Philippians chapter 2, verses
1 through 11. This is Paul's letter we have
before us here, an amazing letter. It's amazing, it's a miracle
that we have it. I don't know if you've ever,
you know, I opened the Bible this morning at my study, And
it occurred to me again that, you know, that I have the Word
of God here before me as a miracle of God. These letters were written,
this letter was written by Paul when he was in Rome in prison
around 60, around the year 60, when Nero was in power in Rome. He went in power when he was
17 years old, and he's about 23, about 23 years old when Paul
wrote this letter. And the occasion of this letter,
the reason Paul wrote it was that the church at Philippi, to whom the church there was,
Paul was very dear to them dear to him. He was the first
preacher of the gospel to them. And he communicated with them
often. And they spoke of him. They considered him in their
thoughts and their prayers when they come together, knowing that
he was in prison for the gospel. He was, of course, God's prisoner. He said, I'm not a prisoner of
Rome, not a prisoner of Nero. I'm a prisoner the Lord Jesus
Christ, He put me here. And from the time of His conversion,
and even in His conversion, Paul faced many adversaries, a lot
of adversity. And he learned from those things.
He learned from those things. And he was the one that said,
whatever state I'm in, whatever condition I'm in, he said, the
Lord's taught me to be content. And he's set in prison in Rome,
he wrote those people he loved a letter, as often God's preachers
do when they're away, he wrote them a letter. He was being visited
by two men, one of them, I know his name, I don't know the other
one's name, Epaphroditus was one of them, and he sent this
letter back to them by these men. And here in chapter 2, the
apostle encourages the saints. He wanted to be an encouragement
to them. They were kind of discouraged because he was in prison. And
he wanted to encourage them. And it's always good to try to
encourage one another, isn't it? All the time, especially
in hard times and difficult times. And here it's kind of ironic.
Paul was in prison and he was writing a letter of encouragement
to those that weren't in prison. They were doing fine. But he wanted to encourage them
because they were, in a sense, discouraged. Paul's letters are always an
encouragement to us. They were inspired by God. This
letter is not only a letter to the church at Philippi, but this
is a letter to us. and it's encouragement to us.
But there's three things that stand out to me in this passage. It's their union and fellowship
in Christ and in his gospel, which the whole letter alludes
to this. He reminds them that they're
brothers and sisters, that they're united together. And truly their
fellowship is with the Lord Jesus Christ. You're together. We're together. He said, even
though I'm in prison, I'm with you in spirit. You're my brother
and sister. We're together. And the Lord
is doing as He pleases with me and He is with you. And let's
remember this. We're a fellowship. We're together. We may be separated by miles,
and there may be a prison door between us, but we're together. We're one in the Lord Jesus Christ. He comforts them, gives them
consolation, which he mentions here in verse 1 of chapter 2. He said if there is any consolation
in Christ, and of course there is, he was just reminding them
of this, that there's mercy and comfort in the Lord Jesus Christ. But he comforts them not only
by reminding them their union and fellowship in Christ's gospel,
but he reminds them of the sufferings of the Lord Jesus Christ. You
know, I may suffer and you may suffer, but our sufferings is
not to be compared to His sufferings. There's no merit in our sufferings,
but there's merit in His sufferings. Remember that. And we should
be willing to suffer for Him, and we should be willing to suffer
for each other. Look how He suffered for us. You know, this should
be a glorious thing to be able to suffer for Christ and His
gospel and for one another. This is a good thing. He reminded
them the sufferings of the Lord Jesus Christ and of the exaltation
of Christ, His accomplishment and glorification. He reminded
them of what really matters, what really makes a difference,
the Lord Jesus Christ and His sufferings and His exaltation. He further exhorts them to persevere
in love and care for each other because He said there's reason
for this, there's reason for it. Not for reward or not just
to be doing something for somebody, but in consideration of that
union that they have in Christ. in consideration of that spiritual
union that binds us together, being partakers together in both
his sufferings and in his exaltation. He reminds him of this union. And this is not only written
for their consolation, but this is inspired, and I have it here,
December the 13th, 2009, I have this letter of comfort. This was written to all believers,
inspired of God. It's for ours as well. Our great
comfort is in knowing Christ. It's in knowing Christ. He says
there's any consolation in Christ. Well, there could be consolation
in Christ, but if we didn't know Christ, it wouldn't be any comfort
to us, would it? Christ suffered and died and
rose from the dead and now ascended to glory, but those that don't
know him don't find any help or any comfort in that. But he
was writing to believers. He was writing to the church.
