Let us turn again in the word of God to Philippians chapter 2 and reading at verse 8. Philippians 2 verse 8. And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death. even the death of the cross. We shall consider these words in their context as the Lord is pleased to enable us. The apostle is exhorting the Philippians to an unselfish attitude when it comes to loving their brethren. And the great example of that is Christ Jesus. It's very easy for us as Christians to think of God and of ourselves and not much about anybody else. Now the son of God thought of his father, of the Holy Spirit, no doubt of himself, but also of others. And he is the great example for our life on earth in following him. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Now, he knew how to do that, not only in theory, but in experience. He knew from eternity that when he came into the world, it was to suffer and die. But he did not have that experience until we read, he learned obedience by the things which he suffered. This passage is talking about how Christ humbled himself. And we need to bear in mind those words, he humbled himself. Nobody else humbled him. In theology, we talk about the humiliation of Christ, but he was not humiliated, and that has to be borne in mind. He voluntarily placed himself under the law, bore the curse of the law, became a man, because as God, he could not suffer. And for man to be saved, there had to be suffering, the law demanded it. And so he took a human nature. He humbled himself because it was the nature which sinned, which must suffer. The nature which failed to obey the law of God must obey the law of God, and he came to do both on behalf of others. The fact that he became a man at all was in itself a humbling of himself. Some people would debate that. But if the man was not humbled, how could the man be exalted? It was an act of humiliation to take a human nature to his divine person. Now, we usually humble ourselves by getting rid of something. He humbled himself by addition of a human nature to his person. The son of God, God-man. And as Augustine put it, the son of God became the son of man so that the sons of men might become the sons of God. And in this passage, if you look carefully, you'll see the steps in his humiliation. He made himself of no reputation. He took upon himself the form of a servant. He was made in the likeness of men, found in fashion as a man, humbled himself, became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. And the death, lying under the power of death for those three days, that was the depth of his humiliation. And if you look carefully at it, you'll see the steps down. And of course, after that, you'll see the steps up. Overpowering the grave, resurrection, ascension, sitting at the right hand of God, crowned with glory and honor. So although he came down, he came back up in exaltation. And it's the whole person who does this, remember. You cannot split off the human nature from the person of Christ. It's a person who did this, not just a nature. Somebody might say, well, how could that happen? Only the human nature could suffer. Yes, but he suffered within the person. Now, if I suffer for someone else, it won't do much for them. But because of the merit of his person, when he suffered, there is infinite merit in his sufferings, and that is applied by God to his people. Similarly, it's not just the human nature that is exalted. And Stephen Sharnock is very good on this. He said, just remember one sentence he said, the human nature is exalted by addition. The divine nature is exalted by manifestation. Because nothing can be added to the divine nature. but the human nature can be glorified. Humiliation here of the person of Christ, a divine condescension. Now he was equal with God and even when he humbled himself, he was fully aware that he was equal with God as he walked on the earth. His accuser said that, thou being a man, makest thyself God. He didn't have to make himself, he was God. He said, before Abraham was, I am. Only God uses the phrase, I am, what I am. Now we read that he was found in fashion as a man. He became a man, and you notice how the Holy Spirit guards this very carefully with his language. Found in fashion as a man. Made in the likeness of men. Because it wasn't quite exact. Because he was sinless. Man is a sinner. The human nature was that of a man. The Holy Spirit does guard the person of Christ. Another example of that is in Isaiah. Unto us a son is given, a child is born. The child is born, the son is not born. The son is already there to be given. So he was found as a man, as one step, but he was a servant. But there was a dignity in his service. He was a servant to his father. Now even in this world, there's a servant of a baron, a laird, marquess, quite high up as a servant, but not to be compared with the servant of the king. Now, Christ was the servant of his father. There is no higher dignity for service than to serve his father. And all this, remember, was in obedience to his father. Not that he was forced to come into the world. He said, lo, I come. He consented in what's called the covenant of grace. He agreed with his Father and the Holy Spirit that he should come. Not the Father, not the Holy Spirit, but the Son should come. Why the Son? Paul answers that, so that we might receive the adoption of sons. We are to be conformed to the image of the son. His obedience was going to be tested. Every step of the way, he met