We read from Philippians 1.27 all the way to Philippians 2.11, so we can see the whole context. The focus will be on verses 5-11 in chapter 2. So please hear the word of God in the book of Philippians. Only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit with one mind, striving together for the faith of the gospel, and not in any way terrified by your adversaries, which is to them a proof of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that from God. For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for his sake, having the same conflict which you saw in me, and now here is in me. Therefore, if there is any consolation in Christ, any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the spirit, if any affection and mercy, fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in lowliness of mind, let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant and coming in the likeness of men, and being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore, Therefore, God has also highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven and of those on earth and those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. This is the Word of God. May God, by His Spirit, enlighten our minds and quicken our spirits. According to his word this morning, you may be seated. Last time we were looking at the book of Philippians, we were looking at Philippians two verses three through four. We saw Paul giving us the means to unity in local church, his call for us to pursue humility and helpfulness in the local body of Christ. We said then that The difficulty of pursuing such humility and helpfulness is our pride and our selfishness. And we said that pride in particular is the root of all sin and perhaps the greatest threat to our unity. Pride felled Satan. Pride felled Adam. Pride has felled us. Because when we sin, we're essentially shaking our fist in the air to God and saying, my way and not yours. When we said that pride felled Satan, we referred to Ezekiel 28 and Isaiah 14, which appears to be a description of the fall of Satan. Satan, who is given the position of the greatest of all the angels with wisdom and beauty and honor. But it wasn't enough. Isaiah records in Isaiah 14, how you have fallen from heaven, O Lucifer. how you are cut down to the ground. For you have said, I will ascend into heaven. I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. I will be like the Most High. Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol." And so Satan's ascent and descent was like a parabola. Does anybody remember what parabolas are like? High school math maybe? In this case, with Satan, you start low, but you go up to the vertex at the very top, but then he's cast back down, at this point, to Sheol. And so Satan's ascent and descent is like a parabola with its vertex at the top, but then God casts him down. And what we see in Philippians 2, verses 5 through 11, is really a counterpart to this. Some have actually called those seven verses the Great Parabola, but it's inverted. It's inverted in the sense that here you have Christ, who has existed in eternity past, is God in glory. He starts at the very beginning, at the very top, yet he willingly humbled himself to take on human nature, to become fully man to the point of obedience, even to death, and that death on the cruel, shameful cross, and even to the grave. But then we see that he was super exalted by God to the highest and rightful place, to the throne in glory before whom every knee will bow, And every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. So the comparison is that Satan says, I will go up, up, up to be like the most high, to which God replies, I will cast you down in hell. In comparison, Christ, who is the most high, says, I will go down in humility to the cross, to which God says, I will exalt you on high. And so in Philippians 2 verses 5 through 11, we have a glorious section of Scripture. There's really nothing like it in all of the Word of God. And we'll spend some time in the coming weeks looking at the trees, the details, the tree level of this great parabola of Christ's descent and then ascent in order to proclaim Christ and to rest in Christ and to rest in His glory and His example for us. But today I want us to step back I'll disappoint some of you who want to just jump into the details. I want to step back today, however, and see the whole picture, the whole landscape, the forest level, if you will, to better see the example of Christ's humility now, and to be able then to better look at the details in the coming weeks. And if you look in your bulletin, I believe there is a small outline for how we're going to look at these seven verses in verses five through 11 in chapter two of Philippians. First of all, we'll look at the context of the passage. Why does Paul write of Christ in this way here? The context is really, really, really important and oftentimes overlooked with this passage. Then we'll look at the Christ of the passage. We'll actually look at the parabola. We'll fly through the parabola itself to see Christ and His descent and His ascent. And then last, we will compare this passage with the passage that came before it. Paul had just exhorted the Philippians, and therefore us, about being humble and helpful. And then he gives the example of Christ. And we're going to compare and contrast those two things to actually apply, I think, what Paul is mentioning this whole picture in Philippians 2-4 anyway. So we'll look at the context. We'll look at Christ. We'll look at the comparison as we look at these seven verses in Philippians 2. So first of all, the context. Why does Paul write of Christ in this way here? And you know the context, if you've been paying attention for the last several weeks, that