The Exaltation Of Jesus

[0:00] The following sermon is made available by Lakeside Bible Church in Cornelius, North Carolina.

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[0:39] I want to begin this morning with a question before we get to our scripture reading. The question is, who is your Lord?

[0:51] To who or what have you formally, as far as a demonstration of commitment, or practically in just the way that you live your life and the way that you allow your mind to be influenced, to whom or to what have you sworn your allegiance?

[1:11] Who's your Lord? We all have one. It's the person or thing or idea by which we govern our thoughts and actions.

[1:22] It's the instruction by which we have developed and created our worldview and our outlook on life. It's the thing ultimately that we have determined to obey and to follow above every other thing.

[1:41] It may not always be at the forefront of our minds, but its influence has permeated our hearts and it's permeated our beliefs and our behavior.

[1:53] And there's a number of different answers that we could give to this question depending on the person and what they have chosen to do as far as their life is concerned. For some, this answer may be science.

[2:05] When they consider who is their God, who is their Lord, who have they sworn their allegiance to, science for many people could be that answer. They base their worldview solely on what they see in the physical world and they disregard notions of the supernatural or things that are unexplainable according to their scientific process.

[2:30] And so when it comes to determining who is it ultimately that they have given authority in their life, they would say, well, honestly, my Lord would be science. If I can see it and understand it in the physical world with human reason and rationale, then I would choose to follow that thing.

[2:47] For many people, it's religion. And it's the religion that they've chosen to ascribe to. For instance, a Muslim would say perhaps that Muhammad is their Lord.

[2:58] And the instruction by which they would follow in governing their life and governing their belief system would be the Koran. For a Mormon, perhaps they would say that their Lord would be Joseph Smith.

[3:13] And the instruction by which they're going to develop their worldview would come through the Book of Mormon. Obviously, for Christians, we would say our Lord is Jesus Christ. And the instruction by which we pattern our lives and our behavior.

[3:27] We submit ourselves to the authority of the Bible. So for some people, it would be science. Some people, it would be the particular religion that they have ascribed to. And those who have ascribed to a specific religion would basically say, the leader of my religion is my Lord.

[3:44] I follow that individual or that philosophy. I think for most people, the answer to this question is actually self. Even though they may be influenced by religion to an extent, and even though they may have the influence of the physical realm and of scientific process to an extent, ultimately, many people have decided that they are the purveyor of truth.

[4:12] They are fundamentally relativist. That they may take a little bit from here and a little bit from there and a little bit from this religion, and they have developed this amalgamation of truth that they have determined, this is the truth that I'm going to live by.

[4:28] This is what is truth to me. And that may be different for another person, but for me, this is what truth is. And therefore, the main authority in my life, the Lord in my life is myself.

[4:41] I determine what's true for me, and I will follow my truth. You determine what's true for you, and you follow your truth. We all have a singular Lord.

[4:53] In fact, it's impossible to have more than one. There are no double agents when it comes to lordship in our lives. In fact, Jesus taught this specifically. In Matthew chapter 6, he said, No man can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other.

[5:14] And the people that would attempt to follow more than one Lord really are just following the Lord of self. They have determined what would be truth for their life.

[5:25] Now, all of this may seem trivial and non-essential, but it's really not. The truth is, to who or what you have determined to follow as the Lord of your life has eternal consequences.

[5:40] And the ramification of it goes much further than just your physical life on this earth. It actually reaches into the realm of the life that comes beyond this life. As a Christian, I believe that Jesus Christ is the true Lord of all, and that eternal blessings come in God's presence for all that will follow him in faith.

[6:03] But the immediate question to that becomes, how can you know for sure that Jesus is the one? How can you be so confident that he's the one that we must follow and not Muhammad or Buddha or science or my own kind of version of what all of those things could possibly point to?

[6:27] How is it that you can actually know for sure that Jesus is the one? And that is an absolutely valid and important question to ask. It's one that we all must ask. Why do we believe what we believe?

[6:40] Why do we ascribe to Christianity? Is it just because this is the way that we have been raised and this is just the climate of the culture in which we live in the southern United States?

