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[0:00] Heavenly Father, we want to bow also before the throne of Christ. You have exalted him, and we want to humble ourselves before him now! And allow you to speak to us from your word by the power of your spirit.

[0:16] We pray we would have open ears and hearts, Lord, that we would be quick to hear what you have to say to us about who Jesus is and about who we are. Lord, that you'd encourage us, that you'd feed us and strengthen us.

[0:30] Lord, we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Back in 1944, 6th of June, it was the largest sea-based military operation in history.

[0:45] It was known as D-Day, and as historians look back on D-Day, they recognize that that was really when World War II was won.

[0:56] That was the decisive moment. That was the victory in a real sense. And so there was battles still to be fought, but that was victory.

[1:07] That was it. That was when the war was won. And we want to think about this idea of victory, because as we have reflected on what Jesus has done on the cross, a very clear note that the New Testament sounds is this idea of victory, that Jesus has won.

[1:29] And so in Philippians 2 and verse 9, it says, Now, that is language of triumph and language of victory, like in the Olympics when they put the person who comes first on the highest part of the podium to show that they are the best, that they are the greatest, that they are above everybody else.

[2:01] And when we read this in Philippians 2, verse 9, we recognize that this exalting by Jesus, by God of Jesus, that's not the victory.

[2:14] This is recognizing the victory. The victory was on the cross. That's why it says, Therefore, at the start of verse 9, it is because of the cross and the victory of the cross that Jesus has been exalted and lifted high by God the Father.

[2:34] And so we recognize that Jesus has won. Jesus has had the victory. And yet, similarly to that analogy with D-Day, the battle still goes on.

[2:46] The enemy hasn't surrendered. And so we, as God's people, need to understand the significance of Jesus' victory, on the one hand, but also need to understand how do we live in light of the fact that the enemy has not yet surrendered, that the battle continues in a very real sense.

[3:07] And so we simply want to think about what Jesus has had victory over, and then we want to think about the way of victory. So let's think, first of all, about what Jesus has had victory over.

[3:21] And we'll turn back to Colossians 2, as we dwell on this, on what Jesus has had victory over. So in Colossians 2, in verse 15, you see again that language of victory.

[3:38] You see this word triumph at the end of the verse, that God made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.

[3:48] And so the cross is a victory. The cross is triumph. It is victory over sin. In verse 14, it says that our legal indebtedness has been cancelled.

[4:03] The charge has been cancelled in verse 14. This charge that stood against us and condemned us, that has been dealt with, that has been cancelled. So if you use the analogy of banking, when we went up to the spiritual ATM and put our card into the machine, it wasn't that our balance was zero, it was that our balance was in a minus.

[4:28] It was below zero. It was in this massive minus as we stood before God. Our spiritual account balance was in huge debt to God because of how we had lived.

[4:41] But Jesus bears the cost of that. Paul uses this vivid language in verse 14. He has cancelled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us.

[4:54] He has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. As surely as Jesus has been nailed to the cross, our legal indebtedness, our sin has been nailed to the cross.

[5:07] And as a result of that, we have been forgiven. Jesus has triumphed over sin for us so that we would be forgiven.

[5:20] You see that at the end of verse 13. He forgave us all our sins. And you know that if you are to forgive somebody, it means you have to bear the cost of their wrongdoing.

[5:33] That is how you forgive somebody. Something wrong has been done. You're bearing the cost rather than getting them to bear the cost. And what God has done for us in Jesus is he has borne the cost so that we would be forgiven.

[5:50] He has nailed that debt to the cross so that we would be forgiven. And so right now, as those who trust in Christ, if you know him and love him, you are forgiven.

[6:04] Your debt has been cancelled. You may feel guilty. Your heart may condemn you. But the truth is that Jesus, God, has nailed your debt to the cross.

[6:16] And you wonder, well, how can I ever make it up to him? Well, the simple answer is to enjoy the victory that he has secured over your sin on your behalf.

[6:29] One day we won't feel any guilt. One day our hearts will never condemn us again. But it's not yet that day. So there is, in a very real sense, a battle that still goes on as we cling on to Jesus.

