Chapter number 2. Philippians chapter number 2. And we're going to look this morning at verse number 8 for our text. We've been looking at the attributes of God. We've kind of transitioned from the attributes of the Godhead to bring Christ into the picture here. And we've looked the last several weeks at the Lord Jesus. and how these—even he as God, even he as displaying and having all of these attributes that we see concerning the Godhead, we see these, what are seemingly to our mind, paradoxes in Lord Jesus and what he had to endure when he came to this earth taking upon himself flesh, dwelling among us, and these parts of his life for the purpose of bringing salvation to his people, how that works out with these attributes of the dog-head, clearly in the Lord Jesus and at the same time in taking on flesh, in the likeness of sinful flesh, dwelling in the presence of men, going to a cross and dying for us that he might pay for our sins, that he might go as our substitute in that way. We see these things that are really for our brains hard to balance out. But I want you to understand, I want you to see today that this is exactly what the Scripture teaches us concerning the Lord and what he would endure for us. That this is exactly what was prophesied concerning him in the work that he would do to bring salvation to his people. that He is doing and going through this process that we see of Him in accordance to the will of God with, at the same time, these same attributes of the Godhead in Him. Literally, as He would hang on the cross in our stead, He is, while there, receiving This punishment for us, he is still the Almighty God at the same time. And so this is the reality that we see concerning him as he would come, as he would take upon himself flesh, as he would go to the cross for us. And this morning I want us to consider The first part of his humiliation, especially his incarnation, the fact that he would take upon himself flesh, we've already looked at the reality of him taking upon himself flesh. We read here in our text in Philippians 2 and verse number 8, the Bible tells us here, and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. We see from this scripture the glory of our Savior is eclipsed by his humiliation. He humbled Himself. He humbled Himself. The very Creator Himself humbled Himself to be that sacrifice for us, to provide for us salvation. A lot of that was necessary for us. I want you to turn back with me here to Psalm 22. I want you to look at this verse here, verse number 6 of Psalm 22. This is a remarkable verse when you consider who Christ is. A remarkable verse when you consider who He is. Psalm 22 is about the crucifixion of the Lord. Psalm 22 is about the suffering that he would endure while on the cross. Psalm 22 specifically is about man's look, man's view of Christ as he would hang on the cross for us. That's what Psalm 22 is about. You can read down through Psalm 22, you see some very familiar passages to you that you find quoted again in the New Testament in regards to the life of Christ and what he would endure. Notice verse number six. This is what Jesus says of himself here in verse number six. But I am a worm and no man. I am a worm and no man, and reproach of men, and despise of the people." That's hard to read. That's a verse that's hard to read, but we know who Jesus is, especially as a child of God who has experienced His grace, who understands truly the fullness of Christ that we are able to see in the Scriptures of who He is and the attributes that belong to Him, realizing that He is God Almighty, understanding He is the one that spoke all of creation into place. So no guess as to This is to know that this is the power he has, and to hear him say of himself, I am a word and not a name. It's hard to read. It's hard to read, and yet he's saying that of himself because of Because of this humiliation that Paul tells us about here in Philippians chapter 2 and verse number 8, in his humbling of himself, in his humbling of himself, this is the view of man toward Christ. Purwer, reproach of men. The Scriptures will tell us over and over again in regards to man's view of Christ, how they viewed him when he would come, how they viewed him when he was here, and we see that's exactly how man looked upon him. Yet the Lord is declaring this here of himself, I am a worm. He became that. He became that for you. He became that for me. That He would take upon Himself our sin and suffer the penalty of that sin for us that we might be through Him be made the righteousness of God. That it's only through Christ that this salvation is accomplished. And so He became for us this worm to take the punishment for us in our sin. In other words, what made Him a worm was my sin and your sin. It was our due, you see, that He would be viewed, that He would be counted as such for us. Let's go to the Lord in order of prayer before we continue on in our study this morning. Our Father in heaven, we thank you again for this day. We thank you, Father, for your mercy and your grace. We're thankful for each one. Father, it is able to come to your house this morning to spend this time with us this morning and study your Word and singing these songs to you. We're so thankful, Father, for your many blessings upon us. We pray, Father, for those that are away from us today, those that are sick and afflicted and not able to be with us this morning. We pray your hand be upon each of them and give them what they have need of today, especially I'm thinking Sister