Turn with me, if you would, back
to Philippians chapter 2. Philippians 2. I have three questions
for us this morning. Three questions. For the mind and the heart and
the soul of every person here. Starting with me. And this is my prayer, I pray
that in just a few minutes, we're going to walk out of this door
with three answers. To these vital to salvation questions,
we're all here because. We need to be saved, don't we?
That's why we're here. There are three questions that
are absolutely vital to a soul's salvation. The first one is,
who is God? That's the first one. Who is God? Everybody talks about
God, don't they? Everybody. Everybody prays to God. Everybody. Everybody loves God. That's what they say, right?
Everybody loves God. Everybody wants to live eternally
with God. Well, who is God? That's an important
question. Who is God? Here's the second
one. What has he done? Everybody talks about what he's
trying to do. Right. You go into into church
after church after church and everybody's talking about what
he's trying to do. Everybody talks about what he wants to
do. They go around telling people
this is what he wants to do. Here's what I need to know. What
has he done? What has he done? The third question
is, where is he right now? Where is he right now? Is he
standing at my heart's door? Is he running here and running
there, trying to stop the work of Satan? Who is God? What has he done? And where is he right now? Philippians
2 verse 5 says, let this mind be in you which
was also in Christ Jesus. Now what he's telling each and
every person in this room, again I say starting with me, starting
with me, what he's telling us is we all need to repent. We all must repent. That's where God's truth starts. That's where it starts. Look
with me at Matthew chapter 3. Matthew chapter 3 verse 1 says,
In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of
Judea, and saying, Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is
at hand. That was John the Baptist's message. He was sent to prepare the way
of the Lord. He was saying there's one coming
after me, and his message was everywhere he went, Repent, the
kingdom of heaven is at hand. Now look at chapter 4, Matthew
chapter 4 verse 17 says, from that time Jesus began to preach
and to say repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. What does
repent mean? It means have a changed mind. That's what it means. Have a
changed mind. Now, we all know that there is
a God. We all know that there is a God. The heavens declare the glory
of God and the firmament showeth his handiwork. We would be fools
to say there is no God, wouldn't we? That's what a fool says. There is no God. It's written
on the conscience of man that there is a God. There is a God. And with man,
his natural thinking, he thinks he knows God. But he doesn't. He doesn't. By nature, we cannot. We cannot know God. Our Lord
said in Matthew 11 verse 27, no man knoweth the son. No man knoweth the son, but the
father, only the father. Neither knoweth any man the father,
save the son. And he to whomsoever the son
will reveal him. That's the only people who know
the Father and the Son. Without God revealing himself,
no man can know God. Man naturally thinks that he
understands God, but he does not. He doesn't. God said, my thoughts are not
your thoughts. Whatever we have going on right
inside here, that's not what God's thinking. He said, my thoughts
are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways. Well, this is the way I think
it ought to be. Well, that's not the way God's going to do
it. This just makes sense to me.
I'm an educated man. I've got some experience under
my belt. I've learned from my mistakes, and this is how I think
it ought to be. That's not the way God's going
to do it. He said, your ways are not my ways. So the first
thing that God gives to a sinner when he calls them to salvation
is this new mind. He gives them a changed mind
to know him and to understand his truth. He gives eyes to see
his truth in his word. All of a sudden, this book that
was so closed and so sealed and so hard to understand, all of
a sudden people say, I see it right there in black and white.
Never have in my entire life, but now do. And he gives ears
to hear his voice inside this word. And through his word, he
calls out his child. And that child sees him as he
is, not as he has him made up to be in his mind, not the way
he was told as a child. He sees him as he actually is. And that child believes on him
and that child follows him. Now, let me ask every single
one of us in this room, every single one of us from the oldest
to the youngest. Who is God? Who is God? Go with me back to our text in
Philippians 2. Philippians 2 verse 5 says, Let
this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. Everything that he is about to
say is concerning Jesus of Nazareth. Christ Jesus the Lord. 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? Well, it says he was in
the form of God. He thought it not robbery to
be equal with God. Does that mean he is like God? Or does that mean he's God? Which
is it? I want to show you three verses
of Scripture. Go with me to John 14. John 14, verse 6, Jesus saith
unto him, I am the way, the truth and the life. No man cometh unto
the father, but by me. Oh, so he's just the one who
can get you to God. He can get you to the right man. That's why you go to to Jesus,
because he knows the way. Wait just a minute. Verse seven,
if you had known me, you should have known my father also. And
from henceforth, you know him and have seen him. Philip saith
unto him, Lord, show us the father and it sufficeth us. Jesus saith
unto him, Have I been so long time with you? And yet hast thou
not known me, Philip? He that hath seen me hath seen
the Father. Why do you keep asking me to
show you the Father? Have I been so long time with
you? What does he mean by that? Is he the Son of God? Yes, he
is. Well, is there a God the Father? Oh yes, there is. What's he saying? Turn with me, if you would, to
Isaiah chapter 9. Isaiah chapter 9 verse 6 says, For unto us a child is born. We know who that's talking about,
don't we? Unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon
his shoulder, and his name shall be called Now why are they going
to call his name this? It's because this is what he
is. His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The Mighty
God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. That's his name. That's the name
of the one who was born. The name of the one who was born.
