In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the importance of focusing on the incomparable Christ and having a Christ-centered theology. He shares his personal journey of humbling and recognizing his own failures, which led him to trust in God. The preacher highlights the Apostle Paul's revelation of Jesus Christ and how it became his burning passion. He also references the Apostle John's affirmation of the divinity of Jesus as the Word made flesh.

Hello, this is Brother Denny. Welcome to Charity Ministries. Our desire is that your life would be blessed and changed by this message. This message is not copyrighted and is not to be bought or sold. You are welcome to make copies for your friends and neighbors. If you would like additional messages, please go to our website for a complete listing at www.charityministries.org. If you would like a catalog of other sermons, please call 1-800-227-7902 or write to Charity Ministries, 400 West Main Street, Suite 1, EFRA PA 17522. These messages are offered to all without charge by the free will offerings of God's people. A special thank you to all who support this ministry. Well, once again, thank you for that singing. Isn't that sweet? Get all these men together, serious men, all singing with all their hearts unto the Lord. It's overwhelming, it really is. Well, I greet you this morning in Jesus Christ's precious name. I know that I can't explain to you how I feel this morning. I can't explain the burden, the responsibility that comes upon you when you are called to stand in this place with all of you men. I don't know if I can explain it. It makes my heart to tremble on the inside, but we look to the Lord. We look away from ourselves and we look unto the exalted Christ, who ever liveth to make intercession for us. And that's how we sit here today and that's how I stand here today, only that way. Well, I'm notorious for changing my titles and so I'm doing that again this morning. Sorry, Tate Ministry, but I told Brother Jason this morning that it's one thing to sit around the table and throw titles around, you know, which is what we did about two months ago and gave me my title. But it's another thing to get down into the very heart and the core of what you're supposed to be doing and saying. And when I start getting down into the heart and the core of what I'm supposed to be doing and saying, the title always comes. And for me, the title is just like a whole message. I spent hours on the title, that it would be the right title. So I changed the title. And the title is this, the title and then subtitle, the incomparable Christ. That is the title. Now, how I'm going to do that. But the subtitle then under that is a study in Christ centered theology. The incomparable Christ, a study in Christ centered theology. Shall we stand for a prayer? Oh, Lord, we all unite our hearts together here this morning, recognizing that we are all undone. Not just this man up here. We are all undone. We would see Jesus Lord. We would see your son. We would see the incomparable Christ. We would be changed, Lord. These are our desires. We all bring our needy hearts to you this morning and acknowledge that without that Christ in reality, living in us, moving in us, revealing himself in us. This is all nothing, Lord. It's just one more movement. Oh, Father, we pray. You will open our eyes. We might see the King in all his beauty, Lord, through these next five days. Lord, give us that spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of your son, Jesus Christ. We pray in his holy name. Amen. You can be seated. Just a personal word here. I feel like it's right just to give a personal word. I've been in God's crucible for the last year and a half or two years. God has been bringing lots of humiliations my way. He's been answering my prayers. I have been coming to him and telling him that I'm not happy with who I am and what I am. And he's been answering that prayer. I don't want to go into all those details of that. But I just want you to know that God has been humbling me and helping me to see who I am. Helping me to see my needs. Yeah, through a lot of failures. But I'm here this morning trusting God. So let's get into our message here. It is my privilege this week to preach about the Christ, the son of the living God. I was thinking about my assignment last week as I was beginning to prepare. And I thought in my heart, I cannot go wrong on this subject. Though there's no way that I can cover it all, I cannot go wrong on this subject. God the Father is so jealous. And he so longs for the exaltation of his son in the hearts of his people. He longs for that. And though we all are weak vessels. And though we see through a glass darkly. And we know that someday we will see face to face. When that which is perfect is come, we shall see him as he is. And we know that whatever attempt we may make through this week to preach about Jesus Christ. The incomparable Christ. The son of the living God. We know that we cannot do justice to that. But yet, I have this confidence in God. That where God looks down and sees a man or a group of men who are desiring to see his son in a more beautiful way. I do believe that God will come and stand beside us. And help us to see the beautiful things that are all wrapped up in his beautiful, lovely son. His beloved son. Whom he is well pleased. I