I've entitled this message, Christ
Humbled and Exalted. Now that is a principle in scripture,
that those who are exalted must first be humbled. Christ said
it this way one time. He said, except a man lose his
life, he cannot be saved. For those who hold on to their
lives, who who promote themselves, that's what he means there, those
who would exalt themselves shall be humbled. But those whom God
humbles, he'll exalt. We have the greatest example
of that here in Philippians chapter 2 of our Savior. But this is
more than an example. This is a lesson in salvation.
This is a gospel message. This is a lesson in redemption.
For as the Apostle Paul is guided by the Holy Spirit, is seeking
to motivate these believers to humility, unity, love, peace,
away from strife, away from self-promotion, away from thinking, I've got
to have my way, my way's better, got to do it my way, to esteeming
others better than themselves, looking on the things of others,
considering, giving way. And he uses the example here
of Christ when he says in verse 5, let this mind be in you. which
was also in Christ Jesus. What he's saying here is this,
we have the spirit of Christ, we have the word of Christ, and
therefore we have the mind of Christ. We do not have a perfect
mind as of yet because we have the flesh to deal with, and it's
a battle, it's a war. My first thoughts, my first way
of operating is my way or the highway. Isn't that right? I mean, I always think my way's
the best. We've all got it. See, I told you last week, we've
all got an opinion, but I've got one too, and I guarantee
you mine is better than yours. I know it. I mean, I'm just convinced
of it. And that's the way we are. But
he says here, he says if we follow Christ, if we think like Christ
thought and thinks, And the only way we can do that is as we're
inspired, motivated, and indwelt by the Spirit of Christ, and
as we have his Word implanted in our hearts. If we do that,
it'll be an attitude of humility, lowliness of mind. It'll be an
attitude of service, service, not lording it over people, not
trying to be everybody's master, not trying to be everybody's
conscience, you see. but it will be one of humility.
And the way he goes about showing this is to show really what we
would see here in these verses is the entire life, earthly life,
of our Savior. He starts out with the deity
of Christ. Look at verse 6. Now, this is
the deity of Christ. He is God. Who is the Lord Jesus
Christ? We say in that hymn, that call
to worship, It says, Mary's firstborn was God and man in one. Now, that's right. Mary's firstborn. And the way that's put is right.
Somebody said, well, what about Joseph? Well, Joseph was his
father legally, but not physically. Christ is born the seed of woman,
not the seed of man. You see, we're born of Adam.
That means we're represented by Adam and we're connected with
Adam physically and spiritually with sin. Born in sin. For as by one man sin entered
into the world. That's Adam. And death by sin. And so death passed upon all
men because all had sin. All sinned, literally, when Adam
sinned. But Christ wasn't born that way.
He was born of the woman. The seed of woman. The woman
has no seed. Mary did the seed of the Spirit,
the seed of the Lord. Mary's firstborn was God and
man in one, David's own God and David's blessed son. You remember
when the Lord in Matthew 22 posed that question to his detractors. He said, here's one for you.
He said, who is Christ? Who is the Messiah? And they
answered and they said, well, he's David's son. Well, that's
true. In his humanity, his perfect
sinless humanity, he was born of the seed of Israel, the seed
of David, the tribe of Judah. But Christ asked him this. He
said, well that's right, you say right, but here's another
question. How then did David call him Lord? Now you fathers and mothers,
I know that you would never even think about calling one of your
children Lord, would you? That would be blasphemy for one
thing. It's so out of place. But now he's David's son. But
David called him Lord. What he's saying there is he
was born of the seed of David according to the flesh through
the virgin birth by the Holy Spirit. Mary, who was a descendant
of David, and Joseph too was a descendant of David, but Mary,
so he came. So he was David's offspring. Now, how could David worship
Him? You don't call anybody Lord except you worship Him. That's
what the Scripture teaches. How could David say, He's my
Savior? He's my Son and He's my Savior.
Well, He's God. He's God and man in one person.
Look here in verse 6, "...who being in the form of God, thought
it not robbery to be equal with God." That babe in the manger
is God. Isn't that astounding? The wise
men came from the East to worship Him. That's why they came. The shepherds came to worship
Him. He's God. Now, that term being in the form
of God, it may be sort of confusing to us. But that word form there
doesn't mean some kind of a pretended likeness. You see, if we see
a form, we think, well, that's not real. We think maybe of a
statue or something like that. That's not the real person. But
that word form means this, it means an exact likeness in essence
of nature. That's what it means. In other
words, all the qualities and all the attributes that can be
said to describe God in his very essence and being can be used
to describe this person. He is God. You couldn't say this
of any other thing, being in the form of God. If you said
that anything was in the form of God using this language in
the original, describing anything less than God, it would be blasphemy.
