Open your Bibles if you would
to Philippians chapter 2. We'll continue our study in this
wonderful book, this wonderful chapter that we've been going
through. Today we're going to be looking at verse 11. I think
next week we'll spend one more sermon in verse 11, and then
we'll be finished with this section. But I think in this one section
here, as I mentioned last week, I think of almost 15 to 20 sermons
just in this one section. It's been fantastic, isn't it?
And I'm excited for the rest of the book too, but I can see
what commentators mean by this is one of the most prolific passages
in Scripture of bringing forth the deity of Christ and humanity
of Christ and how Christ is God and He's God in the flesh. He's
fully man and fully God. It's been wonderful. Which is
called in theological terms the hypostatic union, which we just
call the God-man. Right? He's the God-man. So,
Jim, don't you find it funny that people use these million-dollar
words and just have to say, he's the God-man. You know? It's just,
oh my. He's God in the flesh. He's God
in the flesh. So, turn there, if you would,
to Philippians chapter 2. We'll read verses 5 to 11 to
see the context of verse 11. And then verse 11 will be where
we'll be tonight, or today. Let this mind be in you which
was also in Christ Jesus. So we've seen that's a mind of
humility, right? That's a mind of being humble.
Christ humbled himself. Who being in the form of God
thought it not robbery to be equal with God. This shows that
our Savior is God before he even came to this world. He's equal
with God the Father and he's equal with God the Holy Spirit.
but made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of
a servant and was made in the likeness of man." So he's born
of a virgin, he's bone of our bone, flesh of our flesh, yet
he's without sin. He has no sin at all. And being
found in the fashion of a man, he humbled himself. Think of
the humility of coming from heaven down to earth. My he humbled himself and became
obedient unto death even the death of the cross, so he's fully
obedient his whole life He's sinless So Brother Travis, he'd
been obedient for you and I, isn't he? He's fulfilling God's
law and righteousness for us, for all his people for whom he
died for. And then it says he became obedient unto the cross.
The law says the soul that sinneth it shall die. Well, Christ, our
sins are imputed to him and he dies in our room and place as
our substitute. Totally fulfilling God's law
and justice. It's amazing. It's absolutely beautiful. So
we see God, then we see the God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ, and He
was obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore,
because of what He did, because of His perfect life, His perfect
sacrifice, His perfect atonement, His perfect righteousness, wherefore,
God also highly exalted Him and given Him a name which is above
every name. Now, He's already Lord before He comes here, right?
As God the Son, God the Word. Now, in His humanity, God declares
Him Lord. So he's Lord both in his deity
and he's Lord in humanity. Isn't that wonderful? My. And note that God exalted him.
He didn't exalt himself. God exalted him. Isn't that beautiful,
beloved? He humbled himself and God exalted
him and gave him a name which is above every name. There's
no name like the name Lord Jesus. No name like his name. In all
of humanity, there's no name like his. His name is the name
above all names. Look at this, that at the name
of Jesus, every knee should bow of things in heaven and things
in earth and things under the earth. That's angels and the
saved saints in heaven, things in the earth, that's all of humanity
currently, or at the time of his second coming, and under
the earth, all the demons, Satan and all the demons and all the
lost. Look at this, what's going to
happen? And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ
is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Today's message is
called, Jesus Christ is Lord. He's Lord. He's Lord, beloved. And again, this is a wonderful
portion. It shows us so clearly that our
Savior is God, number one. Number one, He's God, and that
He became a man. And that He was obedient to the
Father the whole time He was here, perfectly, sinless. So
He's doing that for you and I, beloved, we who are the elect
of God. He's fulfilling the law of God perfectly. We can't fulfill
one part of it. He fulfills the whole law perfectly.
And the law demands our death, so he dies in our room and place.
