This is a rush transcript.

[00:00:02] Every night this week at Camp Compass, we're doing this skit about this airplane that crashed in the jungle and Jungle Jim and the cast of characters.

[00:00:14] And you can just feel here in this room just to recreate it. We had to take all the chairs out to fit everybody in this room. And there's just kindergarten all the way to sixth grade sitting here and parents and leaders are filling all the sides and the back. I mean, this room was maximum capacity at some times this week. And when this skit is happening, like people are riveted and they're pink, like I'm thinking I wish they paid attention when we had preaching time, like they're paying attention to these skits. Right. And people are just like zeroed in and they're laughing and they're having fun with the characters. And then this bad guy character emerges and all the kids are like the bad guy and they're totally into it.

[00:00:57] And then the bad guy announces that he has a mole in with the good guys. And one of the good guys is a traitor. It's like one of those TV shows that you've seen before. Right. And all the kids for the whole next day here at church, they're coming up to me to, you know, who is Pastor Bobby? Will you tell me who it is like?

[00:01:18] I mean, we're talking about puppy dog eyes here. Everybody like you gotta tell me. And I'm like, well, we're going to have to wait and see. Well, we'll find out. And then the bad guy is revealed. The mole in the group is revealed. Every single kid at camp is like, oh, I knew it.

[00:01:34] That's exactly who I thought it was totally called. That one. Right. And the weeks progressing and then plot twist on the last night. The more who betrayed them realizes the error of her ways and begs for jungle gym and the gang to come and save her from the bad guy and the guys, you're like, are we going to go save her? When she betrayed us and it's like everybody zooms in on jungle gym and he's like, I betrayed a mate once and he didn't leave me behind.

[00:02:08] And his name was Jesus Christ and he died. Then all of a sudden, like in this silly skit, we're preaching the gospel of Jesus, which the kids have been learning the whole week. And you can just feel it rise up among the kids and the kids start cheering when Jungle Gym preaches the gospel of Jesus Christ.

[00:02:30] What you and I are going to do right now is we're now at the adult table. All right. We're not the kids here. All right. We're sitting in chairs. All right. That's Army.

[00:02:38] We're going to have an adult conversation about who Jesus really is and if what this passage in the Bible says is true, the conversation that you and I are about to have is the most important conversation. This is the most important thing you will ever know in your life is who is Jesus Christ?

[00:02:57] So I invite you to open the Bible and turn with me to Philippians. Chapter two versus six to eleven. This is page 980. If you got one of our books.

[00:03:10] And what we're going to see here is the most detailed description of who Jesus is and what he has done.

[00:03:19] And I'd really just if you're new to church, if you're just checking it out here tonight, I really want to plead with you to give this a listen and understand what the Bible is saying. This is more important than any seminar you could go to any, like link that you could click on, any podcasts that you could listen to in the end. What we're going to talk about right now will matter more than anything else you hear in this life and out of respect for God's word. I'm going to ask that we would all stand up as we read the script scripture together. This is Philippians two. I'm going to actually start in verse five and go all the way down to verse 11.

[00:04:00] Please follow along as I read, have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God, a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men and being found in human form. He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death, on a cross.

[00:04:32] Therefore, God is highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name.

[00:04:39] So that at the name of Jesus, every means should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth. And every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God, the Father.

[00:04:54] That is the meaning of God's word. Please go ahead and grab your seat.

[00:04:58] And we want to pay very close attention to every line that Paul writes. Paul's writing this letter, Philippians. He's writing it to a church of believers. He's writing it from jail. And he's been telling them that they need to come together and strive side by side as one team for Jesus Christ. And the only way they're going to become a team is they're all going to have to humble themselves and put each other as more important. And then he says and let me get to the mindset that we're all going to have to have the mindset which is ours, the same mindset of Jesus Christ.

[00:05:35] And now he describes what she who Jesus is and what he did.

[00:05:41] Look at verse six. It says, who though he was in the form of God. So that's a a key word there. We're going to see two forms. He starts out in the form of God. But he did not count equality with God. A thing to be grasped.

[00:05:57] OK.

[00:05:58] He was in the form of God, but he didn't like clutch on to being God. He didn't use being God to his own advantage. Those are other ways you could translate that phrase there. He did not count equality with God. A thing to be grass. Here's one who was God? Jesus Christ. And yet he didn't make his life all about being God. Look what he did and said. Verse seven. He emptied himself by taking the form of a what does it say there?

[00:06:29] OK. So this is a this is a move that we would never saw common. This is the ultimate plot twist.

[00:06:34] This is something in the world of the Roman Empire, in the world of the city of Filipacchi, where there was this distinction and being a Roman citizen because the city was a Roman colony. Nobody goes from the form of God to the form of a servant. That's not a transition. That's not a career path anybody's looking to make. And what's clear is that Jesus goes from the form of God to the form of a servant. And he does it willingly. He does it by choice. He does it to himself. He doesn't get demoted. No, he does this because this is what he wants to do, what he wills to do.

[00:07:18] It says here a famous phrase here. He emptied himself and he emptied himself by taking the form of a servant being born in the likeness of man being found in human form. He humbled himself. So two things, it says that Jesus, who's in the form of God, does to himself. First one empties himself. Second one humbles himself.

[00:07:47] Now, this word here is you might have heard of it before in the Greek for emptied is CARDOZ since kenosis and a lot of people talk about this passage being very special because of this work of kenosis. What does it mean that Jesus emptied himself? And at this point. Unfortunately, a lot of people put in their speculation and their theory and their assumption about what it could mean that Jesus emptied himself and it's led some people into false teaching, saying that at this point Jesus because he left the form of God, he somehow stopped being God. We know that that is not true. We know that there is no possible way Jesus, who is the son of God, could stop being God. That's not what this passage is saying. He emptied himself. And what does that mean while it goes on to describe it?