Bonnie and her healing from this surgery. We pray that you continue to watch over her. Brother Roberts, he's not able to be with us. Father, we pray that you would Be with Amanda Maggard this morning and her family and the losses that they had experienced this week. We just pray your hand to be upon them. Father, we know those that are traveling and those that are away from us today. We just pray that you be with each one. Give them safety today. Give them what they have need of today, Father, we pray. Help us as we've met together. As we look to your Word this morning, Father, we pray that you'd open it before us, that you'd give us understanding of these things. that you'd help us, Father, to understand truly the wonder of the work that Christ Jesus has accomplished for us. We are unworthy. We do not deserve such a work on our behalf. And yet, by your grace and by your love for us, you work this work anyway in spite of us. or we could not do it ourselves and there was nothing we could offer for ourselves, it took the death of Christ to accomplish that salvation, to accomplish this forgiveness. And so we thank you, Father, for this work that you accomplished and are continuing to accomplish for us in Christ. Help us as we look to your word this morning, we'd have, again, understanding of these things. And if there be any loss in our midst this morning, we pray that you would cause them to see, even this very hour, Christ Jesus as Lord and Savior. Help us as we go to your word now. For we ask these things in Jesus' name and for His sake. Amen. Now, we see here in our text again, Paul says, that he humbled himself, the Lord Jesus humbled himself, took upon himself flesh, dwelled among us. It says in verse 7 of the same passage there, he says, but made himself of no reputation, took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men. and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto the dead, even the dead of the cross. We see the nature of our Lord's humiliation in these verses. It was a real and voluntary abasement before both men and God that the Lord Jesus would allow himself to be put through this. His humility was real, but it was voluntary. It's not said that he was humbled, but rather he humbled himself. Man had no power to humble him, he said. Man had no ability to humble him. He humbled himself, and how awesome is our Savior's love for us. that he would humble himself to such a state as he would say in Psalm 43, verse 6, I am but a worm. Just a worm. How much does our Lord love us that he would humble himself in such a way that he would hide even his glory and lay it aside for that time that He might take upon Himself this humility in order to pay for our salvation, to make us His own, that He would endure such for us. How awesome is His love for us! Because not only so low as to become a man under law, but He humbled Himself also to become obedient unto death. Not just that he would take upon himself flesh, but that he would take upon himself flesh for the purpose of dying. That was his hour, he would say. That's what he came to do, was his death for us. So that was his reasoning, that was his purpose, to become obedient unto death. So his humiliation is here specified. It was unto death, and it was an aggravated death in the sense that it would be a death by the cross. It wasn't just a natural thing. It wasn't a natural death that he would give himself to, but it was a death that would cause him great pain physically. Not only to become a man, but a corpse to hang on a tree. That's what he gave himself for. The duration of this humiliation began with his conception. And that humiliation would begin with his conception to the moment of his resurrection. He would continue in this humiliation, He would continue in this stage all the while to bring salvation to us. For without this humiliation of our Lord, without Him giving Himself to this humble, you and I would not have salvation. You and I would not have eternal life. You and I would not have any way of receiving it or achieving it. Christ Jesus performed this for us. Now, we now need to consider His incarnation. It begins with this reality, His humiliation. It begins with His incarnation. He was found, as the Bible tells us here, he was found in fashion as a man. He did not just possess a body for a time to manifest himself and then lay it down again. And it was not a spiritual body that was simply in the shape of a man, but it was a true, and real assumption of the nature of man that our Lord took upon Him. He endured. It was a humiliation that He was made in the rank and order as creatures. He was made like unto one of us, except the only difference in His body and your body is His was without sin. There was no sin in Him. Otherwise, He had everything else. Every other part of our human nature was a part of Him. Just without sin. He who—Paul calls in Romans 9 and verse 5, Paul says here, "'Whose are the fathers, and of whom, as concerning the flesh, Christ came to his overall?' God blessed forever.'" Amen. God blessed forever. This one would humiliate himself with flesh. will take upon himself flesh and dwell among us. Paul tells us again there in 1 Timothy chapter number 3, 1 Timothy chapter number 3 and verse 16, and without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, and received up into glory." Without controversy, he says. He was manifest in the flesh, he was justified in the spirit, he was seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, and received up in the