Isn't that amazing? That's incredible. And God's
exalted him and given him a name above all names because of his
perfect obedience, because of his perfect sacrifice. Because of his perfect redemption,
God's given him a name above all names. It's absolutely amazing. It's absolutely amazing. He did
that all for us, beloved. All for his people. All for his
people. It's absolutely amazing. Note
in verse 10 that there's three classes of intelligent beings. Three classes of intelligent
beings here. Number one, all things in heaven.
Again, that's the angels and the souls of the departed saints
who are already in glory, who are already in the presence of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Number two, the second set of
intelligent beings is those who are upon the earth. It says all
things in the earth, all men and women, all human beings on
the earth. And then the third set of intelligent
beings is those fallen angels and those who are in the abyss.
Because then we see all things under the earth or in the abyss
in the Greek as one version renders it. This means all fallen angels
in the bottomless pit and all the damned in hell. Both human beings and fallen
angels. So we see all three classes shall
come forth to stand before our great God. Before our great God. And who's
gonna be on the white throne of judgment, the great white
throne of judgment? Who's seated on that throne? Christ, amen. Amen, my dear brothers. Christ
is on that throne. He's the judge. So people say,
I don't believe in him. You're gonna face him. Doesn't
matter what you say, you're going to face Him. I pray that God will reveal Himself
to you before you have to face Him. Oh, my. That's what He's done for we
poor sinners, isn't it? Oh, we've received the grace of God. We
tasted the Lord as gracious, haven't we? He didn't leave us
where we were. My, oh, my. So everyone will
stand before Christ at the great right judgment. Now, what happens
when all of these three classes stand before Christ? Look at
verse 11. In every tongue should confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord, not might be. He is Lord. Right? We don't make him Lord.
He is Lord. God made him Lord. People say,
just make him Lord of your life. God already beat us to it. This is amazing. That Jesus Christ
is Lord, look at this, to the glory of God the Father. Next
week we'll look at the glory of God the Father, giving God
all the glory. I wanted to break it up into two messages, because
I think there's so much right here in this, and we're just
scratching the surface again, as always, but there's so much
here. Look at this. At the name of Jesus, not only
will all bow of things in heaven and things on earth and things
under the earth, but we see here that they will openly acknowledge
and confess His Lordship. People who have hated him through
the years and ages, which is how we all come into this world,
right? Those of us who have been born
again and tasted that the Lord is gracious, brother, will be
there too. People who have hated God and
hated Christ will stand there. Fallen angels, Satan and all
his minions shall fall there. All those in hell shall stand
before him. All those in heaven shall stand
before him. And notice too, it's angels and
men and women. All will stand before him and
all will proclaim. Isn't this amazing? This is amazing.
All will proclaim that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of
God the Father. They're not going to be no murmuring
either. There's not going to be somebody
saying, Jesus Christ is Lord. They're going to proclaim it. They're going to proclaim it. Because in the Greek, this word
doesn't mean murmuring it. And no, every tongue shall confess. Every tongue shall proclaim those
who love Christ, those who hate Christ, the fallen angels. Now
we know, we know already that they said, we know who thou art,
thou holy one of God. They already know who he is,
don't they? And they tremble. They tremble. But notice this,
every tongue, everyone who's ever lived, shall proclaim that Jesus Christ
is Lord. In the Greek, this means to openly
or plainly confess, to acknowledge or to make an open declaration. Even those who hate Christ will
make an open declaration that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the
glory of God the Father. We will do it gladly, won't we,
brother? And they will be made to do this. People say, well, I don't want
to do that. Well, you're going to do it. I don't think I'm ever
going to do that. Yes, you will. We'll do it gladly, won't we,
as God's born-again, blood-washed people. But there'll be some
who won't want to do it, but they are going to declare it.
