yeah oh it's loosening up vicky
gave me one of them super tylenol things so it's starting to i
can feel it loosening oh goodness Oh, good morning. Sure good to
be here. As ready as I can be, eh? Oh my, my, oh my, oh my. It's wonderful. Oh, we're live? We're live, okay. Well, I like
to get right into it today because we have an amazing topic. Last week we looked at the fact
of our Lord being, he was two weeks ago, equal with God. And
last week we looked at how he emptied himself He left glory. In the Greek, when it says made
himself of no reputation, it means he emptied himself. He
emptied himself. He submitted his will to the
will of another, which is God the Father. He never stopped
being God. But the scripture says he took
upon himself the form of a servant. Now, again, he took upon the
outward expression. So he's the outward expression
of God. but he's in the form of a servant, God the Son. And remember, he's in full servitude
to the Father. And he's doing that for you and
I, beloved. He's doing that for you and I. That he might establish
a perfect righteousness that we be clothed in. Remember, he's
sinless, he's spotless, so he's fully human like we are. And
yet, he's fully God. So let's read the portion of scripture that we're
going to look at today in Philippians chapter 2. This is a wonderful,
wonderful epistle. And where we are now is probably,
to me, one of the most clear portions of the humanity and
the deity of Christ together in the scriptures. It's absolutely
amazing. It's as clear as John chapter
1, where we see, and we looked at that when it was Christ emptied
himself, where he's God. He's God. And then he becomes
a man. Today's message is actually called
Sovereign to Servant. Sovereign to Servant. That's
amazing. He's a sovereign before he even
comes here. He's God. And he becomes a servant. to
save his people from their sins. And we can say, as God's people,
to save us. My. Let's look at the text here. We're going to read verses 4
to 8 to see the context of verse 7. Let this mind be in you, which
was also in Christ. Now that's the mind of humility,
right? Servitude, servitude. And again, what's the one way
to stamp out division within the church? We all realize we're
servants for Christ. All of us. All of us. Who being
in the form of God, so he was God, the Word of God in eternity,
thought it not robbery to be equal with God. In the beginning
was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God,
right? But made himself of no reputation, Philippians 2.7. So here's Philippians 2.7. He
emptied himself That's in the Greek. The words made himself
of no reputation are two Greek words which means emptied himself.
He emptied himself. And took upon him the form, remember
that's the outward expression, the form of a servant. That's his humanity. So in verse
6 we see his deity, thought it not robbery to be equal with
God. Verse 7, now we see his humanity. The one who's equal
with God took upon himself the form of a servant. From sovereign
to servant. Isn't that amazing? And was made
in the likeness of man. Being found in fashion as a man,
so he's fully man. And yet he's fully God. He humbled
himself. What humility, beloved. for a
sovereign one to become a servant. And he did that to save us. Now,
that's wonderful, isn't it, sister? It's amazing. Just incredible
to think that, that he did it for us. My, oh, my. And being found in the fashion
as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient. Well, he's
obedient to God's law. He's obedient to the Father.
He's fulfilling the Father's will for us as our substitute,
right? that we could never do. It's
amazing. Became obedient unto death. Look
at that. He really died. Even the death of the cross.
He was hung on a cross. And he bled and died there to
save us from our sins. He offered himself up as a sacrifice,
didn't he? to the law and justice of God,
totally fulfilling it. And then without the shedding
of blood, there's no remission of sins, right? So he sheds his
precious blood for us and redeems our eternal soul's blood. We're
his, we're his. So we'll continue our study in
verse seven. I think we're gonna be there
for maybe another week or two after this too. There's so much
in verse seven, so much. Last week we saw that he made
himself of no reputation, which again is a translation of two
Greek words, which means he emptied himself. And that's speaking
of his glory. As God, he has a prerogative
to be worshipped, right? It's a prerogative of God to
be worshipped. That's his right. He sets that aside and says,
worship the Father. You see, he becomes a servant. He becomes a servant. He emptied
himself. So the natural desire and prerogative
of deity is that of being glorified. But, when deity sets that aside,
it sets self aside. So not only is the lesson here
for us as believers, the humility, the great humility
of Christ, which is nowhere, no one and nothing can compare
to that. But also Paul's teaching the
lesson to the Philippians, the fact that let this mind be in
us. See again, the way to unity is
humility. The way the Indie is setting
aside self. That's what we have here. It's
amazing. We've set aside self, haven't
we? We're here for the furtherance of the gospel. And it's wonderful.
It's absolutely beautiful. And it's all by the Holy Spirit.
