Philippians: Thou Art Christ, Son of the Living God

Text: Philippians 2:1-11

Theme: Jesus is the Christ.

“Who is Jesus?” is the most important question any person will ask. The answer to that question, we believe, literally determines your eternity.

The passage we’re looking at tonight tells us who Jesus is. Philippians 2:5-11 is one of the most exalted views of our Lord, Jesus Christ in all the Scriptures. It's theological scope is breathtaking. The passage tells us four essential truths about Jesus: 1st, It says that he was God, 2nd, it says that he became human, 3rd, it says that as a human, he humbled himself and became a servant, even to his death on a cross, and 4th, because he was obedient unto death, God has highly exalted him.

It’s a view that is continually under attack from outside the Church and even within the Church. There are authors like historian Richard Carrier who are on the fringe of absurdity when he insists that the historical Jesus never existed; that Jesus was nothing more than a Near East myth. Some of the leading New Testament scholars of our era totally dismiss the divinity of Jesus. James Crossan views Jesus as a wise sage. Robert Eisenman’s Jesus is a revolutionary, and Bart Ehrman’s Jesus is an apocalyptic prophet. I know that those names mean nothing to you, and that’s fine, but you need to know that these scholars, and others like them, are shaping the academic world’s thoughts about the person and nature of Jesus. If you Google “Most influential New Testament Scholars” you’ll discover a number of lists, and in every list listed, the top five New Testament scholars listed are university professors who deny the divinity of Jesus. They are the ‘Worldly Wisman’ of our day.

But we have a word from God that we believe trumps Worldly Wiseman. If you remember, Worldly Wiseman is a character in John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress. Mr. Worldly Wiseman is a smooth-talking character dressed in the garb of a pastor who has married up with the world. He denies the authority of the Bible, and points Christian toward human morality and goodness as a viable way to salvation instead of the redemptive work that took place at the Cross. Then, just as now, the Worldly Wiseman will put the unwary on a path to destruction.

So then, Who is Jesus? The Apostle Paul is very clear. If Jesus is not an apocalyptic prophet, or a revolutionary, or a wise sage, then who was he? Paul is clear ...

I. JESUS WAS GOD

ILLUS. John Blanchard, an internationally known Christian apologist, has estimated that since the beginning of creation to this time, there have been about thirty billion people who have lived here on this planet. Out of those thirty billion, very few have had any major effect on human history. There is one person who stands out, unique above all of the rest. That one person, Jesus Christ, has attracted a greater combination of attention, devotion, criticism, adoration, and opposition than any other person of those thirty billion. Every recorded word that this man spoke has been studied and sifted and analyzed from generation to generation by theologians and by philosophers and by historians. And while we are sitting here talking, at this moment, there are millions of people studying what He said. And there is no moment on the clock’s face where there are not millions of people who at that moment are studying what this one individual had to say. He is Jesus of Nazareth. He existed on this earth some two thousand years ago, and He preached and taught in a tiny little land called Israel. And yet the life of this man has divided the centuries into B.C.—“Before Christ”—and A.D.—“Anno Domini” or “the year of our Lord.” He divides world history. He never wrote a book, but more books have been written about Him than any person in all of history. He never painted a picture, or wrote a poem, or created a sculpture, or wrote any music, yet His life has been the impetus and the inspiration for music and art and literature, and other art forms. He never raised an army; and yet millions of people have laid down their lives for Him. He never traveled very far from that tiny little area where He walked; and yet His influence is worldwide. He never spoke to more than a few thousand at one time in His earthly ministry; and yet today, thirty percent of the world’s population claim to be followers of this one man. His ministry lasted only for three years; and yet today by radio and television and printed literature His Word goes around the world. He never had any formal education; but thousands of universities and seminaries and colleges and schools are built in His name. Nobody has had the influence that Jesus Christ of Nazareth has had.