[00:08:38] He was born in the likeness of men. He was found in human form.

[00:08:43] So he emptied himself from the form of God and he put the form of a servant, and what did that look like? How did people see him?

[00:08:52] Well, they saw him born as a baby in a manger. They saw him as a man who lived among us. They saw him as someone who got crucified on a cross.

[00:09:04] And this is what Jesus Christ did to himself. So we're going to break our passage down into two parts. The humiliation and the exaltation. And when you look at these first three verses, six, seven and eight, it's all Jesus acting on himself.

[00:09:24] So let's get this down from point number one. If you've got a hand out, if you're taking notes here tonight, point number one. He humbled himself as low as a slave. Hey, what did Jesus do? He humbled himself as low as a slave. And then there's the Greek word du loss. That's really a Greek word. You should know if you're a student of the Bible, it's all over the place. Many times it refers to us as the DU laws, as the servants, as the slaves of our Lord Jesus Christ. But here it says that Jesus, who was in the form of God, did not clutch on to being God, did not make a myth about himself being God.

[00:10:06] He didn't use being God to his own advantage.

[00:10:10] No, he used being God to our advantage. And he emptied himself. He humbled himself. And how low did he go? This is the lowest designation you could get to be a do loss. You're at the bottom. Your other people's property, and I understand that when I use that word slave. That word has a very negative connotation to us in America and rightfully so, because it was used in a racist way in our nation.

[00:10:39] And all of us who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, we should be against any form of racism. But even that, just the degradation of people to treat them as property, as some other person's possessions. So we don't we just have this bad reaction to slavery.

[00:10:56] That's where God humbled himself to be a slave and had a negative connotation and vilify, just like it has a negative connotation in America.

[00:11:08] They were living in a world where Caesar was acting like he was God. And he was making it to his own advantage. He was putting himself in the highest place to have the one who really is God humble himself and become a slave.

[00:11:23] See, this was hard for people to comprehend. This was not even what the Jewish people expected their messiah to do. This was hard for people to believe. Why would God humble himself, empty himself and become a slave if he can do anything that he wants, if he has all power? And he is sovereign will in the universe. Why would he choose to be a servant of all that? Was Paul's writing this as he's revealing this to us? Paul is not just making this up. He's not just coming up with this idea out of nowhere. No, every line here. A lot of people think this is a hymn or a song because every line is so beautiful, every line is so perfectly crafted, almost like a lyric. And Paul, when he's writing this, you need to see this.

[00:12:15] He's inspired by the Old Testament scripture. All of this has already been said in the Old Testament. And he's just writing now how it's happened in the New Testament. But it was all prophesied in the Old Testament.

[00:12:33] I need you to turn with me to Isaiah 52. Everybody turn with me to Isaiah, chapter fifty two. You'll be able to see it here on page six hundred and thirty two. Maybe you've heard of the famous prophecy. Isaiah, 53, which describes Jesus in agony, dying on the cross. Well, the prophecy really begins at the end of Chapter 52. Chapter 52 is about this good news that's going to come to all the people. And at the end of chapter 52, look at verse 13. This is Isaiah 52, verse 13, page six hundred and thirteen.

[00:13:15] If you got one of our Bibles and it says behold. Look at this. Everybody see it.

[00:13:22] You're going to see him in the likeness of man and in human form. Behold my. What's the word there? My word servant.

[00:13:32] OK, so there was prophecies hundreds of years before Jesus ever was born as a baby in a manger, ever lived as a man, ever died on a cross. There were prophecies that a servant of God was going to come. And here it says behold. Look at my servant. I serve and she'll act wisely.

[00:13:55] He shall be high and lifted up. He shall be exalted. So basically verse 13, 13 covers our entire text. The humiliation and the exaltation of Jesus Christ. Here it is prophesied. He's going to come as a servant. And guess what's going to happen to the servant? He's going to be high and lifted up. He's going to be exalt.

[00:14:14] And as many were astonished at you, his appearance was so marred beyond human semblence, his form beyond that of the children of mankind. What are people going to think about the servant when they see him as a man, when they behold him in human appearance, like it says in our tax, as it's being prophesied here? They're going to barely even recognize that he is a man. They're going to be they're not even going to be looking and saying, is he? They're going to be looking and saying, is it even a human? Because his appearance is going to be so marred. It's going to beyond even recognition.

[00:14:52] His form is going to be beyond that of the children of mankind. He's going to get so beaten up by these Roman soldiers.

[00:15:00] He's going to have this crown of thorns pounded into his skull. So there's going to be blood flowing down block in all over his face. He's going to have his back whipped up a ripped open and he's going to be bleeding out of there and they're going to put him up naked there on the cross. And you're going to be looking at him and he's going to look so bloody.

[00:15:21] That is going to be this terrible appearance. Of this servant. But verse fifteen, he shall sprinkle many nations, he show cleanse many nations, kings shall shut their mouths because of him for that which has not been told them they see.

[00:15:39] And that which they have not heard. They understand and who it really has believed. What he has heard from us and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed. For he grew up before him like a young plant, like a route out of dry ground. He had no form or majesty that we should look at him, no beauty that we should desire him.

[00:15:59] He was despised and rejected by man. A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And as one from whom men hide their faces, he was despise. And we steamed him not. Here it is. Six hundred years before it happens. It says one is going to come like a servant, and nobody's even going to recognize him. He's going to be beaten and bloodied beyond even human appearance. And are people going to acknowledge here he is the one who's come from God, the one who is God? Are they going to bowed down? Are they going to know it? No. It says they're going to despise him.