[6:48] But there has been real, substantial, significant change as a result of what Christ has done in triumphing over sin in the here and now. Sometimes the mistake we make is we push the now into the not yet.

[7:05] So we think, well, nothing has changed. I feel guilty, therefore I must be guilty. I feel condemned, therefore I must be condemned. And we think, no, it's all out there somewhere in the future. But Paul says, no, you are forgiven.

[7:19] The other mistake we sometimes make is we pull the not yet into the now, thinking that we should somehow now be perfect and never feel guilt and never feel condemned.

[7:30] But of course, Christ has not yet returned. And we still live in these bodies and minds and souls that are frail and fragile and doubt at times and struggle at times.

[7:43] And so sometimes we mistakenly think we should be perfected. But we're not. There is this tension between the fact that we are forgiven and yet we do not yet fully appreciate or enjoy or understand that.

[8:00] And yet Jesus has had the victory over sin on our behalf. He's also had the victory over death. You see that in verse 13, when you were dead in your sins.

[8:13] Paul here, of course, is not talking physically. He's talking spiritually. So the wages of sin is death, not just that we would die, but that we were dead.

[8:25] So Paul uses this vivid language because before God, we were dead. We were not able not to sin. Sin was our master. Sin was the dominant force in our lives.

[8:42] And so Paul says we were dead to God. But Jesus has not only had the victory over sin, he's had the victory over death.

[8:53] Because if the wages of sin is death and Jesus has died instead of us, he has received the wages that we deserve. And his death satisfies God's good justice.

[9:08] And we know that God's good justice has been satisfied because Jesus not only died, but he was raised to life. In verse 12, it says, who raised him from the dead?

[9:20] God raised Jesus from the dead. Jesus' death was fully sufficient for God to forgive us. And so Jesus has had the victory over death and he has done that for us because it's not only Jesus that has been made alive, but in verse 13, we see that we have been made alive with Christ.

[9:44] We were dead in our sins. Now we have been made alive. So in the here and now, he has done something substantial and significant in us so that now we want to live for him.

[9:59] Now we respond to his word. Now we want to know him more. We want to live for him. Now we feel conviction of our sin. We feel concerned about our sin.

[10:10] We want to confess our sin and we want to live for him because we are alive now. These are signs of life. When we were dead in our sin, we couldn't care less about how we lived before God.

[10:26] And so in the here and now, we have been made alive. And there's coming a day when we will live perfectly for him.

[10:38] Every thought and word and deed will be perfectly pleasing to the Father. But that day is not yet. And so again, we see this tension between the now and the not yet.

[10:53] And sometimes we make the mistake of pushing the now into the not yet. And we say, well, I'm powerless to resist sin. I can't fight it.

[11:03] I'm a slave to sin. But Paul says, no, you have been made alive. You can fight. You can live meaningfully for God. The other mistake we sometimes make is to pull the not yet into the now.

[11:20] And again, we think that we should be perfect, that we should live perfectly for God. And we are crushed by our sin because we think, how could I possibly continue to struggle with this?

[11:33] Am I even a Christian? That's the mistake we sometimes make when we pull the not yet into the now. But one day, we will live perfectly for Christ. But not yet.

[11:45] And so we continue to battle because Jesus has had the victory over death for us. And lastly, in terms of Jesus' victory over things, it's not just over sin and death, but it's also over Satan.

[12:02] In verse 15, we see that Jesus has disarmed the powers and authorities. He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.

[12:14] So what Jesus has done on the cross is had victory over Satan and all demonic powers. He has taken away Satan's weaponry. What are Satan's weapons?

[12:29] Accusation? Temptation? Telling us that we are deserving of death and guilty of sin? What Jesus has done is he has triumphed over Satan on the cross so that Satan has no weapons anymore in his armory against us.

[12:50] His accusations are true. But if Satan says to us or if our conscience tell us we are guilty, we say, yes, I am guilty, but I'm forgiven in Christ.

[13:02] If Satan would tempt us and say, you're deserving of death, you say, yes, you're right, but Jesus has died instead of me. If we're tempted to sin, we say, yes, I once enjoyed that, but my heart belongs to another master now.

