Now there's some things you know only because someone told you. Some information cannot merely, or learn merely because you're bright, as I'm certain that you are, and you have unusual powers of intellect. Or you're intuitive by nature, And solutions to problems just sort of pop into your head. I'm not like that, but some people are. And they seem to know things on that basis. But there are certain things, even in the natural or temporal order, that you would not know if someone had not told you, hence the necessity of schools. And that is particularly true in the spiritual or eternal realm. You know and I know, we know about God and His view of things and His will for us precisely because He has made them known. He's told us. All we know about him is what we know because he's revealed it to us. And he's done so either through general revelation, natural revelation, what we see around us is God revealing himself. The psalmist tells us that. And then especially because of special revelation. Natural or general revelation is somewhat broad, and at the same time it excludes or it does not include certain things. It may tell us that there is a God and something of what he's like, but truly what we come to know about him that is necessary for our salvation comes to us through special revelation. Let me put it a little bit differently and draw attention to two things, two areas that we wouldn't know anything about if it had not been revealed. Two mysteries about the character of God which become known only through revelation. And the first is the Trinity. God eternally exists in three persons or three personal self distinctions. And Paul alludes to that in Philippians chapter two in verse one. We noticed last week that what Paul says here in verse one is Trinitarian. And of course we have other texts and the benediction, for example, that I recite most Sundays is Trinitarian from second Corinthians chapter 13 and verse 14. Now Paul does something similar. It's not quite as clear, but it's here in chapter two and verse one. that Paul uses the truth of the Trinity to emphasize unity in the church. The reality of unity and a motive to unity. And so that's a mystery that we know because it's been revealed, which is how the Bible, or New Testament at least, uses the term mystery, something once hidden now no longer hidden because it's been revealed. The mystery of the Trinity. Now, secondly, that one area or a second area that you would know nothing about apart from revelation, were it not for revelation, is the mystery of the incarnation. Paul calls this the mystery of godliness in 1 Timothy 3, and verse 16. John Murray calls it the mystery of Christianity. That's not to say that those two things are opposed, not at all, hardly. The mystery of Christianity. The first mystery never had a beginning. That is the Trinity. But the second mystery did have a beginning. the incarnation. The Son of God became in time, and we want to be careful how we say this, but what He eternally was not. He did not cease to be, but He was eternally. But He began to be through the incarnation, and again, this language needs to be guarded, and I will guard it a little bit later. He assumed human flesh. Now, as we'll come to see, the word never changed. And I'll have more to say about that, but the word does not become, ever become less than what the word was. Eternally, the word of God. And yet, This word assumes human flesh and he does so for us. And it is with this mystery that our text deals. Paul gives us a summary of our Lord's coming into the world and what it meant. He starts in heaven and he ends there again in the final verse or verses. But he's not interested merely in theological announcement. He's not interested in merely satisfying our curiosity, but rather to bring us into contact with this eternal word who became flesh. And so in verse five even, we have Paul saying, adopt the same way of thinking, the same disposition. Now, the Apostle Paul then gives to us something of an explanation of what it means for Jesus Christ to come in the flesh. B.B. Warfield said, the same spirit which animated our Lord in the act of his incarnation, which his apostle would see us to imitate. In other words, look at Jesus Christ. And if we do, we should see three things. First of all, in verses five and six, we have the eternal position of Jesus Christ. His person is introduced to us here in verse 5, or in verse 6, who existing in the form of God, being in very nature God. Every word there is important. Existing as a present participle It points to continuance of being. The verb is not came to be, but rather to possess. This is what he possessed. This is what he was, the very nature God. And the word that is used here The form of God is a word that refers to something that is essential in itself. It's not to external form. When we think of the form of something, we might be inclined to think of something that is external and is filled with something or other. But this word doesn't mean that at all. This points to essence. The form truly and fully expresses the being that underlies it. The form of God. Not an external expression, but that which is truly God. It is something possessed inwardly and expressed outwardly. There is no other existence for this one except that which is divine, the form of God." A writer said, the form of God does not mean anything less than Godhood. He speaks further of the sum of those perfections and attributes which belong to God and by reason of which He is God. Now this of course is not the only place where this is taught. John 1.1, in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God. And the Word was God. Colossians 1.15, Hebrews chapter 1 and verse 3. So there's His person existing in the form of God, being in very nature God, himself, cannot understand Jesus Christ, cannot understand the gospel without reckoning with this great doctrine. There's no Christianity without it. And there's no Christian without understanding this. So there's his person. Secondly, notice his station is still under the first main point. We're accustomed, I think, to think of this next point a little bit differently. But the translation here is actually what it says. counted not the being on an equality with God a thing to be grasped." In other words, he was equal with God. He didn't need to lay hold of something that he