also take this confidence this morning. The verse there in the book of Revelation where it says, The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. And what I believe that scripture means is simply this. Where there are men and women who are willing to open up their mouths and exalt the Lord Jesus Christ. The spirit of prophecy or the breath of prophecy is upon those men and those women. God will come to their aid. Because God is longing to exalt his son in our hearts. And to reveal his son in us and through us in ways that we do not know up until this time. So, I take confidence in that. I can't go wrong this week. With the subject that God has given to me. The person of Jesus Christ is by far, far, far the most influential man in all of human history. The most influential. In fact, if we look for him, we will see his footsteps in all of history. You get out a world history book and you begin to look even in that world history book. If you will look at that book through the eyes of Christ. If you can somehow sit on God's throne while you read that world history book. You will see the footprints of the Savior down through the annals and ages. It's his story. No one else's. His. This is one of the thrills of the modern missionary minded Christian. To be able to step back a bit outside of human history. And look beyond walls going up and walls falling down. And look beyond the tragedies of cultural revolutions and communism and infanticides. And all the things that happen in this world as this world is an open and an aching sore. If you can step back just a bit and look at all those things through the eyes of Christ. You will see his footprints moving in the midst of nations. Prevailing upon kings and ministers and governors. Working things out after the counsel of his own will. That he might, yes, find one more group of people over there on the other side of the world. That will all of a sudden open their eyes and begin to see Christ. Only Christ. And begin to love him and honor him and exalt him. I mean God. He will go long distances to make that happen. And oh, that's one of the joys of missionary minded Christians even in this day. To step back and see, oh, there are those footprints again. God is after his people. He is after them. I think of the communist cultural revolution which left a deep, deep void in the hearts of the Chinese people. You know, Mao Zedong, he set himself to destroy Christianity and completely get God out of China. There was one thing that he just didn't consider when he had such aspirations as that. He did not realize that there God has set his king on his holy hill. And you will not snuff out the revelation of God in the hearts of people. God just takes that cultural revolution and the deep void that it put into the hearts of the Chinese people and turned around and made that thing for good. And now there are millions of Christians in China. Yes, thank you Mao Zedong. Thank you very much. You have been God's servant. The very God that you tried to snuff out. All the while you were in his hand and he was using you. And now China is ringing with the praises of God. That's our incomparable Christ. We get to talk about Him this week. So the Spirit of Christ has swept in there and filled that empty void in the hearts of millions of Chinese people. Jesus said these words and they were prophetic and they are still alive today. He said, if I be lifted up, I will draw all men unto me. I take great confidence in a prophecy such as that. And so do missionaries all over the world. When they go into a place where it seems like it's dark and it's dangerous and it seems like there's no light at all there. If I be lifted up, I will draw all men unto me. Believe it! It's true. And we stand on it here this morning. Oh, the power of the proclamation of the person and work of Jesus Christ. Do we even begin to understand the mysterious things that begin to happen in the hearts of men and women when somebody is bold enough to stand up at the anointing of the Holy Ghost and begin to proclaim the person and the work of Jesus Christ. Mysterious things happen, brethren. Things that I cannot explain, nor do I understand, but I don't need to be able to explain it and I don't need to understand it. I just simply need to do it. Amen? That's the way it is. Powerful influences. Yes, Christ is the most influential person in all of history. Gandhi read his Sermon on the Mount and without even being converted, he changed the direction of an entire nation of India simply by reading Christ's Sermon on the Mount. He is the incomparable Christ, isn't He? Slavery has been abolished because of His name. Whole nations have changed from idolatry to Christ worship because of His name. That's one powerful Christ, brethren. I think of South Korea and how that even a hundred years ago, South Korea was one heathen nation, filled with Buddhism and Confucianism, but there were some missionaries who somehow believed in the power of this Christ, the Son of the Living God. And they began to proclaim the person and work of Christ in Korea and today. Korea is a totally different nation. Now, it's not everything that I would like it to be, and I guarantee you it's not everything God would like it to be as He sits upon His throne, but when you look at what Korea was a hundred years ago, and you look at what South Korea is