glory. The God of glory. The God of glory to be called a man. He says there in 1 Timothy 2 and verse 5, for there is one God and one mediator. One God and one mediator between God and man. The man Christ Jesus, the man in Christ Jesus. He was fully, fully man. He made himself fully man. And that was a wonder to the Old Testament saints that this would be the case. Job said, if only there was. If there was just a daysman that would be able to touch God and touch me, if there was somebody to intercede on my behalf. He will mention the fact that he did not know of one, there was just one that would come. Solomon would say there in the book of 2 Chronicles, at the dedication of the temple, after he's built the temple for the Lord, and he is having this great time of worship and praise for what God had allowed him to do there, and they brought all of his sacrifices in to celebrate the opening of the temple here. Solomon is praying there in chapter 6, and he says in verse number 18, 2 Chronicles 6 and verse 18, He says, but will God in every deed dwell again on the earth? The old heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain how much less this house which I have built. Solomon says, God's too great. He's too big. He's too massive. Can He truly reside with us? Can He truly come down? I built this great big house and this is too small for Him to come into. Oh, but he would do it. He would do it. He would heckle upon himself flesh. He would become a man. He would even come as a babe from his mother to be born even in this flesh. To be made like unto us and dwell with us. He would more than dwell with us. He would become one of us. But that was seen, and again, especially when you read Psalm 22 and verse number 6, I am but a worm and no man. It's hard to read that without feeling like it's almost blasphemous, she said. to read the reality, to understand who God is and to know truly what He's revealed about Himself and His Word and how vast and how awesome and how holy and how just and how powerful He is and to consider Him and that greatness that He is and to consider the fact that He made Himself In this way, to take upon himself flesh, to humiliate himself, to be in our presence, to live among man, that he might be the sacrifice for us. That is exactly what the Scriptures declare. Genesis chapter 3 begins with it, in verse 15, describing all that is on coming. There's one coming and he's going to be bruised for us. It tells us right there, Genesis chapter 3 verse 52. Abraham is saying, Genesis 22, one of my favorite passages in scripture, that he's going up the hill with Isaac there and his purpose is to go on to sacrifice Isaac on the mountain. And Isaac says, Daddy, we've got the fire, we've got the wood, where's the sacrifice? What is it that Abraham prophesies even there? God will provide himself. God will provide himself to Lamb. He'll do it. He'll provide. He'll take care of it. Over and over again we see throughout the prophecies of the Old Testament, the Lord was going to come. He was coming to live among us. He was going to take upon Himself flesh. He was going to be in our presence and work these wonderful works of God. John 1 and verse 14. John 1 and verse 14, John would write here. He begins this passage, this gospel, in verse 1 down through verse number 3, describing who Jesus is. He describes his backstory, if you will. He says, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God. And the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made. He was not only from the beginning, not only was He there with God, but the Bible tells us that He was God. He's the very Creator. He's the one who made it all. He spoke it into existence. He's the one that took the dust of the ground and molded Adam and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. He's the one that took from Adam's side and made Eve and Jane Furr that breath of life as well. He's the one that brought it all to pass. He's the one that accomplished it all. And yet this same one who is the all-powerful God. It says in verse 14, And the Word was made flesh. and dwelt among us. And we beheld His glory, not that we knew who He was, we saw it. We were able to see those glimpses of His glory. We recognized who He was, even in flesh we recognized who He was. We beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace, truth, the reality that the ancients of days will become an infant and dwell among us, take upon himself flesh as a man and dwell among us. Go back with me to Isaiah 40. The last several chapters of the book of Isaiah are wonderful chapters of Scripture, because he describes in here the power of God, but not only does he describe the power of God, he also describes the servant that is Christ. and what he would do in that process and how he would accomplish for us our salvation, the fact that he would come, the fact that he would be in our presence, the fact of the things that he would do while he was here in that form to die for us, to pay for our sins. And he said here in verse 15 of Isaiah 40 that he describes his power here. He says, Behold the nations, verse 15, Behold the nations are as the drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance. Behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing, and Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor the beasts there are sufficient for a burn offering. But he could burn the whole nation of Lebanon, all the beasts. Of course, he mentions Lebanon because of the cedars of Lebanon, these trees that