It's Him working in us, beloved, because by nature, We don't put
self aside by nature. We still struggle, don't we,
as believers, all the time, with self. You've heard me say often times,
we have three enemies, the world, the flesh, and the devil, and
the flesh is the worst one of the bunch. Right? I don't have to blame the devil
for anything. I'm my own worst enemy. My oh my. And think of this, too. From
sovereign to servant, Christ did this willingly, fully willingly. He willingly became a servant.
He loves his bride so much. He loves those who God gave him
in eternity so much, so much that he set aside his glory,
became a man, to live a perfect life for us and to redeem us
with his own precious blood, and be obedient unto death, even
the death of the cross. Then he sends the Holy Spirit
to us, who regenerates us and gives us faith to believe on
him. Isn't God good? Isn't he so good? It's wonderful,
beloved. It's the most wonderful news
we're ever going to hear. But this is our Savior, too.
So let us meditate on this this week. And let us think about
this. This is our Savior. Our Savior went from being sovereign
to servant back to sovereign. Because where is he right now?
He's reigning, isn't he? Remember John 17, we looked at
it when we looked at the portion about him being equal with God.
He prayed in John 17, I believe it's verse 4 or 5, give me the
glory that I had with you before the world was. God's answered that prayer, hasn't
he? He's back in glory with him. Oh my. So he willingly, Christ
Jesus our Lord, the word of God willingly became submissive to
the Father's will. taking upon himself the form
of a servant. The king became a servant. And
we're going to see, not just the servant, but the lowest servant.
Because he's going to do something in the book of John, chapter
13, that was the lowest task that a servant could do. And
we're going to look at that. It's when he washed the disciples'
feet. That is the lowest task that a servant could ever do. And what's he do? He does it. That's why Peter, I always wondered
more and more, but well, why was Peter so opposed, right?
It was because that's the lowest position that a servant could
ever take. And here's the king of glory, washing the disciples feet. My oh my. And we're going to
see what the spiritual meaning of that is too. There's a spiritual
meaning caught in there as well. Of all that. Oh my oh my. The word servant is doulos in
Greek. I want to look a little more,
I think maybe next week, about where the servant in the Old
Testament says bore my ear. That's the same concept. A willing bondservant. A willing
bondservant. But listen to what the Greek
word means. It means this. A slave. I thought this was amazing. One
who is in a permanent relation of servitude to another. This
is the part that blew my mind. His will, the servant's will,
being altogether consumed in the will of the other. My beloved, our King's will,
our Sovereign's will, the Lord Jesus Christ's will, was consumed
by the will of the Father. And what was the will of the
Father? Call His name Jesus, for He shall
save His people from their sins." My! What love! It's immeasurable,
isn't it? It's unfathomable for us, but
it's true, beloved. It's true! And it's glorious! Listen to this, I'm going to
read two verses where it's clearly brought forth that Christ came
to do the Father's will. If you want to write them down,
Luke 2 verse 49, it says this, and he said unto them, how is
it that she sought me? Was she not that I must be about
my Father's business? Mary and Joseph find him in the
temple. He says, I'm about my Father's business, doing the
Father's will. And then, in John 5.30, he says
this, I can of mine own self do nothing, as I hear I judge,
and my judgment is just, because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which
has sent me. His will is consumed with the will of the Father.
My! So marvel at this. It's the Father's
will, it's the Son's will, and it's the Holy Spirit's will that
we should be saved. He planned it, God planned it,
he put the plan into action, it was executed by the Son of
God, and then it's executed by the Holy Spirit, we're regenerated,
right? And God the Father executed by
putting it all in motion, and so the conclusion is, salvation's
of the Lord, isn't it? Isn't it wonderful? And he gets
all the glory, doesn't he? I got so excited. I've been learning
so much looking at this verse. I've just been so excited. It's
wonderful. It's just wonderful, isn't it?
These truths that we're finding here. And it's all because as
Charlie and I were talking, the Holy Spirit illuminates the scriptures
for us. It's wonderful. So our Lord Jesus Christ, he
lived a selfless life. He lived a life of servitude. His will again was consumed by
the will of the Father. And so we're called to live a
life, right? We're to die to self, aren't
we? Oh my. And the only way we can do that
is by the power of God the Holy Spirit. Can't do it in our own
flesh, can we? Not at all. oh my, only can do
it by the power of God working in us and through us. And having
this self-denial and humility, which God has to work in us because
it's not natural for us, again, will bring unity within the body.
