Philippians chapter 2, go back
there, Philippians 2, this will be a Christ-honoring message
and a very helpful message to us. This is our Lord's glory,
and it's salvation to hear, to see His glory, the glory of the
Lord. This is salvation, to know Him,
something of His glory. Hopefully this will cause us
to glory in Him and want to be like Him. Paul wrote, you read with me,
things to the church, to encourage us and promote humility, service,
love, like-mindedness, unity, no strife, no division, no vainglory,
that sort of thing. Nothing will promote unity, love,
humility, service to one another than looking at our Lord Jesus
Christ and Him crucified. Nothing will do it. You can strive
all you want to, to try to be humble. The only thing that will
really humble us is seeing how our Lord humbled Himself. The
only thing that will cause us to not think on our own thing,
but think on the others, is to see how our Lord did that. He
came to this earth and His entire existence on this earth was spent
in doing things for other people. He who was rich, yet for our
sakes became poor. I was thinking of several titles
for this. The lofty Lord who became a lowly
servant. His Highness who became the lowest. He did. He became the lowest
of low. The high and holy one who became
meek and lowly, an unselfish, a truly unselfish man, a selfless
man, the self-made man. We've preached from this years
ago many times, but one I entitled the self-made man. He made himself
to be what he was as a man. This is our Lord's greatest glory
more than creation. The heavens declare His glory.
The firmament showeth His handiwork. But His greatest glory is His
incarnation, meaning God became a man. Listen to Psalm 113. I started to read this as – well,
turn there. You'll love this. I started to
read this for the Scripture reading. Maybe we'll look at it next –
whenever. But Psalm 113. Another song of praise, and for
this reason, it says in verse 4, you have it, Psalm 113, ìThe
Lord is high above all nations, and His glory above the nations.
Who is like unto the Lord our God, who dwelleth on high, who
humbleth himself to behold the things that are in the heaven
and in the earth?î And he came down here. David wrote in Psalm
8, ìWhat is man that You're mindful of him and would visit him. Why did he visit? Verse 7, to
raise up the poor out of the dust, lift the needy out of the
dunghill, set him among princes. In order to lift us out of the
dunghill, he had to come down here in this dunghill. And that's
what this world was like for him. Our great Lord became a
servant, humbled himself. He who was rich, as I quoted.
Yet for our sakes became poor, that we through his poverty might
be made rich. He whom angels praise made a
little lower than the angels, also I'll make sin. He whom angels
praise and the heavenly hosts love and adore came down here
where he was despised and rejected of men. He at whose feet all
bow in heaven and shall bow someday, stooped to wash dirty feet. The Lord and lawgiver made himself
a woman under the law, made of a woman under the law. Yeah,
he made the woman. Obedient to his own law, subject
to his own law, obedient unto death. even the death of the
crow. Our Lord's condescension, that
is, to become a lowly creature like mankind, is His greatest
glory. It's the glory of His person,
the glory of His work. And that's what I want us to
look at tonight. And if we really believe this, if we really enter
into this, if we really consider this, if we really understood
this, if we really meditated on this, It would give us such
great peace and such joy and such comfort, and it would kill
pride, which is, it would kill self, which is the root of all
our problems. Love of self is the root of all
our problems. The reason we get angry at others
is because we, we get offended. Ourselves get offended. The self
is the problem. Now, the Lord denied Himself,
like He tells us today, and came down here for others. If we really thought about this
all the time, if we really considered our Lord and what He did, it
would make us loving, make us merciful, make us gracious. Listen to this. I love this in
2 Corinthians 3. How do we become like Him? It
says, we all behold Him as in a glass. The glory of the Lord
are changed into the same image. by the Spirit of the Lord. So
if we really thought about this and considered Him at all times,
meditated on Him, it would make us love, it would make us more
merciful, gracious, selfless. It would make us humble. It would make us more grateful. It would make us thankful. It
would make us meek, holy, lowly. It would make marriages last
a lifetime. He would make friendships last
on this earth as long as we live. He would make us obedient, make
us thoughtful, caring, kind, considerate, courteous, helpful,
profitable servants of others. Thinking not of ourselves, but
only of others. This is the only thing that will
do that. Do you desire those things? We all sin and come so far short
of all of these things. Our Lord is the personification
of all that. He is the glory of all that. I asked this question in a message
years ago. I remember my, you may have heard
it, but you say, after you hear this, say, I heard that before.
