High...Low...High! | SERMON | Philippians 2:5-11

[00:00:00] Real Truth Daily This is Daily Truths with Dave Ahlman.

[00:01:00] He's raising up palm branches and as you heard me talk about already, they were saying

[00:01:03] Hail is on the Son of David.

[00:01:05] Blessed is he who comes to the name of the Lord.

[00:01:08] This was a high day for the Lord Jesus Christ.

[00:01:13] But during the week, he was rejected, humiliated, scorned, beaten, and finally nailed to the

[00:01:21] cursed tree of the cross, taking upon himself the wrath of God and our sin in payment for

[00:01:27] our wrongs, a payment he made to God the Father.

[00:01:31] That was low.

[00:01:34] But then we celebrate it next week.

[00:01:38] What happened?

[00:01:39] Three days later, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Christ is exalted, Christ is defeated,

[00:01:45] death, the tomb is empty and indeed eternal life has opened up to all those who repent

[00:01:50] of their sins and put their trust in Jesus.

[00:01:53] That's high.

[00:01:54] So during the week, holy week, high, low, high.

[00:01:59] But in a different sense, St. Paul talks about those same three words in a different respect,

[00:02:05] capitalizing for us, encompassing for us the very life of Christ, why he came, what he

[00:02:12] did and what happened at the end of his earthly life.

[00:02:16] And so he used those words high, low, high.

[00:02:20] Let's look at the first three words or the first word itself.

[00:02:25] Write this in the second column, the second space there, number two, write this down high.

[00:02:33] And then it says there up on the screen, those verses that we want to look at regarding

[00:02:38] verses five and six.

[00:02:40] Look at what it says there.

[00:02:42] Have this in mind among you yourselves which is in Christ Jesus.

[00:02:46] And then it says this in verse six.

[00:02:49] Who though he was in the form of God, let's stop right there.

[00:02:54] Jesus was in the form of God, the triune God, father, son and Holy Spirit.

[00:03:01] Omni present, omniscient and omnipotent.

[00:03:06] That's who Jesus was.

[00:03:07] He was and forever will be God.

[00:03:10] And he was seated on the throne way up high, exalted along with the father and the spirit,

[00:03:17] right?

[00:03:18] And he says here, have this mind among you, among yourselves which is in Christ Jesus.

[00:03:23] Who though he was in the form of God, look at this did not consider equality with God,

[00:03:29] something to be grasped.

[00:03:32] In other words, there was a conversation that happened between God, the father and God,

[00:03:37] the son.

[00:03:38] It might have gone something like this.

[00:03:40] Son, I need someone who's perfect and holy and sinless to become a human being to leave

[00:03:48] the cushy mansions of his heavenly throne and to go down to earth and become a sinful human

[00:03:55] being, assuming sin in mankind's behalf.

[00:03:59] You're exalted.

[00:04:00] You're here in this holy place.

[00:04:02] Are you willing to go?

[00:04:04] Now Jesus could have said, I'm not willing.

[00:04:08] I want to stay here.

[00:04:10] I want to be continually exalted.

[00:04:12] I don't want to descend from heaven.

[00:04:14] I don't want to assume that earthly position.

[00:04:17] I don't want to go identify with those sinful people.

[00:04:20] I want to stay here, but he did not regard equality with God something to be continually

[00:04:27] grasped.

[00:04:28] Are you with me?

[00:04:30] He said no, I'm willing to go.

[00:04:33] I don't have to stay here.

[00:04:35] So he left heaven and became one of us.

[00:04:39] So the next word you put in, word number three if you will, low because that's what the

[00:04:45] verses now look at, in verse seven and eight.

[00:04:48] That's what they identify.

[00:04:50] This is what it says in verse seven.

[00:04:54] He made himself nothing.

[00:04:57] Now, what does that mean?

[00:05:01] That Jesus made himself nothing.

[00:05:05] Means he became human.

[00:05:08] Means he became a lowly human being.

[00:05:12] He wasn't born in high estate.

[00:05:14] He didn't have a lot of money.

[00:05:16] He wasn't rich.

[00:05:17] He wasn't successful.

[00:05:19] He wasn't necessarily right out of the shoot famous.

[00:05:22] He became a human being.

[00:05:24] Now Billy Graham has marvelous story to tell about.

[00:05:27] He was walking along the street one day and he was with his son and they came upon an

[00:05:32] ad hill as they were walking down the street.