[6:51] Or has there come a point where we have truly understand that Jesus is Lord and we have chosen willingly to follow him as Lord?

[7:02] I wanna take a few moments this morning and explain how we can know that Jesus is the one and how that should affect our thoughts and our behavior as Christians.

[7:16] Let's read this passage together in Philippians chapter two. We're gonna focus in on verses nine through 11, but to keep it all together in our study from the last few weeks, let's start at verse one.

[7:28] If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the spirit, any bowels and mercies, fulfill ye my joy that you be like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.

[7:46] Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory, but in lowliness of mind, let each esteem others better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.

[8:00] And then he says, let this mind, this humble mind, this mutual submissive mind, this unifying mind, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men.

[8:27] And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him and given him a name, which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

[8:59] In verses one through four, Paul has given an instruction to the believers in Philippi to live in humility and to pursue unity within the church.

[9:10] And his primary intention in verses five through eight that we just read was to present Jesus Christ as the supreme example of that humility.

[9:21] That same humble mind that will lead us to unify together underneath the gospel as a church is the same mind, humble mind that was demonstrated in Christ Jesus as he left the throne of heaven to become a man in order to provide salvation.

[9:39] And in the process of demonstrating Jesus as the supreme example of the humble spirit that we should have, he ends up writing for us through the power of the Holy Spirit one of the most helpful and concise doctrines of the person and work of Jesus Christ that you'll find anywhere in the Bible.

[10:00] This passage of scripture is so significant even as we mentioned last Sunday that some believe that the early church actually sung these verses together as a hymn in their worship services.

[10:13] It was so helpful to understand who Jesus is in these terms and these verses all center on the fact of his identity, who Jesus is.

[10:24] And last week we talked about three of four facets of Jesus' identity that Paul gives us here in these verses. In verse number six we saw that Jesus is the sovereign God.

[10:37] He's the sovereign God. Look at it with me again. Verse six, Jesus who being in the form of God thought it not robbery to be equal with God. Now that word form is important for our understanding here.

[10:50] It is a reference to the very essence of a person's nature. It is what makes you you. When Paul says in verse six that Jesus was in the form of God, he's saying that Jesus in his very essence in the very nature of who he is is God.

[11:06] He is deity. He is divine. That's who he is. It's rigid. It's inflexible. It's who he's always been from eternity past and who he always will be in eternity future. Jesus is God.

[11:17] So the first thing that we see in this identity of Jesus is we see that he is the sovereign God. Verse number seven we see then that Jesus is the humble servant.

[11:28] Look with me again there. He made himself of no reputation, humility, and took upon him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men.

[11:43] There's that word again, form. And again, it's important for us. Paul uses the same word for Jesus' nature as a human being in verse seven as he uses for Jesus' nature as God in verse six.

[12:01] At the same time, simultaneously, Jesus Christ is God and man to the fullest extent. That is who he is in his very essence of his nature.

[12:12] Jesus is the God-man. He is God that has become a man for a specific purpose. And in that, we see the demonstration of his humility. For God to do anything that would be different than his eternal nature would mean that he would have to descend.

[12:31] And so, for God to take on human flesh, even though he was perfect, to take on human flesh meant that he condescended to mankind. It was the demonstration of his humility.

[12:43] He's the humble servant. And then in verse eight, we see that Jesus is the sufficient savior. Look with me there. Being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself.

[12:57] That was his initiative. No one humbled him. He humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

[13:08] Well, what was the purpose of that? We talked about this word that the Bible uses last week, propitiation. It's an important word. It means to satisfy or to appease.

[13:22] Because of our sin, our sinful nature, what we deserve, what we are up against as humans is the wrath of God.

[13:34] And the Bible says that the only way for that wrath to be appeased on our part is through an eternity separated from him in a physical, real place called hell.

[13:47] So God takes on human flesh and he becomes a man in perfection because he is not sinful and he cannot sin.

[13:58] And he goes to the cross and suffers a criminal's death on our behalf. that word propitiation is important because as we sung about just a moment ago, when God looks at his son, Jesus Christ, his wrath is appeased through his sacrifice for all that will come to him in faith.