To the glory of God the Father. Oh, and the word means to confess
in the Greek. It means to agree with someone. Isn't that amazing? This confession
will not be mumbled. It will be proclaimed. By all. By all these three classes of
intelligent beings, which there are there, right? He will be
confessed and proclaimed to be Lord, to the glory of God the
Father. Now he's going to either, either
you're going to proclaim him as Lord, and he's going to be
your judge. Or are you going to proclaim
him as Lord, and he's going to be your Savior? My hope is that
the Lord saves you, right? People who are going to listen
to this message. If you don't know Christ, I pray
God will give you grace and give you faith to believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ. That's what he's done for us,
us sinners here. We're no more deserving than
anyone else, are we? We're just as deserving of hell
as anyone who's already there. God's had mercy on us. Now imagine
that. Here we are, when we were born,
naturally, we didn't proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord, but God
did a great work, didn't he, Brother Jim? We're born again
by the Holy Spirit of God, and given faith to believe, and now
we willingly confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. But here, we're
gonna even open, declare it even more, Brother! Oh my! Gladly! proclaim that Jesus Christ is
Lord. He will be declared Lord. No one will be murmuring. He'll
be declared by those folks, by all, and that includes every
one of us in this room and everyone who ever listened to this message.
There's coming a time when we will all openly confess that Jesus Christ
is Lord. And think of this, there's a
day coming when the entire universe will agree with God the Father
on the testimony that He gives of His Son. You ever think of
that? That's what this is showing us.
This is showing us a time when the entire universe Isn't that
amazing, Brother Travis? Everyone who's ever lived, all
beings visible and invisible, will declare, we're gonna agree
with the Father, saved and lost, angels and fallen angels. My, we're gonna declare all of
us that Jesus Christ is Lord. This is amazing. Aren't you thankful
God saved you? We declare that now, too, don't
we, brother? But then we're going to declare it with sinlessness. Perfect. Oh, my. This word also means
to publicly declare. To publicly declare. Now, we
publicly declare when we talk to people about Christ, don't
we? We declare. what we believe. We publicly
declare when we're baptized. We declare that Jesus Christ
is Lord. Right? But here, even those who
don't agree with us, and those who die in their sins, they're
going to declare with us, openly, publicly, Think of that. Think of people who say, well,
I don't believe in God. He's just some fairytale. No,
He ain't no fairytale. And one day, if you die in your
sins, you're going to be declaring that He is Lord, and He's going
to be your judge. Praise God, for we who believe,
He's our Savior. Oh, my. Turn, if you would, to Matthew
28. Matthew 28. Marvel at these words. Every
tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Every nation,
think of this, every nation, every language will publicly
profess the universal empire of the redeemed Lord Jesus Christ,
and every tongue shall openly confess and acknowledge the Lordship
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And they will publicly announce
that to the glory of God the Father. We will. We will. Look at this in Matthew 28. Look
at verses 18 to 20. Look at this. Oh my, just as
he said it was. All power has been given to him,
hasn't it? Oh, look at this. Matthew 28, 18 to 20. And Jesus
came and spake unto them, saying, all power is given unto me in
heaven and earth. Look at that. All power. That
means all means all there in the Greek. There's nothing left
out. All power. Our Savior has all
power, Brother Charlie. Can he keep us? It's nothing
for him to keep us, is it? He's a sister. He's got all power.
All power. Look at that. People on this
earth, they become in leadership positions, they go, I got some
power. And sometimes it goes to their heads. A lot of times
it goes to their heads. I've seen it. Oh my. And they get drunk with
power. That's just a little bit of power
they have. They only have power over either people where they
work, or we have power over our lives. Well, God take good care
of us. He's the one who takes care of
us. We think we have power over our lives. He takes care of us,
doesn't he? Oh, my. But think of this, all
power, unlimited power. You can't measure it. All power has been given to Him. God the Father gave Him that,
right? He's highly exalted Him. This is after He's died upon
the cross. He's risen. He says, look at
that. All power is given unto Me. Where? In heaven and in earth. That's
what we're seeing in our text, isn't it? That's what we're seeing
in verses 9, 10, and 11 of Philippians chapter 2. All power. Sister Vicki, if He saved us,
He can keep us, doesn't He? Because He's got all power, right?