And our great comfort, those that know Christ, is knowing
Christ suffered for us and now reigns for us. We're coming up on the Christmas
season, 25th of December. That's when men say they celebrate
the birth of Christ, which I doubt very much. We celebrate everything
else but the Lord Jesus Christ. We ought to celebrate Him every
day, His birth. But the Lord Jesus Christ is the one we celebrate,
we look to, Look to Him at all times, not
just certain times of the year. This is the good news of the
gospel. He reigns for us. He's not in the manger. He was. He was in the womb of Mary, wasn't
He? He was a fetus in the womb of a woman that had never been
with a man. In nine months after the Holy
Ghost overshadowed her and she conceived, she brought forth
a son. And this is the Son of God, not
just another Jew, but this is the Son of God. He's not in that
manger now, not in the womb, not in the manger. We don't worship
Mary. We don't worship Bethlehem. We don't worship a manger. We
don't care anything about the nativity scenes and all of the
things. Up the road they have a live
nativity scene across from our house. We don't get invited on. I don't know what you do, and
I ain't telling you what to do, but I don't care for that. The Lord Jesus
Christ, He's born. He lived 33 and a half years
without sin. He died on a cross. He rose from
the dead. And he ascended into glory, and
now he sits on the right hand of God. That's our consolation. That's our consolation. He is.
The Lion of the tribe of Judah hath prevailed. Revelation 5,
5. He prevailed. That's the reason
he sits there. Paul said, I want to give you
some consolation. give you some hope that he's
raised from the dead. Now, after he suffered, he's
raised from the dead, and now he sits on the right hand of
God. Isaiah said it like this. You
know, the gospel's always been a comfort. The gospel was preached
in the Old Testament times, too. Christ was preached by the prophets. Sure he was. God told Isaiah,
he said, comfort my people. Comfort them. How am I going
to comfort your people? Tell them their warfare is accomplished,
that their warfare is accomplished. They couldn't keep the law and
the Lord Jesus Christ kept it for them. They couldn't put away
their sin, the Lord Jesus Christ put it away for them. They're
doubly blessed. They have His righteousness and they have no
sin. The Lord they receive from the Lord's hand double. for all
her sins. In verse 1 here in our text,
he said, If there therefore be any consolation of Christ, if
any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels
and mercies, and there is, we are consoled by Him several ways. One, in His promises, in His
covenant promises. This thing didn't begin 2,000
years ago or 6,000 years ago. It didn't begin in time, it began
in eternity. We can take comfort in that,
that the Lord Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God. God made
promises to his people in Christ before the world began. He said,
comfort my people with these things. He said, tell them of
the suffering of Christ and exaltation of Christ. And that's what I
want to talk about this morning, primarily is Christ's exaltation.
But, and I don't think this is taking away from his exaltation. I think as a matter of fact,
this must be said to bring us up to his exaltation because
he was humiliated and therefore he was exalted. One of His covenant
promises is this, and this is not just the promise of God the
Father, this is the promise of God the Father, God the Son,
and God the Spirit. He said, I will be their God,
and they shall be My people. Who is your God? Who is your
God? Who do you worship? Don't we
worship the Lord Jesus Christ? He said, when you come together
in My name, when two or three gathered in my name to worship."
He said, I'll be right there with them. We worship the Lord
Jesus Christ. He is our God. He's God manifest
in the flesh. We worship the man Christ Jesus.
There's no worshiping God the Father except we worship him
in Christ. He said, I'll be their God and they shall be my people,
the object of my worship. He said, this too, this is one
of His promises. Do you ever feel like you're
alone? You're just alone. God's people are never alone. He said, I'll never leave you.
And I know we quote that a lot and you hear it a lot and we
see it on plaques and all that, but it's not meaningless. Think
on it. This is a promise to his children. Here Paul was in prison. He was
visited by these two brethren, and he got word from the church
at Philippi, the people there he loved, and preached the gospel
to. They loved him, but Paul was in prison. And he was assured
of this, and he wanted to assure them that he wasn't alone in
that prison cell. And no matter if you're in a
prison cell or if you're in a crowd or in your multitude, you're
never alone. He said, I'll never leave you.
I'll never leave you. He didn't give any conditions.
He didn't say if, he just said, I'll never leave you and I'll
never forsake you. I'll never leave you, and I'll
never forsake you." And he said, I'm with you always, even to
the end of the world. And this is another word of consolation.