[00:16:40] They're going to reject him. And he is going to be a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. And he will not be a steans. He will not be valued. He will be looked down upon. People will be embarrassed about Jesus Christ. You know, the word that is Trampas slated there, that he humbled himself. Probably the best way to translate that word would be he humiliated himself.

[00:17:12] This is what Jesus. The son of God.

[00:17:16] Did you even know he was? He did not make it about himself.

[00:17:25] And he humbled himself. And he became the slave of all.

[00:17:31] And he was not recognized. He was not worshiped. He was not celebrated. The people who should have received him are those who rejected him and they shouted as a mob together, crucify him, crucify.

[00:17:48] So the humiliation of Jesus Christ. It goes it goes on and it describes here in verse four. These are the famous verses. Maybe you've heard these before. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. We esteemed him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted. He was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace with his wounds. We are healed. These these words here crushed. Pierced. You think of them pounding the crown of thorns, crushing it into his skull.

[00:18:21] You think of the piercing his hands and his feet. They weren't even crucifying people. When Isaiah wrote this down as a prophecy. And yet it's perfectly and acted on Jesus Christ.

[00:18:34] Jesus, who's taking all of our sin, all of the ways that you and I have fallen short of God and he's taking them and he's going to be judged for our sin. He's going to pay the penalty of God's wrath that you and I deserve. He's going to take it on himself.

[00:18:52] He's suffering. As a slave for us. This is what Jesus Christ did.

[00:19:01] Now it looks go on here and look at. Look at verse 10, jump down to verse 10 with me. This is another part of the prophecy that often doesn't get looked at. Look at verse 10. It says it was the will of the Lord to crush him. This is actually what his father sent him to do, to be that sacrifice, to be that spotless, pure lamb who would shed his righteous blood. And so the father had to crush him. He has put him to grief.

[00:19:28] And then it says this phrase right here in the middle of verse 10 when his soul makes an offering for guilt. He shall see his offspring shall prolong his days, the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand out of the anguish of his soul. He shall see and be satisfied by his knowledge. Shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous and he shall bear their inequities. Verse twelve. Therefore, I will divide him a portion with the many. And he shall divide the spoil with the strong key phrase right here. Because he poured out is what his soul to death.

[00:20:15] I don't know if anybody just read the book of Hebrews with us as we're reading through the New Testament together here at our church, we just read Hebrews in it kept making this comparison about these high priests who would offer sacrifices of bulls and goats there in the temple. And then the high priest, Jesus Christ, who offered a once and for all sacrifice of his own body and his own blood. And see, the idea here is all these animals that got sacrificed drop a whole history of the old test. I mean, you're just talking about hundreds and thousands of animals that were killed as a symbol that there needed to be blood shed for saying. Somebody had to die because of sin. The wages of sin is. And the only way of forgiveness is there has to be bloodshed. And so throughout the history of the Old Testament, all these animals are being killed and they don't. And it's like they don't even know what's about to happen to them. Right. They're just chewing on a piece of grass all the way up to the bitter end. They don't know what's about to come. See, there's this point that it's making here. He offered his soul up to be sacrificed. See this sacrifice right here? He knew what he was doing the whole time. The moment they're Jesus. MTD himself of the form of God and put on the form of a servant. The moment he left heaven and was born as a babe here on Earth for all 33 years, he was walking towards his own execution, towards his own death. And he knew it. And he offered up his soul. For your soul.

[00:22:04] This is what Jesus did. Jesus became you scuse me. You became your slave.

[00:22:13] And it's saying this year that because he poured out his soul to death and he was numbered with the transgressors, yet he bore the sin of many and makes intercession for the transgressors.

[00:22:26] When he willingly left heaven behind, came down here to earth, the creator becoming one of his creation.

[00:22:36] And why did he do this for you?

[00:22:40] So that he could go and make intercession for you, so that he can go back to heaven and stand before God and he can say, hey, you know so-and-so?

[00:22:48] Yeah, I went down there and I gave my life to ransom there. So I gave my soul for their soul. I shed my righteous blood to pay for their saying. I offered my body to save their life.

[00:23:02] Jesus went to the lowest of lows and why did he go all the way down there? Because he had to get down to your level. That's what the Bible saying. He came down to serve you. Now it says that he became obedient to the point of death and then as this phrase, even death on a cross. Now, I need you to turn to one more passage with me here in the Old Testament, Deuteronomy 21. Go all the way back to Deuteronomy. This is towards the beginning. This is the fifth book of the Bible. This is the end of the law. The five books of Moses, Deuteronomy 21, verse 22. Here's where we want to go. Deuteronomy 21, 22. Page 164.

[00:23:51] You'll see the heading here, a man hanged on a tree is curse. That's what it says here on page 164.

[00:24:00] Look at this. So we think of the cross as like a beautiful symbol of salvation, we have a cross out in front of our church here tonight. Look at how they actually would have thought about it in the Jewish mindset. It's says if a man has committed a crime punishable by death and he is put to death and you hang him on a tree, his body shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall bury him the same day for a hanged man is coerced by God. You shall not to file your land at the Lord, your God is giving you foreign inheritance. You might want to write down a cross reference Galatians three 13, where Paul says that any man who hangs on a tree, any man who dies on a tree, is a cursed. And so, like, if you're a Roman citizen, you're not going to die by crucifixion. That was like beneath you see, not not everybody.

[00:25:01] If you were like a good person, if nobody who was, like, honorable, noble, they weren't dying on a cross. There were only certain kinds of people that would suffer the humiliation of dying on a cross outside of town where everybody would come and make them a public spectacle and mock them. There were criminals and there were slaves. Those were the people who died on a cross. And the one who was in the form of God took the form of a slave. And he died, Eve, in a death on a cross. He took the curse of God. So you did have to.

[00:25:37] And they got his body down before the end of the day, just like it says here in Deuteronomy 21.