resistance to serving his father. And he was learning what it would cost to obey. There were temptations from Satan, from humanity, even from his own disciples. Now even we are subject to some of that. We're tempted by Satan, by the world, and sometimes even by the Lord's people. And he said to Peter, get behind me. In other words, out of the way of his obedience. So he knew what it was to obey God. And in a lesser manner, we know what it costs to obey God. But we don't always do it. and he was unique in his obedience. God the Father could look down on the earth at that time and see one obedient man, his son. And despite all the opposition, he could say, this is my beloved son. Hear ye him in whom he delights. And when the father saw the thoughts of Christ, they were all obedient to. We can't do that. But he did, and it was necessary that he continue under the law. He suffered while he obeyed the law, and he obeyed while he suffered. Which is easier for us, that's a good question, to obey and accept the suffering or to suffer and somehow continue to obey? Well, he did both. Even his suffering on the cross was an act of obedience. Even when he separated his soul from his body, that was an act of obedience. We are passive. He dismissed his soul into his father's hands. Death did not overpower him. He consented. He put himself into the territory of death because that was the only way whereby he could conquer death by going into enemy territory. And it's significant that when he goes in, He does not have the keys, but when he comes out the other end of death, he has the keys of death, Revelation chapter one. So he was obedient as a servant, found in fashion as a man. A fashion comes and goes, and it was only a temporary state he was in. this state of humiliation. Now he's exalted. And that's something to remember today. When you remember someone, it's usually because he is absent. You are to remember someone who is present. That's the difference in our remembrance. Now he knew what it was to obey God. And the apostle says, let this mind be in you. The purpose of obeying God starts in the mind. Christ planned his obedience from eternity. Our obedience also starts in the mind, the attitude. And the Lord never hid the consequences of taking up your cross and following him. Many people today do hide the consequences in order to get people in, but the Lord made known the cost it would cost to follow Christ Jesus. You can suffer the loss of all things like the apostle, but it's worth it to gain Christ. You can Bring nothing into this world, you can take nothing out. You can lose everything, but not him. It's not lost to die in Christ. For me to live is Christ, to die is gain. Yes, we leave behind all the things that we've been accustomed to in this world. But what is that in comparison to the exceeding eternal weight of war which is promised to those who love Christ, who love his appearing? Christ came into this world to save sinners, and it meant obedience unto death. And we were singing in Psalm 22 about how he was forsaken on the cross. Well, remember, to be under the law, you also bore the curse of the law. And to be cursed means to be separated from God, judicially, as punishment. That's why on the day of judgment, he says, the party cursed. They're banished, they're under the curse. He bore the curse and he bore the curse away. on the cross, and he said, it's finished. It's tragic how many people are relying on their own unfinished works, when the finished work of Christ is the gospel. You rest upon a finished work, you try to do it yourself, you'll never be finished. And on the cross, he obeyed The devil was back, come down from the cross, same temptation as Matthew 4, but he would not come down until the work was finished. The cup which my father has given me, shall I not drink it? And he drained the cup, full of the wrath of God, and now he fills it with blessing for his people. Paul says, the cup of blessing which we bless. He drank the wrath and the blessing is poured in and given to sinners. Obedient unto death. You remember Isaac. was laid in the altar, and Abraham lifted his hand with the knife, and a voice came from heaven, stay thy hand. No voice came this time. If there was a voice, it was a Waco sword against my ship. against the man that is my fellow, my equal. Smite the shepherd. The sheep will be scattered, yes, but the Father says, I will put my hand upon them. They are secure because of what Christ did on the cross. Obedient unto death. Voluntarily. He said, no man takes my life from me, I lay it down of myself. This command have I received of my father. But notice how there's another step down here. It's not just death, it's the death of the cross. Cursed is he that hangs on a tree. It is the death of a transgressor in the eyes of the world. And he knew this because the prophecy was he would be numbered with the transgressors. And he would pour out his soul unto death. There was an artist, a painter in the Middle Ages And he was making a painting of the three crosses on a hill. A little boy of five came in to see how he was working. And the little boy was looking at these three crosses and said, what's this about? He said, well, in the old days, the Romans crucified people. They executed the criminals on a cross. And he said, there was a thief here. And there was another thief here, and Jesus was on the middle cross. And he said, usually in the middle cross, they put the worst of the criminals. And the little boy said, oh, he must have been a bad man. And he said, no, son, he died for others. And then he suddenly realized what he said. And it had an effect on him. It's amazing how God draws people to himself by little things that even a child says or a child's question. Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings thou has perfected grace. So he humbled himself even unto death, but now is highly exalted. And that's actually the fulfillment of the last verse in Isaiah 53. Now to apply this to ourselves briefly here. The death of Christ was seen as a weakness. The martyrdom of a weak man who tried to do good and he was caught and arrested and that was the end of him. And the manner of the death of Christ is still a stumbling block to the world. To the Greeks, it's foolishness. They say, how can you have a savior who was put to death? And to the Jews, it's a stumbling block because they know, they've been taught that if you're hanged on a tree, it's a mark of being under the curse of God. And they can't accept that. One thinks it's foolishness, the others it's a barrier. The other barrier, of course, is that they don't believe in the Trinity. They don't believe in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And that's a barrier because it talks about the Father not sparing the Son. and how that the Holy Spirit is given in abundance because of the death of Christ. Many others, they stumble because they can't understand how can the death of Christ affect me? How can something that happened 2,000 years ago affect me? and they struggle to get away from Jesus as a figure in history. But when the Spirit opens the eyes, they see the substitutionary aspect of the cross. And it was put very simply, that gospel, when the missionaries came to Africa a few hundred years ago. They taught the people about the death of Christ for others, And when you asked one of them, and this is what happened, when they were asked, what is the gospel? He replied, either he die or me die. He die, me no die. That was the gospel, you see. He died for others. When our eyes are opened, we look at the cross, And we see what sin deserved. We see what our sin deserved. The shame as well as the suffering. And he wasn't dying for his own sin. That dying thief realized that. We deserve it, he said. But this man's done nothing amiss. And then he raised himself, man, Lord, remember me. There's faith, you might say, deepening on the cross. All of this, the apostle uses to exhort the people of God to have this self-denying mind as they seek to follow the Lord. His obedience unto death That is the ground, the foundation of your hope. But it's also the pattern of your life as you yourself move towards death. Not the death of the cross. He has taken the sting out of death. He has changed the character of death for the Christian. And the Bible talks about a sleep, a door, a coming into a house, and in God's house forevermore my dwelling place shall be. And how do I get there? I go to prepare a place for you." And then he prepares us for the place. How? By working in our minds. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. That is part of the development into the image of Christ, to have the same mind. You have to ask yourself, do you have this mind? Is the same joy set before Christ, set before you? The joy of pleasing his father, the joy of obedience. And we get foretaste of that, sometimes directly from the Holy Spirit, and sometimes when we suffer to obey, you get peace coming into your conscience. Oh, the world doesn't think much of that, but for the believer, there's peace in believing, there's peace in following what Christ would have done himself. That is a joy. Well done, good and faithful servant. That is the joy of the Lord. Do you know him? Not just the story of what he has done. Do you know him as a person? Because If Christianity is anything, it is a relationship to a person. And that's why it's so complex comparing experiences with other people's experiences. We all have the same relationship to Christ, but how different in the details in that relationship. Do you know the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, who though he were rich became poor? Just like this, so that you through his poverty, his humiliation, might be made rich. And remember, Christ did not do all this for himself. He was rather more like the high priest When the high priest went within the veil, on the ephod were the 12 jewels, and they all stood for each tribe of Israel. Now the Lord said that his people were written upon his heart. So when he died on the cross, you died. When he rose again, you rose again. When he entered into heaven, as the apostle says, even now, you are seated, because of your union, you are seated with him in heavenly places. The mystery of godliness. None of us can fathom the depths of his sufferings. These unknown sufferings of Christ. But again, none of us can understand the glory of his exaltation. No, not until we get there. And then we'll say with the Queen of Sheba, the half have not been told. Spurgeon comments, faith is born at the cross. Look unto me, he said, and be ye saved. And the Apostle, he seemed to have two themes running through his teaching, the love of Christ and the glory of the cross. Do you see the glory of the cross? Well, remember now what it costs to give you admission to this table and let us be thankful We have someone to remember, and he remembers us. May he bless his word to us.