Open your Bibles if you would
to Philippians chapter 2. Philippians chapter 2, the name
of the message is the glory of God. We've been going through
this wonderful portion of scripture. Today we will be at the end of
verse 11. So we're going to read again
verses 5 to 11, the section that we've been studying pretty Quite
a bit, actually, in the last, I'd say, 10, 15 messages. And
it brings forth the deity of Christ and the humanity of Christ
so clearly. And then the exaltation of Christ. And we who are the born again
blood-washed people of God, we desire, being new creatures in
Christ now, we desire to give God all the glory. Give Him all
the glory. I remember when I was in religion,
And I was a glory hound. It was all about me. But in grace it's totally different. You want to give God all the
glory. You want to give him all the praise because it's him who's
done a work in us and it's him who continues to do a work in
us. And it's wonderful that he planned and purposed
and executed our salvation and so Let we who are the redeemed
of the Lord continue to give him all the glory, honor, and
praise. Let's read this section here, verses 5 to 11, again,
which speaks so clearly of the humanity of Christ and the deity
of Christ. Let this mind be in you, which
was also in Christ Jesus. So he had a mind of humility.
He humbled himself, became a man. God himself, So this mind here
is the mind of humility. Who being in the form of God
thought it not robbery to be equal with God. This speaks of
his pre-incarnation. He's God. He's the word of God.
But made himself, look at this, of no reputation. Remember when
we looked at that? In the Greek it means he emptied
himself. Made himself of no reputation.
He did not stand out amongst the crowd. Here he is, the King
of kings and the Lord of lords in the flesh. And he's here,
beloved, to do the will of the Father. But made himself of no
reputation and took upon him the form of a servant. Remember,
we looked at that, the form of a servant. He's sinless, we're
sinners. He's fully man and fully God,
but yet he's sinless. He's absolutely, isn't that wonderful?
And look at that, he took upon him the form of a servant. He
was here to do the Father's will. And was made in the likeness
of man, just like us, bone of our bone, flesh of our flesh,
yet without sin. And being found in the fashion
of man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even
the death of the cross. We looked at how he was obedient
his whole life. Absolutely fulfilling every jot
and tittle of the law as our substitute. And then he's obedient
unto the law, right? As our substitute, the law says
the soul that sinneth it must die. So as our substitute, our
sins being imputed to him, as our substitute, he goes to the
cross and dies for us. He who knew no sin was made sin
for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
Isn't that beautiful? It's wonderful. Wherefore, now okay, as a result
of that perfect obedience, as a result of that perfect work,
supreme work actually, supreme work, by a supreme being, right? Look at this. Wherefore God also
hath highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every
name. Now this name here is speaking of his humanity, the Lord Jesus
Christ. Remember, as God, he's already
Lord, right? He's already Lord as God. But
now we see as man, the God-man, he's Lord as well. God, and who
exalted him? Again, as we looked at last week,
he didn't exalt himself. God exalted him. And think of
us. We didn't regenerate ourselves.
God regenerated us. We didn't muster up faith. God
gave us faith. Right? We can't preserve until the end.
God keeps us until the end. And then he takes us home. It's
all God. Salvations of the Lord. It's
wonderful. So, and look at this, his human name is a name above
all names. There's many titles in this world,
right? People have many titles, prime
minister, president, all speak of positions of authority in
various countries. And those people are above us
in the sense of authority. They're the same as us, but they're
in a position of authority, right? His name is a name above all
names. He's Lord of all. And remember,
we've looked at this before. People say, well, just make Jesus
Lord of your life. God already beat everyone to
it. And number two, we can't make him Lord, can we? We declare
his Lordship. And we're gonna see here, this
is amazing, that everyone who ever lived, saved and lost, is
gonna declare the Lordship of Christ. And it's to the glory
of God the Father, which is our topic today. Look at this. 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. Every single person who's ever
lived upon this earth will bow before King Jesus. And not only
will they do that, Look at this. And who is that
who's going to bow? Well, of things in heaven, all
the angels and the saints that have gone home to be with the
Lord. Things in the earth, anyone who's remaining when Christ returns.