today, you have to stand back and marvel again and say, Oh, what a wonderful Christ who could change a whole nation of people. Soldiers said, Never a man spake like this man spake. And that was just the Christ in His humanity. We're way beyond that now, but just the Christ in His humanity. Let's turn for a scripture in 2 Corinthians. Can we do that? In 2 Corinthians chapter 4, Paul is speaking a bit about the Gospel. And by the way, the Gospel is Christ. It's not a doctrine. It's not a historical writing of something that happened. The Gospel is Jesus Christ. He is the hope of all of humanity. Nothing less than He. But Paul is speaking about the Gospel in 2 Corinthians 4 and verse 3, and he says these words, But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost. And he explains how it is hid to them that are lost. Gives us a little bit of an insight here. Pulls back the veil. Lets us see behind the scenes of this physical world that we live in. And he says these words, In whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not. Now, we all understand that truth. We know that's so. We know from our own experience. We look back to a day when we were totally blind. And we look at it now and we think, How could I be so blind? But yet every one of us was so blind until the light of the glorious Gospel shined in our hearts. And now we see. But though we see, we can look back. We remember how blind we were. How the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not. Lest the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ, Who is the image of God, Should shine unto them. See, that's what the enemy is out to do. To stop, to block that shining image of God, Which is Jesus Christ. And through this week, our desire is to do the exact opposite of that. To lift up that beautiful image of God for who He is. So Paul goes on in verse 5 to say, For we preach not ourselves. And I like that. We're not here to talk about ourselves. We're not here to talk about the things that we want or the things that we want to see done. We preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord. And ourselves, your servants for Jesus' sake. And then Paul tells us why. Why he has made himself a slave. Why he is the servant of Jesus Christ. Why he is the prisoner of Jesus Christ. And this is quite revealing to our own hearts this morning. He says, for God. God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness. Now he's going back to the creation here. Just for a moment. And it's good for us to go back to that creation also. The God who commanded the light to shine in the midst of the darkness. Say, let there be light. God said. And there was light. Just like that. I mean, that makes you just stop, you know. Sit back in your chair a moment. Just that. We're talking about a God who commanded that there would be light. And there was light. That shined in the midst of darkness. But then Paul goes on to say. Here's my motivation. That God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness has shined in our heart. Oh brethren, do you realize what you have? That God has shined in my heart. I see. To give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God. In the face of Jesus Christ. God, the eternal God. Jehovah, the eternal self-existent One. Has pulled back the veil and revealed Himself in His Son, Jesus Christ. Can we grasp that this morning? That that mysterium tremendum of the universe. Who dwells in light that no man can approach. Has pulled back the veil and revealed Himself in the person of Jesus Christ. Colossians chapter 1 says that Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. And I don't know. I don't even know what all of that means. We're talking about things this morning that we don't even totally understand. That's the way the Bible is. The Bible is still filled with many, many mysteries. That we do not understand. But we can gaze into it and we can see enough that it moves us. And that's our prayer this week. That that which we do see will move us into practical realities of everyday life. Yes, it's wonderful to behold the exaltation of the Lord Jesus Christ. But oh, my brothers, if that's all we do, we haven't seen anything. If it doesn't change us, we haven't seen anything. Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. And brethren, we have seen Him. We have seen Him, praise God. We may not have seen Him the way that we should. I know we haven't seen Him in all that He is. But this morning, we have seen Him. God, who commanded the light to shine in the darkness, has shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. And we have seen Him. I agree with the words of the Lord Jesus Christ when He looked to Peter after Peter gave those beautiful words, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. Jesus looked at Peter and said, Flesh and blood hath not revealed this unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I would say the same thing this morning. Brethren, if you see the Christ, if your heart has been captivated by the Christ, flesh and blood hath not revealed that unto thee, but our Father which is in heaven graciously, lovingly has so blessed your life that you have gotten a glimpse of the Christ, the Son of the living God. And yea, you have never been the same because of it. I know that I have not. I have never been the same. And it doesn't