Well open your Bibles if you
would to Philippians chapter 2. Philippians chapter 2, we've
been going through this wonderful book. Philippians, Paul's writing
this book while he's under house arrest in Rome and he's writing
to the Philippian church, young church. And they've had some folks come
in and And just like in other places, the Judaizers. But this
is a letter of encouragement. And we've seen that as we've
studied this letter. And we're going to look at verse
9 again. This is, I think, the third or fourth sermon on verse
9. But it's such a blessing. And it's just been a great joy
to go through this book. And so today, we're going to,
Lord willing, finish verse 9. And the name of the message is
the name above all. Let's read verses 5 to 11 of
Philippians chapter 2 where the scripture declares, 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 and took upon him the form of
a servant and was made in the likeness of man. And being found
in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto
death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore, God also hath
highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every
name, that the name of Jesus, every knee should bow of things
in heaven and things on 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 we see here before us in
this wonderful text, and verse 9 will be our text, the glory
of the name of Jesus. And this is speaking of his humanity.
This name above all names is specifically speaking about his
humanity. He already is Lord over all,
right? He's already Lord over all his
deity. But now he's being exalted in
his Lord over all as a man. So he's the God man. He's Lord
over all. as as deity and he's now lord
over all as a man the god man the perfect man and remember
last week we saw that it was god who exalted him right he
didn't exalt himself God exalted him. And that's the same, you
know, I'll tell you what, if you're called to preach and you're
called to be on the mission field and just called as a believer,
it's God who's put us in those positions, isn't it? It's God
who's done that. It's not us. We don't make ourselves
Christians, right? God's regenerated us. God saved our souls, right? God gives me a message to proclaim,
but I'm no different than you are. I'm a saved sheep just like
everybody else, right? But I have a message to proclaim.
God's given me the ability to proclaim the gospel and to the
best of my ability, I'll do that until the Lord will and until
the day I die. And so what's set before us is
the glory of the name of Jesus Christ, who is God in the flesh. And I know I remind us of that
in every single message, but it's so vital for us to hear
that, because this is our Savior, right? We forget so easily, right? We can walk out the door and
forget what three quarters of the message was about, right?
It's just who we are. We're humans. We're just humans.
But this is something that I'm going to always set before any
hearers, before you guys and anyone else who hears, is the
fact that Jesus Christ is not just a mere man. He's God in
the flesh. He's God. Because only God can save us.
Right? Only God can save us. And marvel
at that. Does it never become commonplace
that God himself became a man, dwelt among us, was robed in
flesh? It's just amazing. It's absolutely
amazing. And the sole purpose for him
coming, right? We know he came to glorify God,
but what did the angel tell Mary that the reason his coming was?
Thou shall call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people
from their sin. Isn't that marvelous? His sole
purpose in coming, Brother Charlie, was to save us. That's marvelous,
isn't it, sister? The sole purpose of Christ's
coming was to save our eternal souls. That's incredible. That's absolute. See, because in Adam we fell,
right? And Adam was our federal head,
right? So we fell in Adam. Well, Christ is called the second
Adam. He's the perfect man. And think
of this too. Man was set in the garden in
the perfect situation. And he still fell. So here comes God in the flesh.
The perfect man. who we've seen through our studies,
even in this wonderful section, was obedient unto death, even
the death of the cross. And that was to save our souls,
beloved. And He did that with the shedding
of His blood. Think of this, too. If God hadn't chosen to
save some, then there would be no one saved. God's not obligated
to save anybody, is He? We're saved out of His mercy.
and of his grace. That's wonderful, isn't it, brother?
That's why we praise him. That's why we're so thankful
for his mercy and his goodness towards us, because it's not
conditioned on anything we do or who we are. Thankfully, it's
not conditioned on who we are, right? Could no one be deserved to be
saved, right? No one, none of us deserve to
be saved. Praise God, it's dependent upon his mercy, beloved. It's
wonderful. It's absolutely wonderful. That's
why we praise Him. That's why our lips are filled
with praise, beloved. Because it's so wonderful. And
in saving all that the Father gave Him in eternity, because
that's, we found out that's when, that's when we were given to
Him, wasn't it, Charlie? We had no idea. We, we, we're born into
this world. I, yeah, I look back now on my
life thinking, oh, a little Canadian boy growing up, right, and all
this. you know, doing all the things I did and had no idea
that God had chose me in Christ before the foundation of the
world. Did you ever think of yourself growing up? Little girl growing
up, right? No idea. We had no clue. And then we find out after we're
born again that God chose us in Christ before the foundation
of the world. It's absolutely Amazing. No wonder Newton called, wrote
the song, Amazing Grace. No wonder, because grace is amazing,
isn't it? And the whole reason we're saying
this is because of this man, Christ Jesus, who has a name
above all names. God has exalted him above all. And he has all power, doesn't
he? He has all power to do whatever
he wills. And he also has all power to
save whomever he wills, doesn't he, brother? Praise God we were
included in that number. Oh my, this is wonderful. And he shed his precious blood,
his life, because the life of the flesh is in the blood. And
he shed his blood for us, beloved. So marvel at this truth set before
us. Christ our Lord became obedient
and being to God, to God, to God's law, to God's justice,
to God himself, because that's who we sinned against, wasn't
it sister? We sinned against God. So Christ in our ruined
place becomes totally obedient as our substitute. It's amazing.