near the end of chapter 1, Paul exhorted the Philippians to conduct worthy of the gospel of Christ, live your lives in a way that would be fitting of a citizen of Christ's kingdom. And specifically, he exhorted them to be unified facing outward, to stand, strive, and suffer together against the opposition and for the gospel, in one spirit and in one mind, and that's a key word in all of this. And then in chapter two, it's a change of chapters, but it's the same thought. He continues that same exhortation, but now he turns to look at the exhortation to be unified inwardly, together as a local church. And we said previously, this is more difficult and more important. the actual unity inwardly with the local church, to be able to outwardly be unified against opposition. And we looked at verses 1 through 4 in chapter 2. And I believe the outline was stolen from John MacArthur many years ago. But the idea of looking at the first two verses and the motivation for unity, verse 2 and looking at the marks of unity, and in the last two verses that we looked at last week, the means for this unity. And the motivation for this unity was, if you've experienced God through Christ and by the power of the Spirit, then use that experience and make my joy complete, Paul says, by being like-minded, having the same mindset. If you know the encouragement in Christ, which you do, and you know the comfort from His love, which you do, and if you know the fellowship with the Spirit of Christ, which you do, and if you know the great affection and mercy of God, then use those great benefits and blessings within the local body of Christ to be unified and like-minded. And then in verse 2, He shows the marks. What should this unity look like? It should be a unity that is one in attitude, affection, accord, and aim. It's a unity that has the same mindset. And that same mindset leads to the same affection, the same love, which leads to a uniting in soul. And then having that mindset on the same thing and that being Christ and His gospel, His glory. And so when we get to verse five in chapter two, when Paul says, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, it's the same word, it's that same word for mindset, for attitude. He's saying the same mind I exhorted you to have in verse two, and then I described in verses three and four, It's the same mind that is in Christ Jesus. Verse five is a transition and an exhortation to have the same mind, the same attitude, the same example of Christ. And Paul is saying, that mind I've exhorted you to is best described, is best exemplified in Christ. So look to him. Understand Him, love Christ, be like Christ, and then you can know humility and to be able to carry it out within the local body of Christ. And so after the motivation and the marks and the means of unity in the first four verses of chapter two, we now have the model of humility. In verses five through 11, Christ is given as our model and our example of humility. And it's interesting, if you even look after those seven verses, you look to verse 12, after verses five through 11. In verse 12, Paul says, therefore, which reflects back to what he just said about Christ being our example, be like him. Therefore, my beloved, as you've always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. So before this wonderful passage, this great parabola, it's this exhortation to humility and helpfulness, then look to Christ. And after it's over, he says, now look back to Christ. This is how you obey. And so verse five, since this section of our sermon is the context, the context of this passage that we're looking at today, verse five is an exhortation to look to Christ's example in pursuit of humility and unity. That's the context. And it's utterly important. When we get to Philippians 2, we often run straight to the theology of the passage, and it's good. Actually, it's better than good. But don't miss the immediate application when Paul is writing this to the Philippians. Paul is writing of Christ's humiliation and exaltation for our help, for our humility and our unity in a local church. So there's three things. Before I move on, there's three things from this context I want you to mark down now and not forget as we move on today and in the coming few weeks, three things. First of all, as we study this passage over the next few weeks, don't forget the context. Don't divorce the rest of the scripture from the context in which it's given. The context of Christ's humility being an example for us shows us the importance of humility and unity and even the local church herself. And it shows us the importance of how we, as his body, are to represent Christ properly. Which leads me to the second thing to not forget. The second thing to not forget is the you in verse five is most likely plural. That's very important. So when Paul says, let this mind be in you, which is also in Christ Jesus. He's really saying, let this mind be among you. Let this mind be in yourselves as a local church, collectively. I think that's very important. This is spoken to a local church, which we happen to be. And yes, we are to individually pursue Christ's likeness in our humility and unity. But just as verses 1 through 4 in chapter 2 address the church, he says, be in one accord. That's a group of people. Be like-minded. That's a group of people. He says, each of you, he's speaking to them all collectively. This is not alone. We've even said humility cannot be acted out alone. It has to be with others. Just like the context of the first four verses is plural, verse 5 is a call for us to be like-minded. with Christ in our humility. So remember the context, remember this is plural. And lastly, the third thing I'd like us to remember before we move on, is that Christ is both our example