[00:05:35] It was in a small town and there was an ad hill there and this boy, his boy Franklin

[00:05:41] Graham who now is like 80 years old stepped on the ad hill and Billy said, oh son you

[00:05:47] probably shouldn't have done that.

[00:05:49] And all of a sudden Franklin who was like 10 years old felt so badly about what he had

[00:05:53] done.

[00:05:54] And he said, oh daddy I'm so sorry.

[00:05:56] I can't believe I did that.

[00:05:58] And then Billy said, what would it be like if you became your human being but you became

[00:06:02] an aunt?

[00:06:04] And you went down there and you helped them rebuild their homes and heal their afflictions

[00:06:08] and maybe even raise some people from the dead.

[00:06:11] And Franklin said, why can't do that?

[00:06:13] Daddy that's impossible.

[00:06:15] And then Billy went on to say, but that's what Jesus did for us.

[00:06:19] He who was in the glory and splendor of heaven whose fully God became fully man and became

[00:06:27] one of us.

[00:06:29] And in his sense compared to his divinity he became nothing.

[00:06:36] Got it?

[00:06:38] Let me say it again.

[00:06:39] Got it?

[00:06:40] Got it.

[00:06:41] Okay.

[00:06:42] So himself became nothing, taking the form of a servant.

[00:06:49] How's that?

[00:06:50] The Bible says that the Son of Man came not to be served.

[00:06:53] This is what Jesus said about itself.

[00:06:55] The Bible says the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve and to give his life

[00:07:01] as a ransom for many.

[00:07:02] The loneliness, the ability, the rejection, the scorn, the crucifixion of Jesus.

[00:07:10] All demonstrates that he was the ultimate servant as it talks about in Isaiah chapter 53.

[00:07:17] So taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness I love this, in the likeness

[00:07:25] of men, what's that mean?

[00:07:29] When Jesus first came to planet earth and he walked inside a room, do you think people

[00:07:35] said, oh, there's the Son of God or man, that dude is handsome.

[00:07:45] Do you think they said that?

[00:07:46] No.

[00:07:47] The Bible says according to Isaiah chapter 53 that there was nothing regarding his outward

[00:07:52] appearance that would draw people unto him.

[00:07:56] He was a common, everyday looking guy.

[00:08:00] He wasn't like Tom Cruise or Ryan Gosling or any of these stars today who were so, you

[00:08:08] know, they're macho and all that.

[00:08:10] Jesus was just a regular guy.

[00:08:13] And so he came in the likeness of men.

[00:08:15] He did all the things that people do, eat, drink, sleep, all these different things.

[00:08:21] He just looked like anybody else.

[00:08:24] We're going to get to this here in just a few minutes, but when he comes back, he's

[00:08:33] going to look a lot different and you'll find out what everybody is going to say.

[00:08:38] But believers and non-believers alike when Jesus Christ comes back.

[00:08:43] So in his humiliated state and his lowly state, being born in the likeness of men and then

[00:08:51] it says in verse 8.

[00:08:53] And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death,

[00:09:04] even death on a cross.

[00:09:08] The most humiliating, despicable death in Roman country at that time and Roman society

[00:09:14] was crucifixion.

[00:09:16] There was nothing worse.

[00:09:19] It was a worse humiliation anyone could ever go through.

[00:09:24] And as you probably know, they put these people on across as execution was taken place

[00:09:31] on them outside the city walls of Jerusalem so the Roman government could demonstrate this

[00:09:36] is what happens to you if you're a wrongdoer.

[00:09:40] This is what can happen to you.

[00:09:41] And both adults and kids saw that almost on a daily basis.

[00:09:46] When you imagine, it was the most despicable rejection anyone could go through.

[00:09:53] But we know why it had to happen.

[00:09:57] For whatever reason in the counsel of the heavens of God, God the Father had dispatched Jesus

[00:10:03] to planet earth who became one of us for the purpose of going to the cross and we know

[00:10:09] why he went to the cross.

[00:10:12] It was to die in our place.

[00:10:14] It was to assume our guilt and shame.

[00:10:18] It was to take sin and have it placed on him and to take it away through his shed blood

[00:10:24] on the cross.

[00:10:26] He indeed is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, experiencing the wrath

[00:10:33] of God, total separation from the Father.

[00:10:36] Jesus is suspended between heaven and earth and the punishment that we deserve.

[00:10:44] Because our sin was meted out on him.