He said, I'll be merciful to your unrighteousness. Oh, we're unrighteous, aren't
we? He said, I'm going to show you
mercy. And he said, there are sins and
iniquities, I'm not going to remember against them anymore.
I won't never leave you, forsake you, be with you always. I'll be merciful to you." And
he said, I won't remember your sins against you anymore. This
is the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the one that was the
reason for Paul being in prison. And he said, I'm a bond slave
of Christ. I'm comforted by Him. He is with
me. And He said, I want you to know
that He's always with you. If there's any consolation in
Christ, think on these things. Think on His suffering and His
death, His promises. In Hebrews 7.25, He said, He
is able also to save them to the uttermost
that come unto God by Him. seeing He ever lives, He ever
lives to make intercession for them. Here He tells us in these
11 verses that the Lord Jesus Christ suffered and died, and
that God highly exalted Him. This man, Christ Jesus, set Him
on His right hand, and He's there to make intercession
for us. He's there to help us. He's there
to provide for us. He is there for us. Think on
these things. Let this be your consolation.
You remember, this is His name, the consolation of Israel. Did
you know that? I didn't know that until this
week. I really didn't. I'm learning something. You remember when Samian and
Luke chapter 2, I believe it is, waited for Christ. He knew the Old Testament scriptures.
He knew that the Messiah was to come. And somehow the Lord
had spoken to him or revealed to him that he'd not die until
he saw the Messiah. And there he was in the temple,
day after day after day. And in every baby they'd bring
in, he'd look at it, I guess. I would assume. No, that's not,
no. One day Mary came in with the
Lord Jesus Christ in her arms, according to the custom of the
law, to be purified. She come in and he pulled the
blanket back and looked. And do you know what he said?
He said, I've seen the consolation of Israel. That's who that is,
the consolation. If there be any consolation in
Christ, He said, now let thy servant die in peace. This is
what living on this earth is all about. This is the end of
our purpose here on earth, is to know the Lord Jesus Christ.
The consolation of Israel, this is a name for the Messiah. It was not just that he would
console Israel, but this is his name, the consolation of Israel.
The Greek word is translated comforter, the comforter of Israel. I'll not try to pronounce that
Greek word. I have it written down here.
I'll not try to pronounce it. But it's the same used in Isaiah
12 and 1 and Isaiah 49, 13 In John 14, 6, when the Comforter
has come, the Comforter has come, the Spirit of God has come, this
is Christ in you. This is Christ in you. He comes
to our very hearts and He abides within us. The consolation of
Israel, the consolation of the church, the consolation of God's
people. In Isaiah 12 and 1, And in that
day thou shalt say, O Lord, I will praise thee. Though thou wast
angry with me, thine anger is turned away, and you comforted
me." The Lord Jesus Christ bore the anger of God for us. He suffered
for us. He suffered for our sin. And
in that suffering, we're comforted. And we're comforted in Christ.
Sing, O heavens, and be joyful, O earth, and break forth into
singing, O mountains, for the Lord hath comforted his people."
Now, the only comfort for sinners, as I've said and I'll probably
repeat it a dozen times, the only comfort for sinners, the
only consolation, real consolation, is the Lord Jesus Christ. And those here that don't know
him, if there's anyone that don't, and you youngsters, it's impossible. Don't be amazed that you can't
grasp everything, because this is a spiritual book. These words and what I'm saying,
what the Scripture is saying, can only be understood and believed
by faith, because we can't see Christ. We can't know Him in
the flesh like we know each other in the flesh. This is something,
this is the work of God that we see Him and know Him and are
comforted in Him. If the Lord is pleased to save
us, we'll be able to believe. How do you believe? I don't know. God just gives faith. And we
believe. It's like a blind man, this is
an illustration given in the Scripture, like a blind man that's
never seen before and one day he has sight and he sees. You
know it. One time I didn't know him and
now I do. One time I didn't believe and
now I do. One time I didn't have any consolation, didn't have
any hope. Just all confused. But now, I
know him. I'm consoled. I have hope. And
He'll have mercy upon His afflicted. He's the consolation of the children
of God, the consolation of the church. I found this in a hymn
book. We sing it sometimes. I believe
we sing this. All the way my Savior leads me.