[00:25:44] Everybody walking out of town that day. I bet a lot of the people, they didn't realize what was going on. They didn't realize what was happening. Just some passers by. I'm sure a lot of people saw the spectacle and they knew exactly what was going on. But everybody had one thought in their mind. Oh, Jesus. He had so much potential. I can't believe he's going out this way. I can't believe he's dying like this. I can't believe Jesus is curse. That's what they were all thinking because there he is on a tree.

[00:26:12] And that's not the way anybody who God really cared about. Anybody blessed by God. Any one of God's people, they would have gone out like that.

[00:26:21] That's what everybody would have been thinking. As you well, we often underestimate.

[00:26:27] Is how low Jesus was willing to go. See, this is something that it's so interesting that the one who is God understands what it is to be a servant and put himself in the position of a slave. But those of us who are in the likeness of men, we are human beings. We don't seem to think the same way that Jesus does.

[00:26:49] We don't seem to have the mind of Christ and we seem to want to exalt ourselves rather than to humble ourselves.

[00:26:58] And the whole point of this awesome passage giving us this deep theology of Jesus in his humiliation and how low he was willing to go. The point is not just that you and I would learn mindblowing prophecies fulfilled in the person of Jesus.

[00:27:14] The point is that you and I would have the same mindset as Jesus.

[00:27:22] See, Jesus was the son of God, and he has always dwelt in eternity past with the father, and so in when God and when their father and the son Jesus, they were there together creating the world. They were there that get together, creating all of the angels. And the father had already decided before he created anything that he was going to give everything to his son, Jesus Christ. That's what the father decided from the very beginning. That was the plan. We're going to create it all and then I'm going to give it all to you.

[00:27:54] And the one who was going to receive all things. Was not full of himself, did not use that for his own advantage. He was willing to put himself as the one below all things.

[00:28:10] And he emptied himself and he humbled himself.

[00:28:13] And there was somebody else there in heaven at the beginning. And see, he had a radically different mindset. And maybe you've heard about his fall. See, this is the way the world really works. Everyone who tries to rise, they will always fall. Everyone who seeks to go up and advance themselves to their own advantage, they will always go down. And there was one there in heaven who said, you know what, I want to be like the most high God. I want to use my position to my own advantage. I want to be the one who has all the glory, you know, who was in heaven and said that I was Satan.

[00:28:48] And that's why he was cast out of.

[00:28:51] Because he tried to use his position as an angel of light. He tries to use his position to make advance himself to make it for his own advantage.

[00:29:01] So here's the one who really has all glory and he's willing to humble himself. And then you're Satan who doesn't have it. And he tries to get it for himself. And I wonder which one of those two mindsets more accurately reflect the way that you think in your life. You got the mindset of Jesus where you're ready to make yourself the least important person in the room and be a slave of all. You got the mindset of Satan where it's like I want to be.

[00:29:29] I want it to be all about me.

[00:29:33] Now, maybe you're thinking, well, this is kind of interesting because it seems like what you're saying is Jesus already knew how it was all going to end. Jesus already knew how this was all going to work out. He knew. Yeah. He humbled himself. I hear what you're saying. He emptied himself, but he knew he was going to get it all back in the end. So, yeah, he suffered and he got all beaten up and bloodied and he died.

[00:29:54] But he knew that after he did that, he will end up glorified. That's kind of cheating, because when Jesus was humbling himself, he knew it would all work out for his ultimate exaltation. Yeah, maybe I'd be a lot more humble if I knew I would work out for my good, too. Well, guess what.

[00:30:10] The Bible promises you this over and over and over again. Everyone who exalts himself will be what? Humbled and everyone who humbles himself will be what it's prophesied all over the place. It's a principle. It's a promise in your life. Seek life for yourself and you'll lose it. Give your life up and you will. You'll find it. You'll save it. You'll have it forever. Go to Luke 14. Look what Jesus says in Luke 14. He was always trying to say this. And even other riders in the New Testament, they're saying everyone who humbles himself will be exalted. It's not just the story of Jesus.

[00:30:48] We're supposed to learn from the story of Jesus. And it's supposed to be our story as well. And even if you think about the ways that we talk, we talk about the rise and the fall of something. We talk about the ups and the downs of something we're so used to in a fallen world, people trying to lift themself up only to have to come back down to reality.

[00:31:10] And Jesus he told stories like this in Luke 14, verse seven, and this is page eight hundred and seventy three. If you got one of our Bibles, he told a parable to those who were invited and he always said these things around the Pharisees, these religious leaders who wanted to put themselves in the high seats and the places of honor and use their position for their own advancement. And he told the parable to those who were invited, all these Pharisees at this dinner one night when he noticed how they chose the places of honor, saying to them, when you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in a place of honor. Now, let's just think about this for a second. Can you imagine how awkward it would be if somebody at a wedding feast just went and sat at the table with the bride and the groom and the bridal party? Right.

[00:32:00] Would anybody else, you know, a dumb chills are right. Dumb shills or when somebody should be embarrassed about themself, but they're not. So you start feeling embarrassed for them, right? I mean, every wedding I've gone to lately. We're so worried about awkward relatives and presumptuous people sitting in wrong places that we literally are doing assigned seats these days. Anybody know what I'm talking about? Right. You're a table, whatever. And you hope you're one of the first called for food, but sometimes you're waiting a long time. Have we all been there at a wedding before you guys know what I'm talking about? So he's this is a realistic scenario. Can you imagine that?

[00:32:35] The doors are open. There's the fees and everybody's going to go sit now wherever they think they should sit. There's no assigned seating. Where should you sit in?

