well i thought that we would
be almost done with verse nine so turn if you would to philippians
chapter two open your bibles to philippians chapter two And
we're going to read verses 5 to 9 again. I thought I was coming
to the end of verse 9 and I found even more stuff. There's so much. There's so much. There's so much
here. And so we're going to look once again. Last week we looked
at Christ being exalted. We're going to look at today
is God has exalted Christ. That's the name of the message.
God has exalted Christ. I want to touch on that a little
bit more. So let's read verses 5 to 11 of Philippians chapter
2. It 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, but made
himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant
and was made in the likeness of man. So this is bringing forth
that the word of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Word of God,
the second person of the Trinity, humbled himself and became a
man. He's fully man and fully God. And he took upon him the
form of a servant and was made in the likeness of man. Now remember,
he's sinless. We're born sinners, he's born
sinless. and he's the Word of God. In
being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became
obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore
God also hath highly exalted him, that's Jesus Christ, 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 the earth and things under the earth. In that every tongue
should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the
Father. Now I was thinking we would look
at the name above every name this week until I found even
more of more and more and more of the exaltation of Christ.
And this wonderful verse brings great comfort to the believer.
Now oftentimes in this world we go through things We can be
going along great and all of a sudden, something can happen. And we need comfort, don't we?
We need to be comforted as God's people. We need comfort all the
time. And I believe in these verses,
there's so much comfort for God's people to know that God himself
has saved us. God himself has done that. He
left heaven. He literally left heaven. and
became a man. And became, we saw there, obedient
unto death. He died the death on the cross
to redeem our eternal souls, to purchase our souls. And he
purchased our souls with his blood. And because of the great
work that he has done, because God is so satisfied with what
Christ has done, He, God, exalted Christ. Christ didn't exalt himself. God exalted him. That's what
we see in this text. And that's what I really want
to focus on today, is God exalted Christ. God did it. What did man do? Man despised
him. Man rejected him. And God exalted him. Now a natural
man was doing what we all would do, wouldn't we? You ever hear
people say, well, if I was with that mob, I never would have
cried, crucify him, crucify him. I can tell you, I would have. Before I was born again, I'd
have cried the same cry they cried, wouldn't you? But now
our lips have been turned from rejecting Christ to praising
Christ. Isn't that amazing? And that's
a work of God. So whom man rejects and whom
man despises, God has exalted him. Isn't that amazing? That's incredible. God did it
because God is absolutely satisfied with the sacrifice of the Lord
Jesus Christ. He's fully satisfied. Christ
came to save his people from their sins and praise be to God,
he did it. He did it. And what comfort we
can find in that as believers. God saved us. The Lord Jesus
Christ, God in the flesh has saved our souls and God is so
pleased with that sacrifice for our sins that he's exalted Christ. God did it to a place high above
everything. and giving him a name, beloved,
that's above every name, that at the name of Jesus, every tongue
should confess, every knee shall bow and every tongue should confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
My, and I'll tell you what, everybody in this world, I did a funeral
this week and I said, every one of us, every one of us is gonna
face Christ. Every one of us. And he's either
going to be our savior or he's going to be our judge. But that's
an appointment that no man or woman will ever miss. It's appointed
on a man once to die and after this the judgment. Right? Oh my. And take note, take note after
our Lord's humiliation. Now, that's what the old timers
used to call when Christ came to this earth. Think of this,
think of the humiliation in this sense. He's God overall. You've
heard me say many times, angels are, we don't understand, angels
are bowing down before him. They have to cover themselves
and cry, holy, holy, holy. Isaiah 6, that's Christ on the
throne, beloved. And he leaves that throne to
come here to save our souls, brother Brian. Oh my. This is what's called, the old
timers called the humiliation of Christ. Humbling himself and
becoming a man to save us, brother. To save us, my dear brothers.