are no longer in existence, but believed to be very much like our redwoods. That's, in fact, the phrase that Solomon would use to help build the temple with, the beams for the temple, these giant cedars of leaven. And so they describe them here, these are this vast forest, you have this massive forest, and you work all that down and lay it down for a burnt offering, take all the animals that you could and put on it, and it would not be sufficient as a burnt offering for the Lord. He's too vast. He's too great. He's too much. He's too powerful. He's too holy. He's too just. There's not enough that we can do to honor Him and to please Him and to worship Him and to serve Him as He ought to be. Lebanon is not sufficient for a burnt offering. Nor is Israel sufficient for a burnt offering. All nations before Him are as nothing. They are counted to him less than nothing in vanity. To whom then will ye liken God? Or what likeness will ye compare unto him? What likeness will ye compare unto him? How great then is this humiliation of our Lord to take upon himself flesh and dwell among us. How great then is this humiliation. He didn't even take the highest form of creation. But rather he became a man. Hebrews chapter 2 tells us this in verse number 16. Hebrews 2 and verse 16. For verily he took not on him the nature of angels. That's the highest form of creation, the angels. They are created beings. They are not eternal beings. They're created just like everything else is created, but they are most assuredly the highest form of that creation of our Lord. And yet he did not take their nature. For verily he took not on him the nature of angels, but he took on him the seed of Abraham. He took of him the seed of Abraham. He became a man. But he also assumed the nature of man after sin, but yet without sin. In other words, the results of Adam's sin cost us physically. Not only spiritually, but it caused us physically. Man would die. That was a part of Adam's sin there. But not only would he die, but he would also hunger, and he would thirst, and he would get tired, and he would have to sleep, and he would have to spend time and rest. He would have to work for his food from this point forward. By the sweat of his brow, there were results, you see, because of Adam's sin. And when the Lord took upon himself flesh to dwell among us, Though it was without sin, his flesh was still the same as ours in the sense that he hungered, he thirsted, he got tired, he needed rest as well, so he took upon himself the results of that sin in the flesh but without sin. I'll make that clear to you. He had no sin in him. No sin in him. He was absolute perfection, absolute holiness, absolute righteousness with the nature of man in him. He was fully man, yet without sin. And so, in assuming this flesh, he allowed himself, he gave himself to be part of that That reality that all of us experience. He also, when we get hungry, he got hungry. We get tired, he got tired. He endured life as you and I endured it. Very much the same way, physically speaking. And so he assumed that nature of man. Romans 8 and verse 3. Romans 8 and verse 3, Paul says here, in this passage. He says, For what the law could not do, that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh. He condemned sin in the flesh. He did not have any sin in him, but he took on the exact likeness of it and was given the most consequence of sinful flesh—hunger, thirst, weary, pains. He took upon himself these natural weaknesses of the flesh by his suffering was then made. our great high priest who intercedes for us. Paul tells us in Hebrews 4 that it was necessary for him to endure, that it was necessary for him to go through these realities of the flesh that he might know fully what you and I go through. That he would experience our condition experiencing our condition not only to be able to die in our stead, but to intercede before us continually. As he says here in verse 15 of chapter 4, for we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our impermanence, but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Yet without sin. All the more humiliated was he in as much as this so veiled and disguised him that during his humiliation he looked not like himself as God, he looked like a man. So much, he made himself so much like a man. But Isaiah was saying in chapter 53 that there would be nothing about him that we would desire. He didn't even make himself good-looking for that matter. There was nothing about him that made him desirable for men. He was as common as he could be physically, and yet he would He would show those bits of the glory of God in His people. He would declare it. He would shine it forth for them so that they would be able to see in just those times, in those moments, to see that glory shine forth, that He would work the wonderful works of God. poor, contemptible sinner in the eyes of the world is how he allowed himself to be sinned. And this is evidence even by their reaction of him. We read there in Philippians 2 and verse number 7 and verse 8 there that he made himself, he humbled himself to appear as we. Go back to Matthew 26. And look with me there in verse 61, Matthew 26 and verse 61. And said, this fellow said, I am able to destroy the temple of God and build it in three days. This is their view of it. This is what they saw. This guy. Here, he has no ability, he has no power, he has no way of doing these things that he has declared. And so their reaction, they saw nothing in him. The world saw nothing in him