[00:32:45] In the reception of life. Jesus is saying here, he says, do not sit down in a place of honor. Less someone more distinguished than you. Be invited by him. And he who invited you both will come and say to you, give your place to this person, hey, that's not your spot. You don't really matter that much to me. You know what I mean? Give your place to this person and then you will begin with shame, though. Here you go in front of everybody to the lowest place, first 10. But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place so that when your host comes, he may say to you, friend, you mean more to me than that. Move up higher. Then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at table with you.

[00:33:30] Every everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be.

[00:33:38] This is the way that life really works in God's economy.

[00:33:44] This is the way that you and I were supposed to see how Jesus did this. We're supposed to see how Jesus went all the way down to be a slave. And then we're going to go and study now how he gets exalted to the highest place, to the name above all, and then he took the lowest seat at the table and he got put at the right hand of the majesty on Hyde.

[00:34:06] You see the story of Jesus that's going to be your story to humble yourself. Stop trying to use your position for your own advantage.

[00:34:16] Stop trying to clutch and grasp and get what you can in this life. Make your life not about you so God can bless you. So God can exalt you.

[00:34:30] We live in such a nation of self advancement.

[00:34:35] Then we need to see it is better to be humbled.

[00:34:40] Then to exalt ourselves and everyone who humbles himself will be exalted. That's what we can learn from the prophecies and the story of Jesus Christ. Now go back to Philippians Chapter two and let's look at what happened after the humiliation. Comes the exaltation and really, if you look at verse nine here, it's the super exaltation when it says therefore.

[00:35:05] So because of all that he did. Form of God, a form of slave, emptied himself, humiliated himself, even being coerced on a tree, dying that way all the way to the worst possible way to go Jesus. How could you. Because he did all that. Therefore, God has when it says highly exalted there you could write down super exalted is the way to say, OK. This is beyond exalt. He went to the lowest of lows. So now he's going to get the highest of highs literally here. He has the name that is above all names. The name that is above every name.

[00:35:43] And really, when you know who Jesus is and you start this e.c even named Jesus means that he's the savior.

[00:35:50] And how he's referred to as the Messiah or the Christ, the name above all names is not just meaning that Jesus is greater than any human being or Jesus is greater than any angel or demon. No, he's going to get a name now that's even greater than some of the other names that we could know him by. Or that we could call him. So he's going to get the name now in this exaltation, in this work that God does to super exalt him. He now gets this title, this position of the name above every name.

[00:36:23] And here's what's going to happen. So so what we need to see is that the exaltation has already happened.

[00:36:30] But the moment where everybody gets in on the exaltation is still yet to come. So if you're looking at verse nine, it says God has highly exalted him and has bestowed on him or graced on him the name that is above every name. So that's already happened.

[00:36:49] When you hear that God raised Jesus Christ from the dead, when you know the story of Easter, how the tomb was empty, the storm was rolled away. They went in and they found out he is not here. He has risen, just as he said, when God raised him from the dead. And we know that he made some appearances to his disciples.

[00:37:10] And then we know that he ascended and the disciples watched him because he's so please the father and what he did to humble himself, how he died, how he rose again. He's so pleased, the father, that the father just took him up, up and away into heaven as soon as he ascended. He's exalted right at that very moment.

[00:37:32] He's put it the right hand of God, the position of power and authority and strength. And he is now at the right hand of God. He is now the name above every name now in the future, verse 10, that at some point at the name of Jesus, at some point now in the future, every knee is going about. And then it says three different places, every needs going to bow and every tongue is going to confess.

[00:37:57] So in the future, there will be this moment that everyone is going to acknowledge the exaltation of Jesus. It's already happened. God's already done it. But it's saying here there's going to come a moment where it's revealed to everybody, where it's unveiled to everybody. And everyone, everyone there knee is going to hit the floor. Every single one.

[00:38:21] Now it says it's going to happen in heaven. Who could be up there in heaven at this moment of revelation of Jesus? Well, it could be angels up there in heaven and it could be those who have been saved by God already. They are going to be up there in heaven and their knees are all going to be dropping. It's going to be happening here on Earth.

[00:38:38] There will be people here on Earth who believe in Jesus Christ. And then there will be people on earth who do not believe in Jesus. And whether you believe in him or not, sorry to tell you he's true, whether you believe in him or not. And every need is going to hit the ground.

[00:38:52] And then it says under the earth, who could be possibly down there?

[00:38:56] Well, demons who've been dammed could be down there and people who have died in their sins, apart from the righteousness of God, they're going to be down there in the place of death, Hades. And guess what they're going to do with the revelation of Jesus Christ in Hades. Their knees will hit the ground.

[00:39:14] That's what's going to happen.

[00:39:16] So God's already put him up to the super highest place. And at some point in the future, everybody's knee's going to go as low as it can go.

[00:39:27] And it says it's going to happen, look at verse 10 at the name of Jesus. Now, you've got to read that carefully. OK, we really got to pay attention to every way that Paul is writing this. It says at the name of Jesus. Notice how it doesn't say at the name Jesus. So really what it's doing there is it's begging a question. He's been given the name that is above every name. And he it's at the name of Jesus. So if he's given this new name, Jesus is the name that he was given when he took the form of God and traded it for the form of a servant. And when he came down here in the likeness of men, when he was born at his incarnation, when God became a man, that's when they said, you shall name him Jesus because he will save his people from their sins. That's why we call them Jesus. But now that he's been exalted, he's been given the name above every name. And it says at the name of Jesus. So the name is not Jesus. It's actually the name now that's been given to Jesus. Well, what is this name?

[00:40:35] Do you know the name that has been given to Jesus at his most exalted place? And it says it right here in verse eleven that every tongue is going to confess that Jesus, his name when he was born, Christ, his name from the Old Testament. Every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is what that's his name.

