Philippians chapter 2. Open your
Bibles to Philippians chapter 2, if you would. The name of
the message is obedience. Obedience. Now, we hear a title
like that, we think, uh-oh. Here we go. But it's not about
our obedience. This message is about Christ's
obedience. That's what's most important. You know, I heard
a couple preachers this week, and it really refreshed my soul.
They're in the reformed group, but they're not really being
received very well, because they're preaching like
we preach. They're preaching that your obedience is not part of our salvation. It doesn't merit us salvation.
It doesn't merit us heaven. It's something we do because
we're born again. We desire to be obedient to God. We desire
to live a life pleasing to Him. But we know we're just sinners,
right? We're going to see it's His obedience that's most important.
And see, when you make statements like that, people right away,
they go, you're an antinomian. No, we're not. No. Because I
don't believe God's people go out and go crazy. Because the
love of Christ constrains us, right? Constrains us from sin.
We're now convicted of our sin. We feel bad when we sin, which
we sin in everything we do. Isn't it going to be wonderful,
Brother Brian, when we don't sin no more? Oh my, it'll be amazing,
won't it? It'll be absolutely incredible.
when we never sin again, beloved, in glory. Never again. Oh. Now, the fact that the Lord
Jesus Christ died for our sins according to the scripture, and
the fact that Jesus Christ and Him crucified, those facts are
the very heart of the gospel, aren't they? The fact that He
did that for us. They're the very heart and marrow
of the gospel. Because think of this, without
his sacrifice for sin, for our sin, we'd have no good news,
would we? Would it be good news? Wouldn't
be good news, would it? Because without his sacrifice,
no one would be saved. But praise be to God, The gospel
proclaims a sacrifice made by the Lord Jesus Christ. And we're
going to see today that he was obedient to God the Father, not
only in his life, but in his death. See, religion pushes obedience,
and it almost becomes a work. We obey out of a grateful heart. We're willing bond slaves. Remember
last week we looked at how the Hebrew servant had his ear bored? Right? And that pictured Christ.
That pictured Christ, but it also pictures us too, doesn't
it? Because we're made willing in the day of God's power. And
Paul himself called him a doulos, which in the Greek is a bond
slave. That's the title of all of us. We're bond slaves for
Christ, beloved. We're bought with a price, aren't
we? We're purchased. What are we purchased with, beloved?
Amen. Amen. Let's say the blood of
Christ. That's what purchased our eternal
souls. So without His sacrifice, there's
no good news for sinners. None. None at all. Without His
sacrifice and death for our sin, without the shed and the blood,
without His obedience and going to the cross, living the perfect
life and then going to the cross to die for us, there'd be no
redemption, would there? You know what else there wouldn't
be? There'd be no righteousness. For us to be clothed in and to
be accepted by God. This is how important his obedience,
Christ's obedience in his life and his death is. It's so important,
because we are unprofitable servants, aren't we? We cannot fulfill
the law of God, and the justice of God then has a rightful claim
upon us, right? And we can't get out from under
the law, but who does scripture say in Galatians redeemed us
out from under the law? Someone tell me. Christ. Come on. The Lord Jesus
Christ, right? He redeemed us out from under
the law. That's what He did. He did that
by His perfect, sin atoning work on Calvary's cross. So, if He
hadn't died, there'd be no righteousness established that would justify
us, because we're, we're, our righteousness is like filthy
rags. And without the Lord Jesus Christ, and Him crucified, We'd
have no salvation whatsoever. Okay. Let's marvel today then,
as we read this scripture. We've read this several times
because we spent multiple times on verse 7, which has been amazing,
hasn't it? And so let's go to Philippians
chapter 2. We're going to read verses 5 to 8. And verse 8 today
is our text. Look at this, 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, so that
shows that he's God, but made himself of no reputation, he
emptied himself, reputation, and took upon him the form of
a servant, and was made in the likeness of man, like us, fully
man, but yet without sin. Yet without sin. And being found
in the fashion as a man, that's form, remember we looked at the
form, he's the form, he's the, he's the, he's the, in him is
all the fullness of the Godhead. Right? And being found in the
fashion as a man, so he's a man but yet he's without sin, he
humbled himself, he left heaven, Became obedient unto death even
the death of the cross right up. He's obedient in his life Right which is his he wove that
code of righteousness for us by living the perfect life and
then he's obedient in his death because it says the soul that
sinneth it shall die the law says and He's a substitute. He's
the sinless substitute, but our sin is placed upon him put it
to him And he died in our room and place. So that, do you know
what? There's no more judgment for
the believer. Someone tells you we're going
to be judged, just say no. There's no more judgment for
the believer. Because everything that was against us is already
being judged. Somebody, well what about the
rewards in the Burma seat? Listen, there's therefore now
no condemnation. I'm going to say in the greek.