and our enabler to humility and unity. Paul is giving an example, but Christ is both our example and our enabler to humility and unity. I suppose one example would be in 2 Corinthians 8, In v. 9, Paul is exhorting the Corinthians to give sacrificially to the poor brethren in Jerusalem. And he refers to Christ. He says, as Christ was rich and became poor for your sake, so that out of His poverty you might become rich, you need to be sacrificial to others. And the point is that yes, Christ is the example, but because of what Christ has done, He's enabled you. You've been changed to be like Him, and you can't actually do this. People like to present Christ as a great teacher or a great example. This is true, but don't stop there. Don't be fooled into trying to follow an example with an unredeemed heart. Christ cannot be your example if he's not first your Lord. And if Christ is not your Lord, you do not know him and you cannot follow him. And so I'd exhort you, you need to humble yourself before Christ before you can be humble like Christ. So those are three things to remember both for today, but even for the coming weeks, three things to remember as we move on. So let's look at the actual Christ of the passage. Let's look at the verses of five through 11. And again, we're not going to, Spin our wheels so much on the details at this point. I want us to just see the flow of this great parabola, the descent and the ascension, the exaltation back up. And verses five through 11, I think can most simply be divided into three parts. Verse five is an exhortation to be like Christ. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. But then verses six through eight give us the humiliation of Christ. And verses 9 through 11 give us the exaltation of Christ. So we begin with a great exhortation to be like Christ, but then there's the humiliation of Christ, and then there's the exaltation of Christ. What a wonderful passage this is. We've already looked at verse 5 and the exhortation, so we won't do that again. Let's jump into verse 6. And the humiliation of Christ, the descent, the incredible, willful condescension of Christ and humility for the sake of helpless sinners and rebellious sinners like ourselves. In verse six, the very beginning is really, really, really important. And the key, where did Christ start? Where did he begin the descent? And so verse six, after saying, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, that's subtle, but it's really important, who being in the very form of God, That word for form means nature, essence. Christ is his beginning part. He is preexistence as God himself, is the very nature, the very form, the very essence. He is God in the very beginning because he had no beginning. Christ in eternity past has always been in very nature and very essence God. And we could go through a bevy of scripture references. In John chapter one, in the beginning was the word and the word was God and the word is with God. And he created all things. And it says later, the word took on flesh and dwelt among us. He tabernacled among us. In Colossians chapter one, Paul writes that all things were created through Christ. All things were created for Christ. He was before all things, He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. Not only did He create everything, and He rules over everything, He holds everything together. And Paul says He is preeminent over all things as God. Christ's willful stooping down is all the more amazing when you understand His starting point. That He's eternally God, very God. And so in verses 6 and 7, we then see the starting point of where he came from, so to speak, but then his humility and helpfulness via his incarnation in verses 6 and 7. We see then his humility and helpfulness via his incarnation in verses 6 and 7. Though he is very God, it goes on to say, he did not consider it robbery to be equal with God. What Paul is saying is, as though he is God, he did not flaunt it. He had all the rights of God because he is God. He didn't have to rob anything to be having these rights of who God is. And he didn't have to grasp at anything. Some of your versions will say he didn't see it something to be grasped. And it both says he didn't have to grasp at anything because he's God, but also shows the beginning of his humility in this passage, because though he is very God, he didn't see the things of God of anything to be grasped at. He was willfully desiring to put those privileges aside that he might humble himself. Verse 7, and how did he humble himself? By making himself of no reputation. That's the emptying of himself, the casting aside his privileges that he deserved, the making of himself nothing though he is God. He made of himself nothing. How does he do that? By taking the form of a bondservant. It's the same word. Just as he is in very form God, and by nature and essence he is God, he became in very essence and nature a bondservant to the ones who sinned against him. And how does He do this? By coming in the likeness of men. He even became like sinners. Without sin, but He became like sinners. Though He's fully God, now He's fully man. That's what's being described here. And so he had his humility and his helpfulness in his incarnation. Then in verse eight, we see his humility and his helpfulness via his atonement. It's almost like two sections. We've already seen his descent from God to be a serving man. And now in verse eight, and being found in appearance as a man, now that he's a man, and he's so much like sinful man that he looks like them, the creator enters his creation and now experiences the results of the sin of his creatures against him. And now as man he humbles himself, verse 8. How does he humble himself even more? By becoming obedient. The