[14:19] What a glorious truth that is for us. Without that truth, we actually have no hope. Our hope and our destiny is death and it's hell. But because of Jesus' willingness to leave the throne of heaven, to condescend to man for the specific purpose of dying our death, the wrath of God has been satisfied.

[14:40] It has been appeased so that when Satan does tempt us to despair and he is bringing up as our judge or as our accuser is what the Bible calls him. He accuses us to the Father.

[14:51] We don't know what they've done and here's the list of sins that they've committed against you. For those of us that believe Christ, when God hears that accusation, it's not our sin that he looks at, it's the satisfaction in Jesus' Christ, a crucifixion that he sees and he then looks at us and sees a complete pardon for that.

[15:11] It's a glorious truth but it's incomplete because Paul has one more facet of this identity that he needs to deal with and he does it in verses 9-11.

[15:23] When he does this, he basically leaves off now the illustration of humility and he's just solely focused on the person of Jesus Christ. These verses essentially burst into a moment of praise and bring a perfect conclusion to Paul's teaching of who Jesus is.

[15:45] In these verses we see that Jesus is the exalted Lord. He's the exalted Lord and there's four notes about this exaltation of Jesus' Lordship that I want us to make today.

[15:59] If you're keeping notes in your scripture journals or otherwise, you can write this one down first. Write down the revelation of his exaltation. The revelation of his exaltation.

[16:10] Look with me again at verse 9. Paul writes, Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him. Hath highly exalted him.

[16:23] Now verses 6-8 effectively introduce us to the gospel of Jesus. That word gospel literally means good news. It's a biblical term. It's used over and over in the New Testament in reference to what Jesus has done for us.

[16:37] That's its literal translation is good news. Now in this day and age or in that day and age as far as when the Bible was written, this term carried a picture with it.

[16:48] It pictured a herald going from city to city and proclaiming victory for his particular nation or his king in some battle. And you can picture in your mind the custom of the day.

[17:00] They didn't have social media where when they won a particular battle somewhere they could just post it on Facebook or Instagram and everybody would know and they could just rejoice in their house. There was no TV to demonstrate and to show us exactly what has happened on this battlefield.

[17:13] There would be a herald that after the battle was won would go from city to city and they would go into the town center and they would cry out the good news that we won the battle or this is what has happened.

[17:25] And so it's a celebratory term. As this would happen there would be celebration and rejoicing in these towns and in these cities as they rejoiced in the victory that had been won.

[17:37] So when we talk about the gospel of Jesus we're celebrating the good news that Jesus has conquered sin and death on our behalf.

[17:47] The gospel is our celebration of the good news that Jesus has conquered sin and death on our behalf. The term comes from the same word that we get the word evangelize.

[18:01] And again that's a reminder of what we're to do as Christians. We're to tell others this good news that they can be saved from God's wrath through the work of Jesus Christ.

[18:14] But the gospel is not good news if it ends with the death of Jesus. If the gospel is just summarized in Jesus living a perfect life and then dying a criminal's death the gospel is not good news.

[18:34] In fact if that's all that there was to the gospel there'd be no reason for us to know it. There'd be no particular reason for us to regard Jesus at all. In fact most of us probably would have never even heard of Jesus.

[18:47] There's no telling how many people through time had lived good lives and were considered by their constituents to be good moral teachers even. Maybe even prophets who went through a process of being falsely accused and even maybe imprisoned and then executed and we actually have never even heard about it.

[19:06] there's a reason we've heard of Jesus's and the reason is because of these other two crucial components to the gospel message.

[19:18] That is that Jesus rose from the dead and he ascended back to heaven. These two components are not explicitly stated in this text that we're studying today but they are implicit to Paul's statement of Jesus's exaltation.

[19:38] Without the resurrection there would be no gospel and we would have no hope. In fact it was the death and resurrection of Jesus that the apostles in the book of Acts were tasked with being witnesses of.

[19:55] That's what an apostle is. It means a sent one. There's not apostles today. There was only a limited amount of apostles. It was people that were specific witnesses to the life the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ was his disciples plus the apostle Paul.

