The title of this message is The Exaltation
of Jesus Christ, that one who was despised and rejected of
men is now seated at God's right hand running the whole show. The whole world. He has the whole
world in his name. He sure does. He sure does. That's the truth. The whole world. The whole universe. All angels. All men. All animals. All the fish of the sea, the
fowl of the air. All of them. are in the hands
of the man, Christ Jesus. God told Adam, he said, you have
dominion over all the fish of the sea, the fowl of the air,
the beasts of the field. And Adam messed up. Well, he didn't
more than mess up. He failed. He failed. But the second Adam did not fail,
cannot fail, shall not fail. And he has dominion. And I'm
glad that he does. I'm glad he does. Now I know
that this world as a whole thinks nothing, nothing of the Lord Jesus Christ. I didn't hear one word said about
him on the news this morning. No one spoke his name on the
news as they talked about the world news. His name didn't come
up. All the events going on, His
name did not come up. The snowstorm that went up the
East Coast, His name did not come up. He hath His way in the whirlwind
and in the storm, did not come up. The world thinks nothing
of Him. They attribute it to luck, to
Mother Nature. How foolish. How foolish. to attribute the things that
go on in this world, the things that happen in this world, to
luck, to Mother Nature. They're in the hands of the man,
Christ Jesus. He's been exalted to that place.
The world thinks nothing of Him. But the believer thinks everything
of him. He's everything to us. Is he
not? He is absolutely everything to
the believer. He's our life. He's our bread. He's our drink. He's everything. Without him, I am nothing. He
said, without me, you can do nothing. He's right. You can't even take your next
breath without him. You can't take the next breath without
Him. Your heart won't beat one more
time without Him. I'm not staying alive because
my heart's beating. My heart's beating because I
have life. Life keeps the heart beating. When He takes life away,
your heart will stop beating. It'll stop. It's all in His hands. He's everything
to the believer, though the world thinks nothing of him. He's our
wisdom. Without him, we would not know
God. We would not know God at all. He's our righteousness. He's our sanctification. He is
our redemption. He is. He doesn't just give us
these things. He is these things to us. Not a day goes by that the believer
does not think upon Him. I know you don't think upon Him
all day long. We have so many distractions. But throughout
the day, a thought, a thought will come. Throughout the day,
you'll have a thought of Him. He's everything to us. And the
believer's greatest comfort, this is our greatest comfort,
is exaltation. Our head is lifted up. Our Lord
has been exalted. This one in whom we trust, this
one in whom we follow, has been exalted to the right hand of
God Almighty. He is exalted. The believer has
a real relationship with Christ. There is a real union, a real
union with the Lord Jesus Christ. He's bone of our bone. and flesh
of our flesh. He is our kinsman-redeemer, and
he can identify with us. We have a high priest who can
be touched with the feelings of our impermanence. He's real. The union is real. The unity
there is real. He is really bone of our bone
and flesh of our flesh. He is our brother. Our Lord sits
at God's right hand. Our brother sits at God's right
hand. Our high priest sits at God's right hand. Our greatest comfort is His exaltation.
He's seated at God's right hand. And we have this real unity in
Him. Listen, if God has accepted Him and exalted Him, you know
what that means? That means He's accepted everyone
in Him. And we are exalted. If he is
exalted, so are we. Now, we don't see the full, you
know, we haven't experienced the fullness of that yet, but
we will. We will. In a little while, he
said to his disciples, in a little while, I'll see you again. In
a little while, and I'm telling you, it's just a little while,
and we will experience that exaltation that we have in Christ. Is He
loved of the Father? So are we. So are we. Is He seated at the Father's
right hand? So are we. Where the head is, the body is. And then we take great comfort
in His success. It says in Isaiah 42, My servant
shall not fail. Did he come to save? Better believe
he did. Did he redeem? He sure did. He
will not fail to save everyone for whom he died. Guaranteed. Guaranteed. Every sheep that
was given to him, he will bring home. He said, I'll not lose
one of them. Not a one. I won't lose. He said
not, listen. He said not a hair of your head
shall perish. Not a hair of your head. He knows
the number of the hair on my head. That's amazing. That's amazing. You think you
know somebody? Do you know how many hairs on
their head? That's how well he knows us. That's how connected he is to
us. We don't even begin to know our
children like he knows his children. He knows. We take great comfort in his
success. All things have been placed into
his hands and he shall not fail. He's going to bring us home.
He's going to bring us through every trial, every heartache.
He's going to bring us through it. He will not fail to do that
either. Now what's the reason for his
success? Now, let's look over here and let me read these few
verses to you. Verse 5, let this mind be in
you. Let this attitude be in you.