stop, brethren. Blessed are your eyes and blessed are your ears this morning. Oh, the glory of this Christ. The glory of this incomparable Christ. Let me just say this, brothers. There is no other name under heaven given among men whereby men are saved. And may I just warn you, the day is coming and it's not far off when you will be considered an absolute bigot and a crazy madman that you would dare to stand and make such a statement as that. But you know, when you see the Christ, when you see the incomparable Christ, there's nothing else that you can say. And so, my prayer is that God would so root us and ground us in this incomparable Christ that we will have the intestinal fortitude, the holy grit, that we need the courage to be able to speak up and stand for this Christ as the only way to God. There are not many roads to God. There is only one. That statement is becoming very unpopular. Even as we sit here today, we must train our children to stand firm on that statement, brethren. They're going to face things that we have not faced. I promise you, it is coming. But oh, when we see Him for who He really is, there is no question about where salvation lies. None whatsoever. Brethren, we need a fresh revelation of the Christ, the Son of the living God. Let's ask God to do that in our hearts. Flesh and blood does not reveal that unto thee. But only your Father which is in heaven can give you a fresh glimpse, a fresh revelation of the Christ, the Son of the living God. My mind goes to those early Moravian brethren there at Hernhut. In the midst of a communion service, they got a fresh revelation of the crucified Christ, and it so changed those brothers and sisters. They spearheaded a modern missionary movement which moved like fire for a hundred years. That's what the incomparable Christ can do. They saw Him, and they were never the same. And they could do nothing else but give their lives for the exaltation of that Christ in heathen lands where they've never heard. They couldn't do anything else. The apostle Paul had a fresh revelation of Jesus Christ on the Damascus road, and he nurtured that vision of Christ all of his days, and it became his burning passion, and it consumed his every moment. And God wants to do those kind of things in our hearts. It is time, brethren, it is high time, that God would do such a work in our hearts that we could also walk away and say, I will never be the spade. The apostle John said it this way in his old age, and you can turn there if you want, John. We're just doing introductions here this morning, but listen to the old man. And he was old when he wrote this. Listen to the old man. Picture him. Old, gray-haired, bearded man, weak on his knees and legs. He wrote, And the Word was made flesh. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, John says. And that word, beheld there, that's an important word. That's not a little glimpse out of the corner of your eye. That's not what beheld means. Behold means you stop what you're doing. Your attention is arrested, and you gaze upon Him. And, oh, John can truly testify, I spent those three and a half years gazing upon the Word that was made flesh and dwelt among us. Though he did not understand everything about that Word made flesh in the early years of his life, as an old man he can now say, we beheld His glory, and it was the glory as of the only begotten of the Father. In other words, there was no question about who He was. The glory of His Father was all over Him. And He was full of grace. And He was full of truth. What a beautiful combination. Yes, only God would be that. Full and running over with grace. That is dunamis. That is power. And full and running over with truth. He was the truth. Walking in human flesh. He is the incomparable Christ, isn't He? And John bear witness of Him and cried saying, This was He of whom I spake. He that cometh after me is preferred before me, for He was before me. Thank you, John. And then John gives his testimony. Of His fullness have all we received, and grace for grace, for the law was given by Moses. But grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. A totally different way to live. Yes, the law was given by Moses. But now Moses is over here. Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. That is a revelation of the truth of the Word of God, empowered by the Spirit of God. That came through Jesus Christ. No man has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him. Yes, He hath declared Him by His very words, by His very deeds, by His very example, by His very character. He hath declared God. He is the incomparable Christ by His life. John said we beheld Him. We gazed upon Him. We touched Him. We laid our head upon His breast. We watched Him heal the sick. We were there when He stilled the waves of the storm out there in the Sea of Galilee. Oh, yes, we beheld Him. We watched Him. The Christ. In His humanity we watched Him. And John finishes this way. He finishes His testimony this way. His holy record of the incomparable Christ. He finishes with this declaration in chapter 21 of John in verse 25. There are also many other things which Jesus did. The witch. If they should be written, everyone, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. And if He could say that, after watching Him for just those years, how much more today, brethren! Yea, the world