The mighty God, that's his name. His name, this one that was in
a manger. Next month, everybody's going
to be putting out their stuff and they're all going to talk
about the baby. OK, this child. The Spirit of God said, ìYou
call Him the everlasting Father.î He said, ìHave I been so long
time with you?î Now go with me to 1 John chapter 5. First John 5, look with me at
verse 20. And we know that the Son of God
is come and hath given us an understanding, this understanding
we're talking about, that we may know Him, the Son of God,
that we may know Him, that is true. And we are in Him. Who are God's people in? They're
in Christ. We are in Him, that is true,
even in His Son, Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal
life. Who is God? The very one who
came and walked this earth for 33 and a half years, the Lord
Jesus Christ, the highest God. Now, I'm not going to waste any
of our precious time. These are busy lives that we
live, and I'm not going to waste our time dwelling on the lies
that men tell about him. They're telling, like we said,
what he wants to do, telling what he's trying to do. It's
all lies. It is all lies. He is not the
weak God. He is the mighty God. All I want to know is this, what
has this mighty God done? What has He done? This scripture
right here says He does whatever He pleases. Isn't that what it
says? The scripture says, and this is the truth, whatever He
does, no man can stop Him from doing it. Now here's what the
gospel says. We've come here to hear the gospel.
This is what the gospel says. Just look at what He's done.
Look at what He has done. He's done whatever He wanted
to do. He did what He wanted to do. Nobody could stop Him
or sway Him from doing any of it. Just look at what He's done.
Go with me, if you would, back to Philippians 2. Verse 5 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. Now, Jesus Christ is the one
who spoke this world into existence. We read that in so many scriptures,
John 1 and Colossians 1, and we're not going to take the time
to go there, but he's the one who spoke the world. You know,
Genesis 1 in the beginning, God said that was Jesus Christ. Jesus
Christ is the one who formed man of the dust of the ground. That was Jesus Christ. He is
our maker. He is our owner. He is our controller. He is our king. He is our God. Jesus Christ is the one that
every soul on this earth ought to reverence and thank and worship. He's the one. But when he came
here, he came down here 2000 years ago. And he chose to make
himself of no reputation. He veiled himself, he covered
his glory. And when he came, not only did
his creation not know him. They hated him. They hated him. They hated the one who gave them
life. They hated the one who gave them
breath, gave them a world to live in, gave them a family to
love. They hated the one who blessed
them with a mind to reason, physical strength to work and do. They hated the one who gave them
every good thing that they have on this earth. Isaiah 53 says,
He is despised and rejected, a man of sorrows and acquainted
with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces
from him. He was despised and we esteemed
him not. Now, who are we talking about
here? We're talking about God. We're talking about the mighty
God. Let me ask you this question.
And I'm asking myself the question too. If you were God, what would
you have done? If you were God and you created
man and man turned on you and he hated you and despised you
and rejected you and wanted you dead, what would you have done? I'll tell you exactly what I
would have done. I would have killed them all.
That's just the way I am. I would have killed them all.
Now here's the question, what did God do? What did God do? He said, your ways are, oh man,
thank God. Your ways are not my ways. Verse
7, Philippians 2 verse 7, but made himself of no reputation
and took upon Him the form of a servant." What does that mean? Isaiah 53 says it means He bore
our griefs and carried our sorrows. That's what a servant does. He
bears the burden of another. The Lord laid on Him The iniquity
of us all. Every soul that God the Father
gave to him, he laid on him the iniquity of us all. Verse 7 says,
But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of
a servant, and was made in the likeness of men. Now does that
mean that he made himself to be like a man? It's the same
thing. God became a man. God became a man, why would he
do that? The reason is because that's
what I am. And that's what you are. And in order to bear our
burden, if he's truly going to take our sin upon himself, he
had to become us. He had to become us. He made himself of no reputation
because that's what I am. Nothing. I'm nothing. He was despised and he was rejected
because that's what I deserve. It was great humiliation. It
can't be described. How could you describe the humiliation
of God to become a man? That humbling of himself. But the thing is, is he didn't
stop there. Once he became a man, verse eight says, being found
in fashion as a man, he humbled himself even more. He humbled himself to the last
degree. He humbled himself lower than
any man is able to recover from. Verse 8 says, Being found in
fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto
death, even the death of the cross. Now, who did that? Who died? God did. God did that. And there's a word
in that verse that explains why, why he would do this. Verse eight
says, being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself
and became obedient. He became obedient. God, the
father. And God, the son and God, the
spirit made a covenant with each other. They made a covenant to
save some of those sinners, we were just talking about a minute
ago, out of this great fall. The Father said, I will choose
every soul we're going to save. The Son said, if you choose them,
I'll redeem them. I'll die for them. The Spirit
said, if you die for them, I'll call them. I'll go get them.
