Open your Bibles, if you would,
to Philippians chapter 2. Philippians chapter 2. We're
about to enter, last week we first touched on verse 5. This
is one of the most incredible passages in all of Scripture
that brings forth the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ, that he
is God incarnate in the flesh. He's fully human. And yet he's
fully man too or fully fully human yet fully god at the same
time. He's the god man, but before he Became a man He was god in
glory He's the word of god and we're going to look at that today
we're going to be going through some scriptures A lot of cross references
today. I've tried to keep it all within
the same context We'll be in john chapter one and we'll be
in philippians but it's very important to establish this fact
of Christ being equal with God. Christ being equal with God.
So God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are all
equal. They're all God and they're all
equal. And Christ is God the Son incarnate. He's the word
of God incarnate. And everything God has to say
to humanity, he says through Christ. Always and I was listening
to something this week and I I really appreciated what the guy said.
He said We're christocentric in our theology And that's a
good way to describe to people what we are We're christocentric
meaning that we see christ in the old testament and in the
new That he's all through The scriptures and as he told those
on the road to aramaus, he said the law and the prophets they
testify of me So this whole scripture, the Bible is all about Christ. And you know what? I heard this
too and I want to repeat it. God is nowhere glorified more
than in the death of his son. That was a manifestation of giving
God all the glory because Christ was fully obedient to the Father
all the way to death. So it's actually not only is
it the greatest manifest manifestation of love Because christ is dying
on the cross for his people, but it's also the greatest manifestation
of glorifying god My oh my and that's what we seek to do, right?
We seek to glorify god in our lives Just look into christ look into
the one who the father is well pleased with and who we're in
amazing so philippians chapter two again this is one of the
clearest passages in scripture we're going to slow walk this
this whole passage because it's one of the clearest passages
on the deity of christ who is the god man he's god in the flesh
and You really don't have to comment
a lot on the verses. They bring forth themselves,
the fact of Christ's deity. But still, we're gonna look into
studying the words and studying what it says. But you will see
on the surface how much it just magnifies the deity of Christ.
He's fully God and yet fully man. And this again will be bought
so clearly bought forth by God, the Holy Spirit, who uses Paul
as the pen man of this wonderful book. Let's read verses five
to 11 in 2 Corinthians, or I mean, in Philippians chapter two, I'm
sorry. I'm getting ahead of myself here.
Last week, we looked at verse five, 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. Reputation there in the Greek
is emptied himself. He emptied himself, beloved.
He left the glory and splendor of heaven and became to the sin-cursed
world as a man. My oh my. and took upon him the
form of a servant. Now we're all servants of God,
aren't we? We who are born again. We're
servants of God. Christ is the preeminent servant.
We see that right here. He came to serve the Father in
fulfilling the law of God in our room and place perfectly.
And suffering the wrath of God in our room and place perfectly.
Therefore, satisfying both the law of God and the justice of
God, which had a demand upon all of us. And he did that for
his people. It's wonderful. And was made
in the likeness of man. And being found in fashion as
a man, he humbled himself. Oh, how he humbled himself. God
became a man and became obedient unto death. Remember, he's the
sinless one. He became obedient unto death
in our room and place, beloved. For us, because what do we have
to be to be in the presence of God? We have to be perfect, don't
we? Well, we're not perfect. We're imperfect. We're sinners.
Everything we do. I was reading a thing the other
day, and somebody made a comment about sin. They said, well, we
sin at least once an hour. I was like, oh my gosh. Oh my goodness, see, I'm realizing
more and more. And it's just, it's just, it's
just not knowing what sin is. It's not knowing the depths of
sin. Sin is so awful that the son
of God had to become a man to save us from our sins, beloved.
And we know that sin is everything we do. Everything we do is tainted
with sin. And so he's perfect, right? And
we see that clearly right here. He became obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross, the sinless one dying for sinners.
