May God be pleased to bless us
together as we consider his word this morning. Let us turn to
the epistle of Paul to the Philippians, chapter two, and we'll read verses
nine, 10, and 11. The epistle of Paul to the Philippians,
chapter two, and reading verses nine, 10, and 11. 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. These are important and blessed
words of exaltation that the Apostle wrote to the Church at
Philippi and of course they are applicable to the Church of God
down through the ages and they are applicable to us today. To consider such truths that
we have in these words. And so the Apostle speaks and
says, wherefore God also hath highly exalted him. And who is
he speaking of? Well, we know that he's speaking
of none less than the Lord Jesus Christ. And he's spoken to the
Philippians about the Lord Jesus Christ and how important it is
for us today to also have such words spoken to us, that we may
recognise the importance of them. It is so important that we have
right views of the Lord Jesus Christ, high views, that we never
allow ourselves to come into a situation where we do not have
right views and good views of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Apostle
commences this chapter and says, if there be therefore, and of
course he's referring to those things which have been spoken
of in the previous chapter, as he comes and says, if there be
therefore any consolation, and he knows what the consolation
was, and he says that your rejoicing may be more abundant in Jesus
Christ for me by my coming to you again only Let your conversation
be as it becometh the gospel of Christ, that whether I come
and see you or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs that
ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind, striving together
for the faith of the gospel, and in nothing, terrified by
your adversaries, which is to them an evident token of perdition,
but to you of salvation, and that of God. For unto you it
is given, in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but
also to suffer for his sake, having the same conflict which
he saw in me and now hear to be in me." Now, the Apostle then
says, if there be therefore any consolation in Christ, any comfort
of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit if any bowels and
mercies, and bowels here really means sympathy, if any sympathy
and mercies. So the apostle directs us, the
word of God directs us to the Lord Jesus Christ and to the
importance of considering him. And he goes on to say, fulfil
you my joy, that ye be like-minded. having the same love being one
accord of one mind. The same love, the love one to
another, the love to the Lord Jesus Christ because of His great
love toward us. Now surely there is wonderful
consolation in having that understanding that the Lord Jesus Christ loved
us personally so much that he gave up his throne in glory and
he willingly came down into this sinful world so that he might
redeem us, so that he might pay the price to redeem us of all
our sins. This is the love of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Fulfill ye my joy, that ye be
like mine in having the same love, being of one accord of
one mind. Let nothing be done through strife
or vain glory, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other
better than themselves. This is an important word of
exhortation for all of us to realise. In our lives today there
should be nothing done which is through strife or vainglory. But we should have a lowliness
of mind to esteem others better than ourselves. Naturally we
do not do that. Naturally we esteem ourselves
better than others. But a wonderful blessing it is
when we realise and know the grace of God in our hearts which
produces in our hearts this truth that we are lowliness of mind
to esteem others better than ourselves. Now that is a very
clear sign and indication of the grace of God. And as we go
forth into this year, may we have such a word as this in our
minds, directing us to the importance of it. And so the apostle goes
on and he says, look not every man on his own things, but every
man also on the things of others, and then let this mind be in
you, which was also in Christ Jesus. He sets before us the
standard really for the true Church of God. He directs us
to the importance of these things, the mind of Christ. Let this
mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. And so the Apostle
tells us here of the wonder of this blessing in Christ, which
might be granted to each one of us, who being in the form
of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God." We see
here this very clear statement, that Lord Jesus Christ was equal
with God the Father, and with God the Holy Spirit. He was the
Son of God, but he was co-equal. And we are told here, who being
in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with
God. And this blessed God then, this
great God, this eternal God, then we read, made himself of
no reputation. What do you and I think of our
reputation? Well, we're probably, we may
be proud of our reputation, we may not be, but we're often proud
of our reputation. And so here we see this blessed
Lord, he made himself of no reputation. and took upon him the form of
a servant, and was made in the likeness of men." He took on
our human form, and in the form of a servant, from that high
and lofty position, in glory with his Father from all eternity,
he now came into this sinful world. We cannot think, can we
really, of a greater contrast than that perfect place of holiness
