Our Old Testament lesson this morning comes from Isaiah 45. I'm going to be reading from verse 18 through 23. That's Isaiah 45 and verse 18 through 23. For thus says the Lord who created the heavens, he is God who formed the earth and made it. He established it. He did not create it empty. He formed it to be inhabited. I am the Lord, and there is no other. I do not speak in secret in a land of darkness. I do not say to the offspring of Jacob, seek me in vain. I, the Lord, speak the truth. I declare what is right. Assemble yourselves and come. Draw near together, you survivors of the nations. They have no knowledge who carry about their wooden idols and keep on praying to a God that cannot save. 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 beside 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 from my mouth has gone out righteousness, word that shall not return. To me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear allegiance. Let's turn now to our New Testament reading. And that's being Philippians chapter 2. I'm going to be reading from verse 5 through to the end of verse 11. Though our sermon text this morning will specifically be from verse 8 through 11. Verse 5 of Philippians 2. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the very form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped. tempted himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. Being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. And therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that the name of Jesus every knee 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. This is the word of the Lord. Let's pray together. Most gracious and glorious Father, Help me this morning to preach your word unfettered, unrestrained to the audience of But One. May each one of us here this morning listen eagerly to your word with hearts that are ready to obey your word so that our lives would be increasingly conformed to Christ. Do this by your grace and the working of your Holy Spirits. Would you enliven the eyes of our hearts today so that we may know the hope to which you have called us, the riches of your glorious inheritance in the saints, and the immeasurable greatness of your power towards us who believe. Come, Holy Spirit, come, with power and deep conviction. Amen. There are many sights and sounds in our world today that take our breath away in amazement. Even in this fallen world in which there is so much pain, so much brokenness, so much sin. that there is the truly beautiful that grabs our attention, it awakes our imagination, it cracks a door open to discern at least some sparks of glory, as Kelvin said. I remember being at school, elementary school as a kid, and looking through the lens of a giant telescope up into the sky, It was a window into the universe. I was filled with wonder and such beauty. It was so vast and I was so small. I felt somewhat similarly as a 19-year-old when I first went to the Grand Canyon. There was a dusting of snow on the ground a little like this morning. It was about an hour before the sun would set that afternoon. And as I stepped up to the viewing rail, there lay before me a awe-inspiring panoramic vistor. The expansiveness of the great, or the Grand Canyon, could not be felt by mere photographs. As I stood there, looking down far below to see the Colorado River snaking below, a few mules and their riders were plodding across the crisscrossing paths miles away. It was like I had been transported to another world. Awakened by beauty, touched by sparks of glory. The same could be said of sitting with my wife in Carnegie Hall, listening to Handel's Messiah, or to the New York Philharmonic in Lincoln Center in New York City. See, our text this morning is part of a great, majestic hymn. It's known as the Christ hymn. It begins in verse six and it concludes in verse 11. And it's stunning, not only in its rhythmical shape and form, it's even more beautiful and remarkable in its content. For it speaks about the magnificence and the matchlessness of Christ in his condescension, in his humiliation, and in his exaltation. Yes, there are a number of themes that we find throughout Paul's letter to this Philippian church that come to the fore We've seen particularly the togetherness or the partnership in the gospel. We've noted the theme of living lives worthy of the gospel of Christ. We've seen also that theme of joy amidst suffering coming through from beginning to end. But what stands out above everything, what gives their partnership and togetherness in the gospel fuel, conviction, and sustaining grace amidst imprisonment, suffering? It's the revelation of Jesus Christ. See, this is not merely academic knowledge about Christ. Paul wants to know Christ and the power of His resurrection. His life is shot through with Christ. His life is shaped by Christ. His mind is set upon Christ. Christ is his life, his all and all. There is nothing or no one greater, higher, or more life-giving than Christ. And our text before us this morning, this Christ hymn, is centered in this letter between two personal claims that Paul makes about Christ. And it reinforces the priority in the place of Christ in the life of the believer, and in our relation to the world around us. In Philippians 1, in verse 21, he says, For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is to gain Christ. You can see, almost feel the heartbeat of