And then he sheds his blood to save our eternal souls. And the
scripture says, having obtained, he obtained eternal salvation.
And then he gives it to whomever he pleases. And we know who they
are. Those who were chosen by the
Father in Christ before eternity. And we had nothing to do with
that choice, did we? We didn't even know about it.
Until the Lord saves us. And then he reveals it. And we're
like, me? Yep. Because it pleased God to do
so. to be saved by the name above all names, to be redeemed by
the one who now has the name above all names. Oh my, and his obedience was
to God's law and justice. Oh, and the sins of his people
were laid upon him, beloved. And he paid the penalty for our
sins. Hmm. And he did it to save us from
our sins, and he did it to glorify God. You think of this. God doesn't need any of us. He didn't even need to create
the world, did he? Or the universe. Do you know
A.W. Pink wrote this in his book on the solitariness of God? And
I was telling someone this week, when I first read this, I had
to put it down and think about it for a whole week. Just this
one statement. A.W. Pink wrote this in his book
on the attributes of God, right off the bat. I'm telling you,
you talk about knock you out right off the bat. He said this,
he said, in the beginning was God, before he made the heavens
and the angels and anything, and he was perfectly content
being God. He didn't need nothing. Wow. And then he goes on, another
mind-blowing thing, to say that he just created all this to manifest
his glory. And now, what do we do, Brother
Brian? We're glorifying God for saving
us. It's amazing! What mercy, what
grace he's had upon we sinners And now we glorify him, don't
we? And we're going to glorify him for eternity. We're going
to sing of his mercy and grace for eternity. And think of this
too, Christ voluntarily submitted himself to the cruelest death.
Crucifixion was horrible, beloved. It was a horrible death. The
reason they broke the legs is so they couldn't push up and
get breaths. Because they would literally drown within themselves. And they would push themselves
up to get breath. And so when they would break
their legs, they'd suffocate. They couldn't get breath. And
it was a cruel death. And you know what? It was for
the worst criminals. Not everyone was crucified, but
the worst of the worst were. We're the worst of the worst,
aren't we? We broke God's law. Remember how I said the other
day that we're just a bunch of rebels and a bunch of lawbreakers?
It's God we sinned against, but praise be to God. Now, this is
the wonderful news. They're not going to leave us
there because we'd all be like, oh my gosh, because that's how we are.
Christ died for sinners. Christ died that death. that
horrible death for a purpose. I mentioned this last week. He
said to those women, weep not for me. I'm going to the cross.
I'm going to go redeem my people. I'm going to go save yourself.
And it says, Zane always brings this up, the joy that was set
before him. He endured the cross, joyfully went to the cross, joyfully
went to one of the cruelest deaths because he knew that was the
only way you and I could be saved from all our sins. He must go
to the cross. He must bleed. He must die. He
must shed his blood for our sister. He must to redeem our eternal
souls. He must. And he willingly and
obediently goes. Of his own volition. Doesn't go kicking and screaming,
does he? He's silent as a lamb led to the slaughter because
he's our substitute, you see. Oh my. So he voluntarily submitted
to the cruelest, most humiliating death, the death reserved for
the vilest of criminals, which is the crucifixion. And he is the measure, think
of this too, he is the measure of what it is to be perfectly
human. We're imperfect. He's perfect. He's the measure
of what it is to be perfectly human. And he's also the measure
of what it is to be perfectly submissive to God. Perfectly submissive to God. My oh my. He's perfect. See, we're imperfect. And so
our great substitute does everything God demands for our souls. Perfectly. Isn't that wonderful? This is
good news, isn't it? This is good news! Good news
for sinners. Oh yeah? God showing you you're
a sinner yet? God saved your soul? Who are
you trusting right now? I don't want to talk about five
years ago, ten years ago, two years ago. Who are you trusting
right now? Amen. He's our all-in-all, isn't He?