and glory with his Father, and now to come into this sinful
world and to take on him this form, and to make himself of
no reputation. My friends, it's good if we have
some real, true thoughts of the cost to the Lord Jesus Christ
of what he did. We often think, do we not, of
what he endured at Calvary's Cross, which of course is very
important, but here we see also what he gave up. He gave up that
scenic glory and he brought himself into this low condition so that
he might be the lowest of the low and be found in fashion as
a man. He humbled himself and became
obedient unto death even the death of the cross." So in a
few words really, we have described here what the Lord Jesus Christ
submitted himself to, to come into this very low position,
and not only be there, but then to die, to be obedient to his
Father's will, and obedient unto death, even the death of the
cross. And so the Apostle having described
in short detail something of the wonder of the Lord Jesus
Christ, he then tells us, wherefore God also hath highly exalted
him and given him a name which is above every name. Now surely
the Lord Jesus Christ is worthy of this position, that God hath
highly exalted Him and given Him a name which is above every
name. Well, how do we view the Lord
Jesus Christ this morning? What do we think of the Lord
Jesus Christ? Do we have right views of Him? Do we recognise that He is true
God, very God, equal with the Father and the Holy Spirit? Do
we recognise the wonder that the Almighty God should submit
himself to this great and glorious plan in order to save sinners,
black sinners, vile sinners, in this sinful world. And may
you and I be numbered amongst those who bow down before the
great and glorious Saviour, wherefore God also has highly exalted him.
Do we exalt the name of the Lord Jesus Christ? Well, I wonder
whether we do in our hearts, in our lives, in our words, in
our actions. Do we exalt the Lord Jesus Christ? Or do we just read about him?
And do we just pass over it? Do we really realise what the
Saviour has done? Are our hearts moved as we consider
Him, this great and glorious and blessed God, who made himself
of no reputation, who took the form of a servant, was made like
unto us, a fashion of a man who humbled himself and became obedient
unto death, even the death of the cross? Again, just pause
for a moment and think of the Lord Jesus Christ being obedient
unto his Father, obedient unto the will of God. And then to
consider ourselves as to whether we, you and I, are being obedient
unto Almighty God, obedient unto his plan for us, obedient to
bow down before him. And we have this wonderful example
given to us in the Word of God. The Lord Jesus Christ, who became
obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. And it is
for this reason, therefore, that He is now highly exalted. He is the Most High God. Highly exalted Him. And He's
received that name which is above every name. that name of Jesus? Well, the name of Jesus is a
precious name, is it not? Do we recognise the sweetness
of that name as we hear the name of Jesus spoken, as we read about
Jesus? Do we come and think and feel
and realise how sweet the name of Jesus sounds in a believer's
ear? Well, does it sound, is that
name a sweet name to you and me? And why is it a sweet name? Why should it be a sweet name?
There are many names, are there not, which we can think of, but
this name of Jesus, why should it be a sweet name? Why is it
a name above every name? Sure, it is because of what the
Lord Jesus Christ has done. because of his great love, his
love toward us, that love which has moved our hearts, may it
have moved our hearts, may we have the evidence in our lives
that this love has moved us, it has had a gracious effect
upon us, so that we come and say on such love, my soul still
ponder, love so great, so rich, so free. So he was lost in holy
wonder, why, O God, such love to me? Well, have we pondered
that love? May we ponder that love? My friends,
it's very worthwhile to bring us into that consideration of
the love of God toward us. not that we loved God, but that
He loved us. We who didn't deserve any such
favour, and it is good if we recognise the amazing favour
it is to think that Almighty God should have looked upon us
knowing that we should be born in this world We should live
in this world, this current time, and yet all those many years
ago, before time began, in eternity past, the Lord set his love upon
us. Well, do we have the evidence
of that love in our hearts? Now, if we have the evidence
of that love in our hearts, the effect will be this. that we
will desire to exalt the Lord Jesus Christ. If there is no
desire to exalt the Lord Jesus Christ, there is no real evidence,
there is no real proof that we possess the love of God in our
souls. But if that love has been brought
into our hearts, it would have done many things, it would have
humbled us. It would have brought us down
in our own estimation, in our own thought or our own reputation. It would have brought us down
to a low level and it would have exalted the Lord Jesus Christ. It must be so and it is so in
all the living Church of God. So it is an evidence, a positive
evidence that you and I need to realise and recognise But
if we think we know the love of God in our hearts, whether
the effect has been like this, that we therefore desire to exalt
his name, indeed the Simon says, let us exalt his name together. Yes, it is true to the desire,
I believe, of the Church of God that he may be lifted up, he
may be highly exalted and given this name which is above every