[20:12] What they were to be witnesses of was the identity of who Jesus really was because they saw it. They witnessed it. They witnessed his life. They witnessed his death.

[20:23] They witnessed his resurrection. They witnessed the living Christ beyond his death. In fact in Acts chapter 2 Peter was preaching and here's what he preached to the Jews. He said ye men of Israel hear these words.

[20:36] Jesus of Nazareth a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs which God did by him in the midst of you as ye yourselves also know.

[20:49] He being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God ye have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain. And then he says whom God hath raised up having loosed the pains of death because it was not possible that he should be holden to it.

[21:08] This Jesus hath God raised up Peter said whereof we all are witnesses. That is he and the other apostles and the others who had witnessed the resurrection. Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made this same Jesus whom you crucified both Lord and Christ.

[21:30] What makes Jesus significant to the apostles and to the New Testament? What makes his death any different than anybody else's death? What makes his life any different than anybody else's life? It comes down to the fact that he didn't stay dead.

[21:44] He did something that no other person in all of history has ever done. He rose from the dead. Of his own power he rose from the dead. And these apostles then became witnesses of that.

[21:56] And Peter as he preaches he says you crucified him. You saw the power that he had. You put him to death. You witnessed his death and we have witnessed his life. And all those who follow him will be saved becomes the message.

[22:14] But then Peter says something interesting. This God that God had made this same Jesus who you crucified what? Lord. He's made him Lord.

[22:25] God. The gospel itself is defined as the death and resurrection of Christ. In 1 Corinthians chapter 15 Paul writes I have declared unto you the gospel how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures and that he was buried and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures.

[22:48] And then Paul says and then he was seen of Peter then of the twelve apostles apostles and after that he was seen of above 500 people at one time of whom the greater part at least at the time that he wrote this letter to the Corinthian church the greater part of those people were still living and could testify of this.

[23:07] After that Paul says he was seen of James then of the apostles and last of all he was seen of me Paul then became a witness of the resurrected Christ. the truth is if Jesus didn't rise from the dead all of this would be absolutely pointless.

[23:25] Our purpose in gathering today would be absolutely pointless. The unique bond that we have in the gospel though we are all very different in who we are would not exist.

[23:42] It's the resurrection that brings it all together. Paul in 1 Corinthians 15 reemphasizes that. He says if Christ be not risen then our preaching is vain and your faith is vain.

[23:58] And if Christ be not raised your faith is vain and ye are yet in your sins. And they all which are dead in Christ are perished. And he says if this life only we have hope in Christ we are of all men most miserable.

[24:14] So how then can we stay and know that Jesus is the true Savior and the Lord of all? And the fundamental answer is found in his victorious resurrection from the dead.

[24:27] How do we know that Jesus is the one? Why do we follow him in faith? Why do we worship on Sunday morning? Why do we say that we're Christians? Not because this is the way that we're raised but because we have come to a point to acknowledge that Jesus is the Christ and that not only did he die for my sins but he was risen from the dead.

[24:46] His resurrection is what makes all the difference. The Bible is not a collection of fairy tales that some people would believe it to be. They're real historical letters, real historical books, real people wrote them and they didn't write them to be mythological.

[25:03] They recorded real events that really happened. So a Christian comes to Christ believing that Jesus Christ is actually who he said he was, that he is God, that he is the Savior and that he really did rise from the dead.

[25:16] That's what makes all the difference for us. The resurrection. That's why we know he's the one. But we can't forget about his ascension. Jack read about it just a minute ago in Acts chapter one.

[25:30] After Christ's resurrection in the span of 40 days he appeared to many many people and then he visibly ascended back into heaven. Acts chapter one.

[25:42] When he had spoken these things while they beheld he was taken up and a cloud received them out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as he went up behold two men stood by them which also said ye men of Galilee why stand ye gazing into heaven?

[25:58] This same Jesus which is taken up from you shall so come in like manner. There's a promise there. What does that matter? He was ascended back to his place of lordship of glory.