No, you didn't. You haven't heard this message. No, this is, this
is brand new. This is life. It's not memory.
Now, Dad said that one time to a fellow. The fellow said, I
heard that message before. He said, no, you didn't. He said,
yes, I did. He said, no, you didn't. This is right now. If you could make yourself, if
we could make ourselves to be anything we would, if man could
make, people claim to be self-made men and women. No, it's not so. There's nothing you are, nothing
you have, nothing you know, nothing you can do that you did, but
it was all given to you. That's why pride is so ugly.
That's why the Lord hates pride more than anything else. Seven
things the Lord hates, eight are abomination to him. The first
thing is a proud look. Why? Because what do we have
that we have not received? That not the wise man glory in
his wisdom? The only reason you're not a
vegetable, the only reason you don't have a brain at all is
God gave you the brain you have. Not the mighty man glory in his
might and his strength. The only reason you're not a
quadriplegic is because the Lord gave you the strength. A beautiful
woman, her beauty. The Lord gave you that. And we're
going to see in a little bit how beauty is not outward. That's not it at all. We're going to see what God thinks
about this flesh. Let him that glory, glory in
the Lord. But men and women, most people,
99 out of 100 people, if they could make themselves to be anything
they would and have anything they wanted, they would make
themselves rich. They would make themselves famous. They would
make themselves admired by everyone. They would make themselves strong.
tall, dark, and handsome, or a woman beautiful and desirable
and beautiful, respected by all, healthy, wealthy, happy, trouble-free,
live a long life. Our Lord chose none of those
things. None of those things that we
choose, we think, would make us happy. He had none of them. None. He had no earthly possessions. He was despised and rejected
by everybody but God. So what really matters? No form or countenance. No beauty
that mankind should desire. But God said, He is altogether
lovely. Now who do you want to think
well of you? He chose all of these, everything
about himself, he chose. We have no choice in this matter.
You know that? We have no choice. Believe me,
if I could have been six foot tall, I would have chosen to
do something. But Chance, you had nothing to
do with that. I'm telling you. Nothing. Nothing. I sure had a few more
hairs of head on my head when you had, But I've had them and
I've decided you don't need them. The Lord decided. Even the hairs
of our head are numbered. Right? We have nothing to do
with anything we are or have. Nothing! But He chose everything
about His life, about His person, about His appearance, about His
existence on this earth. Now listen to this. This is amazing.
And we're going to learn a lesson in the gospel here, and we're
going to learn a lesson in true beauty, and true strength, and
true character, and true humility, and true happiness. All right? He chose his birth. He wasn't
born in a lavish palace. He chose the lowest of the low.
He was born where sheep are born. Isn't that significant? In a
barn. He chose his parents. We can't
choose our parents. He chose his parents. And they
were nobodies. If you'd ask him about his lineage,
he'd say, well, my great-great-grandmother was a harlot. We all search our family tree,
don't we? Maybe you don't, but I did one time. And I can trace
some of them back to some lords in Scotland. Well, big deal. He chose his parents, and they
were nobodies from nowhere. A lowly maiden, a lowly carpenter. Chose his parents, poor. He chose
his appearance, as I said. He didn't choose to be tall,
dark, and handsome. He chose to be very, very ordinary
without any form that is strength or, you know, above head and
shoulders above, no, no. You couldn't distinguish him,
if you didn't know him, from anybody else. He's not beautiful. No beauty. No beauty. No physical
beauty about him. What does that mean? If he's
not beautiful physically, what does that mean? That his actual appearance wasn't
beautiful to look at. What's the opposite of beauty? We're going to see. We're going
to see real beauty here. He chose his life. A life of
hard labor, from sunup to sundown. He rose a great while before
day, every day of his life. He ate very little. He worked
all the time, tirelessly, endlessly, never stops. Hard labor. Would you choose
a life of hard labor if you had to? No, you would not. He chose his friends. He chose
people he couldn't get anything out of them. They couldn't contribute
to him. They couldn't show him any favor.