All the way. Not just part of the way. What
have I to ask beside? If He's leading me, what have
I to ask? What else is there? Can I doubt
His tender mercy? He suffered for me because He
loved me. He arose and now He sits on the
throne of God making intercession for me. Can I doubt His tender
mercy who through life has been my guide? Heavenly peace, divinest
comfort, divine comfort, not comfort like the world gives,
Do you know how the world is comforted? In the things of the
world. To have comfort and enjoyment
and peace, everything in the world has got to be right. You've
got to have things right and it will never be right, just
temporarily. But in Christ, we have heavenly peace, the peace
of God, divine comfort. here by Him in faith to dwell. For I know what error befalls
me, Jesus does all things well." He does, doesn't He? He does
all things well. Now He reigns upon the throne
of grace. Let us come boldly, come with
assurance, come knowing, come trusting to the throne of grace. That's where grace comes from,
where it's dispensed from. It's where we receive it from,
from the throne. That's a place of power and authority.
And the one that sits there is He that suffered and is now highly
exalted. He's on the throne of grace. He's not powerless. He's powerful. Let us come boldly to the throne
of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in our
time of need. Now let me say something concerning
this. I feel like most of the time,
and I'm sure if we're honest we'd say this too, that I have
some physical need. I have some temporal need. I
need this and I need that. That's what we say, I need this
and I need that. But I think primarily, he knows
what we need, the temporal things. He knows all the things we need
spiritually. But what he's speaking of here is we need His righteousness. We need sins forgiven. We need
that touch from above. We need His hand upon us. We
need to see Him. We need Him. Give me Christ lest
I perish. We come to Him for help in a
time of need. I need more faith. I'm in need
spiritually. And He supplies that need. In
Romans 8, 28, for we know that all things, all things in heaven,
all things on earth, work together for good to them that love God.
To them are the called according to His purpose. To them that
love Him. Paul said, I love Him. The church
at Philippi loved Him. They loved each other. And their
love for Him and His love for them is what bound them together
in this felony. The love of Christ. You know,
Scripture tells us, Paul wrote to the church at Corinth, and
he said, if I give all that I have, give my body to be burned, and
know all things, and can do all things, don't have love, don't
have charity, It don't profit me nothing. It's no good. Don't
have love. And this is the thing that binds
us together. Why did Christ suffer for us? Because He loved us.
And His sufferings were consoled in His love. When I see His sufferings,
I see how much He loved me. Say this, if God be for us, who
can be against us? If I'm in jail for Christ's sake,
for the gospel's sake, you know it would be interesting. One
of the prophets wrote something like this. He said, if the footmen
tire you, what's going on with the horses? What do you do with
the horses? How are you going to contend with the horses? If
you can't contend with a rainy day and an achy head Little trivial things, what are
you going to do when the persecution comes, when the real trial comes?
If you can't contend with a footman, you can't run with him, what
are you going to do when you have to contend with the horses? What
are you going to do then? It would be interesting to see for
myself and for all of us. What we do under persecution.
Real persecution. Do you know what the world is
doing to us right now as believers? Ignoring us. That's about it. They could care less what we
say or what we do. They don't care. But Paul was
in prison. And all the apostles were killed
for Christ except John. And he was abandoned on the Isle
of Patmos, wrote the book of Revelation. And these days may not come,
but this time comes in other ways. And sometimes we just,
we don't know it. There's a point that God brings
his people to that's a trial of faith that's equivalent to
the suffering of death. And he brings us to the place
that he says you're going to have to give it up, and a believer
will give it up, and those that are not won't. And we may not even know when
it happens. Let us consider his exaltation.
Wherefore, because he was successful in the accomplishment of that
for which he suffered, wherefore, previously to what he wrote here,
Wherefore, because he has suffered, and he alludes to it again in
this passage, his sufferings, therefore God has highly exalted
him. He suffered and is highly exalted. He was successful in
that accomplishment. He was successful in his sufferings.
His sufferings were not for naught. They were not in vain. They accomplished
what he intended for his sufferings to accomplish. He said there
is consolation in Christ. There is mercy in Him because
He accomplished something in His sufferings and in His death.
He pleased God in His glorifying work. God is pleased. God is pleased in Christ, by
Christ. God is pleased. God can be comforted. God is not angry. But peace has
been made through the blood of His cross. It has been made to
the point and to the end that God has highly exalted Him when
His sufferings were finished. Wherefore? Because He sinned
not in His flesh. The Lord Jesus Christ sinned
not. That's what our context, our
text tells us here in Philippians 2 verses 1-11. That He did not
sin in His sufferings. That He was perfect in His sufferings.