the apostle through these words, the emotion and the zeal almost coming through the pages of scripture. And then two chapters later on in Philippians 3 in verse 8, Paul says, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. Paul's life is Christ, from big morning until night, in hardships and imprisonment, being overlooked, falsely accused. Christ is his everything, and Christ is enough. These passionate words on either side of our hymn this morning are informed by the rich content that is found within our text, within this Christ hymn. That is a creedal-like character to our Philippians chapter 2 text. It's a statement of faith about Christ. It's a Christological summary of the God-man, we might say. It addresses the deity of the sun and his humanity. And in his humanity, it addresses his humiliation and his exaltation. His humiliation unto death and his exaltation unto glory. Our text this morning, verses eight through 11, they focus upon the second and the third parts of this hymn. The humiliation and the exaltation of Christ. Though the lion's share of these verses falls upon the exaltation of Christ in verses 9 through 11. What's important for us to notice is that the humiliation of Christ necessarily precedes the exaltation of Christ. In other words, Christ's exaltation, Him being glorified by God, is consequential to Him humbling Himself. This is what we see in the word, the very first word of verse 9, the word, therefore. 8 And being found in human form, Jesus humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every As the promised mediator, Christ fulfilled the conditions of God's covenant of grace and rewarded him with being given the name that is above every name. A text this morning, it falls naturally into two parts, into his humiliation and his exaltation However, we need to consider the lengthier section a little more. We'll do so in two parts. We'll consider the exaltation of Christ in two parts. What I mean by that is, the first being that He's given a name that is above every name. And the second is that what results from His exaltation is that every knee should bow, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. And so this morning we have three points. The first is self-humbling. The second, God-exalting. The third, all-confessing. Self-humbling, God-exalting, all-confessing. Our first point, verse 8, self-humbling. Paul says of Christ, and being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on the cross. What's astounding What absolutely astounding words! How can you and I not be moved by this single verse? Of these few words, just nine Greek words, endless books have been written. There is so much compacted into these few words a tightly compacted summary of the humiliation of Christ. If you're wondering what the humiliation of Christ refers to, it refers to Him being born of a woman, of being made under the law. It refers to His suffering. It refers to His death, His burial, and Him being under the power of death for three days. In other words, Christ's humiliation, His state of humiliation, refers to that period prior to His resurrection. His resurrection from the dead. And so Christ humbled Himself. so that he would perform all that was required of him as mediator of the covenant of grace, a covenant that was specifically or specially designed to take away sin, in which God's wrath would be satisfied and his lavish mercy would be poured out. This is the crux of the gospel. And through Jesus's perfect obedience and through his shed blood, the most gracious and loving act of God towards man was displayed for all to see on Calvary's Hill. That sinful men would be reconciled to God and God to man. This, dear friends, is the marvel of the gospel. When all around was the blackest of nights, with no hope, no way out, all because of man's fall into sin, there came Christ. Remember what Paul says in Romans 3? Without Christ, no one is righteous. No one seeks for God. All have turned aside from God. And through the law comes knowledge of sin. Friends, without As Savior, there is no salvation without a mediator between sinful man and a holy, righteous, and just God. There is no reconciliation. There is no grace. There is no mercy. No beholding the face of God. No enjoyment of Him forever. There is no participation in the benefits of Christ. What we see in this hymn of Christ is the hope of glory. The provision of God for sinners such as you and me. That in Christ, in the person and work of Christ, Everything changes. And Paul says, I want to know Him. I want to be with Him. To live is Christ, but to die is far better. To die is to gain Christ, as our faith gives way to sight. Imagine the day when our faith gives way to sight and we behold Him as face to face in radiant glory, our Savior. What's interesting to note in verse 8 is that Paul actually doesn't get into the details of Christ's humiliation. His summary statement is actually incredibly short. It's focused on one thing. Christ humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death. And as we might remember that this Christ hymn actually serves a broader purpose. It's set within a larger context that you and I would have this mind among us, among ourselves, that we would be like Christ and thus have the same mind, the same love being in one accord and in one mind. So he who was in the form of God and who took to himself the form of a servant who was born in