He chose the lowlifes, the harlots and the publicans and the nobodies
from nowhere that could do nothing for him. They couldn't do, they
couldn't make him, they couldn't give him anything. They couldn't
do anything for him. They were all helpless, lowlife,
no good. Why? Because he didn't need anything
from them. They needed everything from him. He chose to live a short life. There's not a human being on
earth that doesn't want to live forever. People are trying to
find ways to live longer. He chose how many years he would
live on this earth. And it was a short life, 33 years. I'm more than double that now.
That's over long ago, isn't it? That's quick, isn't it? He chose
to die. Few people would choose to die.
He did. He didn't have to die. The wages
of sin, he's sinless. He didn't have to die. He had
to voluntarily lay his life down. He said, no man taketh my life
from me. He had no sin. The wages of sin is death. He
had no sin. He could not die unless he willed
it. Death is not something we choose. It happens to us. The Lord kills
us. He takes us. Our Lord voluntarily,
willingly, cheerfully, for the joys of the Lord, laid down His
life. We're going to see why. He chose
the manner of his death. And there's nobody in here, everybody
in here wants to die a quick, sudden, painless death, don't
you? Huh? You want to die in your
sleep, don't you? I do. We all do. Not him. He
chose the most painful, long, torturous. He died alone. shameful death. Why? Why? Why did he choose all this? Why? Well, here's the gospel, okay?
The reason is substitution. The reason he did this is, look
at verse 7. It says, He was made in the likeness of
men, and Romans 8 says he made in the likeness of sinful flesh. And for sin, condemned sin in
the flesh. Now listen to me. He took upon
the likeness of men, but yet he was wholly harmless, separate
from sinners, undefiled. He took upon him the likeness
of sinful flesh for sin and condemned sin in the flesh. Now listen,
this is what this means. Flesh is not beautiful to God
Almighty. It's ugly. It's repulsive to
God. Everything about flesh is repulsive
to God. Now when God made man, He made
him in His image, the holy, righteous, Beautiful, sinless. And God says,
very good. But when sin, by one man, sin
entered in this world, and so death passed upon all men. And
this sin, a thing called sin, entered man, and it turned everything
about man into a sinful mass of corruption. The lust of the eyes. The lust
of the flesh. The pride of life. Scripture
talks about these bodies as vile bodies, doesn't it? Man is worse
than a beast. You know it's so. Animals don't
do what men do. Do they? This flesh is ugly to
God. It's repulsive to God. And Psalm
19 is it that says, the Lord looked down upon fourteen. God
looked down on the sons of men to see if there were any that
understand. It went on to say that, he said, they were all
together stinking. Yeah, Psalm 14. They're all together,
every one of them, put them all together, filthy, stinking, corrupt,
stinking place. That's what it said. You know
it said. We say just a little bit of it. Don't we? Thankfully,
all around us, in our cell. If the rubes were taken off of
all houses, if all the thoughts of men and
actions of people, human beings, of you, was put on the screen
here today, you'd run out of here ashamed of yourself. Wouldn't
you? Listen to Romans 1. Listen to
it. Romans chapter 1. This is what... This is what... Turn over there
with me. Don't listen to me. Turn over there with me. Okay?
Romans chapter 1. This is what Scripture said.
And you got to... You got to understand what flesh
really is to appreciate what Christ did in becoming sin. Okay, you have it, Romans 1. It says men, verse 26, God gave
them over to vile affection, vile affection. Animals don't
do what men do. Romans 1, verse 26, God gave
them over to vile affection. Women, change the natural use,
homosexuality. Men, verse 27, burning and lust
toward one another. Verse 28, didn't like to retain
God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a man with no sense,
no judgment. Verse 29, filled with all unrighteousness,
fornication, wickedness, covetous, maliciousness, full of envy,
murder, debate, deceit, malignant, whispered, backbite, haters of
God, despiteful, proud, boaster. Chapter 3, go over there, Romans
3. You've got to know this. You've
got to understand this to appreciate why Christ came and what he went
through and what he's taken out of you and taken you out of.