And things under the earth, the angels or the fallen angels and
the demons and Satan and all the departed unbelievers. Everyone. And notice that. Notice what
it says. Every knee should bow. Of things
in heaven, things in earth, and things under the earth. That
covers everything. Visible and invisible. Look at this. And
that every tongue should confess. Remember, we looked at that word
last week. That word confess is to publicly declare. People who hate Christ are going
to publicly declare his lordship. We're going to do it gladly as
the born-again, blood-washed saints of God. This is at the
great white throne, brothers and sisters. This is at the final
judgment. Look at this. That every tongue
should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the
Father. They're going to do it. We're going to do it. To the
glory of God the Father. Isn't that magnificent? It's
amazing. Now the final purpose of God
saving us in our confession of faith in Christ is to the glory
of God. We glorify God for what he's
done for us. and in us, right? We're born
again. We've had an operation of God
performed in us. Think of this, when we go to
the doctors, right, and they're operating on us, are we telling
them, okay, go here and go here and go here and go here? The
doctor is an expert. They operate where they're going
to operate, right? God regenerates us and it's all
his work. He's the great physician. Gives
us a new heart, new spirit, hungers and thirsts after righteousness,
right? It's magnificent. It's wonderful. And we see here
the humiliation and the exaltation of the Son of God, of the Word
of God. He humbled himself and became a man. And he did this
to complete the great work of redemption that was planned and
purposed by God the Father. And what's the end of that? To bring glory to God. Our salvation
in Christ brings glory to God because Christ is the one who
finished the work and did it all. Because God the Father,
remember, sent him. Sent him to finish that work,
to do that work. And the fact of the Son of God,
the Word of God, the second person of the Trinity becoming a man
and coming into this world and saving his people and then being
exalted, it glorifies God. His perfect redeeming work glorifies
God. Turn, if you would, to John chapter
17. John chapter 17. Our great Lord's high priestly
prayer. We get a little glimpse. The
Holy Spirit gives us a little glimpse in the pen of John into
our King's praying to, our king praying to the father. Look at
this in John chapter 17. I always think of Marcus when
we go here. This is a favorite portion of scripture. I always
think of dear brother Marcus and this is a wonderful portion. Look at this in verse 1. These
words spake Jesus and lifted up his eyes to heaven and said,
Father, the hour has come. Glorify thy son, that thy son
may also glorify thee. So we see here, we see here that
Christ desires to be glorified with the Father. Now, as God,
no glory can be added to Christ. No glory can be added to Christ.
But as a man and a mediator, he's praying here that the Father
would sustain him and support him and uphold him through all
that he must endure. Remember, he's facing the cross.
He knows the end is here. He knows what's His mission. He came to save His people from
their sins. He's now facing that completely. He's lived the perfect life.
He's weaved that perfect coat of righteousness. And the only
thing He has to finish is dying in the sinner's room and place.
Oh my. That's wonderful, because I'm
a sinner saved by grace. Isn't that wonderful? And here
He is. He's going to endure. this. He must endure it for our sanctification. We're sanctified in Christ. He
must endure it for our redemption. We're redeemed in Christ. He must go and die and be our
surety. He must save us from our sins
by the shedding of his precious blood. And here's something to
think about. I've been thinking about this this week. I was talking
to Zane about this. I heard a fellow mention this. Okay. The infinite God poured out His
infinite wrath on the infinite Son of God in
our room and place. Now think of that. The wrath
due us is an eternal wrath. It's infinite. We don't think
of that, do we? The people in hell are under
infinite wrath of God. People say this, you ever hear
people say this? Hell's where God isn't, God's not in hell. His wrath is there. He's sure
there. Yeah, he is. It's a manifestation
of his wrath. God's everywhere. There's not
a place where God isn't, right? It's a manifestation of his wrath,
beloved. And His wrath, His infinite wrath
is poured out upon those who willingly reject Him. And we
were there. And the only thing that made
us different, Brother Travis, is the grace of God, isn't it?
That's it. Because God chose us in Christ
in eternity. That's the only thing. So, here's
Christ dying on the cross, and the infinite wrath of God is
being poured out upon Him for our sins, for the sins of His
people. And He's bearing it all. And
then He cries those wonderful words. It is finished. Salvation's complete. Complete
by the infinite Son of God. Because remember, He's still
God. He's God in man. Oh my. So are the wrath that
was due us, the wrath that was due us for eternity. Each one
of God's elect, a number that no man can number, was poured
out upon Christ. Oh my, what a Savior. What a Redeemer is Jesus Christ
our Lord. And the obedience and death of
Christ has effectively redeemed all believers from our sins.
All of our sins. He completed the salvation. It's
done. By his stripes we're healed. By his blood we're redeemed,
beloved. And so we who are the born-again, blood-washed people
of God, we marvel and we give God all the glory because of
that. Look what he saved us from. I can't save myself, can you?