God of glory, the lawmaker, the lawgiver, now places himself as man in humility under the law of God to obey his own law and to obey his father. This speaks of his active obedience. For sinners to be redeemed, we must have righteousness. We break God's law daily. Moment by moment, Christ became man so he could actively obey the law of God for perfect righteousness, so that could be imputed to us. And not only did he become obedient, but obedient to the point of death. The wages of sin is death. He had to die to be a perfect sacrifice for sin. So now we move from the active obedience of Christ to the passive obedience. Yes, he had to obey actively the law itself for perfect righteousness, but he had to then be under the penalty of the law that he might then passively, if you will, take on the wrath of God that the breaking of God's law deserves. That way, when you come before Christ in repentance and faith, take my sin in exchange for your righteousness. He's paid the price for your sin. and he's earned perfect righteousness to impute to your account. But there's more to the point of death than even the death of the cross. There were no people running around in Jesus' day with a cross on a necklace dangling from their neck. There are no pictures of crosses on the walls. There's no crosses on steeples. The cross was a It was an instrument, a shameful instrument of cruelty and curse and shame. I think we've lost that much now because of Christ. The cross doesn't seem so scary, but the humiliation went all the way that he took on flesh. He became obedient to the point of death, even to the cross and then into the grave. And so we look at the humiliation of Christ in verses six through eight and we say, what humility? What helpfulness, what sacrifice, what unselfishness, what an example. And hallelujah, what a Savior. So then you look at verses 9-11. We see the exaltation of Christ. And Paul says, therefore, to begin verse 9, therefore, that's key, because therefore, because of Christ's willful humiliation for the sake of others, Because of His willful humiliation for the needs and interests of others, God then, in response, has highly exalted this Christ Jesus. And just like God's raising Christ from the dead is proof of who He is and what He has done, God's exalting Christ is vindication for all Christ has suffered on our account. And so Paul writes, therefore, as a result, God has also highly exalted him and given him a name, which is above every name, that the name of Jesus, every knee should bow of those in heaven, of those on earth and of those under the earth that pretty much covers all. And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God, the father. This is the Great Parabola. We'll be looking at more details in the coming few weeks. We see the great example of Christ in this passage and his humiliation and his exaltation for us. That's the forest. We'll return to look at some trees later. But right now I'd like us to look at the comparison because we're trying to look at this in the context in which it was given. The comparison of what we've just read in this Great Parabola to the previous passage of Paul's exhortation for humility and helpfulness, to have unity in the Church of Christ. How is this example of Christ meant to be applied by Paul when he wrote to the Philippians and therefore to us as well? And since the passage is to be about an exhortation, an example for us, we need to look at it that way. To remind you, in Philippians 2, verses 3-4, Paul had written, Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or vain conceit. But in lowliness of mind, let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look not only for his own interest, but also for the interest of others." I want to look at those three things, selfish ambition or conceit, lowliness of mind and esteeming of others better, and then thirdly, looking not only for your own interest, but also the interest of others. I want to look at those three things and compare and contrast us and the exhortation given to us, but Christ's example. First of all, what about this no selfish ambition or conceit? When we think of us, we have to admit that we're lowly, sinful, and weak in this area. We're constantly looking for our own self and for our own glory. We're constantly puffing ourselves up in vain glory. That seems to be our default position that we wrestle with until glory. But compare this to Christ, who in very nature is God. He is God, and yet he freely cast off his privileges and his blessings of glory. He had no concern for his own reputation, and he willfully took the nature of a servant. He became a slave to those who rejected him and sinned against him freely. What about in lowliness of mind, esteeming others as better than yourself? In chapter two, verse three, We're to be pursuing lowliness of mind, humility of mind, and esteeming others as better than ourselves. Now, if you'd be honest, and if I'd force you to speak, you'd admit that we really struggle with this, don't we? We really don't think often of others as being more important than ourselves. It kind of goes against our instinct. We think about ourselves first. But Paul has given us a mandate, but now he's also given us a model to look to Christ, to have lowliness of mind and to think of others as better. So how do we do this? Well, we generally try to do it with a false humility. Rather than making others as better than ourselves, we try to make ourselves be smaller. So you do something and someone compliments you and you say, oh no, that's nothing. No, it was just nothing. Just little old me. No, no, no. I'm nothing. Better than I deserve. We think we're doing this when we put ourselves down and try to make ourselves smaller, but it really doesn't work because