the likeness of men, he humbles himself to be obedient to the very law of God, even to death, death by the excruciating and humiliating crucifixion under the hands of the Romans. You see, he who was the Son of God was born to die. He who knew no sin was made sin for us. This is the work of the mediator, of our perfect substitute and our satisfaction. And what Paul highlights in this verse is the low point of Christ's humiliation. He doesn't get into the full breadth of Christ's humiliation, but he highlights the low point that he was obedient unto death. On the cross, Christ suffered in our place, paying the penalty of sin, discharging the debt of his people, as one theologian notes. For Christ, he perfectly fulfilled the demands of the law of God, not only in obeying its righteous precepts, that which he was to obey, but he also bore the curse of the cross, and that because of the disobedience of those for whom he hung on the cross. And as he hung there, naked, nailed through his hands and through his feet, his body disfigured from the vicious beatings and floggings, his face and brow soaked in blood from the crown of thorns that was banged into his scalp. He endured the full penalty and weight of the law. He endured God's wrath and condemnation and death as he was abandoned to his captors. And as the father turned his face away and left him on the cross, This, friends, is the work of the mediator. This is what Paul is getting to in this very single, compact verse. Verse 8. This is the work of the one whom we love, the God-man, the one who was born of a virgin to die outside of the gates of the city in disgrace. so that in his death we might know his life. In perfect humility, being obedient to the death and to death on the cross, we see that God thus highly exalted him and bestowed on him a name that is above every name. Our second point. See, having briefly, ever so briefly summarized the humiliation of Christ in verse 8, Paul now turns to the exaltation of Christ in verse 9 through 11. To the reward of his suffering under death, as Thomas Boston noted. See, if the humiliation of Christ ended in his death, him lying dead there three days in the grave, his exaltation, begins in His resurrection from the dead, in Him triumphing over sin and the grave, and then ascending into the very highest of the heavens to sit at the right hand of the Father, ultimately to come once again, this time to judge the living and the dead. See, all this is summarized within this Christ, him, though Paul focuses upon just one event. He actually, if we look closely, he doesn't speak of the resurrection. He doesn't speak necessarily of the ascension, though it's all included in giving him the name that is above every name. See, once again, it's so interesting to note that Paul does not address all these aspects of the exaltation of Christ as he did not address all the aspects of the humiliation of Christ. Remember that this magnificent creed like hymn is situated within the letter for a purpose so that the church in Philippi would heed the example of Christ. This is not a systematic theological account of all that is seen in the humiliation and exaltation of Christ. Paul focuses upon one thing, the extent, the low point of his death, his obedience unto death, and then giving the name. above every name, as he is highly exalted by God. There is the contrast of him humbling himself unto death, in obedience unto the will of God, and then God exalting him, to giving him the name that is above every single name. See friends, what Paul highlights is that humility is unto exaltation. In this letter, we find that suffering is unto glory, weakness is unto strength, and humility is the means by which the church has the mind of Christ and is one, even as God is one. What's very important for us to note is the relation of verse 9 to verse 8. We've hinted at this already. And it's very clear, the word therefore. Therefore God has highly exalted him. And this is exactly what we see in Hebrews 12 verse 2. For it was for the joy set before him that he endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. And it's in his resurrected and exalted state that all authority in heaven and earth has been given to him. And thus Christ says, go therefore. and make disciples of all nations." These are the words of the mediator of a gracious covenant of God wherein life and salvation are held out to sinful men. In John 7 verse 39 we read that the Spirit was not given because Jesus was not yet glorified. See, having laid down His glory in His humiliation, the Son is glorified by the Father in His exaltation. That's what takes place. He is given the name that is above every name, above every angel, every demon, every person. And in His incarnate and exalted state, He is invested with power, with authority, and dominion, and now exalted to the right hand of the Father, He is the radiance of the glory of God. That is what's taken place in His exaltation. Listen to the anthem that is recorded for us in Revelation 5, the anthem of heaven. Then I looked and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders, the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands saying with a loud voice, worthy is the lamb who was slain to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing. And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth, and under the earth, and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, To