Wherefore, as a result of that, God hath highly exalted him,
and given him a name which is above every name, that at the
name of Jesus, every knee, I mean, everybody who's ever lived, Charlie,
we're talking every nation, Everyone who's ever lived, whether they
love God or hated God, they are going to bow their knee, beloved.
Now, we're going to do it joyfully, like Charlie and I were talking.
We're going to do it with joy, because we're born again. And
the only one who made us to differ from those who don't do it joyfully
is God. But they're going to be made
to bow their knee. That's the name of Jesus. Every
knee should bow of things in heaven and things in the earth
and things under the earth. And now look at this. They're
also going to be made to confess Christ. They hated Christ in
the life, just like we did before we were saved. We went from rebels
to ones who praise him. Confess Him as our Lord and Savior. Confess Him as Lord over all.
Look at this. They're going to be made to confess
Him. Not in a saving manner, but to acknowledge His Lordship.
And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is
Lord to the glory of God the Father and all how God's glorified
in Christ. Again, last week we looked at
having the mind of Christ, which is being humble. Humbleness.
Humbleness. Not esteeming ourselves better
than anyone, but esteeming others better than ourselves. Think
of this, our Savior, what an example. He became a servant. Beloved, we become servants by
God's grace. We're not servants when we're
in our natural state. We want nothing to do with God.
But now, sister, we're servants, aren't we? Willingly, too. People
say, well, you're a bunch of robots. No, I'm willingly a servant. I want to serve Christ, do you?
I want to hear the gospel. I'm no puppet. But if I was a
puppet, I'd rather be a puppet for God than anybody else, right?
Oh, we were made willing in the day of God's power. And we're
still willing by the power of God. My oh my, it's wonderful. Oh, Philippians 4.8, turn over
there with Philippians 4.8 quick. Paul in effect is saying, when
he says, let this mind be in you that was in Christ, in effect
he's saying, think this way, beloved, think this way. Think
as others better than yourselves, as he said earlier. That's humbling,
isn't it? I've said this many times and
constantly as I was looking at commentators, they were all saying
this. What Brother Scott Richardson used to say, the ground at the
foot of the cross is level. There's no two-tier for the preacher. No, we're all blood-bought saints,
beloved. We stand on the same ground.
I'm called to preach, which is a great blessing, but I'm no
better than anyone else. As a matter of fact, I esteem
you better than myself. My oh my. And that's how we should,
right? Look at over here in chapter
four, verse eight. Finally, brethren, whatsoever
things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things
are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely,
whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any virtue,
if there be any praise, think on these things. Now turn if
you would to Matthew chapter 18. Oh my. See, the Son of God came to seek
and to save that which is lost, right? Well, we were lost sinners, weren't
we? And He saved us. And Matthew 18 brings forth that
we are not to despise our brethren. We are not to look down on our
brethren. No matter how much we've learned,
No matter where we are in the state of life, we are not to
look down on our brethren at all. Because do you know why? We're all a bunch of sinners.
Sister Dee, you and I are saved by the same grace. The grace
of God in Christ. Washed in the same blood and
got the same spirit in us. Right? That's what it is. So if we look at each other as
blood-bought sinners, then we realize I can't say nothing about
that person because I'm no better myself. You know, before the Lord saved
me, I was in religion and I used to say, you guys have heard me
say this and it's worth repeating it, I used to say, how can that
person be a Christian and do that stuff? Now I look back and
I'm like, oh Lord, please forgive me for saying those things. I'm
such a wretch. Right? We see ourselves as the
chief of sinners now. That's why it's not hard to esteem
others better than ourselves, beloved. Because they're just,
we're all just a bunch of sinners saved by the grace of God. It's
wonderful, isn't it, Charlie? My look at this in Matthew 18
verses 10 to 14 Take heed that you despise not one of these
little ones For I say unto you that in heaven their angels do
always behold the face of my father which is in heaven For
the Son of Man is coming now. Here's here's why he came Here's
why Christ came to save that which was lost and sinners like
you and i brother charlie came to save sinners he saved us we
were lost man he saved us how think ye if a man of a hundred
sheep and one of them be gone astray doth he not leave the
99 and goeth to the mountains and seek that that which is gone
astray and if it so be that he find
it verily I say unto you he rejoices more of that sheep than of the
ninety-nine which went not astray. Even so, it is not the will of
your Father, which is in heaven, that one of these little ones
should perish." Now, our Lord tells them, too,
not to despise the brethren. It's not despise in the text,
but in the Greek, it's don't look down at your brethren. were all those lost sheeps. Every
one of us is that lost sheep in that text. Every one of us
who are saved by the grace of God, we are that lost sheep.