The reason there's divisions in the body is one person gets
an idea, and I've seen it in all different churches, one person
gets an idea and thinks that they're right, and everybody
else is wrong, and next thing you know they get a few people
on their side, and you've got a split in the church. And there's
no need for it. Right? Sister, you and Travis
told me, you guys seen it down in Katy, you see it all over,
you see it in, you know, Jerry's told me several churches that
the whole movement, the whole grace movement is split in half. One person says, I'm right. Another
person says, no, you're not. Or they say, well, that person's
not preaching the gospel. That happened to Bill Parker,
remember? They smeared him. You know, I
listened to Bill and Big Don at the same time, one after the
other. You try this sometime. They preach
the same gospel. Oh, the flesh, the flesh, the
flesh. Oh my gosh. Come on. Oh my. So humility breeds unity. Breeds unity. It's wonderful. Putting aside ourselves for the
furtherance of the gospel is way more important than anything,
isn't it? It's wonderful. It's absolutely wonderful. My
oh my. So Paul's bringing forth that
each of us as believers are to set aside ourself, and then unity
will prevail. Turn to John chapter 13. Here
is an incredible illustration of the servitude of Christ. I
really wanted to hit this today. This will be where we mostly
will be for this message right here. Because he took upon himself
the form of a servant, right? His will is consumed by the will
of the Father. But watch this. This is the lowest
task that a servant could do. lowest task I didn't realize
that I was reading several commentators and I could I was amazed how
all the commentators are saying the same thing this is the most
menial task this is the lowest task that a servant could do
and our Lord does it for his disciples and there's a spiritual
meaning in here too we're gonna we're gonna see that and there's
also something really neat watch what he does with his garment
as we're reading this. John chapter 13 verses 1 to 3,
we'll start there. Now before the Feast of the Passover
when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart
out of this world unto the Father having loved his own, that's
his people, look at that, which were in the world, he loved them
unto the end. And he still loves us, doesn't
he? He loved them to the end of his life and he still loves
them in glory. And supper being ended, the devil
now having put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son,
to betray him, Jesus knowing that the Father had given, look
at this verse, Jesus knowing that the Father had given all
things into his hands, my and that he was come from
God and went to God he's come from God and beloved he's going
back to God isn't that amazing but take note again of those
words in verse 3 they express the omniscient the fact that
God's all-knowing all-powerful the omnipotence and the oneness
also the oneness of the Father and the Son We see that our Lord Jesus Christ
knows all things. He knows all things. He knew
that the Father in covenant purpose had given all blessings and all
power and all authority and all persons and all things and all
grace and all glory into his hands. Isn't that amazing? That's who our Savior is, the
King of glory, the sovereign one. he knew that the father had sent
him to accomplish the redemption of his people and that he would
be victorious, he would triumphantly be victorious. Now look at verse
4 here, he rises from supper and laid
aside his garments, so that's the outer garments
beloved, they wore heavy outer garment,
and underneath they had a linen. And so he took off those heavy
outer garments and took and girded himself. Now again, he took a towel and
girded himself. The washing of feet was the lowest
work done by the least servant in the house. Yet the eternal King of Glory
rose from his seat of honor, laid aside his robes, wrapped
himself in a towel, and began to wash tenderly and carefully
the dusty feet of each disciple." This is the King of Glory doing
this. This is God in the flesh doing this. You see how it's such a picture
of him being a servant? Oh my, and now this task was
never to be performed by superiors, always by inferiors. Oh my, and inferiors were supposed
to do it to superiors, as a servant to his master. And
this is why we see Peter objecting so much to it. which we're going
to see. The act itself of washing his
disciples is very striking, and let us not miss the deliberate
and personal way in which he did it all. Marvel at how he
lay aside his outer garments and put on a towel of menial
servants. What an act of humiliation, beloved. But what a beautiful representation
of the Son of God laying aside his glory. He emptied himself, laying aside
his glory. He's equal with God. And he laid
aside his glory. which he had with the father,
right, before the world's world. And taking upon himself the form
of a servant, he takes the lowest position,
puts a towel on like the lowest servant would. That pictures
his humanity, beloved. Oh, my. Oh, my. And he begins to wash his people's
feet. What did he do when he came here,
taking himself as a form of a servant? He came and washed away our sins,
didn't he? He washed away our sins. And
he will put back on his outer garments later on. But you know
when he'll do it? When the work's finished. Isn't that amazing? When he's
done washing their feet, he's going to put his outer garments
back on. Where is he right now? He's in glory, isn't he sister?
And he is clothed in glory. Majesty beloved. He got the glory
back that he had with the Father before the world was. Oh my,
when I was reading that, you probably could have heard me
shouting when I was reading that. Oh my, it's beautiful beloved. But what an act of humility set
before us. This is a king of glory. Takes
upon himself a form of a servant and became flesh and dwelt in
this world. Now let's read verses 5 to 9. After that, he poured water into
a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them
with the towel wherewith he was girded. Then cometh he to Simon
Peter, and Peter said unto him, Lord, doest thou wash my feet?