Isn't that wonderful? It's amazing. So the humiliation
of Christ, he becomes a man, fully God and fully man. And the whole reason he came,
Brother Travis, was to save us from our sins. It's magnificent. It's magnificent. You talk about
comforting God's people to know that we're saved. We're saved
from all our sins. Oh, that there's not one that's
gonna be bought up Because how many sins does it take to damn
a soul? Just one. Right? Let alone, think of this
sister, all our sins, past, present, future, all gone. They're gone,
they're wiped clean. Covered under the blood of Jesus
Christ. All my anger, all my hatred,
all my sinfulness, gone. Washed under the blood. Now,
that's the reason we rejoice, isn't it? And that's just the stuff we're
telling people. There's so much more of our sin
that's between us and God, isn't there? Oh my. Washed under the blood of Jesus
Christ. I had a couple folks say, well,
this week, you believe that? You're just going to go out and
do whatever you want. No, we are not going to do that. I'm
sorry. I'm not sorry, actually. Now, left to ourselves, we would,
right? But the scripture says we're kept by the power of God.
Imagine the trouble we could get in if God didn't keep us.
We already know the trouble we can get in, don't we? Just in
my thoughts. My. Praise God for the forgiveness
of all our sins. Praise God for the humiliation
of Christ. And because of his great work,
because of his great sin atoning work, God highly exalted him. God did that. God the Father
exalted Christ. Oh, remember in John 17, he prayed
to the Father, give me the glory that I had with you before the
world was? God's done it, hasn't he? He,
God, God, the Father, exalted Him. Wherefore God also hath
heartily exalted Him, Jesus Christ, has been exalted, beloved, and
given a name which is above every name. What comfort to know that
God is completely satisfied with the sacrifice of Christ, that
God is completely satisfied with the payment for our sins made
by the Lord Jesus Christ. And because He is, I'm gonna
keep saying this. Because it's honey to my soul. Is it honey
to your soul? Because the payment of our sins
was perfect, God highly exalted our King. Oh my, it's wonderful. It's absolutely wonderful. Makes
your heart sing, doesn't it, beloved? Makes your heart sing. So marvel at this again. Men
despised him. Men rejected him. They spit upon
him. They beat him. They hated him
without a cause. And God's highly exalted him.
Man thought, I see no beauty in him. Right? Remember how we were, Brother
Charlie, before the Lord saved us. We saw no beauty in Christ,
did we, Travis? We saw no beauty in Christ. We didn't see him as the fairest
of 10,000 to our souls. Now, he's all that and more. He's
all that and more. So the very one who men by nature
and women, men and women by nature despise and reject. Him, God has highly
exalted. God has highly exalted. And you
know, he's the head, right? And where the head is, the body
soon falls, doesn't it? Oh, praise be to God. We're going
to be exalted one day. We're going to be taken home
to heaven. My, oh my. I was at the graveside this week
and right beside the young lady who was being buried was her
dad, Clark Irwin. And I went over there and On
his tombstone is this beautiful, beautiful verse on the one side,
and on the other side it says Psalm 23. The Lord is my shepherd,
I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green
pastures. He restoreth my soul. Yea, though
I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no
evil, for thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort
me. Oh, thou preparest a table in
the presence of mine enemies. My, surely, goodness and mercy
shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell
in the house of the Lord forever. Not because of anything we've
done, but all because of what Christ's done. And because of
what he's done, God's highly exalted him. And you know where
our dear brother Clark is? He'd been exalted, hasn't he?
He'd been, you know, I never met him, but you told me all
about him. I met his family this week. And I said to his kids,
your dad is, he's in glory, praising the Savior. And Sister Betty
told me that her daughter had faith in Christ, and she said,
well, he's not alone now. Well, he wasn't alone before,
right? But you know what I'm saying now. Isn't that wonderful?
Oh, my. Oh my. Let's look at this verse
again. Wherefore God also hath highly
exalted him, Jesus Christ, and given him a name which is above
every name. Now for the natural man and woman
that's born dead in trespasses and sins, which that was the
state we were in when before the Lord saved us, there's no
comfort from these verses. There's no comfort from these
verses. Because when we're dead in trespasses and sins, we don't
desire Christ. We have no law in spiritual things. We don't desire. We don't have
love for Christ. Or any desire for his glory. And those who are left in that
state have no desire for the glory of God. None. And we know that we were there.