And Christ came and found us, didn't he? He found us in our
depravity, didn't he, brother? He found us dead in trespasses
and sins, and he made us alive, born again by the Holy Spirit
of God. My, and he did that for every
single one of his blood bought people. So we're to esteem others
better than ourselves. So Paul's speaking this way again
because the circumstances that the believers in Philippi are
going through could bring forth, could bring forth, which are,
they're going through divisions, they're going through persecutions
by their own people. They have false teachers in the
midst. So those things could make men choose sides among themselves. And what's the obvious result
when you start getting parties and sides? Someone's going to
get the short end of the stick, isn't he? Yeah. Yeah. Someone, that's called
division. Can two walk together except
they be agreed? So Paul, that's why Paul's stressing
unity, beloved. That's why the unity we have
is so precious. Because Paul's stressing that.
Unity. Unity. Unity. In Christ. In Christ. It's wonderful. It's absolutely
wonderful. And think of this. Look at verse
6. Who being in the form of God
thought it not robbery to be equal with God. They're in unity.
The Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit are in unity. Right? The everlasting covenant.
The Father said, I'll give a people to Christ. Christ said, I'll
die for them. The Holy Spirit said, I'm going to go fetch them
and regenerate them. They're all in agreement, in unity. And
so that's why the amazing verse over there in Matthew 18, 11,
for the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost. The
Father's in agreement, the Son's in agreement, and the Holy Spirit's
in agreement. And then that's manifested by
Christ coming to this earth. And look at this verse. He thought
it not robbery to be equal with God. Because he is God. Isn't it wonderful? Our Savior
is God. The one who holds our souls,
beloved, is God. Is God. Now turn, if you would,
to John chapter 1. John chapter 1. We're going to
see how these verses tie into that verse 6. I'm going to read
verse 6 again in Philippians 2 while you turn there. Who being
in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with
God. Okay? So Christ is the Messiah. He's the sent one. And he's sent
from heaven, isn't he? He sent from heaven to come to
this sin-cursed world to save his people from their sins. Now
look at this in John chapter 1. So there in Philippians chapter
2 verse 6, the deity of Christ is proclaimed. He's God. Now
look at this corresponding text in John chapter 1. Look at verses
1 and 2. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning
with God. So each book in the Bible has
a prominent and dominant theme, which is particular to the theme
of John's Gospel. What John's Gospel brings forth
is the deity of Christ. The deity of Christ. Now, here
we are having the scripture, the Godhead of Christ. It's presented
to us for our viewing here, the relation
of Christ to time in the beginning. He existed before time and space
was even made. He dwells from everlasting, do
you ever think of that? In the beginning, that's the
beginning of time, isn't it? There was no time, because he dwells
outside of time and space. Time was made for us. Isn't that amazing? This earth
was made for God's elect. Oh my. In the beginning, that
means he's eternal. That shows us his eternality.