[00:10:48] This is why he went to the cross, to die in our place, wounded for our sins, taking our

[00:10:57] wrongs upon himself.

[00:10:59] Now, I don't know if you've ever had this happen but have you ever gone out to eat and

[00:11:04] you see someone there at the restaurant that you haven't seen for a long time and you

[00:11:08] start to talk and everything and maybe you're talking for 15 or 20 minutes.

[00:11:12] I've had this happen a couple times and you visit and it's just wonderful and you're getting

[00:11:18] along great.

[00:11:19] And then all of a sudden they say, here, let me take this and they take your ticket and

[00:11:25] they pay for your ticket and you let them.

[00:11:31] Isn't that cool?

[00:11:34] You know what Jesus said when he was dying on that cross?

[00:11:38] Here, Heavenly Father, here are sinful people of the world.

[00:11:42] Let me take this and through faith in what he's done, we let him.

[00:11:51] This is why Christ died.

[00:11:55] This is why He shed His blood.

[00:11:57] This is why He went to the cross.

[00:12:00] You see, resolutely from the time Jesus was born until the time He was nailed to that

[00:12:05] piece of wood on good Friday, there was one purpose for Jesus in mind to go to the

[00:12:11] cross.

[00:12:12] As a matter of fact, I'm reading through the book of Matthew as many of you know in daily

[00:12:15] truths and Jesus says over and over and over again to his disciples, the Son of man is

[00:12:21] going to be hand over the hands of sinful men, be crucified and then raised up on the

[00:12:26] third day.

[00:12:27] He told them that he was going to go to the cross.

[00:12:31] He told them that he was going to shed His blood.

[00:12:33] He told them that it had to be sacrificed for the wrongs of the world and they still

[00:12:38] didn't get it until the Holy Spirit came upon them and now they said, we get it now.

[00:12:45] We understand now and they confess his saving name and we do the very same thing today.

[00:12:54] Jesus was high, highly exalted in heaven.

[00:12:59] The same glorious position is God the Father.

[00:13:03] He lowly bent himself down to planet earth and became one of us for the express purpose

[00:13:08] of becoming obedient unto death, even death on a you say it cross.

[00:13:18] That's low.

[00:13:21] That's low.

[00:13:22] But then St. Paul, by the way, this was an early church hymn, okay?

[00:13:28] We sang a great hymn just a few minutes ago in Christ alone.

[00:13:31] This was an early church hymn, the early church saints, people in the first century.

[00:13:36] After Christ, I sent it up into heaven in the first century.

[00:13:39] They sang this and church together.

[00:13:42] This beautiful, glorious, powerful passage of St. Paul in Philippians chapter 2.

[00:13:48] So he talks about okay, Christ was exalted in the heavens.

[00:13:52] He came down and became one of us.

[00:13:54] He assumed our guilt and shame and sin.

[00:13:57] He died on a cross, became obedient unto death, even death on a cross.

[00:14:02] Now we go back here's the fourth word you write in line for.

[00:14:07] Hi.

[00:14:11] Why do you write that?

[00:14:17] It's interesting to me and I said this to my wife as we were driving here today.

[00:14:21] It's interesting to me that St. Paul kind of skipped over the resurrection of Jesus, but

[00:14:27] that resurrection is contained and encompassed in the word exalted because we say that Christ's

[00:14:36] exaltation started when he descended into hell.

[00:14:40] And by the way a lot of times people say why did Christ descend into hell?

[00:14:46] You know what it was?

[00:14:49] It was to preach victory.

[00:14:52] It was to tell Satan that he had lost and the saints of God had won.

[00:14:57] It was to tell Satan hand over the keys of hell and death, hand him over to me.

[00:15:02] I'm the victor, I'm the conquerer, we win, you lose.

[00:15:07] How cool is that?

[00:15:09] And what St. Paul here is talking about is not only the dissension of Christ into hell but

[00:15:15] the exaltation of Christ through his resurrection.

[00:15:18] So look at what it says there in verse 9, therefore God has highly exalted him.

[00:15:29] That means he's in charge of your life.

[00:15:37] I read recently that Americans are more anxiety-ridden in this current day than they ever have

[00:15:44] been back during World War II interestingly.

[00:15:48] Oh and I got to tell you why that is because so many of us want to be in charge.

[00:15:55] We want to call the shots in our own life, we want to dictate to God how things go.