name, that the name of Jesus, every knee should bow. Every knee, there are no exceptions. Again, another evidence of the
work of the Spirit of God in our hearts. When we bow down
before God, realising how undone we are, how wretched we are,
how unworthy we are of any favour and mercy, and to know something
of God's favour toward us, As He looked upon us and loved us,
we're never lost in love. What do we do? We bow down before
God. We bow down as it were in our
heart. It may be physically, it will
be in our heart, we shall bow before God and acknowledge that
He is our God, that He is our Lord and that He is our Master. You know the Apostle Paul, he
wrote about these things And he tells us, and he says about
bowing down to the Lord Jesus Christ, that every knee shall
bow. Every knee shall bow. There's
no exception. Every knee shall bow. And you
and I will either bow down while we're on this earth, or bow down
when we pass out of time into eternity. As the Apostle wrote
to the Romans, he said, For it is written, As I live, saith
the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall
confess to God. Every tongue, every tongue shall
confess to God. So then, every one of us shall
give account of himself to God. every one of us shall give an
account of himself to God. Just think of our knees being
bowed. At the name of Jesus, every knee
should bow. The Apostle says of things in
heaven and things in earth and things under the earth, it's
an all-inclusive statement. Those who have already died,
those who are in glory, those who are on the earth, and those
who are in hell, everybody you see bows down before God, no
exception. Now what a blessing my friends,
if in our lives today we know what it is to bow down before
God. What does that really mean? What
does it really mean? It means to acknowledge that
the Lord God is our God, that we desire to truly obey His law,
His voice, that we really are concerned to follow Him in all
His way. That is the real truth of these
things, of bowing before God, recognising that He is that true
God, the great God, the ruler of the universe. That One before
whom we must stand. And the blessing is that if we,
you and I, have stood before that God while we're on the earth,
realising that He is the Almighty God. That One who holds our breath
in His hand. That One before whom we live
and move and have our being. well, has our need. Have we bowed
down before God acknowledging that he is our Lord and Master? Naturally, we don't do that. Naturally, we're very proud.
Naturally, we don't like to acknowledge our sin. Naturally, we like to
continue in our own life, to please ourselves, going our own
way. Well, the work of the Spirit of God, the blessed work of that
Holy Spirit will so change us, so that instead of being like
that, we still possess our old nature. We never get rid of that
inside of the grave, but nonetheless, our new nature, that God-given
nature, that new life in the soul, will desire to do those
things which bring honour and glory to God, and one of those
things must be to bow down and acknowledge that He is the God,
that He is our God, and that you and I can say, my God, my
God. It's so important, isn't it?
As we commence this new year, that we're able to come and say,
my God. My God. And it's only because
of His grace and His mercy and His love toward us, which has
been revealed to us in this way, so that now we do come and bow
down before Him. People naturally bow down, don't
they? When people come to the Queen,
what do they do? Well, they bow the knee before
the Queen in acknowledgement of her position and their position,
that they are subjects, they are subject to her laws and those
things which our nation follows. And so it will be so, if you
and I are brought to this place where we bow down before our
God, it will be to acknowledge that he is our Lord, our King,
our God. Such a thought and consideration
is very important for us. It's not just a theory. It's
not just something we can read about and pass over. It is a
real reaction of the work of the Spirit in our heart to bring
us to this position where we do bow before our God as the
King, our King. The King of Kings and the Lord
of Lords. You know, bringing back to the
natural illustration of our Queen, if we were to come before the
Queen, if our Queen was to say to us, well, you go and do that,
or you go and do this, you know, I don't believe we would start
arguing with her, would we? I don't believe we would say,
well, I don't think I'll do that. Because it is the word of the
Queen and it comes with authority and therefore we would follow
that way. Of course if there was something
wrong we wouldn't, but any right way we would. And in a far, far
greater way, we come before the King of Kings and to bow down
before him. And we have in the Word of God
all the truth regarding ourselves, regarding those things that we
should be obedient to him in. And are we then being truly obedient
before our God? That, in the name of Jesus, every
knee should bow of things in heaven and things in earth and
things under the earth. You see, it's a completely inclusive
statement. There are no exceptions. Every
knee. Now today, how relevant it is
that you and I may be able to Examine ourselves. Examine ourselves
as to whether we are in the faith or not. Whether we do possess
that work of the Spirit in our hearts, or whether we do not. You see, we read together about
examining ourselves, for it is God that worketh in us. It's not something that we can
produce. It's God's work We want to see
God's work. We want to observe God's work.
