Christ in His Three States

Introduction: The Call to Christian Unity and the Example of Christ

0:03 This sermon was preached on Sunday morning, May 10th, 1981, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey.

0:12 Before we turn to the Word of God, may I say that if you're at all warm and uncomfortable, you men who have jackets or vests and you'd like to remove them, we'll not consider you uncouth at all if you do that now, so you're at liberty to do so, if you'd be able in so doing to give better attention to the preaching of the Word. Now after a digression of several Lord's Day mornings, we return today to our verse-by-verse studies in Paul's letter to the Philippian church, that book in the New Testament that we call the Book of Philippians. And I would urge you to follow as I read this morning the paragraph which presently constitutes the focus of our study, chapter 2, verses 1-8. Through 11. Philippians chapter 2, beginning with verse 1. If there is therefore any exhortation in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship in the Spirit, if any tender mercies and compassions, make full my joy that ye be of the same mind, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind,

1:34 doing nothing through faction or through empty conceit, but in lowliness of mind, each counting other better than himself, not looking each of you to his own things, but each of you also to the things of others. Have this mind in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, existing in the form of God, counted not, not the being on an equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, and being made in the likeness of men, and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, becoming obedient unto death, yea, the death of the cross. Wherefore also God highly exalted, exalted him, and gave unto him the name which is above every name, that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things on earth, and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

3:00 Now, as we resume our studies in this precious portion of the Word, let me remind you of the overall thrust of the Apostle's thought in this section of the letter. In chapter 1 and verse 27, he gave his first formal exhortation to the Philippians. It was an exhortation to the intent that their general lifestyle would be worthy of the gospel. Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel, then he describes what such a life will involve, particularly as the believer relates to the non-Christian community. How does a believer live a life worthy of the gospel in the face of a Christ-hating world? But then in chapter 2, he turns the focus from the believer's life being lived, worthy of the gospel before the world, and focuses upon the believer's life being lived worthily of the gospel in relationship to his fellow believers. And in so doing, he gives us this very powerful call

4:25 to Christian unity and oneness. And the context or setting or framework of that call is found in verse 1 of chapter 2 and the first, the phrase of verse 2, and then the very substance or essence of the call in verse 2, that they be of the same mind, having the same love, of one accord, of one mind. And then he directs their attention to those two graces without which this kind of unity cannot be realized. The graces of humility and of self-forgetfulness.

5:04 And so he says, Do nothing through strife or empty conceit. Here is a call to humility. Each one is to regard the other better than himself. And then there is to be self-forgetfulness.

5:19 Each one is to look not to his own little circle of interest, but he is to look upon the things of others. And then it's as though someone asked him and said, But Paul, how do we cultivate such a grace? That's foreign to us. It's natural to be proud.

5:36 Proud, and it's natural to be selfish. And that's true, it is. And even remaining sin in a believer makes it natural and easy to be proud and to be selfish. And so he then directs them in verse 5 to the only way in which these graces of humility and self-forgetfulness can be realized.

5:58 They must have the very mind or attitude or disposition in themselves which was... which was operative in our Lord Jesus Christ.

The Imperative: Have the Mind of Christ

6:09 And so in verse 5 we have this imperative. Have this mind in you which was also in Christ Jesus. We studied that verse in our last time together in Philippians. And now this morning we want to pick up and attempt to open up verses 6 through 11 which are a description of how the mind...

6:36 of Christ operated in true humility and self-forgetfulness. How did the disposition of humility and self-forgetfulness in our Lord express itself in the life history of our Lord? And as we come to this passage in which the Apostle describes humility and self-forgetfulness manifested in the attitude, in the deeds of our Lord Jesus we stand before a passage that in a very real sense is a Mount Everest of Christian truth. It is a passage full of majesty and grandeur and like Mount Everest a passage that is difficult to scale in terms of grasping the whole of its teaching. To change the figure this passage is an ocean of mysteries in which one can easily drown himself if he tries to touch the bottom or to reach any shore or to change the figure. This passage is a burning sun of divine revelation which can blind the eyes of the man or woman boy or girl who looks too long upon it or to change the figure yet again.