I'll go down to where they are. I'll give them life. I'll open
their eyes. I'll open their ears and I'll
bring them back to us. And the father did. And the son has. And the spirit
will. Our Lord said in John 6, this
is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he
hath given me, I should lose nothing, but should raise it
up again at the last day. Verse 8 right here in Philippians
2 says, and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself
and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
Now, was he successful in what he did? Did he accomplish what he came
here to do? Did he save his people? Did he or didn't he? That's the question. You know that? That's the question. That's what everything hinges
on. Truth and error, heaven and hell. Is God still trying to
save his people? Is salvation finished or not? To know the answer to that question,
here's all we need to do. We need to find out where is
he right now? To know the answer to that question.
All we need to find out is where he is right now. I'll tell you
this. If he is standing at my heart's
door begging, it's not finished. It's not. It's not if he has
taken the first step and now he's standing there in that position
with one leg forward waiting on me to take the second step.
It's not finished. If he is standing in front of
me saying that he's done all he can do and now the rest is
up to me, it's not finished. It's just not finished. My salvation
depends on where he is right now. Where is he? Where is he? David said, Our God is seated
in the heavens and he hath done whatsoever he has pleased. Hebrews
1 says, when he by himself purged our sins, he sat down at the
right hand of the majesty on high. Hebrews 10 says, this man,
after he had offered one sacrifice for sins, forever sat down. Why did he do that? It's over. He was finished. Christ was given
a work, Christ came to do the work, and Christ finished the
work. Verse 9 says, 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. Now, let me tell you three things
about that and we'll be done. Number one, he is Lord. He is Lord, he already is. God the Father has already highly
exalted him. and given him a name which is
above every name. We cannot make him Lord. We cannot
do him any favors. He already is Lord. He is already the ruler. He is already our controller. He is already our sovereign.
That's what it means. He's our sovereign. Don't listen
to a man who tells you that you have to make him Lord. Don't
listen to that. That's foolishness. God has already
made him to be Lord. Here's the second thing. Every
knee is going to bow. It's not a question of if, it's
when. Every knee is going to bow. Every single knee that is in
heaven is going to bow. Every knee that is in the earth
is going to bow. And every knee that's in hell
is going to bow, not willingly, but they're going to bow. They're
going to be forced to bow. So here's the third thing. Salvation
is bowing the knee right now. Right now. Today is the day of
salvation. He is near right now. There is mercy right now. Bowing to the fact that he is
Lord and he's God and he's our ruler and our controller. You
know, the flesh hears that and says, don't make me anybody's
puppet. The spirit coming to a soul,
coming to a center, causes that center to say, please make me
your puppet. Don't let me move a finger unless
you move me. Bowing to that fact is salvation. That's what it is, bowing to
the fact that he is salvation. His blood paid my debt and it's
over. I don't need to do anything else.
I don't need to do anything else. He did it by himself. I took
no part in it. None. There is nothing left undone
for me to do. Saying it's undone brings his
glory down. He's close. He's a good man. Bowing to the fact that it's
finished. It is finished. is salvation,
acknowledging that I have no control over this knee. I don't have any control over
this knee. If it bends, God in mercy and
in goodness and in kindness and in grace caused it to bend. That's salvation. Having this
mind, having this knowledge, either he is going to bend it
now, either he in mercy is going to bend it now or break it later. Having that understanding is
the evidence of our salvation. It's the evidence of our salvation. We started this message by saying
God begins the calling of salvation with a changed mind. A changed
mind, that's what it is. This knee right here. And when
we say this knee, I'm talking about this knee right here, the
heart. This belongs to him. It belongs to him, it's his to
bend it or to break it, but either way, it belongs to him. If he
has not yet bent our knee. Then let's start crying for mercy.
Let's start crying, Lord, reveal to me the evidence of my salvation. Show me that you've done something
for me, bend this knee, cause me to bow, prove to me that I
will not be broken. If he has bent this knee, let's
thank God for it and beg him to keep us in that position.
But either way, let's bow the knee to Christ. Let's bow the
knee to the Lord Jesus Christ, it's our only hope. All right,
let's stand together.