did not possess. This expression supports the first. This equality is his essentially, eternally, and most important for our discussion later, immutably. He does not change. It had no beginning. It is not tenuous. Was not earned. He's not a second class deity. as Jehovah's Witnesses might attempt to posit, not a second-class deity, a lesser God. The persons in the Godhead can be distinguished, but Jesus does not possess a lower status. The Creed speaks of Jesus being very God of very God. And the Chalcedon formula says that he, Jesus, is the same perfect in Godhead, consubstantial with the Father. Now this is the historic Christian position. It's not upheld everywhere as it once was, but this is the historic Christian position. It is what the Bible teaches. Now some within the sound of my hearing, since this goes on sermon audio, may not believe it. but at least be honest with the record. Jesus is God, not a lesser God, and not some kind of a model for Christianity. And his perspective is given to us. He did not consider his position as a prize to be retained at all costs. One writer said, something that must not slip from his grasp. Another writer has said, human evaluation may assume that God-likeness means having your own way, getting what you want, but Jesus wasn't like that. His position was not a platform, one writer has said, for self-display. or a launching pad for self-advancement. And this of course is, Paul uses this to urge believers in Philippi to adopt the same frame of mind that Jesus had. Unity in the church will be affected by how you behave, how we behave toward others. If you continue to insist on your rights, your position, your preferences, having your own way at all costs, the cost will be too great. This was not the way of the Son. He did not believe he needed to grasp hold of something that might slip out of his hands. Well, there's something of a description in two verses of who Jesus is essentially, who the Son is essentially. As the Creed says, very God, of very God. Now the second thing that we discover from the text is the temporal humiliation of Jesus Christ. in verses seven and eight. But 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 even unto death, yea, the death of the cross. So the temporal humiliation of Jesus Christ. Well, the first thing we discover here is that he took the form of a servant, a bond slave. He made himself nothing in that preferential sense, taking the form of a servant. And the participial phrase that follows tells us how he did that. That he, sorry, emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of man. He took the form of a bond slave. How did he do that? Well, verse seven tells us, by emptying himself, being made in the likeness of men. What does it mean that he emptied himself? Well, there was a view that became rather common in the 19th century. And it's quite possible that you've heard of it. It's called the Kenotic or Kenotic View, teaching that Christ divested himself of some aspects of his deity. His omniscience, omnipresence, omnipotence, relative attributes, while retaining the absolute attributes of holiness, righteousness, so forth. This became a popular view in the 19th century, even among some evangelicals. Now we've heard preaching this morning. We had prayer meeting. We've had lunch together. It's an afternoon service. The eyelids are getting heavy, so let me say this as clear as I can. That's just not true. The canonic view of the atonement or of the incarnation, it has no basis in the Bible. It's foreign to the creeds. It's foreign to the Protestant confessions. The formula of Chalcedon says that Jesus Christ possesses two natures, inconfusedly, unchangeably, indivisibly, inseparably, concurring in one purpose, the person. Both the Westminster Confession of Faith and our own confession say that two whole perfect and distinct natures, the godhood and the manhood, were inseparably joined together in one person, without conversion, without composition, without confusion. The divine is not changed into the human, accommodated to the human, or transmuted into the divine. As one writer has said, the canonic view is incarnation by suicide. The word becomes less. than the word, and that's just false. He made himself nothing, or emptied himself, as the language is found here, not by subtraction, by divesting himself of something, nor is it incarnation by addition. And I found myself over the years saying that and now would retract that. It's not by addition. While it is true that the Word became flesh, John 1.14, and dwelt or tabernacled among us. But that does not mean that the word changed. So we need to be very careful here. The incarnation is a reality. God, man. But it's not as if the word the eternal son, had something added to him so that he became the word plus something else. There's no change in the word, and that's why I think it's better to say that the word assumed human nature. And there's a difference and a distinction that goes beyond our ability to deal with all of that this afternoon. But he assumed the word without his eternal nature changing at all in order to live and to die vicariously for guilty sinners. And the point that Paul is making here is that he did not die for personal achievement. And as I said this morning in another context, here is God's solution to your greatest problem, the problem of your sin and your guilt. Heaven and earth are here focused upon this and upon Jesus Christ. Nothing is greater. And also in light of this then, to come back to what Paul says in verse 5, building upon those first four verses, in light of this, in light of what your Savior did, of what the Word did, assuming human nature, In light of all of this, can you not renounce your rights for the benefit of others? If Jesus did it for you, how can you not do it for others? He lived and He died to enrich others. Do you live, perhaps even die, for others? Now thirdly, and finally, I want you to notice verses nine through 11, I suppose somewhat hurriedly, but thirdly, notice the consequential exaltation of Christ Jesus. The word assumed flesh and lived and died for us. And he was victorious in all that he accomplished. Notice just a few things that these verses, verses 9 through 11, tell us. First of all, they tell us that the exaltation of Jesus Christ tells us that Christ's humiliation was rewarded. It was a