And if we are able to observe that in our life, surely it will
produce a humbleness upon our spirit, as we think that Almighty
God has looked upon such a sinful person, such an undeserving person,
indeed perhaps the worst of sinners, the vilest of sinners, and that
mercy has come to us. through the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ. Yes, does it not then produce
that desire to bow down before God as we view his love and mercy
and grace toward us? Amazing love, is it not? Amazing
grace, amazing mercy, that at the name of Jesus every knee
should bow, of things in heaven and things in earth and things
under the earth. He goes on then, that every tongue
should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God
the Father. The purpose of all this is to
bring honour and glory to God. To the glory of God the Father. To bow down brings honour and
glory to God the Father. And so here we have this statement
the Apostle Paul makes, and every tongue should confess that Jesus
Christ is Lord, for the glory of God the Father. Now Justin
goes on to say, Wherefore my beloved, as ye have always obeyed,
not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence,
work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. He's able
to speak of the Philippians in these words. And it's good if
the Word of God comes into our hearts and we're able to bow
down before it and realise the truth of these words as the Apostle
may address, and as the Word of God may address us in these
terms, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed. Well, what a statement
that is, and I'm sure we can't come up to that statement, can
we? We've not always obeyed. not as in my presence only, but
now much more in my absence. Work out your own salvation with
fear and trembling." Now, it's good if you and I are able to
do this, to work out our own salvation. That means to trace
out the work of God in our lives, the work of God in our heart,
to trace it out. And it's good that we are able
to do this. And the Apostle speaks here in
this way. It is something we should do. We should work it
out. We should see what God has done
for us. That work which he has done,
for it is God which worketh in you, both to will and to do of
his good pleasure. Now then, the Apostle has said, Wherefore, my beloved, that every
tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory
of God the Father. It's a word perhaps which we
sometimes pass over without recognising the importance of it. It doesn't
say, well, some tongues may be able to confess. It speaks here
about every tongue in the same as every knee. Every tongue should
confess. It doesn't say every tongue will
confess. But it does say every tongue
should confess. And I believe if the Lord Jesus
has done those things for us, if the Holy Spirit's work is
revealed in our hearts, the evidence of that gracious work, that undeserving
favour, the blessing of that sovereign grace, to come down
then and to acknowledge The truth of these words, and that every
tongue should confess, what should they confess? That Jesus Christ
is Lord. That Jesus Christ is Lord. Now, you may say, well that's
a simple statement. It is a simple statement, but
my friends, it's a very important statement. It's a very important
statement, because if it's true, If it's true that Jesus Christ
is your Lord, He is my Lord, there will be a very clear evidence
of it in our lives. Because if there is not, there
will not be that glory to God the Father. And the whole purpose
of our lives is to bring honour and glory to our God. And so here we have This statement,
every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory
of God the Father. Again, the Apostle, when he wrote
to the church at Rome again, he spoke of these things and
the importance of them. They might be, as it were, spelled
out, he says in the 10th chapter, What saith it, he's speaking
about the word, the word is neither even in thy mouth and in thy
heart, that is the word of faith which we preach, that if thou
shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe
in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou
shalt be saved. So here we have the double position
It's believing in our heart, which is of course essential
and vital, but linked with it, and very clearly is, the confession,
with our lips, with our mouth. Because the Word tells us that
if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt
believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead,
thou shalt be saved. Now the inference is that If
we do not confess the Lord Jesus with the mouth and do not believe
in the heart, then we are not saved. The relevance is very clear,
isn't it? How necessary that we are amongst those who are
saved and that we do confess with our mouth the Lord Jesus. And if we are to confess the
Lord Jesus with our mouth, it will be that which is following
the work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts. And so the Apostle
goes on and says, for with the heart man believeth unto righteousness,