8:01 This passage in many ways is a labyrinth, a maze of exegetical difficulties and distinctions which can become a path which seems to have no outlet if we try to track down every one of the paths that is before us. Now for any of you who did not have the privilege of sitting under Professor Donald McLeod's exposition of this passage some years ago at the family conference I would urge you to invest a little money in this passage. And the tapes that contain those expositions on the person and work of Christ from Philippians chapter 2 and you will have what in my estimation is the most helpful opening up of the many distinctions that are here in this passage so full of biblical richness. But now what I'm going to attempt to do this morning is to reproduce in this assembly by the aid of the Spirit something that is so important to me that I can't do without it. Something that I can't do without it. Something that I can't do without it.

9:03 Something that what I imagine was the mentality present when this letter was first read. When Epaphroditus came back from Rome holding the parchment on which these very words were written and probably on a given Lord's Day stood in a congregation such as this congregation and said, Brothers and sisters I have a letter from our beloved brother and our esteemed Apostle Paul from Rome and then the people of God sat and listened as these words were read out to them. Now obviously they could not pause to track down the fine distinctions that are contained in those words by the very inspiration of the Spirit. They could not pause and discuss the implications but having heard this passage read in their hearing there should have been made an overall impression an overall impression an overall impression an overall impression an overall impression an overall impression of some of the very fundamental elements in the passage which would convey to them what it means to have the mind of Christ with respect to the graces of humility and self-forgetfulness. And so this morning I am going to pass over many distinctions many things that are full of richness many things that are there in the passage

Christ's Three States: An Overview

10:31 and seek to set the stage set before you just the highlights of this portion of the word of the living God. Now what do we have then in the passage? Well basically we have this. Paul in describing humility and self-forgetfulness in our Lord describes those qualities with reference to the three states of Christ.

11:03 Now when I use the word state I mean a set of circumstances in which one finds himself or puts himself. A man who has no food little clothing and no means of getting the same we say is in a state of need and of poverty. Now what do we mean by a state of poverty? Well we mean he is in a condition marked by poverty.

11:32 Now suppose that same man had the proverbial rich uncle who died left him a fortune and the fortune has been cleared through the probate courts and now it's all legally his everything signed, sealed and delivered to him well now the man is in a state of wealth and if he chooses he may surround himself with luxury. If he's wise he'll not do that he'll make good investments he'll live frugally but he will spend enough money so as to get himself out of the state of poverty and into a state where his basic needs are met. So you see how we use the word state it means a set of circumstances or conditions in which one finds himself or puts himself. Well in this passage the apostle having said let this attitude be in you which was in Christ describes that attitude in our Lord with reference to three states of our Lord that is three sets of circumstances in which our Lord found himself or placed himself and if we understand the heart of what Paul is telling us by the Spirit with regard to those three states of Christ

12:59 we will have etched clearly in ourselves in our minds what it means not to look upon our own things not to regard ourselves as number one we will have forever implanted within us if the Spirit of God will write these things upon our hearts a concrete indelible impression of what it means in true humility and self-forgetfulness to strive for Christian unity. Now what then are the three states set before us in the passage? Well the first state is his state of pre-incarnate glory. Now don't go to sleep or run away at those words. I can't choose any other words that are simpler and yet accurate. His state of pre-incarnate glory verse 6 who being in the form of God counted not the being on an equality with God a thing to be grasped or selfishly retained. And then in verses 7 and 8 we have his second state described his state of incarnate humiliation.

14:22 And verses 7 and 8 describe his condition the set of circumstances marked by incarnate humility. Humiliation and then verses 9 through 11 his state of incarnate exaltation wherefore God hath highly exalted him. Now that's the simple outline that will follow. It's right there in the passage.

14:49 The message is there in the book. It's not in my head. It's there in your own Bibles. May God help us to lay hold of it.

State 1: His Pre-Incarnate Glory

14:58 First of all then his state of pre-incarnate glory. Now when we use the word pre we mean before. We talk about pre-school children. We mean children before the age when they normally go to school.

15:14 Pre-kindergarten. Pre-school. Well pre-incarnate means the state of our Lord before he became incarnate. That is before he became enfleshed.

15:30 Before the sacrifice of the second person of the Godhead the eternal word of John 1 the eternal son of the living God before he took to himself a true humanity that was his state or condition of pre-incarnate glory. Now what was that state? Look at the passage. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus who ever existing in the form of God.

