Again, our text today, Philippians chapter two and verses nine through eleven. Let's give our attention now to God's holy and inspired word. Wherefore, God also hath highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. to the glory of God the Father. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for the scriptures, and we pray today that you would open our eyes, that we may behold wonderful things out of your law. Lord, many times we can't see the way we need to. We need a sovereign work of you, Lord. We pray that you would open our eyes. We can't do it ourselves. We need your help, Father. And so we pray that you would do that today. Help us to see truth. Help us to see the glory of Jesus Christ. Help us to see our need to follow him. To trust in him for our salvation and to imitate his example, his humility and his selflessness. Lord, we pray that we'd see all these things in the word of God today. We pray that for the opening of our eyes, that we may see the glorious things out of your law, out of your word. We look not to our own opinions or sentiments, but we look to reveal the truth in the word of God. So we pray for your help now, Lord. May all this be done for the honor and glory of Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all. It's in his name that we pray, amen. Domitian was the Roman emperor at the end of the first century. Hopefully you'll remember him. We talked about him a little bit in our studies in the Book of Revelation. Domitian's reign, different from the beginning of his reign to the end of his reign. Domitian, at the end of his reign, exalted himself in many different ways. He filled the capital with statues of himself. Had these statues made and put them everywhere. He announced that he was God. Not only was he God, but his family members were God as well. Father, sister, brother, etc. He sat on a throne, of course. That's not surprising. But he encouraged visitors to embrace his needs when they came to see him. He required officials to speak of him and to write of him as Dominus et Deus Noster. It's Latin, and it means our Lord and God. But with all of that, with all of his pretense to glory and honor and exaltation, guess what happened to Domitian? He was assassinated through a conspiracy in which his wife was involved. They killed him. And after they killed him, the leaders, officials, those in the Senate, the Roman Senate, had his images torn down and destroyed and his very name erased from all the records. Now, compare and contrast that man with Jesus Christ. Jesus does not exalt himself. He comes down low and as humble as he possibly can. We saw that last week. And Jesus teaches us That the way to exaltation is not through promoting self. It's not through putting yourself at the forefront. It's through taking a backseat. That's what Jesus does. And ironically, what happens with Christ is he is exalted to the absolute highest place in all the universe. We look today at verses 9 through 11 of chapter 2 here, and they are the other side of the gospel story. the exaltation, the resurrection, and the ascension of Jesus. And he sits enthroned as the prince of the kings of the earth, the Lord of all creation. And I hope that by the end of our time today, that you will be encouraged to confess that Jesus is Lord. And that won't just be an empty Christian cliche, but it will be filled with the meaning that the Apostle Paul gives us here in this passage. Number one, we'll look at Christ's exaltation generally. It's in verse nine. Then we'll talk about the two specific aspects that the Apostle Paul gives us for Christ's exaltation. It's an exalted name that he has given and an exalted position, his lordship. That's in verses nine through 11. Now, two weeks ago, we began our study of Philippians chapter two. With a call to unity, the apostle Paul calls the church at Philippi to be unified, to be one in spirit and in heart, to work for the same gospel, the same goals, to work together and not be divided by strife and fighting by vain glory or attempts to selfishly promote yourself and your own agenda. Then Paul brings in the example of the Lord Jesus Christ. to show them the very epitome of humility and self-sacrifice. We saw that last week in verses five through eight. Let this mind be in you, Paul says, which was also in Christ Jesus. Think the way Jesus did. Have his attitude, have his mindset. And then Paul paints this beautiful gospel picture of the humility and death of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, last week, we went down low, right? Jesus started in the heights of glory, honor, and he comes down to the very depth of shame and humiliation on the cross. Now we're going to go the opposite direction today. We're going to go back up. That's the progression. Jesus comes from here. He goes down in shame and humiliation and he goes right back to glory, honor and exaltation because of his work on the cross. So let's begin, as I said, with the exaltation of Jesus. Verse nine. Wherefore, God also has highly exalted him. Note the word wherefore, or as we might say today, therefore, at the very beginning of the verse. Now, dust off your English grammar and remember that this is an important word. This word links two pieces of an argument or a discourse. The Apostle Paul has just been talking about something and he is now drawing a conclusion. And that conclusion is that Christ has been exalted. Now, the connection is Jesus humbled himself and it was obedient unto death, as Paul says in verse eight, even the death of the cross. And as