He is God. That's what he's saying here.
And therefore, Jesus Christ is God manifest in the flesh. Great
is the mystery of godliness. God manifest in the flesh. And that word manifest there
means he's here. He's right here. He's present.
And then it says here, it says that he was thought it not robbery
to be equal with God. The only one who can be said
to be equal with God is God. Now there's religions that call
themselves Christian that have a form of doctrine that says
that if you follow Jesus that you will eventually develop or
evolve into a God. Did you know that? And they call
themselves Christians, the Mormons. You start out as a man, just
like Jesus did, and then you develop or evolve into a God. And if you follow Him, you can
follow the same path. Well, now let me tell you something.
First of all, that's blasphemy, because Jesus didn't develop
into a God. He is God. He is the Alpha and
the Omega. Now I'm telling you, see that
baby in the manger, he didn't grow into being a God. He didn't
even start out being a God because he had no start. He's the Alpha
and the Omega, no beginning, no end. He always was, always
is, and always will be God. You know, he referred to himself
as I Am. That's only God. He's the same one who spoke to
Moses from the burning bush. He said, Moses, tell them I AM
has sent you. That's a self-existent, eternal God. Self-sufficient
God. No beginning and no end. That's
how he described himself to John in the Revelation. And he started
not robbery to be equal with God. He's equal to God because
he is God. Nobody else is. So first of all,
that's blasphemy to say he developed into a God. And it's blasphemy
to say that we could develop into a God. And it's robbery. You say, how's that robbery?
Stealing God's glory. Now Christ, when He stood with
them and pronounced that He forgives sins, you remember what they
said? They said, that's blasphemy. Only God can forgive sins. Well,
it wasn't blasphemy for Him. But now when any man tells you
that he has the power to forgive sins, that's blasphemy, that's
robbery. He's stealing from God. But Christ could forgive sins
because only God can forgive sins. You say, well, we're supposed
to forgive one another. We are. But that's not that legal
payment for sin that brings about remission. and forgiveness that
makes a sinner justified before a holy God. That's by Christ
alone, the blood and righteousness of Christ who is God. You see,
this righteousness, this satisfaction that Christ brought about by
his work on the cross, it's the work of God, you see, because
he is God. And just like it was God who
was in that manger, it was God who was in the womb of that virgin.
God who's in that manger. It was God on that cross. The
God-man. And that's what Paul's teaching
here. He's in the form of, in the exact likeness of essence
and nature of God, and it wasn't stealing for him to claim to
be God. For in Him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily, and you're complete in Him. And then here,
look at verse 7. Now he goes to the humanity of
Christ. And this is where most people pretty much keep their
minds when they think about this season and the birth of the Savior
is on His humanity. And they make it a time of feeling
sorry for Him. Well, let me tell you something.
Don't feel sorry for Christ. You know, He said that. You know
when He said it? He said it when He was bearing
the cross. through the streets of Jerusalem on his way to Golgotha's
hill. And the women were crying. And he stopped and he turned
to them and he said, don't weep for me, weep for yourselves. Don't feel sorry for Jesus. Feel
sorry for sinners. That's who deserves the pity
and the sorrow. On his way to the cross, even
from the manger, he was on his way to victory. Do you know that? Verse 7 says, but made himself
of no reputation. As I've said before, we spend
our lives trying to build up our reputation. Nothing wrong
with a person having a good reputation, don't get me wrong. But you see,
we're not in this thing of grace, of salvation, just to make a
name for ourselves. That's right. You know what,
and I've said this before, and look, I try to be as honest with
you as I know how to be. We've all got our egos. We all
get our hurt feelings, you know, our toes stepped on and all that.
But the only right attitude for a true preacher of the gospel
is this, that when I finish this message, you just forget my name
and you remember Christ. You know it. So boy, that was
a good message. Who preached it? I don't know,
but he preached Christ. Isn't that right? Christ made
himself with no reputation. Now you think about the reputation
he had as God, the creator of the world. He spoke, let there
be light, and there was light. He is life, he gave life. He
is love, never did a wicked, sinful thing, always kept the
law perfectly. And you don't think about that
now. Here's a person, the Lord Jesus
Christ, who never committed one sin. He is the impeccable Christ. He wasn't even capable of committing
sin. I believe that. Why? Because
he's God and man in one person. Somebody said, well, what about
his humanity? His humanity was united with his deity, folks.