16:10 His state of pre-incarnate glory is described in this verse as existing in the form of God. And that word form does not mean in the mere appearance but we could paraphrase who existing as God in the state consistent with Godhood. Who existing in the form of God. In other words his state of pre-incarnate glory was a state in which nothing went forth from him but the undiminished glory of undiluted Godhead. He was in a state in which nothing went forth from him but the undiminished glory of undiluted Godhead. You remember in Isaiah 6 the prophet says in the year that King Isaiah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne high and lifted up and his flowing garment filled the temple and then he spoke of these creatures. Creatures that had six wings two wings they covered their faces two wings they covered their feet

17:39 with two wings they flew and one cried to another saying holy, holy, holy is the Lord God of hosts the whole earth is full of his glory that is the outshining of the perfections of what he is as God. Well in the twelfth chapter of John we read Isaiah spoke these things when he saw his that is Christ's glory.

18:10 So in his pre-incarnate state nothing went forth from him but undiminished glory of undiluted Godhead. Furthermore nothing was done by him but that which was God-like in its every action. The word of God says he was the creator of all things. And without him was not anything made that hath been made. Everything that he did was God-like to the core. He created the angels. He created all spirit beings. He created our first parents. He is before all things and everything is held and was and ever has been held together by the word of his power. And furthermore nothing was directed to him but what was fitting for God. What was directed to him in his pre-incarnate state of glory? The worship and the adoration of angels. Seraphim,

19:19 cherubim, all the intelligent creatures that existed before the creation of man rendered to the eternal word along with the Father and the Spirit honor and praise and adoration. And after the creation of man there in the presence of his Father in the mystery of the Trinity nothing was directed to him but that which was fitting for God. No word of shame. No mockery.

19:53 No abuse. No unbelief. Everything that went forth from him was the undiminished glory of God. Everything done by him was God-like in its nature and everything directed to him was fitting for God.

20:15 And the text says he was found existing in the very form, the morphe of God. Here was God in an existence fitting for God in which there was no intrusion of any thing that was not God-like. That is the reality of his pre-incarnate glory. That's what his state was.

20:47 But now how did he regard that state? Look at the passage. Who existing in the form of God he made a judgment about that state. He counted not this being on an equality with God a thing to be selfishly retained.

21:09 Remember the context. Have this mind in you so that you may not look upon your own things but on the things of others. Do you want to see the great example of that? Here is the Lord Jesus in his state of pre-incarnate glory.

21:28 Equal with the Father in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He along with the Father in the Spirit active in creation and upholding all things in providence, receiving the adoration and praise of all intelligent beings and creatures. How does he regard that condition being equal to God in the form of God? The text says he did not regard it a thing to be selfishly retained.

22:04 It was already his. By right. It was already his in possession and any thought that the text is teaching he did not regard it something to be snatched after would be entirely contrary to the passage. The passage is exhorting believers to relinquish their rights.

22:24 Relinquish things that are legitimately theirs in pursuit of the interest of their brethren. It would fracture the whole purpose of the apostle were he to teach that Christ is here described as not regarding seeking after equality with God something to be stretched after. No, no. He already had that existence equal with God but now he did not count it a thing to be selfishly retained.

22:56 In other words it was a state a set of circumstances which could be relinquished under the pressure of selfless love for others. It was a state that could be altered in pursuit of covenant engagements between the father and the son. He could not cease to be God. For one attribute of God to be relinquished or changed is to un-God God.

State 2: His Incarnate Humiliation – Emptying by Taking

23:29 I am the Lord I change not. All that God has ever been from eternity to the very present moment that you hear my finger wrapped upon the pulpit and Jesus Christ being the eternal son of God in his essence as God cannot change will not change for he is God but what can change is his state. The condition in which he exists as God that can change and that did change and if it had not changed there would be no Christian church meeting here this morning and that change was impelled because he looked not upon his own things but on the things of others so that brings us then very naturally to the second state look at it verse seven his state of incarnate humiliation but you see the transitional word emptied himself taking the form of a servant being made in the likeness of men and being found in fashion as a man he humbled himself becoming obedient unto death yea the death of the cross. Now what is the heart of his state