we're still thinking of ourselves, I think. I think it's important here that Paul, Paul is not telling us to think less of ourselves. Paul is telling us to think more of others, to think of them as being better than ourselves. And that's more difficult, but that's the key. It gives the right perspective. When your focus is on thinking of others as better than yourselves, it makes you think rightly about them. But then, by default, it makes you start thinking rightly of yourself as well. And the key, then, is to consider one's self in light of something bigger and something better. So then, ultimately, the first thing is to consider ourself in light of Christ and who he is and what he has done. You want to develop humility? Consider Christ. He is infinitely greater, and yet He's stooped infinitely lower than you can ever imagine to stoop to help anybody out at any point in time in your life. You think you cannot humbly consider another person as better than yourself? If you don't think you can stoop to serve someone else, then look at what Christ has done for you. Christ, the Lord of Glory, He humbled Himself and considered you, you, go home and look in the mirror, you better than Himself, that He would become like you, the Creator of all, entering into His own creation in this way, that He would become a servant for you, the Master who became a slave, that He would become obedient for your sake, the lawgiver putting himself under the law, that he would die for a sinner such as you, the giver of life suffering death, and even death on a cross, the sinless Son of God becoming sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God. Please remember that what Christ has done for his people, you will never be able to stoop in humility like him, not even close. Keep that in mind when you complain about what you maybe are called to do. It doesn't even come close. You will never be able to serve anyone lower than he served. So be encouraged to pursue humility and helpfulness in the church as a result, because Christ is your example and he's your enabler as well to be able to do so. So we see the selfish ambition or vain conceit. How do we compare? We see the loneliness of mind and esteeming others is better than ourselves. But the last thing, Paul said in verse four, look out not only for your own interests, but also for the interests of others. That kind of flows if you consider others as better than yourselves. And again, just briefly, just remember that any sacrificial service for others' needs can never approach what Christ has done for you. So Paul is telling us to not merely think of ourselves as lesser, but to think of Christ, to look at Christ who is infinitely better So we might be able then to look at others as better than ourselves and to serve in humility and helpfulness. See Christ's example, what Christ has done for his people and for you, and with him as your source of strength, pursue humility and unselfish helpfulness for the unity of the body of Christ. That's the great application. I'd like to close by looking at the rest of this. We looked at the humiliation of Christ mostly to see how is this an example, but what about His exaltation? Is only half of the parabola an example for us and a help for us? What about the other half? What about the exaltation of verses 9-11? Is that part of our example as well? I think it is. Remember, even with the humiliation of Christ, We look at Christ's example and humiliation, but we know that we cannot do the same thing he has done. He humbled himself vicariously to suffer for our salvation. We can't do that. And so it's an example. And although we can't do it perfectly, it's still an example to encourage us. And so therefore, Christ's exaltation, although it's greater than anything that we can know, it's still by principle, an example that should be helpful to us. I want you to notice in verses 5-11 that in the humiliation of Christ, Christ is the subject, and He is the one who is active. Christ is the subject in the humiliation part, and He is the one who is active. Christ made Himself, Paul says, of no reputation. Christ humbled Himself. Christ became obedient. He's the one that's both the subject and He's active. But in the exaltation section, God is the subject and Christ is passive. God highly exalted Christ. God gave him a name that is above every name. And so the picture here is that Christ humbled himself, but then God exalted him. And so there's a pattern there for us too. that those who will humble themselves, God will exalt. And we see it throughout Scripture. And Jesus taught this very thing several times in the Gospels. In Matthew chapter 23, when rebuking the Pharisees who are exalting themselves, He's rebuking the Pharisees who exalt themselves before men. They're seeking vain glory before men. Christ says, but he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted. So as Christ humbled himself, he was vindicated by God by being exalted, super exalted, as the text actually says, into glory. And therefore, as the Christian humbles himself, he will be vindicated by God as well in glory with Christ. That's a great relief when you're gritting your teeth and dragging your feet about being humble and being helpful. This is going to hurt. This might not turn out. Don't worry about it. He who humbles himself will be exalted by God. God has this under control. We're not talking about a work salvation, but we are talking about laying up treasures in heaven. In Romans 8.18, Paul says, For I consider the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. So what you're called to do now is nothing compared to the glory that awaits when you're exalted in Christ and with Christ and dwelling before Him, the Exalted One. It's why Paul in Philippians chapter one