Really? Now, this won't mean anything.
It's just doctrine. Depravity of man? Man's a vile
creature. Romans 3 says in verse Ten is
none righteous, no not one, by nature is none that understand,
none that seeks after God. Altogether out of the way. Altogether
become unprofitable. None that doeth good. Not one. Their throat is an open sepulchre. Read it, verse 13. With their
tongues deceit, poison of asp under their lips. Their mouth
is full of cursing and bitter. Their feet are swift to shed
blood. And on and on it goes. But God. This is why, David, why would
you think on such a creature? Why would God think on such a
vile creature as this, let alone come down here? Why? Because
He's not like us. God is love. God is merciful. God is gracious. Man is not. Man is none of those
things. God is. Name whatever is beautiful
and wonderful and glorious, that's what God is. Name whatever is
not, that's what man is. God is. God so loved many in
this vile world. A purpose to save some of them.
He had to. Nobody deserved it. He became
flesh. He took a body. Scripture says,
A body hast thou prepared me. He took a body, as we see it.
He took a body. To glorify God as a man in the
flesh. Man was created to glorify God. Adam did, until he sinned. And
then, there's nothing about him glorifying the God, but it's
all repulsive. And we just read that. From the
sole of his feet, Isaiah said, to the top of his head, there's
nothing in him but unsoundness, uncleanness, like a leper. From
head to toe. Turn to Song of Solomon, Chapter
5. Song of Solomon, Chapter 5. Right
after Proverbs. Song of Solomon, Chapter 5. He
took a body, the Lord Jesus Christ took a body to glorify God in
His flesh, sinless flesh. Sinless flesh from head to toe. His head with radiant, glorious
crown. His lips with grace or flow. His mind pure. Sinless, holy, perfect. His heart, pure, largeness of
heart. Tenderness, loving heart. His
mouth, sweet. Listen, Song of Solomon 5. This is what Scripture, how it
describes Him. Verse 9, it says, What is your
beloved more than another? Well, my beloved, verse 10, my
beloved is white, holy, ruddy, bloody, yet its own blood. The chief among ten thousand,
the pharisee, his head is the most fine gold, his locks are
bushy and black as a ray, his eyes are eyes of dud. Now the
rivers of water, washed with milk, fitly set his cheeks, as
a bed of spices and sweet flowers, his lips like lilies, dropping
sweet-smelling myrrh, his hands, gold rings set with berries,
bellies of bright ivory, overlaid with sapphire, his legs, pillars
of marble, set upon sockets of fine gold, his countenance as
leaven, excellent as a cedar, his mouth most sweet, yea, he
is altogether Lovely. Everything about him is beautiful. Grace poured from his lips. Love came from his heart. Tenderness
came from his hands. His feet were swift to help,
to run to the aid of others. His arms to carry. His shoulders
to bear burdens. Isaiah 50 verse 6 says, God gave
him a back so it be whipped. His cheeks, he grew a beard,
so they pluck it. That's man's glory. He grew a full beard, Ron, so
they could shirk it out of his face. He said, I gave my face. He took
a face so man could spit in it. Why? That's what God thinks of
proud flesh. That's fact. I'm telling you
the truth. And God so loved His Son. And He never looked more
beautiful than He was unrecognizable hanging on the cross. And what
men did to Him in hatred and malice is what God did for men. And in doing that, putting away
the very sin that God despised, laying it on Him, making Him
to be sin. And for Him to be made sin is
indescribable, and no man can enter into it. I've heard many
men try, and I can't do it. For him to take upon himself
sin and become sin on the cross. 2 Corinthians 5.21. God made
him to be sin. To experience it. That's where
he sweat blood in the garden. He said, I'm going to die right
here in the garden before I get to the cross. At the thought
of being separated from God. Of having all this vileness being
filled with it. He condemned sin in the flesh.
He took our sins in his body on the tree. And the Lord just
filled him with it. It'd be like taking one of our
little babies, take little Catherine and taking her to the ghetto
of New York City and throw her there and leave her. And leave
her to the wolves. Do what you will. It's unthinkable,
isn't it? Would you do that to Corbin?