There's therefore now no judgment To those who are in christ jesus
who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit All right, so someone tells you
that oh you're gonna you're gonna suffer loss and all that that
would be the lord bringing my sin Up again, and he said he
don't remember it no more See how Isn't that amazing? Because I was always told that.
There's going to be a big TV screen, and everything you've
done is going to be shown to everybody. But if the Lord says, I don't
remember your sin anymore, sister, right? And don't remember my
sin, and your sin, sister of yours, then is he going to bring
it up again? No. He'd never bring it up again. That's wondrous. Do you see how
this news of salvation in Christ is absolutely incredible? It's
absolutely amazing that our sins are gone by the blood of Christ,
washed away. Try to make a shout, won't it?
Oh, my. My, oh, my. Now, the Lord Jesus
Christ was, we see in verse 7 and 8, really a man. Not just in
appearance, but he was a real man. He was a real man, beloved. A real man. He lay nine months
in the womb, right? He lay in a manger after he was
born. He knew hunger. He knew thirst. He knew weariness
and grief. He wept at Lazarus' tomb. And
he knew pain and death, didn't he? Everything we experience,
he's experienced, yet without sin. Oh my. Brother Henry Mahan brings
this forth. His real submission and obedience
from the cradle to the cross is our example. Not only our
righteousness, but our example. My oh my. It's amazing. Turn if you would to Romans chapter
5. Romans chapter 5. This is a beautiful portion of
scripture. Romans chapter 5. And we'll see how in Adam we
fell. In Adam we fell. Some people
say, well, that's not fair. Well, Adam's the federal head.
Take it up with God. Don't argue with me. Right? Right? I don't got time to argue
about that stuff. Bible says it, I believe it.
Right? Look what it says here. Romans
chapter 5, verse 19 and 20. For by one man's disobedience,
now that's Adam. Look at this. By one man's disobedience,
many were made sinners. So when Adam fell, we all fell
in him. All of us. Now look at this. Now remember,
we read there he was obedient in his life to the cross, even
unto the cross in our text, right? I'll read our text again. Being
found in the fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became
obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Look at this
in Romans 5.19. So by the obedience of one, That's Jesus Christ our
Lord. Many, or shall many, look at
that, shall. There's that little word again
we love, shall. It's not, well, if they decide to, no, shall. I'm not even born when this was
written, are you? Oh, this is marvelous. Many,
shall, shall many be made righteous? Moreover, the law entered that
the offense might abound. Right? But where sin abounded,
grace did much more abound. Isn't that wonderful? Grace will
always abound over sin. Now look at verse 21. That as
sin reigned unto death, that's with Adam, even so might grace
reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ
our Lord. Eternal life only comes through Christ and Him alone. So let's go back to verse 8 of
Philippians chapter 2 now. After we've read that, so we
saw that by the disobedience of Adam, many were made sinners.
So we fell in Adam. That's how we became sinners.
Right? We are all children of Adam. Now Christ is the seed of the
woman, right? He's conceived by the Holy Spirit of God. We
come from human parents. Yeah. And don't you love many
shall be made righteous? We've been made righteous sister
carolyn By the lord jesus christ and his righteousness. That's
amazing That's absolutely amazing My oh my let's read verse eight
again in being found in a fashion as a man. He's fully man and
yet fully god And he's but he's absolutely sinless He humbled
himself and become obedient unto death, even the death of the
cross. So let us ponder this blessed verse here, which tells
us that the Lord Jesus Christ was obedient in all his life.