But Christ saved us from all our sins, beloved. That's amazing. God's grace is amazing. Now let's
go down a few verses in chapter 17 there. Look at verse 5. We
see that Christ in his humanity desires to be back with the Father. And remember, when he's going
to go back to the Father, he's going back as something that
he wasn't before. Henry used to say that all the
time. He's going back now as the God-man. He's going back
as the mediator, the only mediator between God and man. He's still
the son of God, but now he's Jesus, the God-man, the mediator,
the one true mediator. Oh my. And he's returning, remember
too, he's returning to his office and his position, which he had
in eternity. My look at this and now Oh Father
Glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had
with thee before the world was Beloved as some commentators
say he set aside his glory We've heard Scott say that before My so we see two important things
in this verse number one that Christ is God and he was with
God from eternity Right because he's saying I look at let's read
that again and now father glorify thou me with thine own self With
the glory which I had with thee before the world was Brother Brian he's talked about
way before when we were chosen in Christ and It's wonderful. And having come
to the end of his life on earth, he will offer himself up as the
perfect spotless Lamb of God, as a ransom for our souls, brother.
Willingly. Willingly going to that cross
for us. Willing, willingly shedding his
blood to redeem our eternal souls. He's the Passover lion. And we
see here, he desires the glory that he had with the Father.
He desires to be back with the Father. And remember this too. God's going to forsake God on
the cross. God the Father is going to forsake
God the Son. You know why? So we will never ever be forsaken. He'd do enough for us, beloved.
It's amazing. Number two we see in this verse
is Christ returns to the presence of the Father as the man Christ
Jesus, as the mediator. 1 Timothy says this, chapter
2, verses 5 and 6, for there is one God and one mediator between
God and man. So people going to some priest
and confessing, that man, he's a sinner just like we are, can't
help no one. There's only one mediator between God and man.
For there's one God and one mediator between God and man, the man
Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all. That's for
all the elect. He gave himself and offered himself
for all who the Father had given him. We saw that in our short
gospel message, didn't we? That Christ died for the sheep
of God. That's who he died for. We don't
know who they are, so when we preach, we say, whosoever will,
let him come. Knowing that God's gonna make him willing, right? In a day of his power, oh my. So he prays here to be returned
to the office and to the glory which he had before. And he's
received and he's exalted. And remember, this is wonderful
too, that he was raised for our justification. God exalted him to a spot, a
place above all names. Now as the man Christ Jesus,
he's Lord of lords. He's already Lord of lords as
the word of God. Now as the man Christ Jesus,
he's Lord of lords and king of kings. Oh, it's wonderful, I'll
tell you. And he's seated at the right
hand of the majesty on high. And you know, we're received
with him in Christ. Oh, look a little further down,
John chapter 17, and look at verses 20 to 23. And let us remember, again, that
the death of Christ and the redemption of God's people were all for
the glory of God. All to bring glory to God. Look
at this, John 17 verses 23. I'm all messed up. Neither pray
I for these alone, but for them also which believe on me through
their word. Look at that. Christ is praying for you and
I, beloved, right there, 2,000 years ago. Because we believed
on him through the preaching of the gospel, haven't we? I'll
read that again. Neither pray I for these alone,
that being the apostles, but for them also which shall believe
on me through their word. That they all may be one, as
thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also might
be one in us, that the world may believe that thou hast sent
me. Look at that. Who sent Christ? God sent Christ. Brother Brian,
if God hadn't sent Christ, no one would be saved, would he?
but he sent him to save us from our sins. This is glorious. Oh
my, glorious. In the glory which thou gavest
me, I have given them, 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,
and that the world may know that thou has sent me and has loved
them as thou has loved me. Look at that last part there. It's true, isn't it? We read
that and go, God the Father's loved us as he's loved Christ.
Yeah, because we're in Christ. Isn't that amazing? Now, what
kind of love is that? That's everlasting love, right?
That's unfailing, everlasting love. Unchanging love. It's not
dependent upon us. Praise be to God, right? Praise be to God. Oh my. Look at verse 22 in this
verse. And look at the union and the
oneness between the Father and the Son. In nature, essence,
power, affection, and purpose. And it infinitely transcends
any kind of union between man and women or any kind of union
between mom and child, any kind of union in this world. It infinitely
transcends that. Yet the oneness of all believers
resembles that which exists between the Father and the Son. It's
amazing. Let's read these two verses again.