Peter's like all of us, right? Huh? You're going to wash my feet?
What's he going to do? Look at this. Jesus answered. Look at the tenderness of our
King. I love the tenderness of our King with Peter and with
the other disciples. He's so tender with them. He
was blunt with Nicodemus. You must be born again, right?
He's so tender with the woman at the well. He's tender with
Peter. Peter denies him and he says,
Peter, do you love me? Peter, do you love me? Peter,
do you love me? Oh, it's beautiful. Look at the tenderness here.
Jesus answered and said unto him, what I do thou knowest not
now, but thou shalt know hereafter. Peter said unto him, thou shalt
never wash my feet. Oh, I see myself in Peter so
much. Jesus answered him, look at this,
if I wash thee not, thou has no part with me. Now Peter is
going to give him an understanding, and then he goes to the extreme. Simon Peter says, Lord, not my
feet only, but also my hands and my head. Just dunk me. He
knows now, uh-oh, I messed up here. I messed up here, doesn't
he? Peter, convinced of his error
and fearful of losing the hope he held in Christ and conscious
of his sins, says, Lord, don't just wash my feet, but wash my
hands and my head. Oh, he knew that not only had
he walked in sin and done evil, but he had thought evil, right?
And he had done evil. So that's where you get the hands,
the feet, and my head. Oh my. Now let's read verse 10. Jesus saith unto them, He that
is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean everywhere,
and ye are clean. Look at this. But not all. OK. There's someone in the midst
there. There's someone in the midst
there. Look at this, and mark first of all the tender reply
that he sent to Peter. He that is washed, that is the
person who's regenerated by the Holy Spirit of God. You're born
again. Called to faith in Christ, given faith, washed in the blood
of the Lamb, does not need to be washed again. Because we're already cleansed
in the blood. By one sacrifice and offering,
Christ has cleansed, sanctified, and perfected all his people
for whom he died. We're clean everywhere. Within and without. It's amazing. And we only need to have our
feet washed. Well, that's reference to That's a reference to people
who have had a bath, and they're walking home from the bathhouse
back in those days. And when they get home, they've
already had a whole bath. They just need their feet washed,
because there's dust all over their feet. The believers wash clean in Christ.
We do not need to be justified again, but we do need daily forgiveness,
don't we? It's foot washing. We walk through this world of
sin and woe, and we constantly repent, don't we? We're constantly
coming to Christ. But note the latter part of verse
10. You are clean, washed, and justified by my blood, but not
all, because there's the hypocrite Judas among them. He's not washed. That's what that reference is
to. That's a reference only to Judas. He's never one of his. He says, Heaven and I have chosen
you twelve, and one of you is the devil. Look at verse 11. How do we know
that? Well, look at this. For he knew
who should betray him. Therefore said he not, ye are
not all clean. He's still dead in trespasses and sins, Judas.
Outwardly he looks like a believer. But see, Christ sees through
all that, doesn't he? Oh my. And take note of verse
12, the work's done and what does the Lord do? He puts his
garments back on. Yeah, this is beautiful. So after
he had washed their feet, so it's finished. And had taken his garments and
was set down again, he said unto them, know ye what I have done
to you? Again, take note, his garments
are back on. And notice, too, he sat down. Where is he right now? He's seated
at the right hand of the father, isn't he? He sat down. The work's
done, isn't it? Isn't that beautiful? It's amazing. You know, I read
that passage before and never saw it. I admit it. Oh, it's beautiful. It's beautiful. He finished the
work of our redemption. He sat down at the right hand
of the majesty on high in full glory, receiving glory, honor,
and praise from all the angels, from all the redeemed of the
Lord. His prayer has been answered.
I'll read John 17, verses 4 and 5. I have glorified thee on the
earth. I have finished the work which
thou gavest me. And now, O Father, glorify thou
me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee
before the world was. God's answered his prayer, hasn't
he? He's back in glory. Now let's read verse 12. So after
he had washed their feet, and had taken his garments, and was
set down again, he said unto them, Know ye what I have done
to you? And then verse 13 to 15, He called
me Master and Lord. And ye say, Well, for so am I.