And then he gave his life on the cross. The sinless one dying
for sinners, such as we. It's absolutely amazing. It's
absolutely amazing. No wonder the apostles said,
I'm determined not to know anything among you, but Jesus Christ and
Him crucified. No wonder he said that. No wonder
he said that. I'm just going to preach Christ.
That's the most important thing in this world, is preaching Christ. Charlie and I were talking this
morning. Charlie said he had this guy on this morning, right? He's
using these million-dollar seminary words that you got to pause and
look up. And he said, you said, there's
no profit in it. No profit in it. And I agree with you. He said, that guy would be good
teaching in a seminary. Yeah, absolutely. But we preachers,
we just preach Christ. That's what we're called to do.
We're called to preach Christ. There's an old story Henry Mahan
used to say. He said, if you want to learn about history,
go to Bible school. And he said, but if you want
to learn about Christ, go to a church where they're preaching Christ.
Where the gospel's being preached. And I asked a friend of mine
who went to seminary. I'm not dogging seminary either. My buddy
went to seminary and I said, what did you learn in those four
years? He goes, nothing I couldn't have learned with you at the
kitchen table. Man, that told me a lot. Wow. My oh my. And we see here the fact. of
the grace of God is the Lord Jesus Christ was, though he was
rich, right? He's rich, he's God over all,
yet for your sake, he became poor. Why? That you and me, through
his poverty, might become rich. Now, the word of faith, folks,
they're so evil, they take that and they say, well, look at that.
That's spiritual things right there. I'm looking at the richest
people in the world right in front of me. We're so rich spiritually. Isn't
that amazing? We have more than Gates and that
other guy, Basil is it? Whatever the Amazon dude is.
We have more than them. We are far richer than them.
They actually might have a lot of money, They are bankrupt spiritually. Oh my. So we are blessed because he
gave his life for our sin. He is obedient to death in our
room and place. The sinless one dying for sinners. And think of this. What's set
before us here is the supreme example of love. Think about this, beloved. You and I would sacrifice our
lives for those whom we love, wouldn't we? Right? We would. We wouldn't even think twice
if our child or our granddaughter or our son and daughter was in
danger. We wouldn't even think twice about jumping in the river
to rescue them. Going into a fire to rescue them.
We'd just do it. Just like that. And we'd lay down our life, wouldn't
we? Why? Because of our love for
them. See where I'm going? Now think about Christ giving
his life here in the text. Why did he give his life? Because
of his supreme love for us. My, oh my. Isn't that beautiful? And he became obedient unto death.
He was obedient in his life and he became obedient unto death.
Why, one might ask. Well, here in his love. Not that
we love God. but that he loved us and that
he sent his son to be a sacrifice for our sins. So not only did Christ show his
love for us, but the Father and the Holy Spirit showed their
love for us by sending Christ. And then Christ showed his love
by giving his life for us and sending the Holy Spirit to us.
Holy Spirit shows his love for us by regenerating us and giving
us faith to believe. He opens up a whole new world. Isn't love amazing? Isn't the
more the more I look into the love of God This is why I said
I think it was last week that I'm never going to grow tired
Of looking into the everlasting love of God that he has for his
people and we can't plumb the depths We can't even come we can't even
imagine but the little bit we get oh my gosh So just as we
love our children and give our lives for them, God loves His
children, doesn't He? His elect. So much that He sent
Christ to be a sacrifice for our sins. And Christ loves us
so much that He came and was obedient in our room and place,
right onto the cross. And again, the Holy Spirit shows
His love by coming and regenerating us, pulling us out of the darkness
that we were in. giving us faith, and we just
love Christ. Oh, I love Him. Oh, how I love
Jesus. Why? Because He first loved me.
That's the key right there. I love that song because of that
verse. Because He first loved me. My, oh my. Now we understand why this is
supreme love, an example of supreme love. As Christ Jesus our Lord
gives His life, and sheds his precious blood
to redeem our eternal souls. And let us be thankful, beloved
of God, that God himself is our savior. Never forget that. God
saved me. If you're a believer, never forget
that. God saved me. God himself saved our souls. You start thinking about that,
and I'll tell you what. You start, you're getting real
joyful, even in the midst of sorrow. God saved me. Oh my. It's amazing. He shed His precious blood. He
became a man and shed His blood and gave His life for me. An
undeserving, hell-deserving sinner. Why? Because He's left us for
eternity. Oh, let us be thankful and let
us trumpet out that he's able to save to the uttermost all
that come to God through him. Right? Whosoever will, let him
come. We don't put no hindrances up,
do we? Flee to Christ, sinner friend.