To explain Him is impossible; to ignore Him is disastrous;

To reject Him is eternally fatal

1. who is Jesus? ... he is the God-Man

a. tonight I want you to see several things about the Lord Jesus that are going to come out of this passage of Scripture here

b. if you really want to know who Jesus is, you’ve got to go to the Word of God

A. JESUS IS THE SUPERNATURAL SON OF GOD

1. the Apostle tells us he was in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men (Philippians 2:6–7)

a. this speaks of His birth—Jesus was made in the likeness of men

1) some Christians believe that Paul never mentions the birth of Christ ... that he may not have even known about the birth narratives

2) in light of this passage alone we must reject that

ILLUS. Immediately after his conversion Paul stays with the believers in Damascus. He initially came to arrest them and bring them back to Jerusalem in chains. Now, however, he’s learning about the faith. I imagine the Damascus disciples giving Paul a crash course in Jesus. I can only imagine that included the story of his miraculous birth. In his letter to the Galatians, Paul tells us that three years after his conversion, the Apostle went to Jerusalem where he met privately with Peter and James, “the Lord’s brother.” Oh to be the proverbial “fly on the wall” during those conversations. Can you imagine Paul hearing Jame’s own conversion story? Of growing up with his older brother, of Jesus’ character, of Jame’s own unbelief and skepticism until the resurrection. Of hearing James tell the story of Jesus’s birth that Mary must have told the family after their conversion.

2. now, in a very simple theological statement Paul tells the story of Jesus’ birth from an eternal point of view

a. Jesus was God, but he became a man

1) but He was not conceived like any other child

2) he was born of a virgin

“Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” (Isaiah 7:14, ESV)

b. is that hard to believe: that a virgin could have a child?

1) don’t forget that the first person to doubt it was Mary herself

2) when the angel announced this to Mary, Mary said, “How can this be?” (Luke 1:34)

3) and the angel answered, “For with God nothing shall be impossible.” (Luke 1:37)

a) if you can believe that God resurrected a lifeless corpse after three days, the virgin birth shouldn’t be a problem

b) both require faith ... without which, it is impossible to please God

ILLUS. Unfortunately, this is the very first doctrine liberal scholars took aim at. The entire point of the New Testament hinges on the fact that God took on human flesh ... legitimately, authentically, fully. Dr. Albert Mohler writes that “the doctrine of the incarnation is where the theological liberals assigned their first bombing raid against Christianity.”

4) a secular world simply refuses to worship our Christ, and so, in order not to worship Christ, they must reduce him and redefine him to a mere human

a) and they must do so from the very beginning of his story by denying the miraculous birth as merely an invention of the early church to support the cult of Jesus

3. if the accounts of Jesus’ birth are accurate, then our only option is that of the shepherds and the magi ... to marvel at him, and to fall on our knees and worship the Savior of the world

B. JESUS IS THE SINLESS SON OF GOD

1. not only is He the supernatural Son of God, but he is the sinless Son of God

“And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.” (Philippians 2:8)

a. the key word here is obedient

1) the Lord Jesus said, “I do always those things that please [my Father]” (John 8:29)

2) and God the Father said of God the Son, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:17)

b. Jesus was perfectly obedient to the Father and perfectly surrendered to His will

2. as a man, Jesus could be tempted in every way that we are

a. in the forth chapter of Matthew we find Jesus in the wilderness being tempted by the Devil

1) he tempted him through his flesh, and through his pride, yet he never surrendered

3. as God, Jesus was incapable of sin and lived a holy and righteous life becoming the perfect and spotless Lamb of God

a. the author of the Book of Hebrews tells us that Jesus “was tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin.” (Hebrews 4:15)

b. Jesus looked at those who were accusing Him and said, “Which of you can convict me of sin?” (John 8:46)