We know that's how we were. We know that's how they are because
we were there. You know, one may even laugh when Christ
is preached to their own doom, though they're laughing. Because if God leaves you in
that state, you're going to perish in your sins. And I've preached
in various places. I've preached funerals and messages. I always am sorrowful when I
see someone laughing while I'm preaching. It breaks my heart, to be honest
with you. But you know what it reminds me of? That's where you
were, Wayne. That's where we were. I didn't
ever care about the gospel. And it breaks your heart when
you see that. And there's always someone who's snickering or giggling
because, you know, they don't believe it. But does that stop
the preacher? Travis, does that stop us from
proclaiming the gospel? Never, right? Makes us want to
do it even more. Makes us want, but we still have
a sorrow for them. Breaks our heart. But we remember. It's a constant reminder of where
we came from. For the preacher. Or for the
teacher. It just constantly reminds us.
We were there. Oh my. And people have mocked the preaching
of Christ in him crucified and will mock, unfortunately, the
preaching of Christ in him crucified till he comes back again. But
they do it to their doom. If God leaves them where they
are. Now that's why we say, praise God you saved me, Lord Jesus.
Because I'd still be doing that. Oh, isn't it amazing that God
takes rebels and turns them into trophies of his grace? Isn't
that amazing? That's incredible, isn't it?
Oh, there's always hope, remember that. There's always hope until
the person breathes their last breath, right? Always hope, always
hope until the person breathes their last breath. So before
we were saved, these words brought no comfort to us. But now that
we're saved, this is comforting to know that God has exalted
our savior. He's exalted our Savior. We're
born again by the Holy Spirit of God. And now the scriptures
bring us great comfort. Do you know why we couldn't find
comfort before we were saved? Because we weren't born again.
We had a heart condition that rejected the scriptures, that
rejected Christ being preached. We've been given a new heart,
haven't we, Brother Charlie? Hey, brother, yeah. And now our heart
hungers and thirsts for righteousness, doesn't it? Isn't that amazing? And if God's exalted Christ to
glory, and he's the head and we're the body, we're gonna be
there. Oh my, it's wonderful. Oh, and
so now that we're born again, the scriptures bring us comfort
now. The very things we rejected,
now we love. Now we long to hear the preaching
of Christ and Him crucified. Now it brings us great joy. Great
joy. Oh, and what does it do? Because
we're born again, because we now have a heart that loves the
word of God. Sister, we cry out in praise
now, don't we? We sing with the saints of God
now. Glory be to God. Amazing grace,
how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was
lost, but now I'm found. I was blind, but now I see. Oh my, it's wonderful. And how did he redeem us? By
the shedding of his precious, precious blood. God in the flesh,
the Lord Jesus Christ, shed his blood to redeem our eternal souls,
which means to purchase our souls. He purchased us with his blood,
beloved. So, because of that, let's read
verse 9 again. Wherefore God also hath highly
exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name. And
how this verse makes the Christian's heart leap for joy. Even if we're
cast down by sorrows and temptations, which we often are. Remember
this. Christ is exalted. Christ is
exalted. We may be down. We may be downcast. But Christ is exalted. And you
know where else he is? He's right with us, isn't he?
And he said, I'll never leave you nor forsake you. And he sent
the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, to comfort our hearts. And the
Holy Spirit teaches us things of Christ. Gives us an understanding
of these scriptures that we never had before. So let we who are the redeemed
of the Lord marvel at the fact that God the Father is highly
exalted Christ and that we are justified before God. We now have peace with God through
the Lord Jesus Christ. How this makes our hearts cheerful. And let us admire and awe, my
dear brethren, that the God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ, was bone
of our bone and flesh of our flesh. And let us delight as
his bride. We're his bride. Let us delight
as a bride. Proclaims in the song of song,
my beloved is mine. And I am his. What joy that brings to our hearts. Oh my. And let us marvel at the
verses we looked at last week even. And we're going to look
at a little bit this week in Acts chapter 13. That we are
justified from all our sins, beloved. That we've been given
eternal life through Jesus Christ and the shedding of his blood.
It says this in Acts 13, 38 and 39. Be it known unto you, men
and brethren, that through this man, that's Jesus Christ, right?
Jesus Christ is preaching to you the forgiveness of sins.