You find out there's just a bunch of sinners in here saved by grace.
I was talking to Vicki. I said, I gotta tell everybody
this morning, we were over at McDonald's. We go over and have
our little sandwich in the mornings. And there's some older fellows
there, even on Sundays that I know pretty well. And there's this
one fellow named Jay. And I didn't get to say hi to
him when we came in. So when we were leaving, I went
over and said, hey, Jay, I hope you have a great day. You know,
we're leaving. and we had struck up a little conversation. He
had a young guy, about my age, young guy. I say my age because
Jay's in his 80s, like 86 or 87. Yeah, you guys are laughing.
He's, you know, and so I'm the youngin'. I'm the youngin' in
McDonald's. And his friend Kevin was sitting
there and I introduced myself and he introduced, oh, I'm Kevin.
And he said his daughter's Nancy taught them. I said, oh
yeah, she's really sweet. That's awesome. And he's sitting
there, we're talking, and Jay says, now I've invited Jay several
times to church, and Jay said, you know, I might just surprise
you one day and show up there. And I said, well, that would
be wonderful, Jay. I just keep inviting them, right?
And I said, that would be wonderful. And his buddy, Kevin, said, oh
no, man, you'd have to reinforce the roof. And I said, no, we wouldn't have
to do that like this. And he goes, well, what do you
mean? I said, oh, we're just a bunch of sinners over there.
His whole countenance changed, beloved. His whole countenance
changed. And he's like, what? And I said,
oh, we're just a bunch of sinners over there. He goes, really? And I'm like, yeah. His expectation
was we're a bunch of holy rollers. No, we're a bunch of sinners
saved by grace, aren't we? Man, his whole countenance changed.
I don't think he'd ever have a preacher say that to him. Well,
that's okay. Here we go. I'm just a sinner
saved by grace, right? That's what we are. Well, hopefully,
Lord willing, pray for him. His name's Kevin. Lord willing,
sometime here come, maybe. Maybe he'll come with Jay sometime.
That would be wonderful, wouldn't it? But do you see that little
door like that to open up and just let everybody know we're
just safe sinners, beloved? That's all we are. Let us not
graduate from that, eh? You might hear me mention that
on Sunday morning too, so if you do, just bear with me and all.
But I was just amazed myself, just this countenance change
was what got me, because it was evident that he had not heard
that before. Well, going to the wrong churches
then, right? Because we're just a bunch of
sinners here, saved by the grace of God. Oh my. So he came to
save sinners, and he can save all who come to God through him
to the uttermost. I don't care how bad and black your sin is.
He saved me. He saved you, right? We can say,
hey, come. He saved these old sinners. Come
to Christ. Right, Brother Charlie? Amen.
Oh, my. And he has all the ability, doesn't
he, to save. He has all ability. He's God. He's got all ability
to save all who come to him. He's God. He made himself of
no reputation, beloved. He left the glories and splendors,
took upon himself the form of a servant. Oh my. And you know what? People talk
about free will a lot. He did it willingly. The only
free will in this universe is God's free will. Let me tell
you that. Our will is bound to our nature. God's the only one
who can do whatever he wants. And he has the power and he has
the authority to do whatever he wants. Right? Oh my. Oh my. It's amazing. And so he willingly and lovingly
took upon himself the form of a servant. He made himself of
no reputation. He emptied himself. For who? For we who are his redeemed.
For us, for us. God was manifest in the flesh
to save us. To save us from what? To save
us from our sins. Praise be to God. And he, was
he successful at what he did? Yes, he was. It is, amen. It's finished. Finished means
it's finished. When something's finished, Brian,
we don't need anything else to it, do we? Amen. All the grace, all the
God. Amen. I'm going to borrow that, man. All of grace, all
of God. That's right. Amen. That's exactly what it is. Oh,
my. The Word was made flesh, the
Word of God, and dwelt among us and saved us from our sins.