4. Jesus, the supernatural Son of God, is the sinless Son of God.

C. JESUS IS THE SOVEREIGN SON OF GOD

1. not only is Jesus the supernatural Son of God and the sinless Son of God; Jesus therefore is the sovereign Son of God

a. the Apostle Paul tells us that Jesus was equal with God

1) this was a statement no pious Jew could or would make ... unless is was absolutely true

2) the first great confession of the Church: Christ is Lord

b. and when the church confessed that Christ is Lord, they were saying that he is sovereign—He is the ruler over all things, He is the final authority in all matters pertaining to his creation, He is the one who maintains order, He is the one to whom all men are ultimately accountable

c. in the first chapter of the Book of Hebrews we find the author quoting God the Father from various Old Testament Psalms

1) in Heb. 1:8 we hear the Father say, “But of the Son he says, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom.” (Hebrews 1:8, ESV)

2) do you hear it? ... God the Father, calls God the Son ... “GOD”

2. this is the reason why Jesus was rejected by the Jews of His day: because He was the Son of God, and that did not fit in with their theology

ILLUS. Jesus, in John chapter 8, is bantering back and forth with the Jewish religious leaders, and they said, “We are not born of sin. We know who our father is.” Do you understand the inference there? They are saying to Jesus “You are illegitimate. You were born out of wedlock.” And they were boasting that Abraham was their father—that is, they were descendants of the patriarch Abraham. How did Jesus respond? “Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.” (John 8:58). Don’t miss that. “I AM” is the most sacred name for God that the Jews knew. When Moses was leading the people of Israel out of Egypt into the Promised Land, Moses said, “I need some credentials. Who can I say sent me?” And Jehovah God said, “Moses, you tell them that ‘I AM’ sent you.” Now Jesus says, “Before Abraham was, I am.” They knew exactly what Jesus was claiming which is why they took up stones to stone Him.

3. Jesus made some great claims about Himself

a. those claims put every human who has ever lived on the horns of a tri-lemma

1) either He was deceived and thought He was God; or

2) he was a deceiver and knew that He was not God but pretended to be; or

3) he was exactly what he claimed to be ... Deity in the flesh

4. deceived, deceiver, or Deity: there’s no other choice

a. if he is one of the first two, we can ignore him

b. if he is the last of the three, we dare not ignore him

D. JESUS IS THE SACRIFICIAL SON OF GOD

1. as we continue to read Paul’s description of Christ Jesus we hear him say, “he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross”

2. Jesus’ death was not incidental; it was not accidental

a. he did not die as a victim

b. he did not die as a martyr

c. he died in obedience to the Father, that you and I might be saved from sin and death and hell

3. this was in the heart and mind of God before this planet was flung into space

a. the Bible says of the Lord Jesus, “He was slain before the foundation of the world.” (Revelation 13:8)

b. now think about that ...

1) in the recesses of eternity, long before the Spirit of God hovered over the face of the waters; long before we hear God say, “Let there be light ... “ Immanuel had already been designated as Messiah

2) when Adam sinned in the Garden, God didn’t go “Whoops ... didn’t see that coming. I guess I’ll have to fix this somehow. Do I have any volunteers?”

4. Jesus had to be the supernatural Son of God, born of a virgin, to be the sinless Son of God, and as the sinless Son of God he was the sovereign Son of God, and only as the sovereign Son of God could he accomplish what he came to be—the sacrificial Son of God

a. the sacrifice of Christ on the cross was the sacrifice of God, Himself, for the sins of His Elect

b. the God-Man shed his blood as an atoning sacrifice for us

1) here is the reason that Jesus became the Sinless Son of God

ILLUS. Everything about the Old Testament sacrificial system teaches us that God the Father demands the blood of the innocent shed for the sins of the guilty. Those sacrifices had to be as pure and perfect as they could be.

c. Jesus would be the perfect, sinless once-for-all sacrifice

1) as Jesus began his public ministry after his baptism by John the Baptist, we hear the forerunner proclaiming, “ ... “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29, ESV)

E. JESUS IS THE SURVIVING SON OF GOD

1. what do I mean by that?

“Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name,” (Philippians 2:9, ESV)

2. his enemies nailed him to a tree, and family, friends and fiends watched him die

a. a pair of secret disciples, took his body, hastily embalmed it, and laid it in a tomb

b. but that was not the end of the story

3. the grave could not hold Him

a. he is the Lord of life, and He is the Lord of death

b. Jesus told his disciple in the tenth chapter of John

“For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.”” (John 10:17–18, ESV)

c. in Revelation 1:5 we’re told that Jesus is “the first begotten of the dead.”

4. in his resurrected life he lives to make intercession for us

ILLUS. C. S. Lewis said this: “He has forced open a door that had been locked since the death of the first man. He has met, fought, and beaten back the king of death. Everything is different because He has done so.”

F. JESUS IS THE SOON-COMING SON OF GOD

“so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2:10–11, ESV)

1. here is a picture of soon-coming Son of God

a. and when He does, knees will bow

1) every prince, president and potentate will bow the knee to Jesus and confess that he is Lord, to the glory of God the Father

2) the high born, and the low born, the educated and the dullard, the desperately poor and the decidedly rich will all bow the knee to Jesus and confess that he is Lord, to the glory of God the Father

3) the angels of heaven and the demons of hell will all bow the knee to Jesus and confess that he is Lord, to the glory of God the Father

b. some will do so gladly because they had confessed him as Lord in this life

c. many will do so under compulsion because they were unwilling to confess his as Lord in this life

2. Jesus is literally, actually, visibly, bodily coming back to this earth

ILLUS. In the Book of Act, the disciples have followed Jesus out to the Mount of Olives. After giving them a few final words he ascends up into the heavens as the disciples stand there slack-jawed in wonder. But soon two angels appear and say, “ ... “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”” (Acts 1:11, ESV). At the end of days, those dimpled feet that lay in the straw of Bethlehem, those bare feet that walked among the shavings in Joseph’s carpenter shop, those sandaled feet that walked the dusty shores of Galilee, those miracle feet that walked on water, those nail-pierced feet that purchased redemption, those glorified feet will stand on the Mount of Olives once again when he comes to establish his kingdom on earth.

3. at this time of year we are celebrating the 1st Advent of the Christ

a. it’s an advent full of sweetness and sentimentality

4. but the Church should not forget that there will be a 2nd Advent of the Christ

b. that advent will be a joy to those who have confessed him, but it will be a time of weeping and gnashing of teeth for those who have not

G. JESUS IS THE SAVING SON OF GOD

“And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” (Philippians 2:8, ESV)

1. why Christmas ... why the incarnation?

a. if Jesus was not conceived of the Holy Spirit, and born of the virgin Mary; if Immanuel—the Second Person of the Trinity—had not been incarnated in the womb of Mary, then there is no perfect sacrifice who stood in our place on Calvary’s hill, and we are still dead in sin and doomed to the Lake of Fire

b. if Jesus was not conceived of the Holy Spirit, and born of the virgin Mary; if Immanuel—the Second Person of the Trinity—had not been incarnated in the womb of Mary, then our sin was not imputed to him on the cross, and his righteousness was not imputed to us upon our confession of faith

c. if Jesus was not conceived of the Holy Spirit, and born of the virgin Mary; if Immanuel—the Second Person of the Trinity—had not been incarnated in the womb of Mary, then there is no gospel, and it there is no gospel there is no salvation, and if there is no salvation our worship of the Christ is pointless

2. Christianity without the incarnation is not just a liberal version of Christianity, it’s not Christianity at all

a. why did Jesus come?

“For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”” (Luke 19:10, ESV)

Conclusion

Who is Jesus? He is the Son of God who left heaven, came to this earth, suffered, bled, and died, and walked out of that grave a living, risen Savior.

(The seven subpoints are taken from Adrian Roger’s Jesus, the God-Man, December 21, 2003)