[26:17] This condescension that he made in verses five through eight has now been put back right and he's ascended back to heaven after accomplishing the task. It's what makes him lord.

[26:27] It's the demonstration of his exaltation. The revelation of it. It's been revealed. And how has God revealed that Jesus is lord? Through his resurrection and his ascension.

[26:40] It's the manifestation of it. So we see the revelation of it. It's implicit in this text. His resurrection and ascension. Number two, we see the designation of his exaltation. The designation of his exaltation.

[26:54] Look with me at verse nine. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name.

[27:05] Not only has God revealed Jesus' exaltation through the resurrection and ascension, but he's expressed this exaltation by giving him a name that's above every other name.

[27:20] Now this designation is not the name Jesus. That's just his earthly name. It's the name that he was given by Mary and Joseph.

[27:31] It's the name by which he was known as he walked the earth. The designation that is above every other name is in verse 11. Look at it at the beginning.

[27:43] Every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is what? Lord. The designation of his lordship is not in the term Jesus. Lots of people have been named Jesus.

[27:55] The designation of his lordship is in Lord. That's how God has chosen to name him. Every knee doesn't bow before the term Jesus.

[28:06] Every knee bows before the term Lord. There's no significance to confessing the term Jesus but there is great significance in confessing someone as Lord.

[28:18] The term itself means supreme in authority. So when Paul says that God has exalted him and given him a name which is above every name that that name is Lord. He says Jesus Christ is the supreme authority.

[28:30] So we go back to our question at the beginning of the message. Who's your Lord? Who's your supreme authority? The one that you have chosen to follow in your way of belief and behavior.

[28:40] If it's not Jesus Christ he's the true Lord. If that's not the answer for your life then you cannot be saved. That's the point of the scriptures.

[28:53] The revelation through the resurrection and ascension is God saying this is Lord. This man is the supreme authority.

[29:03] This is God. Follow him. Obey him. Now God did not bestow upon Jesus a name that he did not already possess. His lordship wasn't given to him after his resurrection and ascension.

[29:19] His lordship and his exaltation has always existed. Look with me at verse six. This is before you ever get to the exaltation. Who being in the form of God.

[29:30] We've already talked about that. What does that mean? Jesus is God. He existed from before the foundations of the world. He is God. He is equal to God in verse six.

[29:42] It gets no higher than that. So it's not that in verses nine through eleven God is giving him something that he did not already possess. It's not that he gained something that wasn't previously his but what was already his in essence God clearly demonstrated to us in his resurrection and ascension.

[30:03] He's always been Lord but when he rose from the dead and he ascended into heaven it was God's way of saying here's how you can know this is him. It wasn't that he then became Lord it's that God said let me show you why he's Lord raised from the dead ascended to heaven he is Lord remember what Jesus prayed in John 17 he prayed to the father he said now father glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed he has always been the glorious Lord now verse 10 is a quotation of Isaiah chapter 45 and verse 23 let me read it to you I'm going to start reading it verse 22 actually write down that reference so you can refer to it make sure I'm not lying to you Isaiah chapter 45 verses 22 and 23 here's what Isaiah prophesied hundreds of years before Jesus ever came he says turn to me and be saved all the ends of the earth for I am

[31:04] God and there is no other by myself I have shall not return verse 23 to me God says every knee shall bow and every tongue shall swear allegiance to God he says that through the prophet Isaiah Paul quotes this verse now in verse number 10 he quotes Isaiah 45 23 except he applies it to Jesus the designation of Jesus as Lord is really just the affirmation once again that Jesus is actually God he is the Yahweh!

[31:43] that was spoken of in Isaiah 45 23 he is the same God that said through Isaiah every knee will bow to me every tongue will swear allegiance and then in the New Testament in Philippians 2 Paul now says this same quotation this same God this is Jesus at the name of Jesus every knee will bow and every tongue will confess!