The Word was in the beginning with God. The same was in the
beginning with God. He was made flesh and dwelt among
us. And John says, we beheld his glory. The glory of the only
begotten of the Father. They saw him. They were eyewitnesses,
beloved. Eyewitnesses. We beheld his glory. The glory is of the only begotten
of the Father. Full of grace and truth. Full of grace. My let's read verse 8 again and
being found in the fashion as a man He humbled himself and
became obedient unto death even the death of the cross see the
word humbled there in the Greek It means to make or bring low
He bought him he left heaven And made himself low of no reputation
emptied himself Became obedient to the Father Fulfilled the law perfectly for
us, sisters. It's amazing. It's absolutely
incredible. And then see the word obedient
there? In the Greek, this means giving ear. So you're giving
ear to something, right? Obedient in a lot of like this,
because this is amazing, submissive. Now we've been looking at that,
haven't we? As we study verse seven, he became totally submissive
to the Father's will to save us from our sins, sisters.
Not my will be done, but thy will be done. He said to the
father. Oh my. Turn if you would to Isaiah
chapter 53. Isaiah 53. Now our king, he was
obedient unto death. He came, he left heaven. He left heaven and came to this
sin-cursed world. and bled and died in our room
and place, beloved. My, oh my, look at this. Look
at this in verse 10. Yet it pleased Jehovah,
that's Jehovah, to bruise him. And this is the servant. Remember
on Wednesday night, we looked at, a couple of Wednesday nights
ago, we looked at Christ as the servant of God. He's the servant
of God. This is speaking of the suffering
servant. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him. He hath put him
to grief, when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin.
Now he's sinless. This is speaking of the Messiah,
of course, which is the Lord Jesus Christ. He's sinless. So who's he making an offering
of sin for? His people. Isaiah 53.10, look at this. For
he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure
of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. Now look at this. Remember Christ was the obedient
servant? In our text it says he was obedient,
right, unto death. That means his whole life, right?
Okay. God shall see the travail of
his soul, he, that being God the Father, Jehovah, shall see
the travail of his soul and shall be what? Satisfied! He's satisfied with the sacrifice
of Christ for our sins, beloved. It's finished! Right? By his knowledge—no, look what
his title is here. By his knowledge shall my what?
Righteous servant. Righteous. Or unrighteous. He's righteous. He's perfect. He's sinless. He's obedient in his life all
the way to the cross, and in his death. But he's the righteous
one. And notice that? Servant. Remember
our text with obedient? Submissive. Verse 7 we've been reading, and
verse 6, 5, 6, and 7, and now 8 in this beautiful chapter.
He is the God-man who is in perfect submission to the Father. And
he's a righteous servant. We're unrighteous. The righteous servant gives his
life for we who are unrighteous to save us from our sins. This is the best news for sinners,
isn't it? Oh my. Can you tell why I wanted
to preach this so bad? Oh, it's beautiful. You know, I'll
be honest with you. I never saw, verse 11 there,
I never saw a righteous servant till last night. Or no, till
Friday night. I'm like, whoa, righteous servant! And I tied it in with the obedience.
Oh my gosh. I can't take credit for it. It
was Brother Tom Harden and the message I heard. I was like, oh, Tom, that's awesome,
man. But the Lord showed him, and
he just gave it to us, right? Oh, my. Oh, look at that. So
what kind of servant is the Lord Jesus Christ? In verse 11, he's
a righteous servant. Look at what it says here. Then note the word shall, right? Shall my righteous servant, what?
Justify many. who are justified by Christ.
We have peace with God through the Lord Jesus Christ. For he
shall bear what? Their iniquities. He didn't bear
the iniquities of the whole world. But he did bear the iniquities
of his people. And he paid it all. Now let's go back to Philippians
chapter two. With that in mind, verse eight.