All power. Sister Barbara, we're in the
hands of the Savior. He's got all power. He's going
to keep us. He can take us home one day.
We don't have to worry, because he's got all power. Well, what if I lose my mind?
What if I get Alzheimer's and I forget who I am and forget
who my family is? He's got all power. All power. Does he go, oh, well,
Wayne, since you've got Alzheimer's, I'm going to have to let you
go. No, he's got all power. All power. Isn't that wonderful? Those he saves, brother, he keeps. Then he takes them home. All power. That's wonderful. That's our Savior, Brother Brian.
He's got all power in heaven and earth. That means he's over
everything. And it says, go ye therefore
and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father,
the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Go preach the gospel. Go preach
about me. Teaching them to observe all
things whatsoever I have commanded you. And lo, I am, look at this,
the one who has all power, look what he tells us. Lo, I'm with
you even until the end of the world, amen. Look at that. Will he ever leave us? Will you
ever forsake us? No, the one who has all power
says to we who are his people, I'm gonna be with you till the
end of the world, and then I'm gonna take you home. You're never
gonna be without me. You ever had friends leave you?
You ever had friends desert you? You ever had family desert you? Scripture says he's one who sticks
closer than a brother. Look at that. He'll never leave
us, Brother Brian. We've had dear friends leave
us. He'll never leave us. He'll never, no matter what. No matter what. This is so comforting
for the believer. Lord, I'm with you always. Look
at those words. That's the words of the God-men.
That's the words of the Savior. He tells his people, I'm with
you always, even until the end of the world. Then I'm going
to take you home, where you're going to be with me forever.
There's going to come a time when this whole world is going
to burn up, right? Oh, my. He says, I'm with you
always. even until the end of the world,
and then we know even into eternity. If you want to call eternity
future, eternity is eternity, right? Can't measure it. Oh my. We dwell in time and space. He dwells in eternity. Oh my. So our Lord Jesus Christ King
of kings and Lord of lords has all power, authority, and government
over everybody and over everything. And look at this, it's the father
who's given him this authority. And remember, the father gave
him a people out of all nations, didn't he? Called the elect. Now I know some people don't
like that word, but it's a Bible word, isn't it? And it means
to choose in the Greek. God's chosen people for himself.
See, when you start mentioning the people that God chose Israel,
they don't have a problem with that. When you start mentioning
that God chose angels, because there's elect angels, isn't there,
brother? And God chose to save Noah and
his sons and their wives, they don't have a problem with that.
But when you bring it down to God chooses those whom he will save, well, God's
a choosing God, isn't he? And why wouldn't we rejoice as
God's people that God saved us and chose us? Because we know
we never would have chosen him. It's a wonderful doctrine, isn't
it? And we just read that he says to his elect, to those the
father gave him, those he redeemed on Calvary's cross, by the shedding
of his blood, he says, I'm with you always. I'm with you always. I'm never
going to grow tired of you. I'm never going to love you less. You ever think of that? God's
love is everlasting, right? It's the same yesterday, today,
and forever. And God's love has been set upon
us from eternity. I heard a preacher say, I was
listening to a preacher last night, and he said, there's never
been a time when God hasn't loved his people. Wow! It's true, because he dwells
in eternity. Brother Jim, there's never been
a time when God hasn't loved us. My little finite mind can't
totally comprehend that, but I believe it, and I just rejoice
in it. We rejoice in that, don't we?
It's wonderful. Sister, do you think how much
you love your kids, right? and how much we both love our
kids. It doesn't even come close to the love that God has for
us in Christ. And that's the key, in Christ.
He chose us in Christ. There's never been a time when
his love has not been set upon us. Oh my, that's amazing. That's absolutely amazing. So
we're gonna see all, this is a great gathering, isn't it?