24:58 of incarnate humiliation what precisely was it? Well if you get hold of these two phrases you have the heart of it it was an empty by taking look at the language but emptied himself is it strange mathematics we empty by taking away emptied by taking something to himself he emptied by taking and then the second facet of his incarnate humiliation is found in the words humbling by obedience he humbled himself becoming obedient up to the very point of death even the death of the cross so his state of humiliation is found in those two key elements emptying by taking and then humbling by obeying now let's look at the specifics the first one is this he took a true humanity in a form of dependence and servitude verse 7 but emptied himself taking the form of a bondservant or a slave

26:27 being made in the likeness of men the very same word is used here as was used in verse 6 existing in the form of God as true God he existed in a manner that was God-like everything about him was God-like and from the morphe of God he now takes the morphe the form of a doulos, a servant being made in the likeness of men he took a true humanity in a form of dependence and servitude now can you begin to catch something of the pressure of what the apostle is saying from all the undiminished glory of enthroned and manifested Godhood to the reality of dependantness and submission in a state of weakness in this taking the form of a servant is embodied all of the mystery of a true conception in the womb of the virgin Mary I never cease to marvel when I read in the gospel record

27:54 that which is conceived in thee could not God have given to the eternal word a true humanity in terms of a fully developed fetus in the womb sure he could have but he didn't he chose rather that the eternal word ever existing in the form of God worlds and galaxies having spit as it were into existence from the word in his mouth should become that tiny speck in Mary's womb think of it think of it existing in the form of God did not think that existence in the form of God a thing to be selfishly retained but emptied himself taking, taking what the very form of a servant being made in the likeness of men and in that likeness he entered that very state of conception think of it upholder of the universe sustained by the umbilical cord of Mary think of it he who brought worlds into being

29:20 himself brought into the world amidst the blood and the cries and the groans of Mary's birth sustainer sustained at the breast of a little Hebrew maid infinite wisdom learning his Hebrew alphabet made in the very form or taking the form of a servant and then passing on into adulthood no place to lay his head weary by Jacob's well lonely in his hours of spiritual agony he took a true humanity in a form of dependence and servitude that's the first element in this state of incarnate humiliation but now there is a second element in that humanity joined to his own self-worth in that humanity joined to his own self-worth he humbled himself to the ultimate humiliation of crucifixion verse 8 and being found in fashion as a man he humbled himself you see there is a further step downward we should think that there could be no greater

State 2: His Incarnate Humiliation – Humbling by Obedience to the Cross

30:46 step than being God in the form of God to taking the form of a slave being made in the likeness of men but no there is a further step being found in fashion as a man he humbled himself he is to stoop yet lower and what is the depth of that stooping look at the text he humbled himself becoming obedient up to the point of death the emphasis being at every point to the very dismissal of his spirit there was voluntary deliberate obedience he was not overcome by his captors death did not come and grab him by the scruff of the neck and take it away no no his obedience was carried right up to and through the point of death and then the master stroke Paul says yea the death of a cross it was not until I prepared for this morning that I felt some thing of the tremendous significance of this word for the apostle you remember that Paul was a Roman citizen do you not in the book of Acts how he appealed to his Roman citizenship for protection on more than one occasion well one of the things that every Roman

32:14 citizen was immune to was death by crucifixion it was illegal to crucify a Roman citizen and among the Romans only slaves and outcasts and people of no standing were crucified one has said among the Romans also by whom our Lord was crucified this punishment was regarded as utterly ignominious and degrading in their use it was all but exclusively limited to slaves a class by them as generally by slave holding nations looked upon with the utmost contempt is scarcely at all possessed of the rights or titles or sympathies of human beings bus in being condemned to the cross Jesus was held off as an outcast from society I can hardly help thinking that before Paul's mind is with adoring wonder he wrote his words even the death of the cross the contrast between his own position in the saviors was prominent by Roman law under no circumstances could a Roman citizen be crucified. Listen to Cicero writing on the subject. Let the very name of the cross be far away, not only from the body of Roman citizens,

33:43 but from their very thoughts, their eyes, and their ears.

33:50 Philippi was a Roman colony.