He was tried and tested. in every way, yet He didn't sin. That's our consolation. We sin
continually. We sin in our prosperity. We
sin in our poverty. We sin in our sufferings, but
not Him. The Lord Jesus Christ didn't
sin in His flesh and all of His sufferings. be consoled because
of this. He suffered for us. He satisfactorily
bore the penal judgment of His people's sins. He satisfactorily was judged and bore the punishment
for your sins to the satisfaction of God. He earned His appointed
place at the right hand of God. Therefore, God has highly exalted
Him. He earned His appointed place.
He had to be obedient unto death. He had to fulfill the law in
every aspect, every point, perfectly, without error, because He did this as a man. And He could do no less because
He was God in the flesh. But he satisfactorily satisfied
God by his obedience, by his sufferings, and now he's the
right hand of God, which comes with all glory and power and
authority. That place at God's right hand
The right hand means a place, if somebody's your right hand
man, that means you've given them power and authority. And he's at God's right hand,
having all power and all authority and all glory. We should be comforted
in that because he who suffered for us, died for us, is highly
exalted, is there for us. He ever lives to help us, to
provide for us, to make intercession for us. He's the sovereign Redeemer. He's not the infant in a manger.
He's not the mutilated body hanging on a cross. He is the risen,
sovereign Redeemer. He is the Lamb in the midst of
the throne. Let's look at His eternal exaltation. I'll give you these four things,
then we'll close. Christ is the eternal Son of
God. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
eternal Son of God. What do I mean by that? One in
glory and purpose with God. Nothing has ever changed concerning
that. Before time began, before the
world began, The Lord Jesus Christ existed. He existed in the Trinity,
in the solitariness of eternity, from all eternity, with no beginning
and no end. I can't comprehend this. I don't
expect you to. But I believe it, and you should
believe it, that He's the eternal Son of God. He is. God in the sense that He is in
the Trinity. And God sent Him into the world.
He prepared a body for Him. He's the eternal Son of God manifest
in time in a human body. He came into the world. God sent
Him into the world. He willingly came into the world.
What did He come into the world to do? In Hebrews 10, 7, they
said, I, lo, I come in the volume of the book. the decrees of God,
the eternal covenants of God, and the ordination of God. It's
written of me, I came to do thy will, O God, in the volume of
the book. In John 17, 5, he said it, he
narrowed it down for us. The Lord Jesus Christ is very
condescending. God is condescending to us. And
now, O Father, as He prayed for us, glorify Thou me with Thine
own glory, which I had with Thee before the world was." Let that
glory be manifest. Let it be seen. Let it be known. No greater place or position
of exaltation could one have than to be one with God in being
and in glory. And the Lord Jesus Christ prayed
here in John chapter 17, He prayed that we might be one with the
Father and with the Son, one with Him, that they may be one
in us. And He said, You've loved Me, O Father, You've loved them
as You loved Me. That's amazing, isn't it? Can
you grasp that? By God's grace, I can believe
it. But again, how? I don't know. John 16, 28, he said, I came
forth from the Father and am come into the world. See, he
preexisted. He was with the Father before
he came into the womb of Mary. And again, I leave the world
and go to the Father. He came, He lived, He suffered,
He bled, He died, He arose, and He went back to the Father, all
for us. If there be any consolation in
Christ, think about this. He suffered, therefore God has
highly exalted Him. We must see Him no other way.
than high and lifted up, if we're to be consoled. He's exalted
in His Godhead. He's exalted in the eternal covenant
of grace. And He's exalted in our surety,
that is, before the world was. He was exalted in His flesh.
That's right. I know His life was a life of...
He was a man of sorrow and acquainted with grief. And I know that His
glory was veiled. But yet the eye of the believer,
that spiritual eye, that eye of faith, exalts the Lord Jesus Christ
even in his humiliation and his death, don't we? By God's grace,
don't we? Sure we do. He is above all creation
in the flesh. He is not a creature. He's the creator. There's a man among us that created
all things, that spoke into existence the heavens and the earth and
all that's in them that even made us. He walked the shores
of Galilee. He suffered at the hands of sinners.
He died on the cross. Oh, I see Him exalted even in
His death. This is indeed the Son of God. This is indeed God. His body
was prepared by God, not by Adam. He said, A body thou hast prepared
me. He is more than a man, but no less than God. Yet He is man
and God in one body. Do you understand this? No? Me neither. We're not equipped
to. We're not supposed to. When we
get to glory, Lonnie, I believe we get to glory, the God we see,
the God we see and behold with our eyes is going to be the Lord
Jesus Christ. And we'll say like Thomas, my
Lord and my God. When He spreads out His hands
and we see those pierced hands and that ribbon side, we're going
to say my Lord and my God. We believe it by God's grace.