a consequence, as a result of which, God highly exalts him. The father exalts his son to the very highest position. Think about this language that's also used in the Old Testament, Isaiah 53, 12. Therefore, will I divide him a portion with the great and he shall divide the spoil with the strong because he has poured out his soul into death and he was numbered with the transgressors. See the link there. Jesus' humiliation and obedience, even to the point of a shameful death, On the cross results in him being exalted by God the Father and not just exalted. Notice that the phrase is highly exalted. It's one word in the Greek language, and it means to exalt exceedingly, to raise to the highest position, the loftiest rank possible. Now, let's keep something in mind about Jesus. We talked about this a little bit last week, but let's do it one more time. This passage paints a beautiful picture of Jesus as the God-man, right? Jesus is fully God. He existed in the form of God and did not consider it robbery to be equal with God. Jesus is divine. We'll talk about that more as we go along today. So keep that in mind. If you think, well, Jesus, how could Jesus be exalted to the highest place? Hasn't he always had that? Well, yes, in terms of his divine nature, he's always had that. He's always been one in glory, honor and power with the Father and with the Holy Spirit. It's the doctrine of the Trinity. One God, three persons who equally share in the divine essence and are thus equal in power and glory. But you do have to remember that Jesus' human nature is added here. Jesus becomes a human being. And as a human being, as the God-man, he goes down very low to the very depth of humiliation and is then raised to the heights of glory and exaltation. Gregory of Nyssa, one of the church fathers, puts it this way. It is obvious that the highest is in need of no exaltation. He's referring to the divine nature of Jesus. Only what is lowly can be lifted to the exalted state, becoming now what it was not before, being united to the Lord, the human nature is lifted up to share in his divinity. So Jesus Christ is exalted as the God man. Fully God, fully man, God is highly exalted him. So did Jesus receive a reward for his suffering? Yes, he did. He absolutely did. God the Father, who sent him on the mission of redemption, sees the work of his son completed and accomplished, and as a consequence, raises Christ to the very highest level, exalts him above all things in creation. That's why when you get all the way over to the book of Revelation, you no longer see Jesus Christ humiliated on a cross. You no longer see him in shame, rejected and reviled by men. What's going on in the book of Revelation? Chapter five, verse 12. All of heaven erupts in worship for Jesus Christ. Worthy is the land, they sing, that was slain to receive power, riches, wisdom, strength, honor, glory, and blessings. There's no more shame. There's no more humiliation for Christ. He has been exalted to the very highest point, to the loftiest rank in all the universe. This is the answer to Jesus' prayer. Remember that Jesus prayed in John 17. And now, O father, glorify thou me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. Here it is. The father has answered the son's prayer and the glory that Jesus had prior to the incarnation restored and he is raised back. to his exalted position. Remember Paul's goal. His light's purpose. In chapter one. Chapter one, verse 20, according to my earnest expectation and my hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but with all boldness as always. So now also Christ shall be what magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death. This was the goal and the purpose of Paul's life. His goal was to exalt and honor the Lord Jesus Christ. No wonder, right? Jesus is at the zenith of glory, honor and power. Paul knows that he recognizes that and he wants his whole life to be an acknowledgment of the honor of Jesus Christ to magnify the Lord. Now, not only are we meant to learn about Christ here, his person and his work, but we are also meant to learn about ourselves here, are we not? Remember the context of Philippians chapter two. Paul is trying to get Christian people in the church to get along with one another, to love each other and to be unified. Put others first, put yourself on the back burner. When you come to the feast, the party, find the lowest seat rather than the seat of honor and sit in that. Now, that's hard to do. Right. You and I naturally put ourselves first. We put our needs, our desires, our wants all at the forefront. And that's why we're often fighting with one another. Right. Didn't James tell us that? You lust or you desire and you have not. You want to have and you kill in order to get it. And many times the reason why we don't want to put others first is because we think, what about me? What about me, Pastor Nick? You want me to put other people first, but then I won't get what I want. I may not get what I need. What about my desires? What about my goals and aims? And I understand that we think that we'll get run over and left behind. And to be honest, if you live this way, the likelihood that that will happen is high. You just may get run over. You may get trampled by other people who aren't concerned with putting you first. But see, Jesus is here teaching us by example that the path to exaltation The path that God has laid out is a path of humility. It's a path in which we do put ourselves second, third, fourth or 18th place. And we've got to trust the Lord. We've