that would draw them from him, make them consider truly who he is. His honor, his reputation was disguised by the flesh. And with this world, he had no esteem and no honor before them. So much did he not look like God through this world that he who spoke all things into existence and had the angels worshiping around his throne would become a footstool for every rebel against God, the predator. The evil of this world still do this to this day. Even in such abasement, he allowed himself to be seen by his people. Again, in those little glimmers, those glints of his glory, as John would say, we beheld his glory. We ought to see it. It was shining for us. We were able to see it. And that's the reality of who Jesus was when He was here upon the earth, when He lived His people. He would allow Himself to be seen by them. And they would be in the same place even with the rest of the world. They'd be in the same place with the other Jews and Jesus would allow that glory to shine through to His people. And then the very same people standing right next to them would not see, be blinded by those realities and would not see that glory and only see that one that they had such contempt and hatred for. But while the disciples that are looking at me, would you just see that? God in the flesh with them! We saw those glimmers of his glory shine through. We saw that. We beheld that glory. Nevertheless, to this world, he was contemptible. He was an object of scorn. He was hated of men. His condescension was so humbling he did not choose the palace to be born in, nor the riches of this world to aid him in his ministry, but he chose a poor carpenter from Nazareth, a poor girl that would become the carpenter's wife to bring him into this world, to raise him in the presence of men. How greatly he was humbled that he being so separated from his father. For once he had such eternal joys and pleasure in the bosom of his father, but in the flesh he was overwhelmed with sorrows and agonies that he would declare, again in Psalm 22 and verse 2, He would declare these things from this earth as this flesh was upon him. Verse 2 of Psalm 22, O my God, I cried in the daytime, but thou hearest not, and in the night season am not silent. Then verse 1, was forced to cry out so bitterly, My God, my God, Why hast thou forsaken me? My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? This cried from the cross by the very one who created all things. Why did he cry that? Why did he cry, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Why did the Lord speak those words? For one, it's what Psalm 22 said He would say. It's what Psalm 22 said the Messiah would say. When He would come, these would be the words on His lips. And there as Jesus hung on the cross, He declared, My God, My God, Why? That's not forsaken me. But why would He? Why would the Lord? Was this true? Was this a true statement that He was declaring from the cross? Yes, absolutely. It was an absolutely true statement. Why would He make that statement? You see, that was part of His punishment. That was the punishment poured out on Him because of our sins. You see, it wasn't His death by the Romans and the Jews as He hung there on the cross. It wasn't those physical punishments that they poured out on Him that paid for my sin and your sin. It wasn't the nails in His hands and His feet that paid for my sin and your sin. What paid for my sin, what paid for your sin, is the punishment that was poured out upon Christ by His Father in our place. And that punishment required a separation from God, required a separation from his Father, because sin cannot be in the presence of God. And so in the punishment of our sin, as my sin was laid upon the Lord Jesus Christ, as your sin was placed upon Him there, as He hung there in our sin, there was a forced separation between Him and His Father as He suffered the punishment of our sin for us. That is my sin. was accounted for while the father separated from God the son and he endured for me in those three hours of darkness God did not even allow the world to look on him during that time as he poured out that punishment he brought darkness upon the earth as He suffered that punishment for us, and at the end of those three hours would come His death and He would give up the dose, as He would declare from the cross, at the end of those three hours of barrenness, at the end of that punishment for us, He would declare from the cross, it is finished. I've come to do this very work and I've finished it now. It's complete. He paid for my sin. He paid for your sin. He washed us in His blood by that very work as He suffered the punishment for us. It all is accomplished, you see. By this humiliation, he humbled himself. He humbled himself. 2 Corinthians 8, I want you to see one more verse here. 2 Corinthians 8, verse number 9. 2 Corinthians 8, verse number 9. Paul says here, For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich. His humility was to make us the children of God. to make us heirs and joint heirs with Christ Jesus himself. Oh, the wonder, the absolute wonder of the humiliation of our Lord for us that in that He might accomplish so great salvation that our sins might be washed away. Do you know Christ Jesus today? Can you say in this very moment, without a doubt, I am washed in the blood of Christ. Jesus has taken my sin. He took my punishment. His humiliation in the flesh was for me. Can you say that to Christ Jesus today? Repent and believe on Him. Let's all stand. Let's pray as we raise this song.