[32:05] He is Lord every tongue! will confess allegiance to him that's the designation of his exaltation we see the revelation the designation thirdly we see the scope of his exaltation the scope of his exaltation or of his lordship let's look at verse 10 more closely that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of things in heaven of things in earth and of things under the earth if Jesus is Lord then over whom does he rule what is the extent of his reign does it only extend to those who believe him and actually follow him or is there something more to this rule and the answer is according to the Bible he is the ruler of all he rules over everything not everyone follows his lordship not everyone obeys him as

[33:08] Lord but there is coming a day the Bible says that every single person will bow before Jesus and will confess him as Lord there's three areas in verse 10 that Paul says are included in the scope of Christ rule the first term that he says is of things in heaven those are heavenly beings those are the angels those in heaven now that worship the Lord he is the Lord of heaven the ruler of heaven the second realm is of things in earth in verse 10 that's humankind!

[33:52] he's the ruler of all then there's a third scope things under the earth we believe this to be the demonic presence of things in hell Jesus is not just the Lord of heaven and the Lord of earth he's the Lord of hell they will bow before him too no one will be excluded from his reign no one will ultimately be excluded from bowing before him and confessing him as Lord those who have followed Christ in faith during their life will joyfully make this confession in heaven those who reject Christ's lordship during this life will ultimately make this confession in hell I love how Kent Hughes wrote about this here's what he said soon every tongue and every rational being in all creation will confess that

[34:56] Jesus Messiah is Yahweh every believing heart will cry it at the top of its lungs in voice and song and we with the angels will do it over and over for all of eternity every unbelieving heart he says will confess it too in dismal submission and despair even Satan will do it his knee and his tongue will not be excluded every fallen spirit will do it legion upon legion will do it Caiaphas who was the high priest who condemned Jesus to Jesus to be crucified will confess that Jesus Messiah is Yahweh Herod will do it Pilate will do it Nero will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord Hitler will do it Stalin will do it every soul from every age will confess that Jesus Messiah is Yahweh no person no being will be excluded from the reign of Christ he is Lord of all he has all power and he rules all and one day every being will bow before him as

[36:04] Lord how can you ensure that your confession on that day will be met with joy instead of despair every knee bowing and every tongue confessing is not just a prophecy of what will come one day it's actually the means through which a person receives salvation you bow before Christ confess him as Lord let me explain Romans chapter 10 if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead you will be saved not if you will just hang in there do as good as you can be the best person you can that's not what gets you salvation it's not if you give enough money it's not if you go to church enough times it's not if you live this type of moral life it's not if you help enough people it's not any of that it's if you confess!

[37:19] that Jesus is Lord believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead you will be saved for with the heart Paul goes on to say one believes and is justified proclaimed as a pure and sinless forgiven and with the mouth one confesses and is saved for the scripture says everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame for there is no distinction between Jew and Greek for the same Lord is Lord of all bestowing his riches on all who call on him for everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved every knee bowing every tongue confessing is not just a prophecy of what's going to happen one day it's actually the means through which you demonstrate saving faith now you bow before Christ and confess him as Lord that's salvation remember it's impossible to have two

[38:23] Lords in your life a foundational element to confessing Christ as Lord is denying everything else as Lord we call this repentance and it was at the heart of Jesus teaching in the gospel to follow him means that you stop following everything and everyone else it means that you now align your beliefs and behavior under the scope of his authority and not your own he's either Lord of all or he's not Lord at all in your life God this doesn't mean that we live in sinless perfection once we're saved the Bible clearly teaches that that's not the case what it means is that the posture of our heart is one that continually repents of our own way and seeks to please our

[39:27] Lord and Savior the one that we have confessed! as Lord a person that professes to be a Christian willingly rejects the teaching of Christ and his word is no Christian at all they may identify with Christianity in a religious sense but unless they've repented of their sin trusted Christ in faith and followed him they are not a true Christian you can't be a true follower of Christ and vehemently deny the Lordship of Christ in your life and of his word it's a reminder to us as believers even that after salvation it's our duty to continually submit to the Lordship of Christ and to the will of

[40:28] God following Christ means that we submit to his desires even when we prefer to have it another way and there's a huge scope to that we had a conversation earlier this week about celebrities that will present themselves in one way as believers and identify with Christianity but make a statement that says I'm a Christian but I don't agree with the Bible on this thing whatever that thing is Lordship is being willing to notice that I wish this was different in my flesh but Jesus is Lord and I will follow him as Lord despite whatever it is that I want to be different about him and his church or anything else we think about this in the scope of grief how many times have you and