got to trust him that he's going to take care of us, that he is going to take care of our needs, our desires. Maybe they might need to be adjusted. Who knows? That God is going to take care of our needs. You know, the scribes and the Pharisees, remember, Jesus rebuked them. in the strongest terms, because what were they doing? They were putting themselves out here. They wanted to promote themselves and put themselves first in terms of honor. All their works, Jesus says they do for to be seen of men. They make broad their phylacteries, enlarge the borders of their garments. They love the uppermost rooms at feasts, chief seats in the synagogues, greetings in the markets and to be called Rabbi, Rabbi. What does Jesus do? Does the direct opposite. Oh, how counter is that to how we think about things? We think that the way to greatness is to promote oneself. Is to put ourselves first and make sure we get what we want and what we need. But Jesus said, whoever exalts himself shall be abased. And he that shall humble himself shall be exalted. No greater example. than right here in Philippians chapter 2, of Jesus, the God-man, humbling himself, putting himself last of all so that we could be first, so that we could be saved and redeemed. Charles Spurgeon says, the way to heaven is downhill. You've got to go down in order to go up. So God the Father has exalted His Son to the highest position What does this exaltation consist of? Let's look at it a little more closely now. Verse nine, wherefore, God also has highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name. This is the first aspect of the glory and exaltation of Jesus. He has been given a name by the father, and that name is above every name. It is an exalted name. Mitch read it in the scripture reading this morning. It is a name far above all principality, power, might and dominion and every name that is named, not only in this world, but in that which is to come as well. Now, form the contrast here with what Paul just said and look back at verse seven. Jesus, in becoming a human being, made himself of no reputation. He emptied himself. He made himself nothing. And now God the Father reverses that and exalts Jesus to the highest position and gives him the name that is above every name. What sweeter, more glorious name is there in all the world than the name of Jesus Christ? There is none. You hear that name, if you're a believer, and it stirs the deepest of affection and emotion in your heart, does it not? Love and worship and adoration stirred by the very name of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is the name above every name. It has been exalted by the Lord himself. And it's not merely the name, literally the name Jesus, if you will, but the name is his position. His title, his status, he's been exalted. The Lord Jesus Christ has to the greatest and most loftiest position in all the universe. This name now must be bowed to, verse 10, that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow of things in heaven, things in earth and things under the earth. It is at the name of Christ, it is at the person of Christ that every single human being must bow the knee. This is a quotation of an important Old Testament text, it's Isaiah chapter 45. Look unto me, the Lord says, and be saved all the ends of the earth, for I am God and there is none else. I have sworn by myself, the word has gone out of my mouth in righteousness and shall not return. that unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear. Isaiah 45, 22 and 23. Now it is remarkable that the Apostle Paul quotes that text to refer to Jesus. That text in the Old Testament is a statement about the uniqueness of the one true God. The Lord says in that passage, I am God, there is none else. So the apostle Paul is saying what was spoken of in the Old Testament concerning the Lord fulfilled in Jesus Christ. Jesus is divine. He is God himself. And so because of that, every knee must bow before Jesus Christ. Every knee must bow at the name of Jesus. To bow the knee is an act of submission and worship. Psalm 95 6 says, Oh, come, let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the Lord, our maker. Now, compare this to what happened when Jesus was here on earth. The Roman soldiers take Jesus after they scourge him and they put together this crown of thorns and shove it down upon his head, wrap him in this royal robe to mock him. And what do they do? They bow the knee before him and they taunt him. Hail, King of the Jews. Well, here is the real thing. How little did they know about what they were doing, that Jesus Christ was not only King of the Jews, he's the Lord of everything. And those knees that bowed in mocking will one day bow in allegiance, in honor to Jesus Christ himself. Now, notice how far this extends. How much it includes. Verse 10 again, that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow things in heaven, things in earth and things under the earth. All of creation, in other words, must bow before the Lord Jesus Christ and give him worship, adoration and obedience. It includes absolutely everyone and everything. Thus fulfilling Old Testament prophecy from the book of Daniel. that a king would come, that God would establish his king in the city of God and all nations, all peoples would bow before him and worship him. We also saw in the book of Revelation, chapter five, that every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth, absolutely everyone everywhere in whatever realm they're in, bow the knee before the Lord Jesus Christ and worship and adore him. It reminds me of the words of Isaac Watt's hymn, Jesus Shall Reign. Jesus shall reign where'er the sun doth his excessive journeys run. His kingdom stretch from shore to shore till moons shall wax and wane no more. You know no one and you know no place over which Christ is not Lord. He rules and reigns over the entire universe. We are meant to stand in awe of Him. Stand in awe of Him in His humiliation. We did that last week. And stand now in awe of Him in His exaltation. We worship, we bow the knee, acknowledging the greatness of Jesus Christ. Going right along with this is verse 11. And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Closely connected with this idea of God the Father giving God the Son, this name above every name, is this statement in verse 11. Every tongue is to confess Jesus Christ is Lord. Now, some commentators disagree over whether it's the name Jesus or the name Christ or the name Lord. That's the name above every name. But I think it all goes together, right? It all fits together. that the name of the Lord Jesus Christ has been exalted over every other person in the universe. Not only must knees bow, but tongues must also confess. The knee must bow in submission and adoration to Jesus, and the mouth must speak and confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Again, compare this to what happened in his earthly ministry. Jesus is on the cross in agony, suffering and pain, bearing the wrath of God for his people and tongues are speaking against him. They that passed by reviled him, cursed him, spoke evil of him, shaking their heads. No more of that. That's over and done with. And now those same tongues that cursed Christ at Calvary must now acknowledge his lordship. They must acknowledge that Jesus is Lord. Now, lest we think there's a conflict between the father and the son. For us to confess Jesus as Lord is to acknowledge that he is God. That he is the sovereign over the entire universe, that he is absolutely in charge of all things. That doesn't detract from the glory of God the father. It just adds to it. If you want to honor the father, you honor the son. There's no way to kind of in some abstract, theoretical way, just honor God. You've got to go through Jesus Christ, right? Jesus said, I am the way, the truth and the life. No man comes to the father but by me. And in that same passage, the disciples say, Lord, show us the father. And it's sufficient. And Jesus says, have you been with me such a long time? Don't you know that to see me is to see the father? You want to see the glory of God. You want to see the greatness of God. Look at Christ. You want to honor God. You must honor the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus said in John 8, if I honor myself, my honor is nothing. It is my father that honors me. The father honors the son and the son in turn glorifies the father. John 12, 28, Father, Jesus prays, glorify your name. Then came there a voice from heaven saying, I have both glorified it and will glorify it again. So when Paul says in verse 11 that every tongue confessing that Jesus Christ is Lord, it is to the glory of God the father. For me to honor and worship and submit to Jesus Christ is to honor the father. But let's consider that phrase now. Jesus Christ is Lord. Jesus Christ is Lord. That's what every tongue is to confess. As I said just a few moments ago, it is a title of deity. No one can be said to be Lord, capital L, unless they are God. And Jesus is divine. So it is a title of deity. But in addition to that, it is a title of loyalty and worship. for each and every person, for each and every believer. This was the test, the great test in the early church. Who's in charge? Who's in control of things? Is it Caesar? Is it Domitian sitting on the throne in Rome, who demands that you address him as Lord and God? And at various points in the first few centuries of church history, For you to say Jesus is Lord was an act of rebellion against Caesar, was an act of rebellion against the government. They wanted to coerce you to say Caesar is Lord. And so the early Christians were tested. Can you imagine this phrase here, Jesus Christ is Lord, that we say all the time that just rolls off our tongues was a matter of life and death in the early church. I mean, can you imagine being brought before the magistrate, the political authorities of the day in Rome? And for them to tell you, look, we'll let you go, say Caesar is Lord, deny your Christianity, maybe offer a pinch of incense to the emperor, sacrifice to the gods. We'll leave you be. Go back to your life and do what you need to do. And so many of those early believers, they refused to do it. And the reason why they refused to do it is they only acknowledged one Lord. There was only one Lord and it wasn't Caesar. It wasn't the man on the throne in Rome. It was Jesus Christ who rules over all things. And that was so important to them, so meaningful to them that they would not let it go so cheaply. May we do the same. May we acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord. This is why I don't worry too much about American politics. I'm concerned. I don't care for President Trump's attitude or character for the most part. But I'm not worried about President Trump. Why? Because I see beyond him. I see beyond him. I see beyond that man. to the one, the God-man, who rules all things, who reigns over the universe. So regardless of what happens in America, I know that Jesus Christ is Lord. He's the one in charge of the universe, and I owe my