[13:19] Jesus has disarmed Satan so that we can fight in light of his victory. That is true now.

[13:31] But of course, there's a not yet here as well because Peter says that Satan continues to prowl around like a roaring lion, seeking who he will devour.

[13:44] And so we need to continue to fight those accusations, those temptations, because Satan is set on our destruction, but because Christ has had the victory, he will hold us fast.

[14:02] Again, the mistake that we sometimes make is to get the now and the not yet confused. So we push the now into the not yet. We think that nothing really has changed.

[14:14] Satan is prowling around like a roaring lion. He seems to have all the power and authority in my life. Well, Paul says to us, God says to us, no, Jesus has had victory over Satan, and he can only go as far as Jesus allows.

[14:33] You think of what Jesus says to Peter before Peter denies Jesus. Jesus says to Peter, Peter, Satan has asked to sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you, and when you return to me, I want you to strengthen the brothers.

[14:54] Isn't that an amazing thing that Satan has asked Jesus to sift Peter and the apostles like wheat, and Jesus allows it, and you think, is Jesus beholden to Satan?

[15:06] Is Jesus under Satan's power? Not at all. Satan is trying to destroy Peter, and Jesus prays for Peter so that he is not lost, and in fact, he is strengthened as he clings ever more closely to the Savior.

[15:26] Jesus says to Peter, when you return to me, Satan can only go as far as Jesus allows. And so we sing, though I fear my faith will fail.

[15:38] Christ will hold me fast. Satan might be prowling around like a roaring lion, but Jesus will not lose any of those that the Father has given to him.

[15:51] Again, the mistake we sometimes make here is to pull the not yet into the now, and we think the battle is over, and we wander out onto the battlefield in our pajamas, totally unprepared, not realizing that this is a battle, this is spiritual warfare.

[16:07] We have to take up the armor of God. But we do that knowing that Jesus has had the decisive victory on the cross, and one day, every knee shall bow, and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord.

[16:27] Not everybody will be happy about that, but that will be undeniable. And so on the cross, Jesus has had this great victory, as one author puts it, on the cross, as in a magnificent chariot, Jesus triumphed over his enemies and ours.

[16:46] So the cross is this great victory over sin and death and Satan. It brings about real, significant, substantial change in the here, and now. It means we're forgiven. It means we're alive. It means we can fight, and yet we're not there yet.

[17:01] We're not perfected yet. Not every knee is bowing. Not every tongue is confessing that Jesus is Lord. So the cross is a great victory.

[17:13] Let's think secondly about how the cross is the way of victory. We'll turn back to Philippians, chapter 2, as we dwell on this.

[17:23] We've been thinking about lots of different aspects of the cross over the last number of weeks.

[17:34] Just as we think about Philippians, chapter 2, we're considering the way in which Jesus won. The way in which Jesus won. The way of victory. And in these verses, they are rich.

[17:48] essentially, what they boil down to is that Jesus emptied himself and Jesus humbled himself. He emptied himself and he humbled himself.

[18:01] So the way Jesus won is by emptying himself. We see this in verse 7 where it says, he made himself nothing. He made himself nothing.

[18:12] That's translating a phrase that could literally be translated as he emptied himself. Now, the translation that we have is wonderful because it's drawing attention to just how great this move of Jesus was from the heavenly realms down to taking on human nature and taking the form of a servant.

[18:42] But of course, he wasn't literally nothing. He wasn't literally nothing. So what does it mean that he emptied himself? Well, he emptied himself by not grasping godness.

[18:59] He emptied himself by not grasping godness. In verse 6, being in very nature God, he did not consider equality something to be used to his own advantage or something to be grasped.

[19:12] So Jesus was in very nature God. He was God the Son. And what that means is that he had equality with God.

[19:26] Verse 6. He had equality with God just like the Father, all-powerful, all-knowing, all-present. But he didn't consider this something to be clung on to or grasped.

[19:43] So it's not that Jesus didn't have these things and he was trying to be like God. He wanted to grasp after those things. No, he emptied himself by not grasping on to his godness.

[19:57] So it's not that he becomes less God or less than God. He continues to be God.