Your only begotten Son, whom you love. Would you even think
about it? No, you would not. God did. That's
the only way sin could be put away. He offered up Himself,
and He did this voluntarily. It's so pleased God that God
out loud said, I'm well pleased for His righteousness. I'm well
pleased with his offering. He offered up himself as a lamb
without spot and without blemish. He voluntarily, obediently, lovingly,
willingly laid down his life. It had to be a lamb without spot.
It had to be a perfect sacrifice. It had to be a sinless man, born
of a woman, but no seed of Adam in him. So the law said the soul that
sinneth shall surely die, so God made his soul to be an offering
for sin. This is the gospel. Made himself
to be a sin offering. Made himself sin. Listen to number
127. Listen to this. This is something. This is what I'm trying to say.
Man of Sorrows, what a name. The Son of God. who came, ruined
sinners who were clean. Hallelujah. What a Savior. Bearing shame and scoffing rude
in my place, condemned he stood. He sealed my pardon with his
blood. Hallelujah. What a Savior. Guilty,
vile, and helpless, that's we. Spotless Lamb of God was he. Full atonement. Can it be? Yeah. Hallelujah. What a Savior. Lifted up was He to die. It is finished was His cry. Now in heaven, exalted high. Hallelujah. What a Savior. Now when He comes, our glorious
King. And Paul said He's going to come
to be admired in His saints. All His ransomed home to bring,
Then anew this song we'll sing. Hallelujah. What a Savior. My, my. By His poverty, we're
made rich. By His life, we're made righteous. By His death, we're justified
from all things. Sins are gone. Justice satisfied. God's pleased. We have peace with God. By His
resurrection, with joint heirs, eternal life. because the high
and holy Lord became a lowly servant, a substitute, a send-off,
a sacrifice, and God is satisfied. And give him a name. Our text
says this. This is that God has highly exalted
him. He that exalteth himself shall
be amazed, but he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. Well,
our Lord humbled himself. And so God gave him a name above
everything else. And the name, when you hear the
name of Jesus, you need to hit your knees and confess with your
lips that He's the Lord. To the glory of God. Now, here's
a lesson in humility and service, love, strength, beauty, and true
happiness. Okay? None of these things are
outward. They're inward. Humility and
meekness is the true, is real beauty. Outward beauty is not
beautiful to God. It's not at all. God seeth not
as man seeth. You remember when the Lord sent
Samuel to anoint the king of Israel? You remember? They brought
in a lie that he was tall, the firstborn. Surely he was tall,
dark, and handsome. And they all said, this has got
to be him. God says, that's not him. God doesn't see what man
seeth. God looks on the heart. That which is highly esteemed
among men is an abomination to God. These beautiful women that strut
their thing, God hates that. Hates it. You do too. Don't you
hate pride when you see it? Don't you hate arrogance? Don't
you hate what comes out of men's mouth bragging on themselves
and so forth? Don't you hate that? Sure you do. God's worse. God hates it worse. True beauty is humility. Isn't that what you love in people
more than anything else? Lowliness, meek and lowly people. Who do you want to be around?
Somebody that thinks real highly of themselves and talks about
themselves all the time? Or somebody that really thinks
they're something? Or somebody that's meek and lowly
and interested in you? True beauty is not outward at
all. Real beauty is inward. An ornament of a meek and a quiet
spirit, Scripture says. True strength is not physical. No, it's not strength to be able
to put another man on the ground. That's not strength. Real strength is to pick him
up. Pick him up and carry him on
your shoulders. Oh, strength, true strength is
strength of character, strength of will, strength of mind, strength
of faith, strength of love. True strength is loyalty, undying
loyalty, devotion, consecration. It will not leave you no matter
what. That's strength. That's beauty. It's not outward at all. You
know, we say that beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. Well,
man didn't think there was any beautiful thing about Christ.
We do. God does. We do, don't we? We
see. His life, his person, his personality,
he was a sweet-smelling savor to God, like a newborn baby.
Don't you love, about the only time man doesn't stink is when
he's first born. A newborn babe, before he does
the sins after the likeness or the similitude of Adam's transgression,
before it completely engulfs him and he just becomes vile. The dew of youth was on his brow.