33:54 They understood and felt the ethos as well as the letter of Roman law. And one can only imagine the shock effect that came that morning when Epaphroditus reads that from this state of pre-incarnate glory, he comes to the state of incarnate humiliation. It begins, first of all, with this taking a true humanity in the form of servitude, but then it goes downward to death, yea, the death. And then a word that no decent Roman would even listen to.

34:37 Goes like a shattering effect through the congregation. Death of a cross.

34:46 Death of a cross. A death of the most excruciating physical pain. And though we do well to avoid graphic descriptions, we do not do well to avoid the reality that what made that death so excruciating was that it was calculated to be a slow death. No vital organ was pierced in crucifixion.

35:12 The body dehydrated. All of the bones would go out of joint. And often men would hang for several days upon a cross before they died. But it was not only a death of most excruciating physical pain, but a death of the most humiliating social disgrace.

35:35 It means that one is identified with the slaves and outcasts of society. And then for our Lord, it was a death of insufferable spiritual agony. For it was a death calculated in the purpose of God to make it evident that he died under the curse of God. The Old Testament law said, Cursed is anyone who hangs upon a tree, and when you wanted to make it evident that a man was dying for capital crimes that brought upon him the judgment of God, you would take the dead body that may have been executed by another means, and you'd hang it up on a tree for public disgrace.

36:16 And in that way, everyone who passed by would see symbolically that man died under the curse of Almighty God. And so God engineered the whole place of crucifixion under Roman law. And in the whole structure and flow of history, that when his son would die, it would be evident from the very form of his death that he died under the anathema of God, that the frown of the Almighty was upon him, that when he died, he did not die the death of a martyr at the hands of ignorant people. He did not die the death of one who could not resist his captors.

36:57 He died the willing, obedient servant, the servant of Jehovah, who bore the wrath of God against the sins of his people. And all of this, according to the passage, was completely voluntary for the sake of others. That's the pressure of the passage. Oh, he says to the believers at Philippi, don't look each of you on the things of himself.

37:26 Do nothing through strife or vainglory. Each of you regard other better than himself. Each of you look upon the things of others. Have the mind in you that was in Christ, the very mind and disposition that caused him consciously and deliberately to relinquish the state of pre-incarnate glory.

37:49 I say again, not to relinquish his godhood, that he cannot do, but to relinquish that state of pre-incarnate glory, consciously and deliberately to take upon himself the form of a servant, not humanity in a state of royal dignity. He did not come with flowing royal robes and a scepter. He came into the midst of a stinking cow barn. He lived the life of a humble, poor peasant, laboring with his own hands in his father's carpenter shop.

38:32 And he carried out his obedience through rejection and weariness, misunderstanding, even by his own half-brothers and sisters who did not believe on him until after his resurrection. And he did all of this culminating in death, yea, the death of the cross. All of the excruciating physical agony added to that the tragedy of that social shift, the shame in rejection, and then making all of that pale as it were almost into insignificance. He dies under the anathema of his father.

39:14 The billows of divine wrath break over his head until he cries, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And he did all of it, my friends, as an act of obedience, becoming obedient unto death. Yea, the death of the cross. There was no retention of his rights.

39:41 There was no exertion of his rights. One has tersely stated, the only one who ever lived, who had a right to assert his rights, relinquished his rights for our salvation. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. And then there is this abrupt change, beginning with verse 9.

State 3: His Incarnate Exaltation

40:12 From the pre-incarnate state of glory to the state of incarnate humiliation. Now we have described in verses 9 through 11 the state of incarnate exaltation. And why do I use the word incarnate? Because it is now the God-man who is exalted.

40:32 Something is going to go back to heaven that was never there before. The God-man. The God left heaven. The second person of the Godhead.

40:43 The eternal Word. John 1.14 The Word became flesh. And having taken a true humanity, he has taken that humanity to himself forever in pursuit of our salvation.

40:59 Now notice up to verse 9, everything describes what Jesus did. Look at it. Verse 6. He did not regard the being on an equality with God a thing to be grasped.

41:16 But he emptied himself, taking the form of a servant. He humbled himself, becoming obedient. But in verse 9 the agent is changed. And now we do not read of what Christ does, but what the Father representing the majesty of the Godhead does.

41:36 Wherefore also God. And what did God do? What are the specifics? Three things.