And the glory which thou gavest me, I have given them, that they
may be one even as we are one. See, we're one in Christ. I in
them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one, he's
the head, we're the body, and that the world may know that
thou has sent me and has loved them as thou has loved me. I
still can't, I read that, it just blows my mind away. Oh my. So as the redeemed of
the Lord, we have a common faith, right? We have one object. of
that faith is Christ. It's a God-given faith, right? Which we experience and which
we agree in the main points of the gospel. That salvation is
by Christ alone and through Christ alone. And as the redeemed Lord,
we have a common affection. We're knit together in love,
right? By the Holy Spirit of God. And
as the redeemed of the Lord, we have a common goal, which
is the glory of God. We're here for the glory of God,
beloved. You know, the messages go out from here onto the internet,
and the Lord is just blessing the messages, and it's all for
his glory and honor and praise, isn't it? It's all for him. And we marvel, because here we
are, sinners saved by grace, gathering together, right, and
wanting to hear about the one who saved us. and the one who
we will one day see, face to face, by the grace of
God. And as the redeemed of the Lord,
we're one in Christ. And that's by God's grace, isn't
it? And that's by God's mercy. My oh my. Not only will God's
sovereign grace in Christ be manifested to future believers,
but to the whole universe. to the whole universe. As we
see believers, unbelievers, angels, demons, all things visible and
invisible, we'll profess the Lordship of Christ. And we will do it in grace. And we will profess the Lordship
of Christ, knowing that it's all by grace that he saved us.
It's all by mercy that he saved us. Oh my. Oh my. In this word, glory, when used
properly, speaks, properly speaking, belongs only
to God, for who else can receive glory but Him? Who else is really
worthy of glory? Are we really worthy of glory
as human beings? No, we're not, are we? He's the
only one really worthy to receive glory. So properly speaking,
this glory only belongs to God and to Him alone. Listen to this verse. The sun
shall be no more thy light by day, neither for brightness shall
the moon give light unto thee, but the Lord shall be unto thee
everlasting light and thy God thy glory. And then listen to this in Isaiah
chapter 42, if you want to turn there you can, Isaiah 42 verses
5 to 8. Thus saith the Lord, he that
created the heavens and stretched them out, and he that spread
forth the earth and that which cometh out of it, he that giveth
breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk
therein. I the Lord have called thee in righteousness. He's called
us in Christ, hasn't he? Right? And we'll hold thine hand
and we'll keep thee. Remember when we were kids and
we held our mom and dad's hands? Oh man, we felt so safe, didn't
we? Look at that. That's something we can understand,
isn't it? And we'll keep thee. for a covenant of the people,
for a light of the Gentiles, to open the blind eyes, to bring
out the prisoners from prison, and them that sit in darkness
out of a prison house." That's where we were. We were in the
prison house of sin. Listen to this, Isaiah 42, 8, I am the
Lord, which is I am Jehovah in the Hebrew. I am Jehovah, defined
as the self-existent one. So he's saying, I am the self-existent
one. Being self-existent, he doesn't
need nothing, does he? And we can't add nothing to him. I am Jehovah. That is my name. In my glory will I not give to
another, neither my praise to graven images. So in this section,
he's contrasting who he really is to graven images in idol worship,
which is rampant back then. But you know what? It's still
rampant today. People still bowing down to wood statues and rocks
and stones, aren't they? Just drive by a Catholic church
or somebody, you can tell when someone's a Catholic because
they got them big old statues of Mary in front lawn, right?
And I'm speaking from experience, the Lord took me out of that.
We had crosses everywhere in the house. Statues all over the
place. Little trinkets we wore. Supposed
to keep us safe. Nothing but foolish superstition.
That's all that is. That's all that is. Can't do
nothing. There's only one. Listen to this. I am Jehovah.
That is my name. The self-existent one. Do we
ever stop and ponder and think that? Number one, the one who
saved us is God. The one who saved our souls is
God. Not no mere man. God himself saved us. God became
a man. God himself redeemed us with
his blood. It says that in Acts. God himself, the God-man. I am
Jehovah. There's none else. There are
no other saviors. People say, well, Allah and Muhammad
and Mary and then you go to India and they got thousands of different
gods they bow to. They're all false gods. You say, well, how can you say
that? Because there's only one God. And if he's revealed himself
to you, beloved, give him all the glory, give him all the honor,
give him all the praise. Because it's Him who has made
us to differ. And it's marvelous. It's wondrous. That God Himself
would save us. And then that God Himself would
reveal Himself to us. And He would give us faith to
believe on the one He sent. The Father sent the Son. And
the Lord said, I'm going to send the Comforter. And remember,
God, the Holy Spirit, is as much God as the Father, and as much
God as the Son, and the Son's as much God as the Father and
the Holy Spirit, and the Father's as much God as the Son and the
Holy Spirit. They're one. They're God. I, the Jehovah, singular, remember,
now think of that, it says there, I, the Lord so I the Jehovah
think about what we looked at this is a me I just just thought
of this think about what we looked at over here and in Philippians chapter 2 and remember this name where
it says that at the name of Jesus God
hath high exalted him and given him a name. Remember, in the
Greek, that's the name. Singular. There's only one name
like this name. The name. Oh, I am the Lord. I am the Jehovah. He's telling us in Isaiah. And
my glory will I not give to another, neither My praise to graven images. God will not share his glory
with anyone. I used to hear Scott and Brother
Henry say that all the time, and I understand more now why
they said that. Because he will not share his
glory with anyone. With anyone. That's why we must,
as the people of God, we give them glory, honor, and praise.