Number two, the relation of Christ to the Godhead, with God. In the beginning was the word,
and the word was with God. With God. He's one of the Holy
Trinity. Then the relation of Christ to
the Holy Trinity was God. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Oh, my. So He's the divine revealer. Then the relation of Christ to
the universe. Oh, my. That's found in verse
three, all things were made by him. He's the creator. And then the revelation of Christ
the man. He's the light in the life of
man. My oh my. So we see that John
opens by immediately presenting Christ, not as the son of David,
even though He is. He opens with the deity of Christ. He opens presenting Christ as
the Word of God. The Son of God, which again is
the theme of this book, the deity of Christ. In the beginning,
that's of creation, the beginning of time, Or as Moses wrote in
Genesis 1.1, in the beginning, God. There he is. There's the Word of God. But Christ was not only from
the beginning. He's from everlasting. He's the
Word of God. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same, the
same was in the beginning. Oh my, He's God. The same was in the beginning
with God. We can go back to the most remotest
point that can even be imagined. Without beginning, Turn, if you would, to John 17,
but keep your finger there in John 1. Do you know that before
there was ever anything, Christ was with God in his glory? And
that's what it means when he emptied himself. He became a
man. He was with God. He was God. And look at this,
and I love this. John 17, oh, what a chapter. What a chapter. Look at this,
though, in verse 5. This shows us His eternality.
And now, O Father, glorify Thou me with Thine own self, with
the glory which I had with Thee, what? Before the world was. John 17, 5. And now, O Father, glorify Thou
me with Thine own self, with the glory which I had with Thee,
before the world was. Brother Charlie, he just proclaimed
that he is the great I Am. He's God. He's co-equal with
the Father. He's co-equal with the Holy Spirit.
He's from the beginning, before anything, from everlasting, sister. That's our Savior. That's our
Lord. My, what a Savior. What a King. My, oh my. Was the word let's go back to
your text was the word it's it's an expression therefore the Word
of God then is deity expressing itself This is why Christ is called
the Word of God He's called the Word of God. He's he's God's
final spokesman He's God himself Not just a prophet. He's a prophet. But not just
a prophet. He's prophet, priest, and king,
isn't he? He's God incarnate in the flesh. And he came to
save his people, brother, with the shedding of that precious
blood of his. And he redeemed us. He's redeemed us, sister. We're redeemed by the blood of
the Lamb. No wonder we can sing victory
in Jesus. Because He's got it all. He conquered
it all. Conquered our sin. He conquered
death. He conquered Satan. He's conquered everything. And
everything's at His feet. Everything. Oh my. And also, he's God's alphabet,
isn't he? He's the Alpha and the Omega,
and everything in between, which is the Greek word for A to Z,
Alpha and the Omega. Jesus Christ our Lord declared,
or told forth the Father. He said, I'm not come to do my
will, I come to do the Father's will. A word is the means of manifestation,
communication, and revelation. And Christ manifests the invisible
God. He's God in the flesh. He communicates the love and
mercy of God, which are found in Him, and reveals the attributes
and perfections of our great God. Then it says, the word was
with God, This tells of his separate personality, beloved, of the
great three-in-one. Right? The Father, the Son, and
the Holy Spirit. Three, yet one. Our God is one God, yet the Father
is not the Son, and the Son is not the Father, and the Holy
Spirit is not the Father or the Son, but the three are one. My oh my. All co-equally God. Don't ask me explain that. I
just believe it by faith, right? People start trying to explain
things that are mysteries. We get ourselves in all kinds
of hot water. The scripture declares and I
believe it. Do you? Amen, right? That's good enough. That's all
we need. And it says the word was God
or God was the word. The name God is common to the
three persons of the Holy Trinity. So, and think of this, so fully
and perfectly did Christ reveal God that he could say, he revealed
God so perfectly that he could say this, he that has seen me
has seen the Father. My oh my. Now look at verse three
of John chapter one. All things were made by him,
and whether him was not anything made, that was made. Do you see
how we're seeing, like it says in our text in Philippians, that
he thought it not robbery to be equal with God? Do you see
what's being bought forth here? How his deity, he's God. And here in verse three, creation
is ascribed to the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at that. All things were made by Him.