Cultivate this, because it was in the Lord Jesus Christ, who
being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with
God. The reason for His success is
His person. We are not worshipping some guru,
some religious guru that went about doing good. We are worshipping
God. That's who we're worshipping. He's both God and man. As God,
He could satisfy. As man, He could die. I want you to notice a word in
this verse 6. Speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ,
who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be
equal. Now, it would be robbery for
me to think that I'm equal to God in every way. And when we talk about being
equal, we're talking about being equal in every way. And he thought
it not robbery, because it was not robbery, to be equal on the
same level as God. equal with the Father, not inferior. I know we have the Father, the
Son, and the Holy Spirit, but that does not mean rank here,
that one's above the other. They're all equal. The Son is
equal with the Father, and the Holy Spirit is equal with the
Son and the Father. There's only one God. Don't try to figure that out.
You'll blow a fuse. It's not going to happen. You believe
it. There is only one God. But there's
three distinct persons in the Godhead. He's God. But He's equal. Look over in
John chapter 1, the Gospel of John. This man who was despised
and rejected of men is God manifested in the flesh. He's equal with
the Father. And this is one of the things
that made those Pharisees so mad. Because they understood,
they finally understood that he said, this man's saying he's
the son of God. He ripped her clothes and he
got upset and was going to kill him. They said, he's blasphemous.
He's blaspheming. No, he's telling the truth. He's
telling the truth. Look in verse 14. Well, look
at verse 1. In the beginning was the Word.
The Word was with God and the Word was God. I look down at
verse 14, and the Word was made flesh, and He dwelt among us. He walked
among us. God walked on this earth in the
flesh. He walked among us in the flesh.
That we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten
of the Father, full of grace and truth, full of it. John bear witness of Him. and
cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake. He that cometh
after me is preferred before me, for he was before me. He
is the eternal God, and of his fullness have all we received,
and grace for grace. For the law was given by Moses.
It was given to Moses, and Moses gave it to the Israelites. But
grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. Grace and truth was not
given to Him to give to us. He's the embodiment of it. He
is the literal embodiment of grace and truth, and it came
to us. And His name is Jesus Christ.
No man, no man has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son,
which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him
That's what he came to do. He came to declare the Father,
declare the truth. What is the reason for his success?
He's God. He's God. And then secondly,
because he made himself of no reputation because of what he
did. Now, it's hard not to make yourself of reputation, isn't
it? Even preaching, you think, I wonder if they thought about
that one. Even in preaching, you have to
fight it. It's something you have to fight. But our Lord didn't have to fight
it. He made Himself of no reputation. He did not do a miracle and then
sit back and let them all brag on Him and just drink it all
in. I tell you, one of the hardest
things I believe to do in this flesh is not make yourself a
reputation. Do something and just slip on
out the back door." But he did. He made himself of
no reputation. When he spoke, he spoke of the
Father. He spoke of God. He bragged on
his Father. He didn't brag on himself. He
didn't toot his own horn. He bragged on the Father. And
then he became a servant. He became a servant. He washed
the disciples' feet. He served. He said he came not
to be ministered unto, but to minister, to serve, and to give
his life a ransom for many. That's why he came. He made himself
of no reputation. He became a servant, and he was
made in the likeness of men. He was a real man, real feeling. He groaned in spirit. We read
of Believers in John 11, Lazarus. They were saying, when he could
have raised him up, he's helped other people. And he says he
groaned in spirit. He felt that. He felt that. He felt pain. He felt the hatred
that was cast upon him. He came unto his own, it says,
and his own received him not. He felt that. He felt the pain
of it. You ever been rejected? You and I have never been rejected
like he was rejected. Despised? No one's ever despised
me as much as Jesus Christ was despised. And he felt it. He felt every accusation. When they slapped him, when they
put that crown of thorns on him and drove it down on his head,
he felt that. When he was in the wilderness forty days and
forty nights, hadn't eaten or drank, and it says afterwards
he was hungry, he was hungry! He felt everything that you and
I feel. He felt the curse of sin. When
he was made to be sin, when he was in the Garden of Gethsemane,
and he was sweating great drops of blood, And he says, Father,
if it be possible, let this cut fast for me. I don't think it
was just the being nailed to the cross. That wasn't it. It
was being made sin. Here is a holy man. Here is a
man who knew no sin. We don't know what that's like.
We have no idea what that's all about. He knew no sin. And in that garden, he's made
to be sinned, and it is crushing. He said, if you don't do something,
I'm going to die right here. My soul is sorrowful, exceeding
unto death. If you don't do something, I'm
going to die right here. And he sweat great drops of blood.
I've never sweat, I've never even, I've never felt that kind
of pain or sin. Made in the likeness of men. A real man. Then he died a cursed
death. He did not die an honorable death. He died the death of a criminal.
Crucifixion was saved for the worst of the criminals. I mean
the worst of them. And that's the death he died.