That's where my consolation is. If there be any consolation in
Christ, any mercy, think on these things. He suffered for us. Look
who it is that suffered. Not only did He suffer, but He
arose for us. He's exalted for us. I won't
argue about this. Great is the mystery of godliness.
God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen
of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, preached to sinners.
That's who Gentiles are in the Scripture, sinners. Believed
on in the world by sinners, received up into glory for sinners. Sinners believe on Him. Those who really knew Him on
earth when He was here, those who really knew Him, knew who
He was. Do you know what they did? They
worshipped Him. I remember one little woman,
we'll see her sometime. If by God's grace we go to heaven
when we die, we'll see her. She wept. She, when she saw the Lord, she
wept for joy, wept in worship, wept in heart worship, wept in
her heart. She bowed down at the feet of
the Lord Jesus Christ and she had long hair. I can just see
her. She took her hair and dried His
feet. See another woman that Had an
alabaster box full of ointment, very costly, very precious. She
did the most foolish thing. They said, what were you doing
something foolish? She didn't think it was foolish. She broke
that thing open and poured it on him. You say, well, what merit was
in that? Nothing. There wasn't no merit in it.
That didn't get her any points with God. It was just all she had
and she just wanted to pour it out on him. Huh? Those who really know Him,
worship Him, and duly so. There was a bunch of fellas on
a ship. They were fishermen. They came and worshipped Him. And they said of a truth, Thou
art the Son of God. He's God in the flesh. He's sinless
man, harmless, undefiled with sin. He's good. He's righteous
and holy and just and perfect. He's the glory of God in the
flesh. He's all that God desired in the flesh. God desired a perfect
man, perfect obedience, perfect love. And He made him one. He made him one. the Lord Jesus
Christ. And He made Him unto us righteousness,
sanctification, and redemption. For God, who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God. Where at? In
the face of Jesus Christ. Even while He was in this world,
even in His humiliation, He was the man Christ Jesus, the man
among men, the man above all men. Even in His flesh, He's
exalted in the eye of the believer. We worship Him. We've gathered
in this house, we've come in His name to worship Him, Christ
the Lord. He was in an exalted position
in His righteous life, His vicarious death, in His glorious resurrection,
and in His heavenly ascension. Who but this man could bear all
the sins of a multitude of people to the satisfaction of a thrice
holy God? We must exalt him in his sufferings.
Never a man suffered like this man, and with merit, with purpose. And now in heaven, God has highly
exalted him. Now he joyously, with joy, and
victoriously reigns in His exaltation as prophet, priest, and king. He abides there robed in glorious
apparel, and we look unto Him, the author and finisher of our
faith, who for the joy that is set before Him, His heart is
full of joy. When His humiliation and His
sufferings, although we exalt Him in our mind and our hearts,
and we extol Him and raise Him up by faith, in this life He
was a man of sorrow, He was in humiliation. He was smitten of
God and afflicted, stricken and afflicted, smitten of God. But now He reigns in joy. His
heart is filled with joy. He looks on His people with joy,
seeing His work accomplished. He endured the cross for this
joy. He despised the shame. And now He's sat down on the
right hand of the throne of God. And we need such a high priest.
We need such a one. Is there any consolation in Christ?
Yes, there is. A high priest like this became
us. That means we needed one. He's
holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher
than the heavens. He's exalted. No one or no thing
above Him. Nothing. Now in heaven our suffering
Savior reigns. He has earned the name, the right,
and the glory to be one above all. And He's exalted in the
hearts of His people. If He's not exalted in your heart
in M9, He don't have His rightful place. Every man should exalt
Him and worship Him as who He really is. Let this be our consolation, the Lord Jesus Christ. Yes, yes. My soul has found out there is mercy sure, a sovereign grace to sound out,
a love both true and pure. The flesh of God is given to
meet the law's just demands, and now I am forgiven. while
Christ in heaven there stands. With that perpetuation, God and
His saints embrace, that perfect expiation has saved His chosen
race. Now mercy kisses justice. Now
truth and love join hands. Now Him in whom our trust is
Christ, our surety stands. Let this be ingrained and embedded
in each one of us. Let this mind be in you, which
was also in Christ Jesus. Being found in fashion as a man,
he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the
death of the cross. Wherefore, God has highly exalted
him and given him a name which is above every name. Think on these things when we
consider one another. Let us not look on each other
as worldlings, but let us look on each other as children of
God. Let us look for Christ in one
another rather than flaws and faults in this flesh. Let this mind be in you, which
is in Christ Jesus.