If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, ye also
ought to wash one another's feet. for I have given you an example
that you should do as I have done to you." After the Lord Jesus Christ had
washed their feet and put his robe back on, he sat down and
he says, do you understand what I've done to you? And beloved
of God, he had taught them the truth of substitution. He taught
them the truth of cleansing from their sin by the blood of God,
of justification, and of their daily need for cleansing and
forgiveness. Right? He's faithful and just to forgive
us our sins. If we confess our sins to him, he's faithful and
just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
We daily come to him. Lord, I'm such a sinner. Thank
you for saving my soul. My oh my. verses 13 and 15 he would teach
them the same act to behave in sincere and genuine humility
in condescension to one another he's saying this is how we need
you need to treat each other we're servants so I say that
the Travis and and Brian and Dan and I were servants to the
church just like you guys we're all servants for Christ aren't
we all of us He says, you call me Lord and
Master and you speak the truth, for he is King of kings and Lord
of lords, isn't he? And notice he's showing them,
I've not shunned the lowest task. I've not shunned the lowest task.
The lowest task in his love for us and his willingness to serve
the greater glory of God is manifest for our good, isn't it? And therefore, he's showing us
as believers and disciples that we should be willing to serve
one another, which we do within the local body, don't we? And
in our lives together. How? By praying for each other,
by coming alongside one another, by encouraging one another. Right? my oh my now let's close with
the next two verses here verses 16 and 17 verily verily I say
unto you the servant is not greater than his Lord neither he that
is sent greater than he that sent him now look at that he's
equal with God remember we go right back to Philippians 2 6
thought it not robbery to be equal with God took upon himself
the form of a servant verse 7 right he look what he says he says
neither is neither he that is sent greater than he that was
sent that sent him they're equal if you know these things happy
are you if you do them you want joy in our lives and in the body
of Christ humility is the way to unity. Unity brings joy. I
can tell you that. We know that, don't we? Unity
brings joy. It's wonderful. Division brings
strife and hurt. But unity brings joy. Joy in
the Holy Spirit. It's wonderful. So remember,
there's no great or small, no important and unimportant in
the body of Christ. We're all sinners saved by grace. Every one of us. The pastor is
no more important than anyone else. We're all servants. We're all servants. And the servant
is not greater than his Lord. And we're not equal with the
Lord. No, not at all. He's talking about him and the
Father. case anyone gets any weird ideas. No, not within here,
but someone here in the message. No, no. Oh my. He closes up with this wonderful
truth of happy are ye if you know this glorious truth by experience
and by performance, right? By the doing of it. So marvel
again at how the Master and Lord of our disciples girded himself
with a towel, did the most menial task of a servant, right? What a display of humility. What
a display of being a servant, a servant. He's doing this to
his people. The sovereign is my, washing
the feet of his people. The king of glory. What a Savior we have, beloved.
What a Redeemer. My, He's amazing. The more I
learn of Him, the more I'm amazed at His grace and mercy that's
been shed abroad and given to us. He's so, and we see, He's
so full of grace, isn't He? He's so full of mercy. His outer garments laid aside
for a time being, pointing again to the setting aside of the outward
expression of his pre-incarnate glory, while he expressed himself
as a bondservant. And the fact that he was still
their master, right? He's still their master. Peter
acknowledged that by saying, you're not going to wash my feet.
Peter's acknowledging, you're my master. Isn't that something too, right?
You're not going to wash my feet. He says, if I don't wash your
feet, you have no part of this. Wash my home. Cover me in water,
Lord. Oh my, but isn't that amazing?
My, and he's kneeling on the floor doing the work of a slave.
It speaks of our Lord stooping down and becoming a man. to serve you and I, to save us
from our sins. He's serving God, but he's doing
that to save us, isn't he? He's doing that. What a savior. And the fact, now I'm going to
stress this again, the fact that he's kneeling down, which shows
his humanity, he's still their master, which shows he didn't lay aside
his deity. He's equal with God. See the truths that are being
brought out in this section for us, beloved? It's marvelous. That's why I said these verses
have so much. It's one of the clearest sections
of the God-man, of deity and humanity in the hyperstatic union,
the God-man. that's set forth. It's so clear,
isn't it? It's so clear. But you know what?
If we didn't have seeing eyes, we never would see it. And if
we didn't have hearing ears, we never would hear it. That's
what Charlie and I were talking about earlier, too. If you're a believer, marvel
that God's given you seeing eyes and hearing ears to see this.
My oh my. So he's just as much God in his
humiliation as he was before he came and as he is now. And
the act of taking his outer garments again tells of the resumption
of his expression of his glory after the resurrection. He's
God. And he's in glory right now.
He's in glory right now. And beloved of God, it won't
be long, we're going to see him. It won't be long, we're going
to see him. Brother Travis, can you close us in prayer? I'll have a servant's heart to
serve you as you served us.