He's everything to us. And like Spurgeon said, sink
or swim, I'll cling to him. Right? Oh, amen. By the grace and mercy of God. And because he was perfectly
submissive, perfectly human, because he did this, perfect
in his humanity, God exalted him. Look at our text again. Look at verse 9. God exalted
him. Look at this. Wherefore God also
hath highly exalted him, that's Christ, and given him a name
which is above every name. Now turn if you would to Acts
chapter 2. Acts chapter 2. He's absolutely perfect. Absolutely perfect in his humanity. And so God exalts him. And his name is the Lord Jesus
Christ. And God made his name above every
name. This is his name, Jesus. Look
at this in Acts chapter 2, verse 36. Therefore, let all the house
of Israel know assuredly that God hath made the same Jesus
whom you've crucified, both Lord and Christ. That's speaking of
the man Christ Jesus, right? Now go to Acts 4.12, a little
bit further over. Look at verse 12. So again, we
see that name. Now go to Romans chapter 14. Romans chapter, one more book
over, Romans chapter 14. So the emphasis we see there
is upon the name because he is a human being, earned the right
to be Lord. As God, he's already Lord. And
he's earned the right now as a man to be Lord over all too. So he's Lord over all as God,
and he's Lord over all as the God-man, as man. Both, beloved. Isn't that wonderful? Because
of his perfect obedience. Because of his perfect submission.
Look at this in Romans chapter 14 verses 8 and 9. Look what
we see here. For whether we live, we live
unto the Lord. And whether we die, we die unto
the Lord. Whether we live therefore or
die, we are the Lord. So Paul's writing to the Romans
and he's saying, We're His. We're His people. We belong to
Him. Not only by creation, but by
purchase too. Right? Because He purchased us
by His blood. And then it says this. For to this end Christ
both died and rose and revived. Look at this. Look at this. That
He might be Lord both of the dead and the living. The dead
and the living. That's either those dead physically
and alive, and also those spiritually dead and those spiritually alive. He's Lord over all. And again,
this is speaking of the man Christ Jesus. Oh my, God hath made him. Remember we saw over in Acts?
God hath made that same Jesus. whom he crucified, both Lord
and Christ. God made him that. He exalted
him and gave him a name above every name. Isn't that beautiful? Oh my. So, to his enemies, this is the ultimate terror. He truly is Lord. He's Lord over all. But to his
friends, to those whom he has redeemed, This is precious, sweet
comfort and assurance. Our Savior is Lord over all. Will he lose one? No, he's Lord
over all, right? What comfort that can give you
an eyeball of it? Our King, God saved us, Brother
Brian, and he's Lord over all. My! What comfort that can bring! We know something big's gonna
happen on Tuesday, right? There's an election, right? God's
Lord over all that, isn't he? Right? And Wednesday's gonna
come along. He's Lord today, He'll be Lord
tomorrow, Monday. He's Lord Tuesday, and He'll
be Lord Wednesday, right? And Lord for however long, He
decides to tarry until He comes back. And then, in eternity,
He's still Lord. He doesn't give up his lordship,
does he? So what comfort that can bring
us? What comfort that can bring us,
beloved? It's wonderful. What assurance, what assurance.
See, our assurance, now remember this too, if you start to get,
you know, because we all doubt, we all go through things, but
let us remember that our assurance is not based upon us. It's based upon Christ. The fact that we have faith in
Christ is a miracle. Just remember when we didn't
have faith in Christ. Just remember when we weren't
born again. And now, here we are, we love the gospel. We love
to hear the gospel, sister. We love to listen to Donny. We
love to listen to Norm. We love to listen to other preachers.
We never used to love all that stuff. And now we love to hear the gospel. Who did that to us? God did that. He worked a work in us, didn't
he? We couldn't muster that up ourselves, because we didn't
want to hear the gospel at all before. Oh, now, see, the name
is precious to us now, isn't it? The name Jesus is precious
to us now. It's the name above all names.