Nothing that's not made by Him. And without Him was not anything
made that was made. Only God can create something
out of nothing. Right? We need lumber to build
a house. We need nails. We need all these
things. God just spoke this creation
into existence. Isn't that amazing? People say,
oh, we've got to protect the trees, got to protect all the
water. God, do you ever stop and think that for 6,000 years,
this earth has never run out of wood? And it's never run out
of water? And there's plenty of oil? You ever think of that? It's
amazing. God has made this earth where
it replenishes. And it all, you know how it does
that? By his power. By Christ's power. Not by man. Oh my. We little humans think we're
something when we're nothing, right? Right? But we are God's
jewels. You ever think, don't, isn't
that amazing? God's people are His jewels. So everything we see in this
whole creation is ascribed to the Word that He created it all.
All things, visible and invisible. He's omnipotent. He's God incarnate
in the flesh. He's God our Savior. Now look
at verse 4. In Him was life, and the life
was the light of man. It's God who gives breath. It's
God who gives life. If Christ created all things,
and he did, which verse three brings out so clearly, then is
not he the fountain of life? Is he not the life giver? Life here is used in its widest
sense, and of course, Christ is the spiritual life of believers,
but all creatures, find life in Christ. He gives them life. He gives them life. Now, he's
given us something that natural man doesn't have when they're
born. He's given us spiritual life. But we're born again by
the Holy Spirit of God, aren't we? We're taken from the kingdom
of darkness, which we love to dwell in, to the kingdom of God's
marvelous light, which now we're absolutely amazed we're part
of. all because of his grace and mercy, and because of the
transforming power of God, the Holy Spirit. We must preach the Father, Son,
and the Holy Spirit. We must. Without the Holy Spirit,
there's no regeneration. Without the Son, there's no redemption.
Without the Father, there's no one in Christ. Therefore, we
can conclude Jonah 2.9, Salvation of the Lord. from beginning to
end, right? From its planning, from its execution,
and according to His will and purpose. It's wonderful. The light speaks of a relation
which Christ sustains to all men, and that He is their light.
This is confirmed, and look at verse 9, John 1, 9. That was the true light which
lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He's the life
giver. Little Tucker, he's got life
because God gave it to him. Isn't that wonderful? It's amazing. And even the animals and the
birds we see, every creature, they have life because Christ
gave it to them. That's wonderful, isn't it? And then look at verse five.
Now here we're gonna see the effects of the fall. And the light shineth in darkness,
and the darkness comprehendeth not. That's us in our natural
state. We cannot comprehend the things
of God. Verse 5, we see the effects of the fall. Every man, woman
that comes into this world is lightened by his Creator. He
gives them life. He gives them life. But unregenerate
man loves darkness rather than the light. And I can testify
of that, can you, before we were saved? It's true, isn't it sister? We love the darkness. But praise
God, we love the light now. And we know who he is. The light
of the world, the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, and he's brought
us to the light, hasn't he? He brought us to himself. It's
wonderful. It's absolutely wonderful. Oh
my. And then look at verse 14. I'm
going to read our text again in Philippians 2, but stay right
there in John chapter 1. Our text, look at this. It says,
Now we saw in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with
God, and the Word was God. Now look at John 1 14. Oh, here
it is. Here it is. This is beautiful. Buckle up. And the Word, was made flesh. The One who was before all time. The One who was from the beginning.