41:44 Look what he did. God exalted him and gave him the name above every name. Those are the two significant words. Wherefore God literally super-exalted him.

41:57 And Paul uses a compound word which means God lifted him to the highest pinnacle. Exalted him above all other things. Ephesians 1 verses 20 through 23. And then he gave to him the name which is above every name.

42:13 And what is the eventual result of God's action? In order that, verses 10 and 11, in order that every created being, every knee should bow up, things in heaven, things on earth, things under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. God has exalted him. God has given him the name above every name.

42:40 The very name Jehovah is now inextricably identified with Jesus of Nazareth. He is the Lord. And in the exaltation that is made abundantly clear, the eventual result will be that every created intelligence will bow the knee and confess that that is so. Every knee shall bow.

43:06 Every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord. And what's the ultimate end or purpose? Look at it. To the glory of God the Father.

43:16 God will secure glory to himself in this work of exaltation with respect to his own beloved Son. Now what's the point of that for the whole passage? What's that have to do with humility and self-forgetfulness? Just this.

43:34 Jesus taught in the days of his flesh, He that humbleth himself shall be exalted. And he that exalts himself shall be humbled. And the great and classic example of that principle is this passage. He humbled himself.

43:56 And what did the Father do? He exalted him. He exalted him. And the description of that exaltation is laid out in this passage.

Application: Profound Doctrine, Practical Duties, and Ultimate Accountability

44:06 Rather than pursuing the path of preserving his rights, standing on his dignity, he took the form of a servant being made in the likeness of men and being found in fashion as a man. He humbled himself even to the depths of the shame of the death of the cross. And now God has said, all who act in that mind, in that disposition, in that attitude, all who humble themselves, they too shall be exalted. Well, having sought to open up what the passage teaches about the three states of Christ, consider with me in closing these several lines of application. The first is this. Consider this morning the intimate relationship between the most profound doctrines and the most practical duties. Do you see in this passage the most intimate relationship between profound doctrines and practical duties?

45:19 What is more profound than the realities contained in these verses? How can essential, eternal, undiminished deity take to itself a real, substantial, concrete humanity in the form of a servant? How can that be? I do not know.

45:38 But that it is, I do know. What a mystery! Eternal, undiminished deity takes humanity in the form of a servant. What mystery is greater than the mystery of the incarnation?

45:59 And then that this God-man in a state of dependantness in which he must pray, in which he must eat, in which he must rest, a state of weakness, a state of loneliness, should stoop to pain and shame in the agonies of the cross. And yet the apostle draws a direct line from those profound mysteries to the most practical matters of the Christian life. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. You see, each believer must seek to become well grounded in the most profound mysteries of his faith, or he will forever be a weak believer, weak in his practice, weak in his Christian life. Each believer must contemplate, apply and work out the implications of the mystery of his professed faith. And we must never be found pitting doctrine against practice. Only vigorous, robust doctrine can give birth to true, vigorous, mature Christian character.

47:12 And it is only mature, vigorous Christian character that is the acid proof that we have rightly absorbed the realities of our Christian faith in terms of the doctrine. God has forever fused doctrine and practice and what God hath joined together let not man put asunder. But then consider seriously the specific demands which Christ's example of voluntary humiliation makes upon us. We must have in us the mind that was in Christ, existing in the form of God by right.

47:50 He did not regard it a thing to be selfishly retained. Now what do you have that is yours by right? Well, you say, I have my home, I have my clothes, I have my car, I have my bank account, I have this, I have that, that's fine. What are you doing with those things?

48:07 Are you drawing a circle around them, putting yourself in the middle and making all of those things serve your own final ambitions? If so, then you know nothing of the mind of Christ. You know nothing of the mind of Christ. For as he stood in the circle of all that was his by right and he looked upon all of it, the praise and the worship and the adoration of heavenly beings, nothing directed to him that bore the slightest hint of disrespect or shame or non-recognition of who he was.

48:50 He voluntarily, deliberately relinquished it all. Why? He put such price upon your miserable soul and mind. That's why.

49:03 That's why. That's why. So when it comes to the use of our time, the expenditure of energy, the use of our money, stop talking about what you have a right to do. Stop rationalizing of all my station and life warrants that I be due or my friend have this mind in you which was in Christ Jesus.