This is a great gathering. And note too that Christ has
absolute authority over everybody without exception. He has all power in heaven and
on earth. He has all power without exception. Can he keep us from falling?
Oh, it's easy for him to do that. Yeah, I used to like that footprints
in the sand. until I realized there's only
ever been one set of footprints. And it's God carrying me from
the cradle to the grave. Isn't that amazing? Oh my. Think of this too. Eternal life
is a free gift that the Son gives to such as the Father has given
Him. Those He redeemed In the eternal covenant of grace,
God the Father gave God the Son, the Word of God, a people. Ones who he must and would and
will and has saved. And he has authority over everything. John 17 to a dear Favorite chapter
of our dear brother Marcus in 17 to Christ says this as thou
has given him power over all flesh that he should give eternal
life to as many as thou has given him see he gives eternal life
to as many as the father's given them because he has the power
and the authority to do that What a blessing brother Charlie
He saved our souls And he has to have all power
in order to be able to give eternal life, right? Because eternal
life comes, it's a gift of God. Christ is no mere man. He's God
incarnate in the flesh. Oh my, doesn't this get better
and better? I'll tell you, beloved. Oh my. And our verse today brings forth
the vast extent of the kingdom of Christ. It reaches to heaven. It reaches to all creatures in
the earth, angels as well as men, to the dead as well as the
living. He is the supreme one. He's God
incarnate in the flesh. And He saved His people from
their sins by His perfect sin atoning work on Calvary's cross,
shedding His blood to redeem our eternal souls. Dying on Calvary's
cross is a substitute of all that the Father gave Him. And
how did He redeem us? By the shedding of His precious
blood. We don't know who those people are, so we preach to everyone,
don't we? Whosoever will, let them come.
Let them come to the water of life freely. Now remember, too, who Paul was
writing to. I was thinking about this as
I was putting the message together. Remember who Paul's writing to.
He's writing to Roman citizens, right? And they believe, the
Romans believe that Caesar was a god. And basically he was the
head of their religion. So here he's writing to folks
who not only were their idol worshipers, but they looked at
Caesar as the supreme one. And Paul's writing this, that
no, our Savior is the Supreme One. Our Savior is the Supreme One. Paul's writing them, telling
them the one they believe on is the one real Supreme Ruler
over all, and his name is the Lord Jesus Christ. They would have understood about
the Supreme Ruler. Because as I said, Caesar ruled
over all of Rome and the whole empire, didn't he? And if he
said, die, someone die. Right? Oh my. So he's telling
them, the supreme ruler over all is the Lord Jesus Christ.
Our Savior is God, beloved. Our Savior is God. God is the
one who saved us. He became a man to save us from
our sins. This is the one true God. This is the one supreme ruler,
the Lord Jesus Christ, who shed his blood to redeem our eternal
souls. And I'm but one saved sinner
pointing to others to the only one who can save us sinners.
And his name is the Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 10, turn if you
would quickly to Romans 10. Oh my, Romans 10. We'll look
at verse 9. This is the one whom God has
made both Lord and Christ. He's the supreme ruler of all.
He's the Messiah sent by God to save his people from their
sins. Look at this. Remember how we
were looking at confess? that everyone's gonna openly
confess? Believers already do that. Look
at this, Romans 10, 9. 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, look at
that, shalt. Not maybe, not depending on if
you make your own decision. Thou shalt be saved. This is
a confession. that Jesus Christ is Lord to
the glory of God the Father. God's done a heart work for these
folks. And think of this, right now,
the only ones on earth who confess that Jesus Christ is Lord is
those who've been born again by the Holy Spirit of God and
given faith to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. If you do not know Him, I pray
that God will give you faith to believe on Him, to trust in
Him, to rest your eternal soul to Him. Because we as the born-again
blood-washed believers, not only do we confess that He's Lord,
not only do we confess that He's our Savior and our Redeemer,
we also confess that He's a sovereign King. We confess His Lordship,
don't we? We don't make Him Lord. We confess
His Lord. We acknowledge His Lordship. And we acknowledge that He must
receive the preeminence, and He's going to receive it all
from everything that ever lived and ever will live. Ain't that amazing? And we who
are the redeemed will stand there praising Him. Jesus Christ is
Lord to the glory of God the Father. We will openly confess
it like we do here on this earth. And the redeemed, blood-washed
saints of God proclaim the Lord Jesus Christ is our all in all.