He had no sin. I like to think about everything
about him as being as lovely. Like a newborn babe, like an
innocent lamb. Beauty was not in the color of his eyes, but
it was the look from his eyes. Dove's eyes. We just read that.
Dove's eyes. Have you ever looked at a dove's
eyes? You see any malice? You see any guile? Aren't they just so tender and
beautiful? Harmless. Harmless as doves. That's the look out of his eye.
It wasn't the shape of his eye. It wasn't the colour of his eye.
His eyes were brown like every Jew in the world. It was the look out of his eye.
You look in his eye, you'd see love. You'd see kindness. It wasn't the shape of his face.
It was his countenance. It wasn't the shape of his mouth.
Full lips or whatever. It's what came out of it. Everything he said, grace poured from his lips. If
only we could open our mouths less. He spoke very little, you
know that? When he did speak, it was wonderful. The birds stopped singing. His hands were not soft and shapely
and they were calloused and they were scarred. They are scarred. They will always be scarred.
I think about he was the hardest working man anywhere. You know,
dirt, real dirt is not dirty. Chew on that a while. Dirt's
not dirt. Everything grows in it. Nothing
dirty about dirt. He had dirt under his fingernail.
His hands were beautiful. Calluses, he worked more than
anybody else. Dirt, filth is what comes out
of the heart. What comes out of the mouth. His hands were calloused and
scarred, yet if he touched you, you've been touched. When he reached down to that
woman caught in the act of adultery, and men wanted to just pummel
her with everything, he reached down and picked her up like a father. His feet were worn from walking. Thousands of miles. Doing what? Why is he walking all that distance?
His feet, I think, would probably look, humanly speaking, flat
and wide and, you know, they were certainly hard and calloused
weren't they? They were the most beautiful feet ever. How beautiful
upon the mountains are the feet of him glad tidings. He walked
thousands of miles. Every place he walked was in
the direction of saving some lost sheep. And to the one that
he came to find, like that Syrophoenician woman, about 700 miles north,
he walked all the way to get her, to save her daughter. It
was the most beautiful feat she had ever seen in her life. And on and on it goes. And so what I'm saying is, He's
worthy to be worshipped. And like my father said one time,
you remember this? He said, I want total commitment
to our Lord, total communion with our Lord, and total conformity. I want to be just like Him. I
want to be a man like this. Not what man calls man. That's
no man at all. Macho man? Uh-uh. Tender, kind,
loving, gracious, caring, generous, thoughtful, considerate, courteous,
serving. I want to be a man like that.
Don't you? Oh, to love as he loved. Oh, to serve as he served. Happy. He said it's more blessed to
give than to receive. He's a blessed man. Although
despised and rejected of men, although a man of sorrows acquainted
with grief, he took our grief and our sorrows, yet he was content. He was happy. He never showed
his sadness until the end. You know that? He never did,
because he was happy for the joy set before him, like a mother
caring for a child all her days. This is what he did. This is
why he came. And it made him happy to do it. Even to this
place that He came to. He said it's more blessed to
give than to receive. You'd be happier. You try to
serve yourself, you're going to be miserable all your day.
You think of yourself. An impossible man to please. Oh, to walk as He walked. Oh,
to speak as He spoke. Oh, to be like Him. Is that what you want? You know,
someday, Scripture says, We're going to see Him as He is now.
And it came the first time. No beauty. None. Outward. It was on the inside. Like the temple, the tabernacle
of old. Remember the tabernacle of old?
No outward beauty at all. You had to go on the inside to
see it. But then when God created that permanent, that permanent
temple building, it was as beautiful on the outside as it was on the
inside. You know that? And when our Lord,
when we see Him as He is, the sun will refuse. There's not
going to be a sun, because it won't shine as bright as He does.
None fairer. None more beautiful to look at.
You know, we're all going to be like Him, but we're not going
to be as beautiful as Him. I don't understand that. And
this is good too, because none of us are going to be taller,
none of us are going to be more beautiful, none of us stronger. We're all
going to be the same. Exactly the same. And we're all
going to look at Him with absolute admiration and glory. Would you look at Him? Well, He well deserves a praise,
doesn't He? Okay, stand with me.