allegiance, ultimately, to him. Now what's the timeframe for this? This, every knee will bow and every tongue confess. When is that to occur? Well, first of all, most people push this way off out into the future. And say, well, this is a prophecy of what will happen on the last day, Judgment Day, perhaps. Now I'll get to that in just a minute. But we must acknowledge that Jesus isn't waiting to become Lord. He's not waiting to become the king of kings and lord of lords. He's not waiting to be exalted. Guess what? It's happened already. It happened upon his resurrection and ascension. back to the father. Guess where Jesus went back to when he went back to heaven? Went back to the right hand of the father, right? The position of power and authority. This is why Peter, in his sermon on the day of Pentecost, says this Jesus, this same one that you with wicked hands crucified, this Jesus has God raised up where we are all witnesses. Therefore, being by the right hand of God, exalted and having received the father, the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has shed forth this which now you see and hear. Jesus reigns now. He's on the throne of the universe. Remember, that was part of what we learned in the book of Revelation. You've got things, earthly things down here, and it looks like from the human perspective that Caesar's in charge. He's calling the shots and you better do what he says. But John raises our sights higher. He takes us where? Up to heaven and up to the throne room. where Father and Son rule the universe and reign over all things. So is Jesus King already? Yes, absolutely He is. And every single believer, true believer, bows the knee and confesses with the tongue that Jesus Christ is Lord. Isn't that glorious to be a part of that? You're a part of this verse. I'm a part of this. If you're a Christian, that's what you did when you got saved. Whether you knew it or not, it wasn't just that we accepted Christ as our savior and he forgave all our sins and also we just go back to whatever we were doing before. No, no, no. We not only accepted Christ as our savior, we accepted him as our Lord, as our sovereign, our master who tells us what to do and how to live. Yet there is a future aspect to this. Christ's lordship is not yet fully and completely known in all the world. And so there is a prophetic aspect to this passage of scripture. Hebrews 2, 8, a parallel passage says, You have put all things in subjection under his feet for in that he put it all in subjection under him. He left nothing that is not put under him. But now we see not yet all things put under him. There are yet enemies to Jesus Christ and to his reign. It doesn't mean that Christ doesn't reign. It just means that they have yet to be completely subdued and defeated. What about you? Do you willingly submit to the Lordship of Jesus Christ? Is he Lord to you personally? Is he Lord of your life? Or is there someone else calling the shots for you? Maybe it's you. Maybe you're the one making the decisions about right and wrong and how you're going to live and how you're not going to live. But if you're a believer, the confession, Jesus Christ is Lord, has a very practical impact upon how you live your life, upon what you do and what you don't do. This is part of being a Christian, confessing with the mouth, the Lord Jesus, Romans 10, verse 9. Now, in closing, How could I do anything but submit to Him? How could I do anything but acknowledge His Lordship from the very bottom of my heart and then live like it on Monday, on Thursday, on Saturday? Remember what we talked about last week. Jesus, in the form of God, equal with God, humbles Himself and comes down to the shame and humiliation of the cross There is no one better than him. There is no greater Lord. There are lots of lords out there, lowercase l, striving for you to listen to them, to pay attention to them and to obey them. Don't you do it. There's only one Lord and it's Jesus Christ. Let's give our submission, our worship and our adoration to him and to him alone and let nothing detract from the glory that he has. from the glory that the Father has given Him as Lord of all creation, of the entire universe. May the confession, Jesus is Lord, not just be words for us. May it be a way of life. Something we say and something we mean. And may we do it willingly from our very heart of hearts. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for rewarding rightly our Lord Jesus Christ and his suffering. We know that Jesus, he endured the cross, he despised the shame, looking forward to the joy that was set before him. We know that consists of many things, but part of which was him being exalted to the highest position, to being Lord of all things, master and sovereign of the universe. Lord, we pray that you would help us to believe this, to look beyond the earthly things, to look beyond those with power in this life and see Jesus Christ ruling and reigning over all things. And Lord, may it not just be something that we believe in our heads, but that we trust in our hearts and live out in our lives. May we live in light of this gospel story that Jesus humbled himself, died on the cross, but he has been exalted and glorified and is seated at the right hand of power even now. Lord Jesus, we acknowledge that you are Lord, that you are the sovereign of the universe and pray for your grace this week to live like it. All these things we pray in Jesus Christ's name. Amen. As you leave today, may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ go with you. Amen.