And he had the Spirit without measure. So here's a person who
never committed a sin, and it says here he made himself of
no reputation. No reputation. In other words,
he emptied himself. That's what that literally means.
That doesn't mean he ceased to be God. He didn't stop. Listen,
when he was conceived in the womb of the Virgin by the Holy
Spirit, that holy humanity, body and soul, flesh, without sin,
he didn't stop being God. He didn't stop being God when
he came here to earth. You say, well, how can you explain everything
about his incarnation? God, man, that baby. How that
baby thought, how that baby felt, I cannot explain that to you
and nobody else can. Nobody else can. The Bible says
he grew in wisdom and stature. If you read Proverbs chapter
8, you'll read about wisdom personified. Do you know who that's talking
about? Christ. He is our wisdom and yet he grew in wisdom and
stature. How do you explain that? I don't know. I know it's to
be attributed to his humanity, but he still got man, he didn't
split in half. Say, now today I'm going to be
man, tomorrow I'll be God. No. And I don't know how to explain
it, but I know this. Hallelujah, what a Savior. That's what I know. Hallelujah! That means praise the Lord. What
a Savior. What a Savior. Is this type of
person that he had to be to be our Savior. He emptied himself. Isaiah 53, verse 12 says, "...he
poured out his soul unto death." This emptying is a pouring out.
That means Christ gave everything. He gave himself, his all, in
order to satisfy all the conditions of the salvation of his sheep,
pay for their sins, and establish righteousness for them. It says
here in verse 7, "...he took upon him the form of a servant."
Now, that word for him is the same word up there, the exact
likeness in nature and essence of what a servant is, his office.
He was a substitute. He was the sin bearer. He's the
redeemer. He's the surety. He's the one
mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. And he
did it to serve his Father for his glory, and he did it for
the salvation of his people. The Bible says he loved his own
until the end. He loved his people enough to
finish the work. He finished what he started because
he loved them. He's the servant of his people.
It says here, he was made in the likeness of men. Look over
at Hebrews chapter 4 with me. Now, he had a true humanity,
body and soul, in the exact likeness of man, of men, but without sin. Now, that's important, and it's
not to be trifled with at any time. He is without sin. Look at Hebrews 4 and verse 14. He says, seeing then that we
have a great high priest, in order to be saved we've got to
have a high priest taken from among men, the Scripture says.
Well, we have one, Jesus Christ, who is God and man in one person.
He's our high priest. And he said it's passed into
the heavens, literally passed through into the heavens. He's
gone to heaven. He did it as the substitute and
representative of his people. He finished the work. He redeemed
us. Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession,
for we have not, and high priests which cannot be touched with
the feeling of our infirmities, the weaknesses of this human
flesh, Christ felt and experienced. He got tired, he got hungry,
he got thirsty, he sorrowed, he wept. Those are sinless infirmities. And he suffered through those
in the weakness of this flesh, the infirmities, and it says
in verse 15, but was in all points tempted like as we are, look
at it, yet without sin. Somebody said, well, how can
he be tempted like we are if he didn't have any sin? Well,
let me explain that to you if I can. You think about it. You
know our Lord, after he was baptized, he was led of the Spirit up onto
a mount to be tempted of the devil. And he stayed up there
40 days and 40 nights, and he didn't eat or drink anything.
Now, I want you to think about yourself. Going without food
and water 40 days and 40 nights. How hungry and thirsty would
you be? Huh? You'd be pretty famished, wouldn't
you? And so here comes Satan along
and he says, command these stones to be made bread. Well, how was
Christ tempted like you? He was just as hungry in his
humanity as you and I would be. He was just as thirsty. But now
there is a difference. If we had gone without food 40
days and 40 nights and Satan tempted us, what would we do? We'd give in. You'd say, spread
the buffet, Satan. Am I right? Because, you see,
we have a sinful nature in us that will not allow us to be
perfect. Paul said it in Romans chapter
7. He said, I want to be perfect, but I don't know how to be. Everything
I try to do and think and say and do, it's tainted with sin. And he said, right now I'm perfect
in Christ, but in myself I'm still sinful. And when the devil
tempts me, or when men tempt me, or when I'm tempted, I have
an ally with them. But Christ didn't have that ally.
He had no sin in him. He said that. He said, the prince
of this world hath come and hath nothing in me. Satan didn't have
an ally in Christ. So Christ was just as hungry
and thirsty as you and I would be, but he had no sin in him
that would even cause him to think to deny the glory of his
Father in order to relieve that hunger. Relieve that thirst. That's what he's talking about.
Yet without sin. Look back at Philippians 2 now.