success. Notice the word Therefore, or wherefore, therefore. Also God highly exalted him and gave unto him the name which is above every name. Here is an obedience that merited reward. Now we're called upon to be obedient, but our obedience doesn't merit anything. Our obedience is the result of the effectiveness of the ministry of Jesus Christ. His obedience was not a reward of grace, as ours is, but the reward of merit. Christ worked. and he earned a reward. It's about the simplest and easiest way to explain it. So he's exalted and that tells us that his humiliation was rewarded. We never have to worry about whether Christ's work was successful, was effective, was effectual. I mean, of all the verses in the Bible, here is one that is so clear in telling us. Secondly, the exaltation is the highest possible. There is no greater exaltation. And you might think of how individuals are exalted because of some effort or something that they've done. But here is an exaltation that is the highest of all possible. No one can exceed this exaltation, above every name. Glory attaches itself to the incarnation. There is no more humiliation. As the God-man, Jesus Christ, was exalted to the highest possible level. John in John 17 refers to it as the receiving of the glory which the word had before he came. Thirdly, the exaltation tells us who is in charge, and it defines the parameters of that rule. Universal dominion. Christ is in possession of universal dominion. In 1 John chapter 2 and verse 2, John speaks of of the propitiation, the propitiation of Jesus Christ, taking upon himself the wrath of his own father for sinners. And John says that the propitiation of Christ, and most of our translations have for the sins of the world, but sins is not there. in any manuscript. It's not for the sins of the world, but for the world. What is John saying? What he's saying is this, there is no other propitiation. You know, scour the earth, look where you want. There is no other satisfaction for And that's exactly what Paul is saying here as well. Universal dominion. Friends, there's nowhere to run and no place to hide. There's no place to get away from this universal dominion of Jesus Christ with regard to saving sinners. There's no earthly emperor that has this power. Jesus Christ is the real ruler. And remember that Paul is in prison as he writes this. And his future is uncertain. And Caesar, or at least his minions, have put Paul there. And they have the power of life or death. But for Paul, the only one with real power of life is the Word made flesh. No one can escape the need to bow and to confess the saving power of Jesus Christ. No one is exempt. No one falls outside of his jurisdiction. Doesn't matter where you are in the world or what, under what political system, under what religious system you may live, or no religious system. There's no place outside the jurisdiction of Jesus Christ. Because it was the word, the unchanging word, who assumed flesh to live, to die, and to be raised again, and to be exalted for sinners. Fourthly, the exaltation of Jesus Christ tells us that there are limits to the present opposition to Jesus Christ. If he's been exalted and he has all authority, even as Matthew 28 tells us, and has all authority, then clearly there are limits to that opposition to Jesus Christ. And even, I suppose, limits to evangelistic enterprise in the sense that It is the Lord Jesus himself who directs the affairs of that enterprise. Fifthly, the exaltation of Jesus Christ reveals the present means of obtaining God's favor. And that is through the confessing of Jesus Christ. And sixthly, the exaltation tells us how God is glorified. And that's through Jesus Christ. Now we often think and speak and not incorrectly so that God is glorified when this or that or something else takes place. But ultimately for New Testament writers and for New Testament Christians, The way God truly is glorified, dare I say more than in any other way at all, is through the proclamation and reception of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Nothing is more important. Nothing is more important than the gospel and the proclamation of the gospel. This passage does two things for us. It points us in two different, but not separate directions. First of all, it says to us, this is what you must believe. The passage makes a great Christological statement. John Murray writes, it is a high and heavenly doctrine. And for that reason, a little appeal to dull minds and darkened hearts just doesn't appeal to the world in which we live. But it ought to, and it certainly must have an appeal to us. This may well have been this section verses five through 11 may well have been a portion of an early Christian hymn, or certainly at least a theological statement. And so it tells us, this is what you must believe without qualification, without exception. And secondly, it says, This is how you must behave. The former is the basis of the latter or the second. The humiliation of our Lord is also a model for the believer's conduct. The way up for Jesus was the way down. That's the point of the title in the sermon. The way up is down. Glory or glorification came as a result through humiliation. And of course, that's the most important part and the most important point and the significance of this particular text. But Paul also, teaches this on the heels of what he says about unity in the church and how we ought to have the same mind in us as Christ did for Himself. The way up for the man of the world is to do just that, climb as high as you can, and often on the back or backs of others. But the way up for the Christian is vastly different. The way up for the Christian is to go down. And in that sense, to be like Jesus, to become a servant, a bond slave of one another. Believe. upon Jesus, and then only after you've believed upon him, learn to behave like him as well. Let us pray. Father in heaven, we pray that you might grant us the power of your spirit to believe the mystery, not only of the Trinity, but also of the incarnation. and to be satisfied, whether we can completely understand it or explain it, but to be satisfied with what the Bible teaches us. And then may we also learn not only to believe this gospel to the saving of our souls, but to behave as servants, one of another. in the context of your son's church. We pray in Jesus' name, amen.