[20:08] But he doesn't use his divine attributes in a self-serving, self-seeking, self-glorifying way.

[20:19] And that is what it means when he emptied him, when it says he emptied himself. And you can see this, can't you, in the Gospels when Jesus is walking on this earth.

[20:31] The temptation that Satan comes to Jesus with is turn these stones into bread and eat. And you're thinking Jesus is the Son of God.

[20:44] He has every right to turn stones into bread. Why should the Son of God go hungry? He has every right to do it and every power to do it.

[20:58] But he doesn't do it because he has emptied himself of using or he has emptied himself so he doesn't use his power for his own service.

[21:15] It's amazing later on in the Gospel Jesus turns a few little loaves of bread and fish into enough food to feed thousands of people.

[21:26] Now he uses his power to feed people but he didn't use it to feed himself. He emptied himself. He didn't use his power to his own advantage.

[21:46] He didn't use his power to save himself. He didn't use his godness to save himself so Peter in that moment when Judas comes with all the soldiers to arrest Jesus Peter comes out with a sword and cuts off the soldier's ear and Jesus says Peter I could call down legions of angels in an instant in a flash but he doesn't.

[22:17] he has emptied himself in the sense that he does not use his power his godness to save himself. He doesn't even use his power to come down from the cross.

[22:31] They say to him they shout up at him come down from the cross you've saved others you can't save yourself but he doesn't come down from the cross because this is in keeping with the character of our saviour Jesus all the way through his life.

[22:51] He empties himself he won't use his power to serve himself to save himself to glorify himself instead he serves the father he seeks the father he glorifies the father and he also empties himself by taking on human form we see that in verse 7 that he was made in human likeness and when Paul uses the phrase human likeness he's not saying he was nearly human he's kind of like a human as John Piper points out and what Paul is doing there is just being careful to say that he was fully human but not sinful so that's the likeness phrase is that he's distancing us from the idea that Jesus was sinfully human but he was fully human so he empties himself by taking on human form and he empties himself by taking the form of a servant he could have been born into a palace he could have been born into great riches and glory and honor but he takes the form of a servant verse seven the very nature of a servant it's amazing to dwell on this mindset of

[24:15] Jesus so what Paul is doing in this bit of Philippians is he's giving us the mind of Christ so that we might follow Jesus example and you'll see back in verse three that what Paul is calling on the Philippians to do is to do nothing out of selfish ambition or conceit rather in humility value others above yourselves now if Paul is calling on the church in Philippi to do this to value others above yourselves and he's using Jesus as the example of what that looks like then I think we can go so far as to say that Jesus in taking on the form of a servant was valuing others above himself and it doesn't mean that we were greater than Jesus but that is how he valued his people that he would reckon them count them as being more valuable than himself and you see that in his ministry he doesn't walk around thinking I'm the son of

[25:25] God you need to serve me he serves his followers he washes their feet he has time for a religious leader who comes to him at night in John chapter 3 he has time for the woman at the well in John chapter 4 and the disciples are bemused Jesus has time for a little girl and her parents the girl has passed away and Jesus goes through all the hustle and bustle of the crowd to get to one little girl he has time for a man on the other side of a lake who is possessed by demons and he travels the whole way across the lake for this one man and then he travels the whole way back again he has time for a man who is up a tree Zacchaeus he has time for people who cannot see who cannot hear who cannot walk time and time again you see that Jesus values people and he values them more than himself he pours himself out as he takes the form of a servant he empties himself he empties himself in not grasping onto godness he empties himself in taking on human nature he empties himself in taking on the form of a servant and he humbles himself in verse 8 it says he humbles himself by becoming obedient to death even death on a cross it's an amazing thought that Jesus in his humanity learned and grew in obedience to the father and what is being said here is not that he was ever disobedient but that as he faced each stage of life and the growing suffering that went with it and the opposition and the persecution and the accusations and the doubt and the criticism people said he was out of his mind even to the point of dying on a cross