So he's God-man. That's who he is. That's his
person. It took the God-man to save us
from our sins. He had to be made in the likeness
of his brethren. God and man in one person. Now
the next thing Paul deals with is his humiliation. Look at verse
8. He says, And being found in fashion,
And that word, fashioner, is habit. It's like his human body.
That's what it's talking about. Being found in fashion as a man,
he humbled himself. He brought himself down. And
I'll tell you what, we cannot describe the depths of the degree
of this kind of humility. One who is God, even God in human
flesh, all humbling himself to be to be our servants. You see? And it says, he became obedient
unto death, even the death of the cross. Now, why is that necessary? Well, look at Hebrews chapter
2. Now, let me show you this. Now, you know there are a lot
of people, and I think some people just do it, well, you know they
do it out of ignorance. That's no excuse. But let me
tell you something, the death of Christ, it was necessary for
the salvation of his people, and it's the only way God could
save sinners. There could be no other way.
Now, I've heard preachers say, I've heard commentators say,
well, God could have just snapped his finger and redeemed his people.
No, sir. That's blasphemy. And I'm going
to tell you why. because God is holy and he's
just. You know what the central issue
of the gospel is? How can God be just and justify
sinners? That's it. If God could have
just snapped his fingers and saved sinners, he would have
to deny his holiness, his justice. Now, I'm not denying the power
of God. Somebody says, well, God has the power to do anything.
Oh, no, he doesn't. God cannot lie. He doesn't have
the power to do that. You know why? Because he's true.
God cannot sin because he's holiness. God cannot change because he's
immutable. That's not blasphemy to say that.
God is who he is. He cannot act contrary to himself. He has to be true to himself.
If he's holy, whatever he does has to be holy. Isn't that right?
If he's gracious, he's going to be gracious. All of that. So no, God could not have just
snapped his fingers. And I heard preachers say, God
could have just snapped his fingers and redeemed us. No, sir. Somebody
said, well, the reason he did it this way is because he wanted
to show us how much he loved us. No. No, it was God's love
that sent Christ. God didn't send Christ to get
him so that he could love us. He loved us. with an everlasting
love, and therefore he sent his son." That's what that John 3,
16 is all about. But why did he have to die? Well,
look at verse 9 of Hebrews chapter 2. He says, we see Jesus. Now, that's not a name of derision
for him. He shall save his people from
their sin. That means Savior, God our Savior is what it means.
who was made a little lower than the angels. That's speaking of
his incarnation, his birth, his humanity, that blessed God-man. And he did it. Why did Christ
come into the world? Why was he born of a virgin?
It says he did it for the suffering of death. He did it to die. Now,
why was it necessary that all this take place? Well, God cannot
die. You can't kill God. I remember back in the 60s, it
was very popular, they put these signs up on the side of the road
that said, God is dead. And I saw a caption one time,
like a cartoon, and it started out, it had a little brush, a
little bush down below it, and it said, God is dead. And the
bush began to grow up, and finally, when the bush was full grown,
it said, God is. God blotted that out with that
book, God is. Not God is, you can't kill God.
But sin demands death. The wages of sin is what? Death. Without the shedding of blood,
there's no remission of sin. That's why God couldn't just
snap His finger and do it. Because this is God's Word, folks,
not man's Word. Without shedding of blood, there
is no remission. That means death. The soul that
sinneth, it must surely die. Sin demands death. You say, how
much sin? How many sins? Any sin, all sin demands death. But God cannot die, yet this
person who is God was born of a virgin, took into union with
his deity, that sinless humanity, no mixture of the two, but a
union of the two, an inseparable union of the two. You know right
now Christ is still God-man. And he always did. That's our
hope. There's a man in glory. And in that way, according to
Hesiod, this person who is God did die. And that's to be attributed
to his humanity. It was an act of his entire person.
I can't explain it, but it's so. For the suffering of death,
now look here, crowned with glory and honor, that's his exaltation.
that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man. Now
that's not all without exception. Who is the every man? Read on.
Now look at verse 10. For it became him. It was appropriate. It was required of him. For whom
are all things and by whom are all things. This is speaking
of the Father. In bringing many sons unto glory to make the captain
of their salvation perfect through suffering. Now here's another
verse that shows God could not have snapped his finger and redeemed
us. It was appropriate and befitting to God, for whom are all things,
and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory."
If He was going to have many sons in glory, that's His elect,
that's whom Christ, that's the everyman there, the many sons
who will be in glory. God's people, His sheep. "...to
make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings."