The One who created all things. The One who everything is subject
to Him. The One who tells the Father
in John 75, give me the glory again that I had with thee. Before
the world was, the word was made flesh and dwelt among us. Like
we dwell among one each other. And we beheld, see John was an
eyewitness, wasn't he? We beheld his glory. Just like
we behold one another, John beheld Christ. He saw him. The glory
is of the only begotten, the Father. Look at this, I love
this. Full of grace, full, overflowing, full of grace and truth, full. And that grace, that grace is
manifested to us, isn't it? When we see him on the cross
dying for our sins. Oh my, and then that grace is
given to us. For by grace he is saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves. It's a gift of God, not of works,
lest any man should boast. So look at this and marvel. And
the Word was made flesh. He became what he previously
was not. God became a man, and yet he
did not cease to be God. He thought it not robbery to
be equal with God. Remember our text? He didn't
cease to be God, and yet he's fully man, and he's fully God. My, oh my. He was and is the
perfect man, with a union of two natures. Right? The Son of God and man, and yet,
See, his nature wasn't tainted like ours is. Because he was
conceived by the Holy Spirit of God. We're conceived by our mom and
dads, getting together, right? So sinners begot sinners, don't
they? Right? Oh my, oh my. Oh my, now this is a mystery.
This hypostatic union, this God-man is a mystery. But it's true. It's true. He was the God-man,
yet the divine and the human in him were never confounded.
His deity, though veiled, was never laid aside. His humanity,
though sinless, was a real humanity. And the union of the two natures
in the person of Christ was necessary in order to fit him for the work
of redemption as our mediator. You know why? Because God cannot
suffer and die, can he? But man can. Man can. Man cannot satisfy the
holiness of God and the justice of God and the law of God, right? But God can. The God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ,
the very lawgiver, fulfilled his own law. Marvel at that. in our room and place. The sinless
one died for sinners. Infinite justice demanded the
death of us. So Christ dies in our room and
place. And he's been touched with the
feelings of our infirmities, yet without sin. He was hungry. He was a man of sorrows, acquainted
with grief. He wept when Lazarus died. Oh my. So the duality of nature
was plainly taught in the Old Testament prophecies of the Messiah. He was the woman's seed. He was
a prophet like Moses. He was a lineal descendant of
David, a man of sorrows. Yet on the other hand, he was
to be God with us. Our savior. That's the Messiah. He's called the mighty God in
the Old Testament. He's Jehovah, has come to his
temple. And he was to be born, he who
was born in Bethlehem, the Messiah, is ruler of all. That's the Lord
Jesus Christ, beloved. And then verse 14 brings forth,
he dwelt, that means he tabernacled among us. The reference here
is to the tabernacle in the wilderness. It foreshadowed the incarnate
Son. It was humble on the outside. It didn't look any different
than any of the other tents. But on the inside is where the
Shekinah glory of God dwelt. Oh my, glorious inside. It was God's dwelling place.
His glory was revealed there. It was a place where God met
man and where the sin offering, the atonement was made. It was
the place of worship and the place where the law was preserved.
Who preserved the law for us? Christ did, didn't he? Then we
read in verse 14, and we beheld his glory, his essential glories,
his divine attributes and perfections are all seen in Christ. He is
omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent. And his moral glories or holiness
is perfect. He has no blemish. He's the perfect spotless lamb
of God. And his official glories, such
as the covenant of grace, his priesthood, his wisdom, and his
kingship are all manifested in him. And then his acquired glories,
which every knee shall bow. He's received the name above
all names, that every knee should bow and every tongue should confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
He's also the gift of God, and he's the hope of every born-again,
blood-washed saint, isn't he? He's our hope. And he's the only
one who's redeemed us from all our sins by his precious, precious
blood shed for the remission of our sins. Let's go back again
to second or to Philippians chapter two and we'll get ready to close
here. Verse six, who being in the form of God thought it not
robbery to be equal with God. So marvel at what we looked at
today. The apostle Paul begins the setting forth of Christ divinity. He's fully God and fully man.
He's fully God. He's equal with the Father and
he's equal with the Holy Spirit of God in his essential nature
and Godhead. Who being in the form of God
in whom it was not robbery to be equal with God because he
is God. He is God. Now, if there was no other portions
of scripture which openly and fully declared the essential
divinity of Christ, this most plainly reveals it. and we just
begun we just begun to god be the glory honor and praise my
oh my what a savior what a redeemer is jesus christ our lord brother
brian can you close us in prayer