him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor. and glory and might forever and ever. And the four living creatures said, amen. And the elders fell down and worshiped. This, dear friends, is what is recorded for us in these few verses. in this Christ hymn. The Lamb that was slain is now glorified, is declared by God to be now Lord and Christ. There is no higher glory to be conferred upon the mediator for his obedience than for the Father to give him that name. That name that is above every name, His own name, the name Lord, the Old Testament name for God. That is what is conveyed to Christ in His estate, His mediator, the God-man. He has been exalted as Lord over all creation. He is now King of Kings and Lord of Lords, supreme over all things. And in being highly exalted and being Lord over all, every knee will bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue that confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Our third point, all confessing. Friends, this hymn of Christ in Philippians isn't merely a beautiful piece of Greek literature. It's not like a painting on the wall that kind of is interesting, but it doesn't really move us. It might be nice. You might like the colors, particular textures, but it's not life changing. This creed-like statement before us this morning, however, is not simply a summary statement about the humiliation and exaltation of Christ, as if we simply gained a little more information this morning about Christ, some added knowledge. It's an account of the love of God displayed for sinners such as you and I. It's the good news in concise form that changes everything. It's the gospel about the death of Christ and his resurrection, about his humiliation and his exaltation, his atoning sacrifice, and his high priestly intercession, even now. for you and for me. See, the Christ who died for you and extends life and salvation to you is now crowned as Lord over all. And having the name that is above every name, he calls you and me to humble ourselves in submission to his lordship. to recognize that God is Lord over all, that Christ is Lord over all, and that He will bring to completion all that He has begun. See, the exaltation of Christ calls for you and I to come on bended knee, to confess Him as Lord over every single area of your life. You see, this Christ hymn doesn't end with the breathless body of Christ hanging upon the cross. It doesn't end with the empty tomb of the stone that is rolled away on that resurrection morning. It ends with our need for humility. for your submission and mine to confess that Jesus Christ truly is Lord. To the glory of God the Father. And he took on flesh so that he can sympathize with your weakness. He has been tempted and tried as we are, yet without sin. And he says to you, come. Come, bow down, and I will lift you up. Humble yourself, and I will show you grace. See, as Jesus Christ is Lord over all, having the name that is above every name, let him be Lord over every area of your life, over the pains, over the idols, over the sins, the disappointments, the hopes, over every good gift that He's given you, over everything. Let Christ be your all in all. He is faithful and He is good. And He will bring all things to their rightful end in keeping with His promise. But Christ Jesus is not only Savior at the cross, He is also Lord in His exaltation. The gospel is neither one nor the other. It is not Savior or Lord. It is not death at the cross or exaltation to the right hand of the Father. Jesus Christ is both Savior and Lord. And Jesus says this. He says, if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself. Take up his cross and follow him. You see, in bowing, in denying yourself, in bowing down low, you will not lose your life. What you will find is that you will gain your life, for He will sustain you. He will watch over you. He will satisfy your soul with the richest of fare. See friends, All of history courses towards one final day, when the clouds that received Christ in His ascension will now accompany Him at His return. And He will judge the living and the dead. You see, in time, Christ will subdue every single authority and power in the universe. He will subdue them under His feet. such that every knee will bow down and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. And some will do this joyfully out of love, out of adoration, but others will do so out of a hardened heart, An unbelief that will acknowledge him is Lord, but only in their condemnation and their punishment. And this morning our risen and exalted King says to you, come to him who is altogether lovely, who has loved us and has given himself for us and who is now exalted over all for us and our salvation to the glory of God the Father. May you come, may you come to heaven. Let's pray. Almighty and ever blessed God, may the things of this world melt away so that we would see you as altogether lovely. And in such an hour as you fill our hearts with your spirits and our minds being made alive by your truths, be exalted in our hearts, O God. May your grace be unto us and obedience flow from us as we marvel at our salvation, at your death and your exaltation, at our Lord and our Savior. And so bow our knees before you in praise and in adoration to the glory of God the Father. Amen. Dear friends, let's stand and let's worship God responsibly with thine be the glory, hymn 295.