How many? Amen. All our sins. Oh, and then it goes on to say,
and by him, that's Christ, all that believe are justified from
all things from which ye could not be justified by the law of
Moses. The law of Moses cannot justify
us. It shows us our sinfulness. It
slays us, doesn't it? It shows us that the whole world
is guilty before God. Not just us, but everyone. And we could never be justified
by the keeping of the law or by the doing of the law, because
we can't do it. We're lawbreakers. We're criminals before God. We
break his law. But praise be to God, there's
one who came and fulfilled the law in the room and place of
his people. And he did it perfectly. And because he did it perfectly,
because he saved us, let's tie it into our text, God has highly
exalted him, given him a name above all names, beloved. That's
our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the one God's exalted. And
God did it. It's amazing. Oh, and marvel that the Lord
Jesus Christ did not exalt himself. The scripture declares, wherefore
God also hath highly exalted him. Oh my. And then he's given him a name,
a well-known name, a name above all names. We're going to look
at that next week, Lord willing. A name above all names. That at the name of Jesus, Every
knee should bow and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ
is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Oh, that's wonderful. So let us look, beloved, with
the eye of faith and see him in glory sitting at his father's
right hand. He's our pledge of glorification. Do you know that? He's our pledge
of glorification. He's our surety of glorification. He's our surety of acceptance
with God. It's nothing we do. We have acceptance
with God because of him and he's our surety of that, beloved. God himself is our surety. Oh, it's amazing. And you know
what a surety is? When someone's building something
and they can't finish the project and can't pay for it, the surety
comes in and takes care of the whole thing. We could never pay
for our sins, could we? We could never pay what the law
of God meant. What did our surety do? He came
in and paid for everything, didn't he? And completed the work. And that's what the surety will
do too. Here, make sure the work is finished. He's a guarantor. Oh my! Isn't that wonderful? I'll tell ya. Get this Baptist
shouting here. This is wonderful. This is wonderful. My oh my. So another reason this
verse brings us great comfort for the believer is because of
our union with Christ, right? He's the vine, we're the branches.
He's the head, we're the body. And notice that. Notice that.
He gets the preeminence in both of those illustrations, right?
Because without the vine, the branches can't live. He's the
one. He's the preeminent one. He's
the head. We're the body. People don't
take pictures of our hands and our feet and say, oh, I recognize
those. No, we have to take a picture
of the head, right, to recognize the person. Right? He's the head. See, he gets the
preeminence in all things. In all things. Those illustrations
bring forth the preeminence of Christ. Because without him,
we have no life. The branches of a tree have no
life unless those nutrients come up through the trunk and through
the vine. They can't even produce fruit on their own, the branches.
That fruit is because of the vine. Oh, it's wonderful. It's wonderful. So the seat which
Christ possesses in heaven is not only his by his own right,
because he's God, right? Because he's deity, but he's
also the representative of the whole church. He's a representative of the
whole church, for he's our forerunner. Right? And he sits in glory as
the representative of all his people. Every one of his sheep. So rejoice,
beloved, when by the eye of faith we see our master exalted from
the tomb. He's risen from the grave. He's
risen from the grave. When we behold him exalted upon
the throne of heaven. Because where he is, we're soon
gonna be. He's in heaven, we're gonna be
there soon. My, so what great comfort and joy we can find here.
Now, one may ask, well, why do you find such comfort
in the exaltation of Christ? Well, the scripture proclaims
that God has exalted him, but the reason being, look a little
bit further up, He, being in the form of God, thought it not
robbery to be equal with God. So his exaltation is based upon
his humiliation. Because of his humiliation, he's
being exalted. Look at this. thought it not
robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation,
and took upon him the form of a servant, was made in the likeness
of man, and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself
and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
Wherefore, God also has highly exalted him and given him a name
above all names. So you can't have the exaltation
of Christ without the humiliation of Christ. Oh my, it's wonderful. Our Lord
Jesus Christ was God in the flesh. My oh my. And as God, he needed
no exaltation. He's higher than the heavens. Oh my. He's God blessed forever,
isn't he? But his glory, heaven for a while,
being veiled in flesh, Right? The word became flesh and dwelt
among us. He became a man and stooped to
the shame and sorrow and rejection of the cross and of people from
their sin. He was made poor that we might
be made rich. Right? Saving us from all our
sins. Oh my. And God, because of that,
because of his perfect sin-atoning work, has highly exalted him,
far above all principalities and powers, that he might reign
as the Prince Regent. He's a Prince Regent, beloved.