[27:45] Jesus continued to be obedient to the father he grew and grew and grew in obedience to the father never disobedient but this growing pattern of obedience all the way through you think of when you blow up a balloon and you put three breaths of air into it and the balloon is full but then you can keep blowing it up so it gets bigger and bigger and it grows Jesus obedience it was always full but it grows and grows as he continues to face increasing suffering so that we can say with one author that Christ defeated the power of sin once for all by exercising perfect obedience to God in the most extreme sorrow and you realize that what Jesus has done in humbling himself by becoming obedient to the point of death even death and across what he has done is not what we would do and it's not what

[28:55] Adam and Eve did our first parents Adam and Eve grasped after godness they wanted to be like God even though they weren't God Jesus doesn't grasp after godness even though he is God and has every right to use his power for himself Adam and Eve and we as well exalt ourselves Jesus humbled himself Jesus humbled himself by obeying God and lived for him he forged a new righteous humanity in the fiery furnace of human rejection satanic temptation and divine wrath and you realize that this is the way that Jesus secures the victory by humbling himself by emptying himself by emptying himself and so

[29:57] Jesus has this great and decisive victory on the cross over sin over death over Satan and he has this victory for us the way in which he does it is by emptying himself and by humbling himself and so God has rightly exalted Jesus isn't Jesus great one day every knee will bow every tongue will confess some will do that gladly some that will have been the pattern of their lives all the way along from the moment they believed some will do it sadly they won't want to acknowledge that Jesus is Lord but they won't be able to deny it this is why we sing in one of our hymns on that day there will be a shout of joy and at the same time a cry of anguish as people recognize that Jesus is Lord

[31:01] God has rightly exalted him and one day every knee will bow one day there will be no more sadness or sickness or suffering one day there will be no more sin there will be no Satan in the new heavens in the new earth but we're not there yet we're still on the journey you and I are still on this journey between D-Day and V-Day the day of victory and the question for us is what is the journey going to be like how are we ever going to win how are we going to win well we're going to win because Christ has won and because he who began a good work in us will bring it to completion but how are we going to win the way in which we will win is the way in which Christ won which means emptying ourselves and it means humbling ourselves and it means doing that even in the face of suffering because it's in the face of suffering isn't it that we are most tempted to exalt ourselves and to think much of ourselves it is when we suffer that we cry out for what we deserve and what

[32:24] God owes us but Paul calls us in verse 3 to follow this pattern of Christ and when he does that he's not calling dead people to do things that they cannot do he's calling people who have been made alive in Christ to follow the example of their savior to follow their savior maybe you've heard me mention to you before Michael Green so Michael and Rosemary Green Michael has written more than 50 books which is more than I read in decades he's written more than 50 books New Testament scholar he's ordained in I think the Church of England I'm not sure such a godly man so many credentials if you want to put it like that I remember being at a conference with Michael and Rosemary Green before and after each meal if I was

[33:26] Michael Green I'd be sitting around drinking coffee eating my cheesecake thinking I've worked hard today it's right for me to sit and to relax and to chill out and let other people do the work but every single meal time Michael and Rosemary who at the time were into their 80s were to be found in the kitchen washing up and every single time we would say to them you don't need to be doing this but they kept doing it they kept doing it and they didn't sing their own praises they didn't make a big song and dance about it they just loved serving people and the reason they loved it the reason they loved emptying themselves and humbling themselves like this was because they had a saviour who emptied himself and humbled himself and because they knew that this is how they were going to share in Christ's victory over sin and death and Satan and so what would it look like in our marriages what would it look like in our friendships what would it look like in our church family in our conversations in our work in our school what would it look like for us to empty ourselves and humble ourselves well what it would look like is victory it would look like winning as Christ has secured that victory for us

[35:04]  Jesus is great Jesus is wonderful Jesus is exalted to the highest place and it is him that we serve gladly let's ask God to help us to do that in the days ahead father we delight in Jesus we rejoice in Jesus we gladly bow before him this morning lord you have rightly exalted him that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow and we acknowledge that he is lord and father we see how he lived his life he humbled himself he emptied himself he did that so that he would have the victory over sin and death and Satan for us and so lord may we enjoy the victory he has won for us may we live in light of it humbling ourselves emptying ourselves considering others of more value than ourselves and may we share the joy of the victory with our saviour amen we want to sing