[00:40:58] That's the name that he's been given now. Now that he's been exalted, now that he's at the right hand, the name the Jesus has.

[00:41:08] Is Lord.

[00:41:10] Now, this goes deeper than we than we might realize in the English language. Kate, go back to Isaiah with me and look at Isaiah 45. OK, so maybe you've heard this passage before. Every knee's going to bow, every tongue is going to confess. Jesus Christ is Lord is what everyone's going to acknowledge, what everyone is going to say. Well, that's not a new idea that Paul's writing there. That's actually already been revealed hundreds of years before in Isaiah, Chapter 45, a part of the prophecies here, a part of God calling his shots look hundreds of years before they ever happened with Jesus.

[00:41:50] He's already telling us what he's going to do. And he's calling his shots in prophecy hundreds of years beforehand so that we will believe that God is God. That he knows what he's doing. That he's over human history and that we would worship him and give him glory.

[00:42:06] And maybe you're a skeptic here among us tonight and you think, well, how do we know that what's in Isaiah was actually written before the time of Jesus Christ?

[00:42:13] Well, that's why when I just went to Israel recently, we went to the Israel Museum and their famous exhibit they have is the Isaiah scroll that they found in the Dead Sea Scrolls, because what the Dead Sea Scrolls prove is that the Old Testament was written before the time of Jesus Christ.

[00:42:31] And so we know that this is all a real prophecy here.

[00:42:35] And so this is hundreds of years before Paul would be in jail and he would write Philippians and he would say that every knee was going to bow and every tongue was going to confess. You're going to realize right now that Paul didn't come up with that idea. He was copying that idea from Isaiah 45, verse 21. And this is God speaking. And here's what God says on page six hundred and seven. If you got one of our books, he says, declare and present your case. Let them take counsel together. Who told this long ago? Who declared it of old? Was it not? I the Lord. And there is no other God besides me. A righteous God and a savior. There is none besides me. Turn to me and be saved. All the ends of the Earth. For I am God. And there is no other. By myself, I have sworn. Because there is nobody greater to swear by. So here's God. Swearing by himself from my mouth has gone out in righteousness. A word that shall not return to me. Every need shall bough. Every tongue shall swear allegiance.

[00:43:48] Only in the Lord, it shall be said of me.

[00:43:51] Our righteousness and strength to him shall come and be ashamed. All who were incensed against him in the Lord. All the offspring of Israel shall be justified.

[00:44:04] And shall glory. So we have a quote from God.

[00:44:10] The God of the Old Testament, as we think of him, the father in heaven. OK, he is saying that there is no other God besides him and every knee is going about him and every tongue is going to swear allegiance to him. Because he is the Lord. Do you realize what's happening? We're taking a passage where God spoke in the Old Testament. And now Paul is saying that Jesus got exalted so high he got the name above every name that had the name of Jesus.

[00:44:42] And what's this new name of Jesus? It's the name Lord. OK. And who does Jesus share the name Lord with? The father and what is the name like when it says Lord there in verse 21? Can you see that when it says Lord there in verse 24? When it says Lord there in verse 25.

[00:45:02] And any time in the English Bible, you notice that it's l o r d all capital letters. What name does it actually say there in the Hebrew language. It says ja way. It says, or as they would say, because they were afraid to say yea way, they would say Chekhova.

[00:45:22] This is the very name of God.

[00:45:26] Yah, Way said, every knee will bow to me and every tongue will confess allegiance to me. Even those who were against me, even those who were incensed at me, even those who lived their entire life in rebellion and sin, apart from me, all of them. They will know that I am the Lord and there is no God besides me. That's what your way says in the Old Testament. Now, who is Paul saying it about in the New Testament? Jesus, what is Paul saying? He is saying one hundred percent without a shadow of a doubt. Jesus Christ is who he is. He's God. He's the Lord. He's Yahweh. This is one of the clearest statements in all of the Bible. The fact that Jesus was given the name Lord, that he was given the name Yah Way is a statement that Jesus is God. That's what it's saying. That's who he is.

[00:46:25] Hey, in the Old Testament, the first command is there's only one God and he's a jealous God. And you better worship him only. And over and over here in the Isaiah 40 chapters. God is saying, you need to listen to me on the only one who can tell you the end from the beginning. There is no other God besides me. There's no other one besides me. Who else can do what I'm doing?

[00:46:44] Who else can tell you I am the only one? You can't worship any other gods. There's only one God. And now in the New Testament, every knee is vowing and every tongue is confessing to Jesus Christ. That proves once and for all who Jesus really is.

[00:47:01] So many people are taking the name of Jesus in vain.

[00:47:05] It is it is amazing to me how people who live the life of this world and they live the life of their sinful flesh without even thinking about it when they're overwhelmed by something, when something happens that they cannot explain. They just throw out. Oh, my God. They just throw out. Jesus Christ. They just say these things without even thinking.

[00:47:26] They're acknowledging the reality of who runs the universe.

[00:47:32] And they take his name in vain.

[00:47:35] Next time you hear somebody take the name of Jesus in vain, just imagine their knee hitting the floor.

[00:47:42] And imagine the day that they're going to realize that all this time they were dropping that name, that that was the very name that was above every name, that that is their lord, their boss, the one who has authority over their soul. The one who decides what happens when they die.

[00:48:00] That's who they're talking about.

[00:48:03] And there's one thing you need to know, it is above every headline screaming at you on the news. It's above all the click bait that you could look at on your phone. If there's one thing you need to know and you need to think about every single day, it's who Jesus is. He is your way. He is the law. There is no one like Jesus Christ. And then he told me he's going to burst on the scene and so many people, so many saws are going to wish they had paid attention on a night like this.

[00:48:36] So many people with the moment they see him coming on the clouds, the moment they see him, he's going to be revealed.