He died a cursed death and he did it willingly. Willingly. And I want you to notice something
here. And this is what we take great comfort in now. We take
great comfort in his exaltation. Let's notice who exalted him. Who exalted him? who exalted
him. It says here, let's start in
verse 6 again, "...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 men, and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled
himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death, the
worst death, the death of the cross. Well, let's take notice of the
person who exalted him. God also has highly exalted him,
giving him a name which is above every name. Think of who God
is. According to the scriptures,
think of who God is. God is the one in Genesis. In the beginning, God created
the heavens and the earth. The One who is eternal, self-existent,
Jehovah, the self-existent One. Infinite in power. God exalted Him. Infinite in
knowledge. Holy. Just. And I could go on and on about
His attributes. This is the One who exalted Him. This is the
One who lifted Him up. This is the One who raised Him
to His right hand. God did it. The one that everyone
has to stand before is the one who exalted Him to His right
hand. God. It says God has highly exalted
Him. Look over in Acts chapter 2. Acts chapter 2. Look in verse Therefore, let all the house
of Israel know assuredly, without doubt, that God hath made that
same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ." Highly
exalted Him. Highly exalted Him. And He's
given Him a name, He says, which is above every name. There's
no name that compares to his name. There is no other person
who can claim the name of Redeemer. There is no other person that
can claim the name King of Kings and Lord of Lords. You see, this
king is not king of a small area. This earth has had its kings. They have dominion over a little
area. Another little area, another
little area. But this king has dominion over
all. The universe, the human race,
the animal kingdom, everything that exists moves or wiggles. He's the king over it. He's the
king. And he's the lord of lords. This is the one who dictates
what goes on every day. This is the one who says, to
the sea, hither shalt thou proud ways come and no further. You
know, a king might go stop a little army or whatever, but the Lord
stops nature. He cried, he said, when they
were on that boat, they said, carest thou not that we perish?
And he said, oh, ye of little faith. And he stood up and he
said, peace be still. And that storm stopped that fast. That's lordship, isn't it? That's
power. Where the word of a king is,
it says, there's what? Power. Where the word of a king
is, there's power. He says to the wind, rise up
or lay down. He says to the snow, be on the
earth or it melts it. Our king does this. Our king doesn't need weapons
that you and I use. We use fighter jets and all that
stuff. He can just send a snowstorm and stop an army. He can drop
the temperature down and stop an army. No challenge to this king. This
king rules and his rule is sovereign. He says, live, you live. If He
leaves you alone, you're left alone. You know what He said
to the disciples concerning the Pharisees? He said, leave them
alone. That is the worst thing that
God could ever say about you. Leave him or her alone. You don't want God to leave you
alone. No, we can leave each other alone. You don't want God
to leave you alone. He's the King of Kings and Lord
of Lords. No name, no name like His name. And note what's going to happen.
God has highly exalted Him. He raised Him, seated Him at
His own right hand. And now listen, verses 10 and
11, that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow of things
in heaven, things in earth and things under the earth, and that
every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory
of God the Father." No defeat here, is there? When I read that
last night, I thought, I wonder where free will is right now. Man talks about his free will,
God not violating his free will, but it says here that every knee
is going to bow. Every tongue is going to confess.
Now, you either confess it now, in faith, or you'll confess it
in torment. But you're going to confess.
Everybody's going to confess. Every knee, every tongue. No one's
going to slip out the back door. Everyone's going to confess that
Jesus Christ, this man who was despised and rejected, this one
who came into the world and the world knew him not, he came into
his own and his own received him not, this man, Every knee's going to bow to
Him. And every tongue's going to confess, yes, you are the
Lord. You are. I'd ten thousand times
rather do it right now. Oh, that God give me the grace
and the ability to confess now that He's Lord. And that's the
judgment when He says, depart from me, I never knew you. Every knee's going to bow. Every
tongue's going to confess. A person may not do it now, but
they will. I promise you. We have to go earn a God on it.
They will. They will. Every Arab over there in the
Middle East is going to confess. Bin Laden's going to confess.
Jesus Christ, You are the Lord. You are the Lord. Hitler, every last one of them,
they're going to confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory
of God the Father. I'm going to leave you with this.
Turn over to Psalm 2. Now God has highly exalted him, seated him at his own right hand, and I'm going to leave you with
this. Psalm 2, verse 12. Kiss the son. Kiss him. Bow down to him. Worship him. Kiss the son lest he be angry. And you perish from the way,
the gospel way. I am the way, the truth, and
the life. When his wrath is kindled, what? Just a little. But a little. That's all. It
doesn't take much to crush us. Just a little. When his wrath is kindled, but
a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in Him.
Happy? Blessed, oh how blessed you are
who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. How blessed you are. How blessed you are that you
have been enabled to kiss the Son, that you have been enabled
to worship Him in spirit and in truth. How blessed you are. You do it. You do it.