and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. See there are the two sides to
this, there's the inward believing in the heart, which is between
our souls and God, and there's the outward testimony that we
speak with our mouth, the confession of what God has done, of what
he's spoken to us. And with the mouth, confession
is made unto salvation. The word of God really is very
clear, isn't it? And it follows on from these
words that the apostles spoke to the Philippians in this way,
and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is
Lord. And so again, we are only following
the Word of God. We have the Word of God, what
a wonderful thing it is that we have the Word of God, which
speaks to us so clearly about these things. Now then, if we
come back and say, well yes, wherefore God also hath highly
exalted him, and he is exalted in my heart, My friends, if Christ
is exalted in our heart, then we should confess him. We should
speak those things which are for his honour and glory. For
the scripture says, whosoever believeth on him shall not be
ashamed. And he goes on, for there is no difference between
the Jew and the Greek. No difference between our situation
naturally. For the same Lord over all is
rich unto all that call upon him. Well, have we called upon
the name of the Lord? I hope we can say, yes, we have.
I hope we all have. I hope we all have the witness
that we've called upon the name of the Lord. Whosoever shall
call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall
they call on him in whom they have not believed? Well, it's
not possible, is it? We can't really truly call upon
God and not believe that he is God. There's no purpose. It's
just vain words. If we come and pray to God in
honesty and truth, it's because we believe He is the Lord. And therefore, how then shall
they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall
they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall
they hear without a preacher? The ordained way of God for blessing
is through the foolishness of preaching. as the Apostle speaks
of in the first chapter, the first epistle to the Corinthians.
And how shall they preach except they be sent? Only those who
effectively preach the word are sent by Almighty God. As it is
written, how beautiful are the feet of them that preach the
gospel of peace and bring good tidings of good things. So the Apostle then goes on,
for they have not all obeyed the gospel, they have not all
obeyed the Word of God. That would be a good thing for
us today. If you and I are brought to that
realisation of what a favour it is to obey the Word of God,
to confess the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, that every tongue
should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the
Father. I believe this, when the Holy
Spirit works in our heart, moves our spirit when we see and know
something of His great love toward us, our concern should be, and
I believe it will be, to confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, that
Jesus Christ is my Lord, and I bow down before Him, I bow
my knee, and I desire to exalt the greatness of our God, to
bless God, for that wonderful work of the Lord Jesus Christ,
to bless God for the love of the Father in sending His only
begotten Son into this world, that whosoever believeth on Him
should not perish, but have eternal life, and to bless God for the
life of the Lord Jesus Christ, to bless God for His wonderful
sin-atoning death, and to bless God that He rose from the dead
a conqueror over sin, death, hell and the grave, and to realise
that we are more than conquerors through Him. That there is all
our hope. Our hope is built on what the
Lord Jesus Christ has done. It's not on what we've done.
It's that finished work, that work that was complete at Calvary.
When the Saviour shed His most precious blood and said, it is
finished, that great and glorious work was finished. And it is
because of that that God has highly exalted Him. My friends, do we today, do we
lift up His name to exalt the Lord Jesus Christ for what He's
done for us? And do we therefore bow down,
do we bow on knee before the Lord God? And do we confess,
yes, that Jesus Christ is Lord, that He is my Lord, and that
it is indeed for of the glory of God the Father. Won't it be
a wonderful thing, would it not, if you and I throughout this
year are able to walk up and down in this chapter that we
read together this morning, to realise the relevance of it to
our daily life, that every day we may have the evidence that
we are born again of the Spirit of God, that we've been loved
with everlasting love, that it's our concern to honour Him because
of all that he's done for such an unworthy, hell-deserving sinner,
and be able to exalt the precious name of our Saviour. And therefore
how appropriate might be to consider throughout the year these words,
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, 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. Amen.