could not contain all the books, but I'll tell you what can contain them. Eternity will contain all the glorious things that He has done down through the ages since He became the exalted Christ seated at the right hand of the Father. Yes, all of eternity will contain all the glorious things that He did in the multitudes of millions of people's lives. Yes, this is the Christ. The incomparable Christ. And we, brethren, see Him. Yes, brethren. Amen. Missionaries tell glowing stories of the heathens' response to the declaration of Christ's life. You know, sometimes the missionary has an unusual opportunity to take a whole village and just lay out Christ to them. You know, before they get to the story of the crucifixion, they get the story of His life. And those natives, those heathens, they love Him. They behold His life. And just like John, they are enraptured by it. And their hearts are drawn to Him. And in fact, I mean, it finishes them off when all of a sudden that beautiful person is hanging on a tree in suffering agony for their sins. And it breaks their heart. Yes, He is the incomparable Christ in His life. But not only is He incomparable in His life, He is the incomparable Christ in His death. The centurion watching, standing there and watching Him die said, surely this is the Son of God. This is the Son of God. Isaiah says, He was despised and He was rejected. He was acquainted with grief. He was smitten of God. He was wounded and He was bruised. He bare our iniquities and He opened not His mouth. But as a lamb going to the slaughter, He laid down His life. He was made an offering for sin. Yes, He is the incomparable Christ in His death. And He bore it all with meekness, with the meekness of a lamb. Why? That He might set us free. That He might set us free. You know, I was thinking about it as I was meditating upon this subject, you know. Victory comes in a different way for us. We are God's people. It's not the same. It's not by the strength of our hands. It's not by the power of our abilities. It's not by the power of a gun or anything. That's not how it comes. But I was thinking of that little picture there in the book of Revelation where John was weeping because no man was found in heaven or in earth who could take the scroll and loose the seals thereof. And I think it was an elder that came to John and said, John, don't weep. Don't weep. The Lion of the tribe of Judah hath prevailed. And you know, I like to try to think, you know, put myself in John's shoes, you know. Okay, the Lion of the tribe of Judah. And you know, he probably turned to look to see a lion. And guess what? He saw a lamb. A slain lamb. And, oh brethren, that's how it works in God's economy. It's not a lion. It's a lamb. It's not how strong we are. It's how weak we are. It's not how smart we are. It's how much we can yield ourselves and come down and be low and humble ourselves in the same way that Jesus did on the cross. Yes, He's the incomparable Christ in His death, but He showed us the way. He showed us the way. And John turns to look to see this lion of the tribe of Judah. And behold, a lamb as it had been slain. Hallelujah. That's so beautiful. A lamb. And then all of heaven falls on their face before that lamb just to let you know how wonderful it is that the lamb overcame through death. Hallelujah. Philippians chapter 2. Can we turn there? My, these things are interesting. If you're a preacher, you'll know what I'm talking about. But you know, you work on things like this and you think, Oh, how am I going to do this? And I don't know if I have enough to say. And I don't know how this is going to go. And you fret and you pray and you cry and all those things. And you get up here and you just have way more than you could ever fit into one hour. Why? Because the testimony of Jesus is the breath of prophecy. That's why. The Apostle Paul had tremendous insight into the incarnation of Christ. You know, John just said, The Word became flesh. But when you look to Paul, Paul had revelations of the incarnation of Christ that the other apostles did not understand in the depth of what Paul did. And we find that here in Philippians chapter 2, verse 5 through 8, where Paul admonishes us and also the Philippians, Let this mind be anew 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. And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient even unto the death of the cross. And that's as far as we'll read for now. Theologians call these verses the seven steps downward of Christ or the great kenosis, the great self-emptying of Christ. There are two phases of this great self-emptying. There is that which he laid aside and there is that which he took upon. And there's great wisdom in that statement that I just made. For us, practical wisdom for us. There are things that we also need to lay aside. And there are other things that we need to take upon us. If we're going to let this mind be in us, that which is also in Christ Jesus, we will have to do the same thing. He laid aside. Oh, didn't he lay aside? And after he laid aside, then he took upon. And oh, look what he took upon. This is the incomparable Christ. It is hard for us to even imagine the distance that he traveled. But we must at least try to grasp the great gulf between who he was and what he became. For you and I, the great gulf would be like us becoming an ant in