Listen to what Robert Hawker says about Isaiah 45.8, which
I'll read it again. I am the Lord, that is my name,
and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise
to greater than them. Just listen to what Robert Hawker said here.
He says this. He says, so that Jehovah, in
his threefold character, a person, the Father, Son, and
the Holy Spirit, is truly and strictly glory. He's glory. As we just heard,
when the Lord is speaking of the great works of creation in
creating the heavens and stretching them out and spreading forth
the earth, and also the wonders of redemption by His Son, He
confirms the oneness in nature, work, and design of Christ and
the adoration due to him as one with himself. Exactly what we
read of in John chapter 17, where Christ is saying that I'm one
with the Father. It's also in the Old Testament.
Oh my. He confirms his oneness in nature,
work, and design of Christ, and the adoration due him as one
with himself. He says, I am the Lord, that
is my name, and my glory will I not give to another, neither
any praise to graven images. Who do we glorify? Christ. We're glorifying God. They are
so united that if you reject the Son, you reject the Father.
They're so united that if you reject the Father, you reject
the Son. Oh my! And let us always remember
that the glory of God is the purpose of all things in this
verse. What we're looking at in Philippians chapter 2 verse
11. All this happened, all the redemption, all the plan of redemption,
planned and purposed in eternity is for the glory of God the Father.
Which is also for the glory of God the Son. Which is also for
the glory of God the Holy Spirit. Cause they're all one. They're
all one. Let's read verse 11 again in
Philippians chapter two. Oh my, all things, all things
that have happened, right? All things are for the glory
of God. Oh my. And remember too, Paul here,
he's just finished by the inspirational Holy Spirit writing about the
humanity and deity of Christ and weaving all that together.
And now, this is a doxology. He's breaking out in praise and
in wonder. Several commentators said, this
is his doxology. He's just praising God. He's
just praising God. Look at this, and that every
tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. And then he's
just, to the glory of God the Father. He's just praising God,
beloved. To the glory of God the Father.
He's wrapping it all up, isn't he, Brother Brian? He's wrapping
it all up. My, oh my. Isn't it wonderful,
sister? It's wonderful, isn't it? Oh my. Oh, what a bond between the Father
and the Son. And think of this too, when the
Father's glorified, the Son is glorified. When the Son's glorified, the
Father's glorified and the Holy Spirit's glorified. Isn't that
amazing? God is glorified. And think of
this. Here we are, sinners, rebels
with God by birth, nature, and choice. And God saves our souls. And we become ones who used to
curse His name to ones who now praise His name. And it's all for the glory of
God the Father. And we willingly give Him the glory, don't we?
Isn't that amazing, Brother Charles? We willingly say, He's everything. He's my all in all. That's a
miracle of grace, boy. Every believer's a miracle of
grace. He takes rebels and turns them into ones who love them
and praise them. And we are, we don't feel like this, do we,
Brother Brian, but we are trophies of God's grace. Trophies of God's grace. My three
sisters, you're trophies of God's grace. Isn't that amazing? We don't feel that way, do we?
You know where Jules and his eyes, It says precious in the
eyes of the Lord, right? It's the death of his saints.
That word precious there, valuable. And then Malachi talks about
how he wore jewels in his ground. Wore valuable jewels to the Lord. And he, remember this too. As I said, the infinite wrath
of God was poured out upon the infinite Son of God. that we
might be saved for eternity, right? And the scripture says,
he went to the cross for the joy that was set before him. He's going to redeem his bride. I was reading about Hosea this
week. Did you know he had to go back
and buy his wife? She went back into prostitution. And I remember the Lord said,
go and marry that prostitute. And they had kids. And she goes
back into prostitution. And he had to go back and buy
her. We fell in Adam. Rebels to the
core. And the Lord came and bought
us with his precious, precious blood, with joy. with joy and you know when he
presents us to the father at the end he can do it with joy isn't that amazing absolutely
incredible brother jonathan could you close us in prayer really