[00:48:43] He's going to be unveiled in all of heaven's going to hit the ground. All of Earth's going to hit the ground. All of those under the earth are going to hit the ground. And even those who were incensed against him shall come to him and be ashamed that they never gave the glory to whom it is due.

[00:49:01] Until it was too late.

[00:49:04] We need to battle the need now. We need to confess with our tongues now that Jesus Christ is Lord. Your whole eternity depends on what you believe about Jesus Christ and whether or not you give him the acknowledgment.

[00:49:22] That belongs to him.

[00:49:23] What it means to confess is it means you agree. You say the same thing.

[00:49:29] God has said that Jesus Christ is Lord and he has super exalted him to his right hand of position and power and authority and dominion forever and ever. Do you right now confess with God that Jesus is Lord, or do you deny him? Those are your only two options.

[00:49:52] And we use the we we use language today in such a careless way, and I'm not just talking about people dropping the name of Jesus in vain all over America every single day.

[00:50:01] I'm talking about Christians who say foolish things like I made Jesus the Lord of my life. You didn't make Jesus the Lord of anything. God, the father made Jesus Christ the Lord of your life. You just got blessed to have your eyes open so you could see who's really the boss of your life. You didn't put him anywhere. God put him where he belongs. And you just got in on what God's doing. Praise the Lord that you got your eyes open. And you should be so humbled before the exalted one.

[00:50:40] You may Jesus Lord of your life. How dare we say something like that, like we're putting Jesus anywhere?

[00:50:50] Jesus Christ is the lord of your life, whether you want to live like it or not. And as Lord of your life, as one who has all authority, as the one who will hold you accountable for how you live this life, he has expectations for you as your boss, as your master drove me to Acts chapter to turn with me to act chapter two.

[00:51:14] And you got to see how preaching Jesus as Lord was. We used to be what they did all the time. It might be not that common these days because people are much more interested in Savior Jesus than Lord Jesus these days. But they are one and the same. You cannot differentiate between the two. And here's how the first sermon in the church ever preached by Peter here in acts to the first sermon when the Holy Spirit showed up right after Jesus had died and rose again the first time.

[00:51:45] We're publicly proclaiming the Gospel that Jesus humbled himself, that he suffered, that he was a slave of all. And now he's ascended and now God's exalted in. Look at how the first sermon ever ends. This is Acts. Chapter two, verse thirty six led all the House of Israel, page nine hundred and ten right there at the bottom. Let all the House of Israel therefore know for certain. Everybody you need to know this and you need to be convinced. You need to know one hundred percent that God has made him both Lord and Christ. This Jesus whom you crucified. Bad news, everybody. You kill Jesus and God made him the Lord of all. You're in trouble now. Basically, that's the point of the first sermon. And when people hear that the one they killed has been exalted to the Lord of Heaven and earth, all authority, what do they say right away?

[00:52:41] Verse 37, when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and they said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, brothers, what shall we do? And Peter said to them, repent. Turn from your sins. Change your mind.

[00:52:54] Start acknowledging that Jesus is Lord, by the way that you live, be baptized.

[00:52:59] Every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ publicly declare yourself one of his slaves, one of his disciples, for the forgiveness of your sins. You'll receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, for the promises for you and for your children and for all who are far off. Everyone whom the Lord, our God calls to himself.

[00:53:20] Right away. End of the first sermon once. What's the punch line? God, you remember that guy you killed? Yeah. God made him.

[00:53:27] Lord.

[00:53:29] Go to Romans Chapter 10 and look what it says, not just now. The first sermon to the people there that day. But look at Romans, Chapter 10. After 10 verse nine famous words here telling people how to respond to this message of Jesus Christ, this this word that is near you, it's in your mouth, it's in your heart, you're hearing it right here tonight, the word of who Jesus really is.

[00:54:02] We're studying one of the clearest passages. He's God. He takes on the form of a servant. He gets exalted to the name of Lord. Well, what should you do about it? Verse nine. Because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved for what the heart one believes in is justified. And with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the scripture says everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.

[00:54:31] For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek. For the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be what?

[00:54:48] See, you're not making Jesus. Lord God made him Lord. What you're doing is you're agreeing with God.

[00:54:56] You're confessing. You're saying the same thing as God. God, I know what you did. I know what Jesus did when he emptied himself, when he humbled himself, even to the point of death on a cross. And then I won't know what you did when you raised him, when you exalted him, when you seeded him and you called him Lord. And I confess that Jesus is Lord. And I'm not just believing it with my head. I am willingly submitting my life to the lordship of Jesus Christ. I am calling on his name. And I know what his name really is. I'm calling him master. I'm calling him boss. And I'm ready to do what Jesus tells me with my life. That's what it means to be a Christian. It means to be a little Christ.

[00:55:47] It means that Jesus gets to call the shots. And I say, yes, sir. And I hope that when it's all said and done, he will say, well done, good and faithful. That's who I am. You want a personal relationship with Jesus. Here's how it works. He's Lord, you're the slave. He became a slave for your soul. Now, when your soul gets saved, you become a slave for him because he's the Lord.

[00:56:12] That's how it works. And when you confess that.

[00:56:16] When you confessed who he really is, when you agree with God about the name that belongs to Jesus Christ.

[00:56:24] Then you're saved. That's how it works here.