He's our justifier. He's our redeemer. He's our savior.
He's our surety. He's Lord of lords and King of
kings and Lord of lords, isn't he? And we confess that right
now. And you know, he has a vesture
dipped in blood. Oh, and on that vesture is written King of kings
and Lord of lords. Oh, my. My, oh, my. Now, for the believer,
we must and will confess Christ. Now, there was a famous teacher
of rhetoric at Rome. I looked it up. He was in the
300s. His name was Victorianus, and he was converted to Christianity.
He was converted. He was born again. In his old
age, he'd been a teacher of rhetoric, for years. And he was born again
of the Holy Spirit of God. And he came to one of the leaders
of the church in Rome at that time, and he whispered softly
into his ears. And I'm not talking the Pope
and all that. I'm talking about the true church. He came to one
of the leaders of the born-again, blood-washed saints of God. And he said, I'm a Christian.
He whispered it to him. I'm a Christian. But this dear
brother in Christ answered him, said, I will not believe it,
nor count thee so until I see thee among the Christians in
the church. And Victorinus laughed, saying,
do then these walls make a Christian? Cannot I be such, except I openly
profess it and let the world know the same? Remember Romans
10 9? We'll confess it, won't we? Oh, yeah. My now beloved he said this out
of fear being yet a young convert though an old man But sometime
later when he was more established in the faith And he had seriously
considered that if he should be ashamed to Christ and Christ
would be ashamed to him in the last day He came again to our
dear brother in Christ and said let us go to the church. I will
now confess to be a Christian And there, amongst the people
of God, he made an open confession, a public confession, observing
that as he had openly professed rhetoric, right? He was a teacher of rhetoric.
He had openly professed rhetoric, which could no way save anyone. He ought not to be afraid to
own the word of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, in the congregation
of the faithful. God made it so, didn't he? Here are three wonderful points.
I got four minutes. Here's three wonderful points.
that distinguish the believer in Christ from the unbeliever.
And remember, it's only God who makes us to differ. The first
point is this. In every truly born-again blood-washed saint,
there's a heartfelt relationship with the person and work of the
Lord Jesus Christ, for the glory of God the Father. Oh my. And number two, Every child of
God is taught of God to know Christ, who he is, why he came,
what he's done, and who he did it for, and to believe on him
to the saving of our souls. And this will give the believer
a heartfelt enjoyment of him and his finished work. It's complete.
It's already finished. Our salvation is completed. It's
the only desired means of salvation for sinners. In this remedy for
the fall of Adam, and our fallen Adam, is beheld and accepted
in Christ with great joy. We accept that we fell in Adam,
and we accept that the only savior of sinners is Christ Jesus our
Lord. It's all God's providing, it's
all God's application. With the heart man believeth
unto righteousness. God gave us a new heart, didn't
he? The believer is born again and turns to Christ by God's
great power and will and purpose. And we desire to be found in
Christ, don't we? Oh yes, we do. And number three,
every soul truly born again, we will daily come to Christ. Daily come. We need him every
day, don't we? He said to us, without me, he
said, I'm the vine, you're the branches, he that abideth in
me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit. For without
me, you can do nothing. And we acknowledge that, don't
we? To the glory of God the Father. And remember this, beloved, it's
only God who's made us to differ. It's all his doing. And let us
praise his name and confess him openly. Oh my, my oh my. Brother Travis, will you close
us in prayer?