order to save all the ants. That's just a little picture. But I believe the distance is way more than that. But you can just use your imagination a bit to come down and become a little ant living in a ant colony, going in that little ant colony to save all the rest of the ants. Jesus said these words to His Father in a prayer that He prayed. It was about time for Him to go on. And He said these words. It was a prayer. He said, And now, O Father, glorify Thou me with Thine own self, with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was. We don't know all what that means, but glorify Thou me with Thine own self. Give me back everything that I laid aside with the glory that I had before the world began. Yes, the great self-emptying of Christ. He laid aside. Having all the nature and attributes of God, He did not grasp or hold on to it. Being the very nature of God, having all the attributes of God, He did not grasp it and hold on to it. He looked away from all of this and said yes to His Father. Yes, Father, who sent Him into the world to save sinners. The Scripture says that He made Himself of no reputation. He made Himself nothing. And brethren, that was a choice that He made. A clear, conscious choice to make Himself nothing. He emptied Himself of all that He was, laid aside His robes of deity, and chose to humiliate Himself and count Himself of no value. That's laying aside, isn't it? But let's look at the taking upon for a moment. He took upon Him the nature of a servant, a slave. Totally different mindset. Totally different. The Creator, He spoke the worlds into existence. Submitted Himself to do His Father's will. Millions of angels are at His command. Everything happens at His word. Now all of a sudden, He takes upon Himself the form of a slave. The feet washing scene there in John 13 is a beautiful picture of what He did. A physical picture of the spiritual reality of what He did. He laid aside His robe and picked up a servant's towel and knelt down and washed the feet of His disciples, the dirty feet of His disciples. That's what the Christ did. That's what He did. Not only did He do that, He submitted Himself to a human body. In all its limitations, with all of its humiliations, with all of its temptations, He stepped out of eternity into time. The Word was made flesh. He willingly chose this while He was still in glory. He knew what He was doing. We should read in Hebrews chapter 10 here just a little. In Hebrews 10 verse 4 through 7. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sin. Bottom line. It's not enough. The Passover lamb is not enough. The bird stock sacrifices are not enough. That red heifer is not enough. It was not possible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sin. See, that is what was needed. And the blood of bulls and goats couldn't do that. Wherefore, when He cometh into the world, He saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not. They would not satisfy you. But a body hast thou prepared Me. He took upon Himself a human flesh. A body hast thou prepared Me. In burnt offering and sacrifice for sin thou hast no pleasure. They would not satisfy God. The justice of God was not satisfied with the blood of a bull. Then said I, and here we see, we get a glimpse into the heart of Christ here. Then said I, Lo, I come. In the volume of the book, it is written of Me. Now that's a good Christ-centered theology verse right there. In the volume of the book, it is written of Me. Lo, I come to do Thy will, O God. Yes. Thank You, Lord Jesus. A body hast thou prepared Me. And being found in fashion as a man, He found Himself a man. I don't know when and how all of this happens. Christ was born a babe in Bethlehem. We know that. The miracle of His virgin birth is beautiful here today. But that baby was a baby. He didn't sit there. He wasn't all grown up in a baby's body. He was a baby. There came a point in time when it dawned on Him who He was. And you know what He did? He humbled Himself. He yielded. I don't know when that was. I don't know if it was when He was 12, you know, as He was caught up there in the temple and His parents were concerned about Him and He just in innocence, He said, Wist ye not that I must be about My Father's business? Don't you know why I'm here? But there came a point in time when accountability settled upon Him and He realized who He was. And He said, I will do Thy will, O my God. Not only will I do it, I delight to do Thy will, O my God. He humbled Himself under the mighty hand of God and became obedient, it says. He became obedient. Obedient to His Father's will. Obedient to His human state that He found Himself in. Obedient to His parents. Obedient to the carpenter's shop. Obedient to waiting. Waiting is not easy sometimes, is it, brethren? Obedient to waiting. Obedient to preparing. Obedient to hunger. He became obedient to weariness. He became obedient to misunderstandings. He became obedient to sleepless nights and fastings and great temptations. He became obedient to a life of suffering. He became obedient. And verse 8b says, He became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. He became obedient. See Him there in the garden as He wrestles to become obedient to the death of the cross. He is wrestling in the garden. This is no little thing that He is going to go through. He is suffering temptation in the