Oh my. It says, in being found in a
fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto
death, even the death of the cross. So marvel, beloved of
God, that the Lord Jesus Christ is a righteous servant in full
submission to God the Father, in obedience to God the Father,
accomplishing God the Father's redemptive will, right? That's
what he's doing. He's accomplishing the redemptive
will of God in saving his people by the shedding of his blood
and the giving of his life. It was all planned and purposed
by God. And not only is he a faithful servant unto the Father, but
he's also a faithful servant to his people. Isn't this wonderful? It's wonderful. Marvel at this
wondrous truth. Now here's some wondrous truth.
The Son of God became the Son of Man that we might be called
the sons of God. I'm going to say it again. God the Son became the son of
man, became something he wasn't before, a man, that we might
become the sons of God. Behold, how do we know that?
I'm going to quote a scripture here. 1 John 3, verses 1 and
2. Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon
us that we should be called the sons of God. Therewith the world knoweth not,
because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we the sons
of God. And it doth not yet appear what
we shall be, but we know that when he shall appear we shall
be like him, for we shall see him as he is. God the Son became
the Son of Man that we might be called and might become the
sons of God. That's amazing. Isn't that amazing? It's amazing. So in his real
humanity, the Lord Jesus Christ honored the law of God in our
room and place, satisfied the justice of God in our room and
place because we saw in Isaiah that God will see the travail
of his soul and shall be satisfied. That was Christ dying in our
room and place. So his law is satisfied and his
justice is satisfied and his wrath is also extinguished because
it fell upon Christ, right? The wrath due you and I fell
upon him, and he extinguished it. It's gone. So much so that
God says, I don't remember your sins no more. Praise God, there's
not going to be some TV screen, right? Oh my, I'm thankful about
that. My, oh my. My, oh my. So the Lord took in union to
his holy deity, our flesh. but yet apart from sin. He's
perfect. He's sinless. He had no sin.
He did no sin. He knew no sin in order that
he might be the spotless, sinless lamb of God to die for our sin. And he did not fail. And the
Lord Jesus Christ fully accomplished the salvation of his people.
As again, our sins were imputed to him and his perfect spotless
righteousness is imputed to us. And God sees us now clothed in
the righteousness of His Son. And our sins are gone, beloved."
So why did the Lord Jesus Christ die upon a cross? Why didn't
He die some other way? Why couldn't He have been stoned?
Why wouldn't that have been sufficient? Well, they tried to take Him
several times, didn't they? They tried to kill Him. They
tried to stone Him. But he said, my hour has not
yet come. And the scripture declared it, that he's to die upon a tree
for our sins. And this is the reason why he
died upon the cross. He redeemed us out from under
the law. The scriptures declared that's
how he would die. And he died upon the tree because
the sins of his people, they were all laid upon him there.
And he died as a sinner substitute, and he willingly gave up his
life. He's sinless. He willingly gave up his life. The sinless one dying for the
guilty, the innocent, the perfect, spotless lamb of God dying for
sinners. Matthew 1, 21, often heard this
quoted, and she shall bring forth a son and thou shall call his
name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. And
he did it, he did it. So beloved of God, the Lord Jesus
Christ redeemed us from the curse of law, which is death to the
guilty. He's not guilty, but he died
in our room in place, the sinless one, dying for the guilty ones.
It's marvelous. It's marvelous. The king dying
for the peasants. It's amazing. It's amazing. The God dying for his creation,
his sinners, the people he created because of his great love for
us, beloved. In the preaching of the cross,
it's to them that perish foolishness. Oh, but to them who are saved,
it's the power of God, isn't it? It's the power of God. So
the Lord Jesus Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures,
but he's also raised again according to the scriptures. Now what would
we have today if there'd be no resurrection from the dead? Well,
if the Lord wasn't raised the third morning, having accomplished
salvation, if he's still in the grave, if his body's still on
the ground, we have no salvation at all, do we? Because he's raised
for our justification. See, the whole thing hinges not
only upon his death, but upon his resurrection. His life, his death, and his
resurrection. Our salvation hinges on all that.
Oh, it's amazing. Oh my. God provided all that
was needed for our salvation in Christ Jesus our Lord And
he raised him from the dead beloved and he's seated at the right
hand of the father and we will soon be there Glory be to God
Praise his mighty name brother Brian. Will you close us in prayer?
I?