49:29 Stop looking upon your own things, your own possessions, your own impression in the community. Stop looking upon what you can accumulate for your own security and your own interest, your own this and your own that. Pray that God will help you to begin to look upon the things of others and voluntarily begin to relinquish right after right for the sake of others. And then I ask you to consider this morning in closing, consider seriously my friend the ultimate end of all of this in reference to yourself. The passage says, God exalted him, gave him the name above every name, in order that an hour would come when every knee will bow. I want everyone to reach down and touch his knee. Touch your knee.

50:31 I'm not commanding you. You don't have to if you don't want to.

50:36 That knee you touched, my friend, that knee is going to bow. You know who it's going to bow before? It's going to bow before the one who left his pre-incarnate glory taking the form of a servant, carried his obedience to the depth of the cross. And that knee that you've touched is going to bow in acknowledgement that he is your rightful master.

51:08 And that tongue, right now, that tongue right there is going to say, Jesus Christ is Lord. And for those who have seen the glory of Christ in the gospel, and have bowed now in repentance, and have come in brokenness, saying, O Lord Jesus, can you have mercy upon so miserable a sinner as I? Those who with their tongues have confessed in Savior and Lord now, in that day the bowing of the knee and the confessing of the tongue will be the delight of delights. But for every one of you who has said, I bow my knees to the Lord, I am the master of my own fate and the captain of my own soul. This is my life, I'll run it, I'll do it in my pleas. My friend, your knee is going to bow.

52:18 God will wring from your reluctant mouth the confession that Christ is Lord and the final proof of His Lordship will be when you say, when you sink into hell. And when He says, depart into hell, His Lordship will land you in hell. You better not fool around with that Jesus. He's no mamby-pamby effeminate Jesus who whimpers and whines and pleads that you give Him a hearing. He stands in the royalty in all the regal splendor of His place of exaltation and He entreats you, come unto Me, take My yoke upon you. The Lord Jesus entreats and in the overtures of the gospel invites and if you defy those overtures of His saving Lordship, you'll come under the scriptures of His damning Lordship. But bow to His Lordship you must and you will.

53:41 Now my friend, that ought to be pretty serious and heavy stuff for some of you. It's about time some of you stop playing games, sitting here marking time and tapping your foot till the final amen's you get home and get it over with. And say you've been to church and salve your conscience. My friend, this Jesus died and rose that He might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.

54:05 And Almighty God having exalted Him is going to see to it that every last person in His life, every last person in His building is going to bend that knee and make that confession. Will yours be the bent knee and the confession which is the delight of delights? Or will it be that final, horrible, eternally haunting confession which will seal your damnation in hell? My friend, if you want to go somewhere where they play games, don't come here.

54:46 My blessed Lord suffered a real agony because there's a real hell that awaits those who don't find refuge in His sufferings. May God grant that if you sit here unconverted you will have no rest until you flee to this blessed Savior so thirsty for the salvation of sinners that He didn't grasp to His rights but relinquished them, left the state of pre-incarnate glory, came to the state of incarnate humiliation, did all that was necessary to form a just basis upon which Almighty God can forgive the vilest of sinners. I don't care what your sin has been. You say, but preacher, you don't know what my sin has been. Thank God I don't know. But the God who knows all your sins says, though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow. Yeah, God knows all.

55:44 He knew all about your sins when He gave that promise. And He says, though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Thank God. Thank God for a salvation that cleanses from all sin.

56:04 Give yourself no rest till you know that it's yours. Let us pray. Our Father, we can only praise You and worship You this morning when we gaze upon these gospel mysteries. We confess that our minds stagger, our spirits are paralyzed, and yet, wonder of wonders, we rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. And we pray that the Holy Spirit will so etch upon our minds and hearts how the mind of Christ worked in Him that we will ever hear You calling us to be imitators of Him, to have His mind in us. We pray for those that sit here impenitent. O God, may not the words of entreaty be in vain, but may that word track them down, give them no rest, haunt them day and night until they bow the knee and confess with the mouth, Jesus as Lord.

57:32 O God, seal the word to our edification. Seal the word to the salvation of Son. And to Your name, and to Your name alone, be praise, honor, and glory now and forevermore. Amen.