could say, others are preaching Christ out of bad motives and they want to get back at me, but yet I complain? No, he says, I rejoice. Why? Because Christ is being preached and I will be vindicated. That's why I could say, I may be being sentenced to death. I may not survive. I'm waiting for the verdict to come back. I may be sentenced to death. But did he complain? No. He said, I rejoice. Why? Because Christ will be magnified and I will be vindicated. That's why it says in chapter three of Philippians in verses 20 and 21, he says, for our citizenship is in heaven. which we also eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to his glorious body." There may be suffering now, but there's glory awaiting for the humble in Christ. And Christ will come and return, and he'll transform our lowly bodies that it might be like his glorious body on that day. And even after the great parabola in chapter 2. Even afterwards in verse 14 in chapter 2, Paul says, Do all things without complaining and disputing that you may become blameless and harmless children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation among whom you shine as lights in the world. There's going to be struggling in all of this that I've called you to be humble and helpful. Holding fast the word of life so that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain or labored in vain. This isn't it. And those who humble themselves in Christ and before Christ and by the power of Christ will be exalted and vindicated in the end. And it far outweighs anything that you're suffering now. And so for the Christian, this should be an encouragement and a help. I hope it is. It should give you strength in your soul, even rejoicing in your soul to pursue Christ-like humility and sacrificial service because of the example of Christ and the enabling of Christ. Oh, may we be doing this in our local body of Christ. But for the non-Christian, this should be a terror. For those who are outside of Christ, this should be a terror, understanding rightly what's going on in chapter two of Philippians. Because if you're not a Christian, in your pride and in your sin, you're exalting yourself. And according to the principle we've just seen, If that's the case, you will be humbled. If your active part is exaltation instead of humiliation, as Christ was the example, if your active part is exaltation, then God's part will be humbling. And that's for eternity. That's in hell. If you remember the parabolas at the beginning, The comparison of Christ versus Satan's parabola, if you will. Satan exalted himself, so God cast him down to hell. And if you're outside of Christ, this is the trajectory of your life. You might achieve all sorts of so-called fun things and noteworthy things in this life, but your trajectory is that of the evil ones who is cast down. And in Philippians 2 verses 5 through 11 at the end, Paul writes that all will bow before Christ and confess His name. And for those who have come in repentance and faith before the Lord, who have humbled themselves before Christ in saving faith, they will kneel and confess with joy in the glory of Christ willfully. What a glorious day that will be. But for those who have grasped onto their pride and their vain glory, They will confess the name of Christ on that day, but it will be in a spewing of bitter hate, and they will be cast apart from the servant king forever. My heart goes out to many, even in this room, who have been under the sound of the gospel since being a little one, in church, in their home, in their families. I think you hear this drip, drip, drip of the gospel and the warnings the wrath to come because of your sin, and after a while it just means nothing. It's like water off a duck's back. And I would plead with you to hear. I'd plead with you to hear anew. See the humiliation of Christ for the sake of sinners, for the souls of sinners. See His exaltation, and see what awaits those who kneel before Him in repentance and faith, but be reminded of the surety of what will happen for those who don't. And so we plead with you that you might come before God and plead for mercy and plead in repentance and faith before this Christ, kneel before Christ and confess Him today, that today would be the day of salvation. Let us pray. Dear Heavenly Father, We stand in awe of You and what You have done for us. We stand in awe of Christ, though He is very God. He descended into His creation to be under His law, to take flesh as a man and to die as a sinner, but without sin. That sinners could be set free from their sin, be given righteousness and be invited into the family of God as sons and daughters of God and siblings of the great Son of Glory. And if he was exalted, those who by your grace would humble themselves before Christ and then would be willing to humble themselves before men will be exalted and dwell with the glorious one in glory, being made like him forever. We thank you and we praise you. And I pray that this thought and these thoughts of this passage would drive us with great thanksgiving and joy. to want to have the same mind of Christ individually, but especially collectively, that Christ could be seen in us. And we'd be a church that'd be seen to be bringing the glory of Christ to the nations. And Lord, I pray for those who are outside of Christ, Lord, that they would see the great picture, which is not just a picture, it's the reality of what you have done through Christ And Lord, they'd be struck afresh and anew about the glory of the gospel of Christ, but the wrath that come outside of the one who could only take the wrath that our sin deserves. Please do a great work in the hearts and souls of those who are outside of Christ this very day. And it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.