[00:56:28] And see, this is this is what I'm saying is fact I come that I'm not adding anything to this. There's no hyperbole. There is no exaggeration. If it is, this is what the Bible reveals. And someday it won't just be revealed in scripture. It will be revealed in sight in every single person, every single creature that has ever been made by God. Every single one of us who has a soul within our physical body. We will all behold the servant who has been glorified to the position of Lord. It's not like will people believe in Jesus or not, so we need to even stop saying stuff like that. Everybody's going to believe in Jesus. It's only a matter of one. Well, you believe in Jesus now or will you believe in him when it's too late? When are you going to believe in Jesus? See? Maybe even as we're praying for people. We shouldn't be praying. Oh, I wish they would believe in Jesus like Jesus can't do anything about it. Like he doesn't have authority or power. We should be saying, Lord, I know they will believe in you. I know they will vow the need to you. I know that they will confess. Going to see who you are. And God, I just pray that you open their eyes so they could see it now rather than later. See, here's something that you need to believe as a Christian, if you're one of my brothers or sisters here tonight, you are on the winning side. You are on the right team.

[00:57:49] Everybody in the end is not going to think all those meek and mild, humble and lowly foolish Christians who wasted their lives. They're going to all want to be one of us on that day.

[00:58:01] That's the truth. They're going to all wish that they had called on his name as Lord before it was too late. And we need to be bold. We need to be confident. We need to believe it in our souls and be convinced in our speech. I know who he is. And I know he's come in and I'm on ashamed of what anybody's going to think about me for saying that Jesus Christ is God. Also, allseas your way, I'll say he's Lord. I don't care what other people think because I know what God has done.

[00:58:36] I know that. I know his name. I know who he really is.

[00:58:42] Turned to Romans 14 in liquid excess. See, it's not just every knee vowing. It's not just. The fact that Angel's knees are going to battle demons, knees are going to save people and have and people on Earth saved an unsaved unsaved people below the Earth.

[00:59:01] Sometimes we can get caught up in this grand scope in the in this, like, massive thing that's happening. What it says here in Romans, chapter 14, verse 10. This is page nine hundred and forty nine. It's our last passage to look at together. Says, why do you pass judgment on your brother?

[00:59:20] Or you why do you despise your brother, why are you looking down on other people for we will all stand before the judgment seat of God for it is written as I live, says the Lord. Every knee shall bout of me and every tongue shall confess to God. So then each of us will give an account of himself to God. See, it's not just that every knee is going about. It's the fact that your knee is going to about.

[00:59:46] So I don't know if you've ever had something like that.

[00:59:49] I don't know if you've ever seen something. It was so overwhelming. It was so powerful, it was so beyond your capability of responding to even physically, that you just literally lost your ability to stand and your knees hit the floor. But that's what it's going to be like when you see Jesus Christ in all of his glory.

[01:00:15] See, when the apostle John, the disciple whom Jesus love, when he saw Jesus and all of his glory, he fell at his feet as though dead when they came to arrest Jesus in the garden of guest, Simone is said, Whom are you seeking? And they said, Jesus.

[01:00:29] And he said, I am he referring back to the name your way of the Old Testament. They all fell over when he said that.

[01:00:38] See, I'm talking about you. I'm not talking about all people everywhere. I'm talking about you. And I'm telling you that when you see who Jesus really is as Lord, maybe you can see it right now by faith. Maybe you don't believe in Jesus right now, but there will come a moment for you when your knees will hit the ground. And you'll be overwhelmed. There will be no possible way that you will be able to stand up. There will be no possible way that you will be able to say anything else other than he is the Lord. That moment is common for each and every one of us. And it says, what are you doing? Waste in your life? Judge and other people. Don't you get what's comin?

[01:01:30] It's coming for you. And all of us. It says each of us will give an account of himself to God.

[01:01:41] Point number two, Jesus is exalted to the highest name as Lord. Do you know what his name is? His name is Master, his name is Boss. His name really is your way.

[01:01:57] And every knee will bow to him, including your own, every tongue will confess to him who he is. There is only one name given among men under heaven by which we can be saved.

[01:02:10] And yes, the name Jesus means savior. Yes, the name Christ is Messiah. It means the anointed one. The chosen one of God.

[01:02:19] But there is a name of Jesus that he has now in his exalted place. The name above every name. And it's a name that you need to know him by.

[01:02:30] You need to confess him that Jesus Christ is Lord. Father, we come to you and we thank you that tonight we could all be gathered together in this place and we could hear these two truths of the humiliation and the exaltation. Of your son, Jesus Christ and father, we praise you and we thank you. That Jesus, even though he was in the form of God, did not use that to his own advantage. But he used it to our advantage. And now we desperately need a Jesus to pay for our sin. We desperately needed him to die on that cross. And to be coerced by you so that we wouldn't have to be to offer his body, so we wouldn't have to die to offer his blood, because we could have never been seen as righteous before you.

[01:03:22] If it were not for the perfect sacrifice of your son, Jesus Christ. So we thank you for the humiliation of Jesus.

[01:03:29] We thank you that he put himself in a position to be a slave to us, that it was by his wounds that we are here.

[01:03:40] And he was pierced for our transgressions, that he was crushed for our iniquities.

[01:03:45] And we hear what it says and we know it to be true that when you raise Jesus from the dead, when you ascended him into heaven, when you sat him down at your right hand, you super exalted him and you gave him a name that's even better than all the names that he already had.

[01:04:03] You gave him the name, your very own name of Yahweh, a lord, and he let us know that he has all the authority in heaven and on earth.

[01:04:15] Oh, Father, I pray you would open our eyes that even now we can see by faith the glory of Jesus Christ, that we can know that he is God.

[01:04:24] That we could confess in our hearts who he really is. That we could believe in him and worship him. And there is no other name by which we can be saved than the name of our Lord.

[01:04:36] Father, I pray for people who are here in this room right now, people who are living their life like they've got more time and they can still figure it out and put it off the most important thing that they could ever do.

[01:04:47] I pray that they will confess here tonight who Jesus really is. God let them bow their knee when they want to, before they have to. Father, I pray that even tonight people will call on the name of the Lord and will be saved. We pray this in Jesus name.