Now that doesn't mean that Christ was perfected in the essence
of His nature by His suffering. That perfection there refers
to the work that he would accomplish, or that he did accomplish. When
Christ went to the cross and became obedient unto death, even
the death of the cross, he perfected the work. He finished what he
started. He redeemed us from our sins.
The Bible says he made an end of sin. He finished the transgression. He brought in everlasting righteousness.
He enabled God to be just and justify the ungodly. He secured
the salvation of the every man here, the many sons who would
be brought unto glory. And it says in verse 11, it says,
for both he that sanctified, that's Christ, and they who are
sanctified, that's his sheep, that's his people, his redeemed
ones, they're all one. One in the eyes of God's law
and justice. When Christ kept the law, I kept it. Not in myself, not by my works,
but in Him, He did it for me. When Christ became obedient unto
death, I became obedient unto death. Not in my own person,
but in Him, He did it for me. When Christ suffered and bled
and died, I suffered and bled and died. The full penalty of
God's justice, not in me, but in Him, He did it for me. When
he was buried, I was buried. When he arose again, I arose
again. You see that? They're all one.
And he says, for which cause? He's not ashamed to call them
brethren. Now because he washed us in his blood from our sins
and clothed us in his righteousness, and now because he sent his Spirit
to give us life and bring us to him, he's not ashamed to call
me his brother. You know, a lot of families have
black sheep. black sheep of the family. Some of you might even be ashamed
to mention, yeah, he's my brother, but don't tell anybody. Well, if there's anybody, if
there's any class of people that Christ should be ashamed to call
brethren, it's us. But because he was obedient unto
death, even the death of the cross, He's not ashamed to call
a sinner like me, and sinners like you, his brother. He's not
ashamed. Now, you might be ashamed of
something, but he's not ashamed. Isn't that amazing? Look at verse
12. Saying, I will declare thy name
unto my brethren. That's the gospel preached in
the power of the Holy Spirit. In the midst of the church will
I sing praise unto thee. That's the result. That's faith,
trust, worship. And again, I will put my trust
in him. And again, behold, I and the children which God hath given
me," there's the every man, the children which God gave him,
"'all that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him
that cometh to me I will no wise cast out.'" Verse 14, "'For as
much then,' now look at this, "'for as much then as the children
are partakers of flesh and blood,' that's his children, his people,
his redeemed ones, because we're partakers of flesh and blood,
He also himself likewise took part of the same. He was made
flesh and blood. He became incarnate. The word
was made flesh and dwelt among us. Now look at it, that or in
order that through death he might destroy him that had the power
of death, that is the devil. In other words, Satan's hold
upon them was destroyed when Christ died on the cross and
delivered them who through fear of death were all their lifetime
subject to bondage for barely He took not on him the nature
of angels, but he took on him the seed of Abraham. Who's the
everyman? The seed of Abraham. That's sinful
human beings chosen, redeemed, and called out, regenerated by
the Holy Spirit. He took part of the same. Look
back at Philippians 2. Now that's what he did. He did
it in order to redeem us. If God did it that way, rest
assured it's the only way he could do it. Christ had to suffer, bleed and
die to satisfy God's law and justice. Now look at the rest
of it. He says in verse 9, wherefore, now for this reason, here's his
exaltation. This one who came on that given
day, I don't know what day and I don't care. I know it was a
day. God appointed it. In the fullness of the time,
God sent forth his Son, made under the law, made of a woman, to redeem us. And it says, for
this reason God also hath highly exalted him. Now, this is the
God-man. As God, he was always exalted.
But as God-man, he was exalted as our mediator, as our redeemer,
when he finished the work. God raised him from the dead.
and set him on a high, giving him a name which is above every
name, every name. No name even compares to this
name. No preacher, no president, no
king not even compares to this name. He's been given, this is
his mediatorial name, this is the God-man, this is the Savior. Jesus Christ the righteous, he's
our King, he's our Lord, he's our Redeemer, he's our everything,
he's all in all. That at His name, Peter said,
His name, none other name given among men, whereby we must be
saved. And then he says in verse 10, 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. There's going to be two kinds
of people who confess that Jesus is Lord. In the end, there are going to
be those who have bowed willingly to His sovereign authority by
the power of the Spirit, those who have been redeemed, who are
going to lift up their voices in gladness and joy that Jesus
Christ is Lord. And then there are going to be
those who are going to be forced down by the power of a sovereign and
just God who will not do it willingly, gladly, and joyfully. Now, which
one are you? The Bible says God makes his
people willing in the day of his power. Well, my friend, there's
no other way. There's no other salvation but
that which is in and by and through the Lord Jesus Christ.