[41:30] I or someone we know gone through a period of mourning and grief maybe through illness or through death and the response to Christ has been one of anger and it's been one of frustration why would you do this to me God why would you take this person from me why would you give me this thing lordship is coming to a moment like that saying I wish this was different I don't want to lose this person I don't want to have this cancer I don't want to lose my job but I will submit to what it is that God has for me he is my Lord and I will trust him even in this moment I will trust him so even beyond our confession at salvation this is a daily struggle for us because we must continually rely on and confess and repent of our own way and trust Christ trust him he's

[42:33] Lord he's Lord trust him don't capitulate to our culture that wants to hold Jesus hand on one side but not let go of their sin on the other side and by the way there is a way that we can love people and stand firm on God's truth it is possible you can do it Jesus was the example of it Jesus didn't tell the woman at the well that her sin was okay he condemned the sin but he loved her and she understood that love the woman caught in adultery that the men threw before Jesus and demanded that he condemn he didn't say that her adultery was okay but he loves her we can do that too Christian you don't have to capitulate to the beliefs of this world in order to love them you don't have to do that the distinguishing difference between a

[43:35] Christian and a non Christian is their willingness to submit to the lordship of Christ and his word even when they personally wish it was different fourthly we see the purpose of his exaltation the purpose of it look at verse 11 again every tongue should confess that Jesus is lord to what purpose the glory of god the father why is all of this important why do we care for god's glory that's why each one of us exists today because of the will of god he created each of you and he created you with a specific purpose and that purpose is his glory that's why you were created that's why you exist to bring god glory revelation chapter 4 and verse 11 says thou art worthy oh lord to receive glory and honor and power for thou has created all things and for thy pleasure they are and were created that's our purpose to bring him glory problem is it's impossible for us to do that we cannot bring god the glory that he created us to give him and the reason is our own sin

[45:04] Adam and Eve brought god glory until they sinned and then it wasn't possible anymore why did god condescend in verse six and seven to become a man why in that humiliation was he willing to go to the lengths of death even a criminal's death on the cross why did he raise from the dead and ascend into heaven and then go to such great lengths to provide us with the scriptures that actually tells us about it why glory for his glory and his glory is achieved when the people that he has created follow him as lord you can't be good enough to give him glory he gets glory through his righteousness and when we come to him in faith we then have the possibility of declaring the glory of

[46:08] God not through our doing but through what Christ has done for us so in this moment of praise at the end of this passage Paul says all of this is for God's glory everyone has a lord and the bible teaches that Jesus is the true lord and it's proven in the fact of his resurrection and his ascension into heaven that's what makes him different and it's what makes him eternally significant and I want to ask this morning because I'd be foolish not to what's keeping you from confessing him as lord what is it that you're holding on to either in unbelief or in willful rejection that's worth turning away so great a salvation after all he has done for you and he says if you will just follow me believe me turn from the other things and follow me as lord you will be saved what is it that's worth giving up that salvation in this temporary life that's going to come to an end for every one of us

[47:47] Christian what a glorious truth we can rejoice in in this passage church when we consider what god has done for us and we're reminded that even beyond salvation we must follow him as lord the way we live we go to church because we follow him as lord we deny sinful habits in our life as christians because we follow him as lord we tell others about the gospel because we follow him as lord we give because we follow him as lord we do everything we do it because we follow him as lord so are you following him is your life a proper representation of the rule of christ in your heart thank you for listening to this sermon made available by lakeside bible church feel free to share it wherever you like please do not charge for it or alter it in any way without express written consent from lakeside bible church don't forget to visit us online at lakeside bible church or find us on facebook and instagram by searching for lakeside bible nc if you live in the!

[49:06] or lake norman area we'd love for you to attend one of our worship services we meet every Sunday morning at 10 a.m. in the gym at cornelius elementary school we'd love to meet you and to time!