[00:16:02] And when they don't go our way we feel tremendous angst as a matter of fact when you hear the

[00:16:07] word anxious you put it together.

[00:16:10] It's like angst and angst.

[00:16:16] Is that you?

[00:16:21] Sometimes that's me, do you know why?

[00:16:23] Because I want to assume the throne of God.

[00:16:25] I want to become one like Jesus.

[00:16:28] And this is the oldest temptation in the Bible.

[00:16:32] When Satan appeared at him and he'd tell him, if you eat of the fruit you'll be like God.

[00:16:37] In other words you're going to be in charge.

[00:16:39] Nothing has changed.

[00:16:41] We still want to be in charge.

[00:16:42] And what St. Paul here is telling us is Jesus is exalted to the highest place.

[00:16:48] He's in charge.

[00:16:49] He's the king, he's the master of the universe, he's sovereign and you can fight against him

[00:16:55] all you want but he's going to lead and guide you through life no matter what so why not

[00:17:01] relax and enjoy the ride.

[00:17:04] But we don't do that.

[00:17:06] So during World War II the most anxious soldiers obviously were the soldiers on the ground

[00:17:12] interestingly and eighty seventy to eighty percent of them came back alive and they were

[00:17:16] just fine but the most anxious, written people during World War II were the soldiers who

[00:17:22] are on the ground.

[00:17:23] Why is that?

[00:17:24] Because they were sitting ducks a lot of times.

[00:17:26] They'd be walking, they didn't know when the bullets were going to fly.

[00:17:29] You know they could run, they could walk, they could hide.

[00:17:31] And eventually they knew that they were probably going to face battle and they might die.

[00:17:36] Even though there was a twenty only thirty percent chance that they might die, the rest

[00:17:41] came home safe.

[00:17:43] You know who is taking even a greater risk?

[00:17:46] Those were in planes.

[00:17:48] Fifty percent of the pilots that fought during World War II died in battle but their anxiety

[00:17:56] level was much lower.

[00:17:58] Do you know why?

[00:18:01] Because they were holding the steering wheel.

[00:18:04] They were in charge.

[00:18:08] That's kind of the way we are.

[00:18:10] And what St. Paul is telling us is Christ is exalted.

[00:18:16] He's the king of kings and Lord of lords.

[00:18:18] His name is wonderful counselor, mighty god, the everlasting father, the prince of peace.

[00:18:23] He's the one who has been exalted to this highest state and he is in charge of your life

[00:18:28] and you can trust him.

[00:18:31] You can lean on him.

[00:18:33] You can allow him to carry you through life.

[00:18:35] That's what St. Paul is saying is, you got a mighty king of victorious warrior, a mighty

[00:18:40] savior in Jesus Christ, follow his lead, allow him to carry you, let him guide you, he'll

[00:18:47] never leave you nor forsake you.

[00:18:50] And when you fully believe that, when you fully trust that anxiety leaves.

[00:18:59] So look what St. Paul says here.

[00:19:01] Therefore God has highlighted him and bestowed on him.

[00:19:04] Here, look at this.

[00:19:05] The name that is above every other name.

[00:19:09] You think about great names?

[00:19:12] William Shakespeare, Moses, Elijah, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln.

[00:19:20] LeBron James.

[00:19:22] Yeah.

[00:19:24] Nicola Yokic, Mickey Battle, Babe Ruth, Ronald Reagan, whoever it is you want to say.

[00:19:35] There's no name greater than the name of Jesus.

[00:19:41] Jesus means Jesus saves.

[00:19:45] He's the savior.

[00:19:46] The word Jesus means savior.

[00:19:48] Jesus means anointed one, the promised Messiah.

[00:19:51] He's the savior.

[00:19:52] He's anointed one.

[00:19:53] He's the only one who is who he claimed to be.

[00:19:56] The Son of God, the Savior of the world who descended from heaven, who became one of us

[00:20:02] who died in our place, who's exalted to the highest place and he someday is coming back

[00:20:08] to take his people home.

[00:20:13] So.

[00:20:15] Hi, low.

[00:20:17] Hi.

[00:20:18] God has placed upon him a name that is above every other name and then notice what it says here

[00:20:23] that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow in heaven on earth and under the earth.

[00:20:29] Is that happening right now by the way?

[00:20:31] No.

[00:20:32] You're probably thinking when's that going to happen Pastor Dave?

[00:20:36] Every knee shall bow and tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

[00:20:39] When's that going to happen?

[00:20:40] No.

[00:20:41] When Christ comes back.

[00:20:43] When the trumpet sounds, when Christ descends once again.

[00:20:47] So listen to this.

[00:20:48] He was in heaven.

[00:20:49] Hi.

[00:20:50] He came down to here low.

[00:20:51] He's now in heaven once again and he's also with us.

[00:20:54] I understand that.

[00:20:55] Okay?

[00:20:56] Hi, low.

[00:20:57] Hi.

[00:20:58] But he's coming back low to take his home so that we can.

[00:21:01] Hi.

[00:21:02] Go to heaven to be with him.

[00:21:04] Hi, low.

[00:21:05] Hi, low.

[00:21:06] Hi.

[00:21:07] And that's the end of the story.

[00:21:09] Right?

[00:21:10] That's where it ends.

[00:21:13] And it ends good for all those who trust in Jesus.

[00:21:16] Now getting back to this one more time, well what about people that aren't believers

[00:21:21] when Christ comes back?

[00:21:22] Are they still going to acknowledge that Jesus is the Christ's son of living God absolutely?

[00:21:27] But by then it's too late.

[00:21:30] The time to believe in Christ is now because three corps of the world doesn't believe in

[00:21:37] Christ.

[00:21:38] If Christ came back today, three corps of the world would still acknowledge Jesus as

[00:21:43] Lord and Savior Christ and King but that would condemn them because they rejected him while

[00:21:49] they were here on planet earth.

[00:21:53] But we don't have to be afraid of that.

[00:21:54] As a matter of fact I just did a podcast how many people are afraid of judgment day thinking

[00:22:00] about all these sins that God is going to bring up on judgment day.

[00:22:04] Look at what you did.

[00:22:05] Oh my goodness.

[00:22:06] It's like going to the...

[00:22:07] So many times when I go to the doctor, I'm afraid isn't it frustrating when you go to

[00:22:12] the doctor and they weigh you?

[00:22:15] Why do they do that?

[00:22:17] We all have scales at home.

[00:22:19] I know what I weigh right?

[00:22:22] So the nurse says okay and I'm always thinking please don't weigh me.

[00:22:27] Please don't.

[00:22:28] And what do they do?

[00:22:29] Dave?

[00:22:30] Dave?

[00:22:31] Okay.

[00:22:32] I'm going to come here Dave.

[00:22:33] Okay.

[00:22:34] Just get your weight.

[00:22:35] Do I have to?

[00:22:37] I always say that.

[00:22:39] So what do I do?

[00:22:40] I take out my keys and I take out my phone, right?

[00:22:42] I take out my wallet and thanks be to God she never looks at that and says oh boy and

[00:22:51] I'm always glad if I have a nurse it's overweight that makes me feel better.

[00:22:56] Right?

[00:22:57] Now you're probably thinking pastor Dave what are you talking about?

[00:23:00] There's not going to be a weight scale of your sin on judgment day.

[00:23:02] You get it?

[00:23:05] God's not going to look at that weight scale of sin as him boy what do you do that for?

[00:23:10] How come he carried that out or what were you thinking there?

[00:23:12] He's not going to do that.

[00:23:16] Isn't that a relief?

[00:23:19] Isn't that a comfort?

[00:23:22] Isn't that blessed assurance?

[00:23:27] This is why we go to church.

[00:23:29] We need a pep talk like this and Palm Sunday gives it.

[00:23:34] Therefore, God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him a name that is above every

[00:23:39] other name that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow in heaven on earth and under

[00:23:44] the earth.

[00:23:45] That means Satan's angels are going to be worshiping Jesus too.

[00:23:49] In heaven on earth and under the earth and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord

[00:23:54] and so when he comes back we can say with that glorious hymn by the Gather's oh the

[00:23:58] king is coming.

[00:24:00] The king is coming.

[00:24:01] I just heard the trumpet sounding and now his face I see oh the king is coming.

[00:24:07] The king is coming.

[00:24:08] Praise God.

[00:24:10] He's coming for me.

[00:24:13] Hallelujah is right.

[00:24:17] High, low, high, low, high forever with Jesus.

[00:24:25] Amen?

[00:24:26] And now may the peace of God which surpasses all understanding.

[00:24:31] Guard your hearts and your minds through faith in Christ Jesus until life everlasting.

[00:24:36] Amen.

[00:24:56] Tomorrow for your next daily trip.