mine, he says, every time he sees a fish on the business,
he won't go there. Nope. Nope. So marvel, beloved God, as God's
glory was revealed in a baby of obscure parentage, a young boy of exceptional spiritual
wisdom, a preacher outside the mainstream of popular religion,
and a crucified substitute. That's who he was. His name is
the Lord Jesus Christ. And all that man calls wisdom
was confounded by him. Oh, all that man calls power
was overthrown by Him. And the glory, the true glory
of the Lord was revealed in Him. His name is the Lord Jesus Christ,
beloved. The Word of God in eternity. And He came from the bosom of
the Father. Oh, born of a woman. He put on
humanity, beloved. God had prepared a body for him.
He put on humanity that we sinners might be saved through his blood
and righteousness. Praise his mighty name. He had
no wealth or influence. He had neither training nor education
in the world's schools. His relatives were ordinary and
non-influential. His disciples were fishermen,
common men. His followers were common people,
not many wise, not many noble, but God has chosen the foolish
things of the world to confound the wise, the common things of
the world. Oh my. He was born king. He lived as king. And he's glorified
as the king of kings. He puzzled the learned doctors. In manhood, he ruled the course
of nature. He walked upon the waves and
he calmed the seas. He healed multitudes without
medicine. And he didn't charge for his
services. He never wrote a book, yet all
the libraries of the world that ever, ever been and ever
will be could not hold, could not hold the things about him
if they had been written. John says this, John 21, 25,
the last verse of the Gospel of John. And there are many other things
which Jesus did, the which, if it should be written, every one,
I suppose, that even the world itself could not contain the
books that should be written. Amen. He never wrote a song, yet he has furnished the theme
for more songs than all songwriters have ever written together. He never founded a college, and
yet all the schools together cannot boast of as many students
as he has. My. He never practiced medicine,
and yet he healed more broken hearts than doctors have ever
healed broken bodies. He's the star of astronomy, beloved. He's the rock of geology. He's
the lion and the lamb of zoology. He's the harmonizer of all discords
and the healer of all diseases. That's our King. That's the Lord
Jesus Christ. Great men have come and great
men have gone, yet He lives on. Herod could not kill him. Satan
could not seduce him. Death could not destroy him.
The grave could not hold him. He was rich, yet for our sakes
he became poor. How poor? Ask Mary. Ask the wise
men. He slept in another's manger.
He crossed the lake in another's boat. He rode on another man's
fowl. He was buried in another man's
tomb. Yet, He is ever the perfect one, beloved. He is the incomparable
one. His name is the Lord Jesus Christ,
the only Savior of sinners. For those He has saved by His
perfect sin atoning work, He alone is the chiefest among 10,000
to our souls. To the born-again blood-washed
believer, He is altogether lovely, isn't He? As we proclaim, He, the Lord
Jesus Christ, is the Savior of my soul. Amen and amen.