garden. And He wrestled with God. Strong crying and tears, it says in Hebrews. And He was heard in that He feared. Yes, He became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. He had a beautiful, redemptive obedience all the way through to the end. And it says in Hebrews chapter 12 that for the joy that was set before Him, He endured the cross and despised the shame. And brethren, we are the joy that was set before Him. May the Lamb that was slain receive the reward of His suffering, brethren. And we're not talking about those out there yet, although we'll get to those out there. But oh, may the Lamb that was slain receive the reward of His suffering out of our lives, because it was the joy set before Him He saw. He saw. And we're here today. Ah yes, He is the incomparable Christ. Not only in His life and in His death, but He is the incomparable Christ in His exaltation also. Over here in Philippians, we can go back there now. I'm going to make it. Bless God. In Philippians 2, verse 9, the first word there, wherefore. Wherefore. What is that wherefore? Therefore. Therefore, it is point to all that has been done already. That wherefore is pointing back to the great self-emptying of Christ that ended in an agonizing death on the cross. Wherefore, because of that, God also hath highly exalted Him and given Him a name which is above every name. Think about it, brethren. 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. And we'll stop right there. Yes, God also hath highly exalted Him and given Him a name which is above every name. Ephesians. Brother Mark read these words. But Ephesians 1 says it this way. Verse 19. Paul is praying that God would open up their eyes. And he's also praying, or I'm praying, that God will open our eyes. That we may see what is the exceeding greatness of His power to us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He wrought in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and set Him at His own right hand in heavenly places far above principalities and powers, as high as you can put Him. That's where the Father put Him. I mean, think about it. Here is this Christ in eternity past willing to go down, down, down, down, down. And the Bible says that He descended into the lower parts of the earth. I mean, that's as far down as you can get. But, oh, God's holy principles stand. They stand. What else could God the Father do with His Son who went that far down but to raise Him back up out of the lower parts of the earth, back up out of a dead body into a resurrected body and not stop there but keep on going and raise Him up there far above all principalities and powers and glorify Him in the way that He was glorified with all of His good attributes and all of His grace and all of His power upon Him, put Him back up there where He was before. And brethren, that's not just a nice little story this morning that has great implications upon your life and mine in 2008 where we live today. It's not just a nice story. He is the exalted Christ. The Father has lifted Him up out of the lower parts of the earth and placed Him far above all principalities and powers. Yes, He is the incomparable Christ in His exaltation. He is. John saw the exalted Christ in Revelation 1 and he fell on his face like a dead man. Yes, Father, glorify Me with Thyself with the glory which I had before the world began. And that's who John saw in Revelation 1. And by the way, He's the Christ who walks in the midst of the churches. He is the Christ who walks in the midst of the churches and walks in our midst this very morning. He is. There are many portraits of the exalted Christ in the book of Revelation. Some of them are awe-inspiring and some of them are terrifying. But He is the incomparable exalted Christ. While we rejoice and we are humbled by the crucified Christ, it is the exalted Christ that is incomparable in His influence over the last 2,000 years. It is the exalted Christ. And we will say more about that in the days ahead. We will close with this word. One little word again. In Philippians 2 and verse 12. Wherefore. We will end with another wherefore. And we must again say, what is that wherefore therefore? And Paul is tying the words that follow, which we will read maybe tomorrow. He is tying all those words to this Christ, this incomparable Christ, His life, His death, His exaltation. Brethren, His life, His death, and His exaltation has a wherefore. That is very practical for you and me. Wherefore, my beloved. And we will stop there. The Christ that does not radically change my everyday life is not the incomparable Christ of the Bible. That Christ changes people's lives. Let us be one in that number whose life has been so radically changed because we have seen Him and we know Him. Let us bow for prayer. Oh, Father, thank You. Thank You for Your faithfulness. Lord, oh, such a good Father You are to us that we can be here today, that we can sit in these heavenly places, in Christ Jesus, and gaze upon these things, Father. Let's pray for these dear men. Pray for my own heart, God. Pray that You'll change us this week, Lord. You know, Lord. You know where we live. You know this land we live in, Father. Oh, Father, we ask You. Let us be like the Moravians and get a glimpse of Your Son that will so change us that we will never be the same. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.