It's wonderful. Oh, my. And remember that Christ
finished the work of salvation. That's why he's given the name
above all names, because he finished the work. It's finished, it's
done. That's why for this end, Christ
both died and rose and revived, that he might be Lord both of
the dead and the living, Romans 14, 9. And then you tie that
in with our verse in Philippians 2, and it's God that has exalted
him. And given him a name above all
names, God made him Lord. See, you hear people say, just
make Jesus Lord of your life. God already beat everybody to
it. He's already Lord. We don't make him nothing. Right? What haughtiness in us if we
think we make him Lord? No, he's already Lord. That's
his right. That's as right as God, and that's
as right and perfect obedience as man. And submission to God as our
substitute, that's as right, beloved. My. It makes, it reminds me of,
I think it was Scott Richard used to say, or Henry used to
say, when we think we're something, we're actually nothing. Right? And we humans like to think we're
something. But we're really nothing. Right? And Scott Richardson would
say, we're a bunch of zeros and then you put the one in front
of us. Christ Jesus the Lord. And we're only his people because
of Christ. Isn't that wonderful? All the
glory goes back to him. It all goes back to him. So Christ
finished the work. If he didn't finish the work,
he wouldn't deserve to be exalted. He wouldn't deserve to have the
name above all names, but he finished the work. So it's rightfully
his. It's rightfully his, beloved.
Oh my. And now he's in glory, and he's
the forerunner of his people, right? Where he is, we will be
seen. Therefore, because Christ accomplished the work of salvation
for his people, he's being exalted. And he's been given a name above
all names. It's absolutely wonderful. Look at verse, uh, oh, actually,
look at verse 9 again, but listen to it in the Greek literal Bible.
There's a little change here. I'll read it first in the King
James. It says, Wherefore God also exalted him and given him
a name which is above every name. Now notice that a name in the
Greek. Listen to this in the Greek literal.
There's just a subtle change, but oh, what a difference. Listen to this. Therefore God
also highly exalted him and granted to him the name. The name, singular. The name
above every name. And I was reading Weist on this,
a Greek scholar, and he bought that, he just bought it out.
It's, in the Greek it is the name. The name. This is no one else's title.
Only Christ is Lord over all. That's his rightful title. As
God, the Word of God, and as the man Christ Jesus. For his
perfect... Isn't it amazing? It just blows
these verses up for us, doesn't it? It makes them... And in the
Old Testament, God is often called the God. The true and living
God. Singular. As opposed to the idols
of the world. Okay, I'll read that again in
the Greek literal. Therefore God also highly exalted him,
Christ, and granted to him the name above every name. The name. The definite article in the Greek
text refers to a particular name. Singular. Singular. The title The Name is a very
common Hebrew title denoting rank, office, and dignity. It's an expression, like in the
Old Testament, the name of God, singular. And it gives honor,
dignity, praise, and rank. In the Old Testament, it denotes
the divine presence, the majesty of God, the divine majesty of
God. especially as an object of adoration
and praise. Think of that with this. Christ
has the name above all names. Who's the one we give our praise
to? Only Christ, right, Sister Barbara? Only Christ. The name. The name. Above every name. Oh my. So the context here dwells
upon the honor and worship bestowed upon him whose name this was
given to. So he's the one who's worthy
of all our praise. He's the one worthy of all the
glory. And the conferring of this title,
the name, was upon the Lord Jesus as the son of man, a man, the
man Christ Jesus, who is as very God had voluntarily laid aside
his glory during his incarnation. And it is the God-man who stooped
to the depths of humiliation, who is raised not as God now,
but now he's raised as the God-man. He's always been God, but now
he's raised as the God-man. And think of this, he's raised
to the infinite height of glory. He's raised as the risen God-man
to the position, right? To the position that is given to divine majesty. Rightfully His. Oh my. And remember, He voluntarily
laid aside His glory So this name speaks of the humanity of
Christ Jesus, our Lord, and he's clothed with majesty and glory
and power. And it's the God-man, again,
who stooped to the depths of this humiliation. It's the God-man who's raised
now. Although he was all that, he's
always been God, but as man, he's now raised to the exaltation
possessed only by deity. He's now raised to the place
only possessed by deity. And he's the God man. Because he's God incarnated in
the flesh, right? Think of this, he left heaven
as the word of God. And he rises back to heaven as the Word of
God, the God-man. Jesus Christ, our Lord. Isn't
that amazing? And he's got a name, Brother
Brian, above all names. He got a name above all names. Oh my, it's the answer of our
Lord's Prayer in John 17 5. Brother Marcus and I often talk
about John 17. There's a beautiful chapter in verse 5 in John 17. He says, So as a man, he's praying
to the Father saying, glorify me. Give me back the glory I
had with you. Remember, he's God. He's the God-man. It's the glory
of deity that he's speaking of. That glory shining in perfect
contrast to and with his glorified humanity, which is now raised
to a position equal with deity. Again, he's the God-man. Raised
to a position of equal with deity. So marvel at what's set before