He's the master of the universe. He literally is the master of
the universe. He's the master of all that we
see and don't see. He's the master over everything. Oh my. And here, here's the bulls
of Bashan and the dogs. Right? Casting things in his
face while he's dying on the cross to save his people from
their sins. That's natural man. That's our
natural depraved state, beloved. They said, he saved others. Let
him save himself. He's saving a multitude of people
that no man can number and they have no clue at all. Oh my. And then think of what
he cried on the cross. He said, my God, my God, why
has thou forsaken me? Think of this. God, the father,
forsook the son that we might never be forsaken, brother. God, the father, forsook the
son that we might never be forsaken. That's a wonderful sister, isn't
it? And we can't even fathom that, can we? But it's true.
My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? God the Father forsook
God the Son. And we who are the redeemed will
never be forsaken. Mark, beloved, with the eye of
faith, the flood flowing from his wounds. The flood of his
blood flowing from his wounds. Oh, and know that that blood
is the blood of the God-man. That blood is redeeming blood. That's the blood that redeems
our eternal soul. And mark, mark this, the God-man
groaning upon the tree. What? Some might say, what? Some might say, does this not
dishonor Christ? No, beloved. It doesn't dishonor
him. Listen to what Spurgeon says
about Christ's death. I read this. I had to repeat
it. Because that which man thinks
dishonors Christ is now glorifying our great God. Christ's death
upon the cross. Listen to this. Each of the thorns
become a diamond in his diadem of glory. The nails are forged
into his scepter, and his wounds clothe him with the purple of
an emperor. The treading of the winepress
of the wrath of God has stained his garments, but not with stains
of scorn and dishonor. No, the stains are embroideries
upon his royal robes forever. The treading of the winepress
of the wrath of God has made his garments purple, is worn
by one who is emperor of all the worlds. He is master of the universe
forever. That's our king. That's our savior,
beloved. So marvel at this. This is why
the Lord Jesus Christ has been exalted. Because he accomplished
our salvation by the offering of himself as a sacrifice for
the sins of his people. And he sealed our pardon with
his blood. Therefore, God, being satisfied
with the sacrifice of Christ in our room and place, hath highly
exalted the Lord Jesus Christ, and given him a name which is
above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee shall
bow of things in heaven and things on earth, and that every tongue
should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the
Father. Let's read our verse again, verse
nine. Wherefore, God also hath highly
exalted him, that's Jesus Christ, and given him a name which is
above every name. I touched on this last week,
but I'd like to consider this as we close. Our text brings
forth that Christ did not crown himself. No, the Father crowned him, Lord
of all. And note in his life and his
death his full submission to the Father, to the Father's will. He did not elevate himself to
the throne of majesty, but God the Father exalted him to that
throne. and placed him on that throne.
Now, by nature, no man will ever exalt Christ in our hearts. In
our natural state, we will not exalt Christ by our lips or by
our hearts. But when we're born again by
the power of God, the Holy Spirit, when we're given faith to believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ, oh, we exalt him, don't we? He gets
all the glory and honor and praise. This is why we must be born again.
This is why we must be born again. Men cursed him and mocked him
and even took up stones to kill him. And stones having failed,
they used nails and they cried, crucify him, crucify him. And
then as he's bleeding and dying on the cross, they continue to
taunt him and mock him. All while our great Redeemer
is dying on the cross and redeeming our eternal souls. See, men did
not exalt Him in glory, in praise. They exalted Him in what they
thought was dishonor. but praise be to God, our God,
our Father, who is highly exalted, the Lord Jesus Christ. And set
him on the right hand, on the throne of glory, and by the grace
and mercy of God, one day we will stand in heaven, the redeemed
of the Lord, and we will praise his mighty name. Glory be to
God the Father, glory to his almighty name. Brother Travis,
can you close us in prayer?