us. The perfect and beautiful combination of the exaltation
of deity and the humility of deity, seen in the incarnate
deity, seen in God becoming a man, the Lord Jesus Christ. I'll read
that again. Marvel at what is set before
us, the perfect and beautiful combination of the exaltation
of deity and the humility of deity, seen in the incarnate
deity, the Lord Jesus Christ. Isn't that amazing? God has lifted
the God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ, and given him a name above all
names. Think of this. His name is above
all counsel in this world. Anyone who counsels presidents
and people, his name is far above all them. His name is far above
all the wisest men that ever lived in this world. His name is far above anyone
who has power in this world and who's ever had power in this
world. His name is above all who ruled
in this world or ever ruled in this world. He is more power
and more authority and more rule than all of them. And His name
is precious to the hearts of His people. Millions of people. A number no man can number. that
have been saved by him, who trusts their souls for the salvation. Trust in the Lord Jesus Christ
for the salvation of their souls. And the name Jesus, the Lord
Jesus Christ, is a name which has spanned centuries. Centuries in lands far removed
from the land that he lived and died in. Here we are in America
worshiping him. where the theater of his life
played out, right? Here we are, thousands of miles
away, worshiping our great king and our God. Oh, and it's a name known all
through history too, isn't it? He was the Messiah coming, the
promised one. And I'll tell you what, his name
is known all over the world. Oh my. And it's at his name that
every knee shall bow. Paul's not content though here
with simply asserting the sovereign glory of the name of Jesus. We
see he goes on to set it forth as being what no other name of
man can be. Jesus alone is the ground of
salvation. Jesus alone is the ground of
the salvation. He's the only one to be worshiped.
Turn if you would to Isaiah chapter 45. Isaiah chapter 45. Look at this. Paul gets this
name above every names from this portion here in Isaiah 45. And it's found in verse 23, but
before the verse in 23, there is a statement made in verse
22. That's incredible. Look at this. Isaiah 45 verse 22. Look unto
me and be saved. Just look. Doesn't say do anything,
does it? Just says look. All the ends
of the earth. Look at this. For I am God. Singular. The Father, Son, and
the Holy Spirit is the one true living God. Singular there. I
am God. That's opposed to all the idols
in the world. And look what else he says. And there is none else.
Look at this, now verse 23. This is where Paul gets the name
above every name. I have sworn by myself the word
has gone out of my mouth in righteousness and shall not return. That unto
me every knee shall bow and every tongue shall swear. Oh my. Now go back to our text in Philippians
chapter 2 verses 9 to 11. And we see the correlation here
with those verses in Isaiah. And remember, I'm going to read
it with what it says in the Greek literal Bible, the name. in in
this look at this verse nine wherefore god all i'll start
over again verse nine wherefore god also hath highly exalted
him and given him the name which is above every name that the
name of jesus every knee should bow of things in heaven and things
in the earth and things under the earth and that every tongue
should confess that jesus christ is lord to the glory of god the
father My oh my, every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord. Now God being sovereign, he has
a right to this subjection, doesn't he? As master, he has a right for
we created beings to bow to him and to glorify him. This is the
right of any king over his servants, right? And whether people believe
it or not, Jesus Christ is Lord. Period. He's Lord. And think
upon how we are the Lord's property. We humans are, in all things
visible and invisible, are His. Therefore, we owe our very existence
to the Lord. I was talking to Vicki about
this yesterday. And listen to this. The Lord
Jesus is the creator of all. Therefore, we breathe His air,
don't we? We breathe his air. We eat at his table. The clothes
we wear come from his bounty he gives us. And our daily living are upon
his mercies. If you were to call us and say,
take that which is yours and go thy way. Oh my, what would we take? Well,
we can't even take ourselves because by Him all things consist. The air we breathe is His. The food we eat is His. The clothes
we wear comes from His materials. The houses we live in and the
cars we drive come from things that are mined from this earth.
And the very breath we breathe and the life we have comes from
him. We couldn't take nothing. Ain't that amazing? And he's the name above all names,
beloved. Our Savior performed all things
for us. Our salvation is complete, beloved.
So rejoice, beloved of God, as our sin has been put away, and
the righteousness with which we are now clothed is complete,
because it's Christ's righteousness. And all this has been performed
by the one who is being highly exalted, the one who has a name
above all names, the Lord Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, All
that God's infinite justice can demand of us has been performed
by the Lord Jesus Christ, our substitute. Therefore, our warfare
is accomplished. It's accomplished, beloved. Therefore,
our sin is pardoned by his precious, precious blood. And there's not
one thing for us to do to complete the work of Christ. It is finished
by him and him alone. The Lord Jesus Christ has obtained
eternal redemption for his people. And we say, praise his mighty
name. Amen and amen. Brother Charlie, can you close
us in prayer?