Shabbat Shalom! Please open your Bibles to the book of Philippians. And I would like us to read today in Philippians chapter 2 from verse 5 to 11. Very short text for this ministry meeting, but such a precious portion, beloved brothers and sisters, in this short letter that Shaul Paul wrote to the brothers and sisters in the city of Philippi. And I am reading: "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 man, 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." And I'll stop here with the reading of this portion of Philippians chapter 2. You know, when I was studying this passage, I was really humbled by this truth, this fact, that here an apostle, Paul, Shaul, is writing this letter to a local assembly, local fellowship, just perhaps like us. And he was in prison, and he received an information from a man by the name of Apaphroditus, which we're going to read about him a little bit later on.

Apaphroditus brought gifts to Shaul Paul in prison. And he told Paul, "You know, we love you so much, we care for you, we want to minister to you, but I also want to tell you about some situation that exists in the local assembly in Philippi." That even though we love you so much and we appreciate what you have done for us, but Paul, I have to tell you, you know, there are some problems in our midst. And one of the things that the apostle Paul heard from Apaphroditus is apparently there was a division among the believers in the local assembly of Philippi. And the apostle Paul must have felt very sad in his own heart when he was writing this epistle and he desires so much to see that the brothers and sisters in Philippi will have one mind, one goal, will have humility and blessing among them.

Last Shabbat meeting we talked about chapter 2 of this epistle. He said, "If there be any consolation in the Messiah, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any tender mercies, bow of mercies, fulfill ye my joy," verse 2 of Philippians chapter 2, "that ye will be like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord and of one mind." He's saying, "If you want to give me joy," in this letter that he's writing to the believers in Philippi, he says, "Listen, if there or since there is comfort, since there is consolation, since there is fellowship among the believers, since there is tender mercy," he said, "Prove it to me in the way that you behave among yourself." In verse 2 he was telling them, "Fulfill my joy." "Give me joy in my own heart to see that there is evidence of unity and harmony among the people of God." But then, remember, he read perhaps the information from Apaphroditus and said, "Dear Brother Paul, Brother Paul, we have problems in our midst.

We have a need in our midst." And so the Apostle Paul writing this letter, and you know, brothers and sisters, the one thing that the Apostle Paul got a hold of, that you and I need to get a hold of, that if we are going to be able to have, as it says in verse 2, one mind, the same love, one accord, there must be someone that can give us an example. There must be something that will help us to do so, because after all, beloved brothers and sisters, you and I are no different than the Philippians. They had a sin nature, you and I have a sin nature.

They needed to be saved like you and I got saved. They have needed to confess that they are weak and need to be dependent upon the Holy Spirit of God, and you and I also need to confess that we are weak and we need help from the Holy Spirit of God. So what does he do? He set before them the person of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah. You know, I don't believe for a moment that any one of us, like any one of the Philippian brothers and sisters, or any one of any other local assembly, can enjoy to walk together unless we will learn something from the one who loved us and gave himself for us.

There is no possibility in the world for any believer to grow spiritually and to be used among the people of God unless he or she learned from the Master, from our Lord Yeshua, from Jesus the Messiah. You see, why we have so much disunity and disharmony and friction and problem is because we haven't learned from him. Why marriages are broken, why friendships are broken, why local assemblies are broken, why local congregations are broken, and all sorts of families are broken, is simply because we have not learned to be like the Messiah, our Lord Jesus himself. We read in Scripture, for all seek their own. Paul could say not the things of Jesus the Messiah.

And so what does he do here in Philippians chapter 2? He set before them the one that is the greatest example. And really in this passage of Philippians 2 verses 5 to 11, we see the humbling of our Lord Jesus the Messiah, of the Lord Yeshua the Messiah, and also the exaltation that God had given to Yeshua the Messiah because of the way in which he was. Peter said in 1 Peter, Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God and he will exalt you in due time. But we sometimes want to do the opposite. We want to exalt ourselves and we think that we're going to get a name for ourselves, a place for ourselves, a position for ourselves, or at least very little we learn from the Master, from the Messiah, from Yeshua himself.

And that's why Paul in Philippians chapter 2 gives them this instruction about the person of the Lord Yeshua the Messiah. Now I would like to remind you brothers and sisters again that Shaul Paul is a Hebrew, Israeli, Jewish believer. He never had any New Testament passage in his hand to read. He only had the Tanakh. So he looked back at the history and he's reminding himself just like any one of us who come from a Jewish background, we look back into the history of our people. We think of Abraham. We think of faith, a man of faith. We think of Moshe. We think of meekness. He was the meekest man of earth.

We think of Joseph, Yosef. We think of the obedience of this young man. We look at the person like David David, with all his failure. We see that he was a man after God's own heart. David HaMelech. And we can look at the history of the people of Israel and we see, where did these men learn what they have learned? Well, they were in the presence of the Lord. They had a personal relationship with the God of Israel, the Messiah. They haven't come yet. And yet we see faith, meekness, obedience, which characterize each one of them, something unique that have characterized them. But all what we see in these great men of old is but a shadow of the greatest men that ever have been upon the face of this earth.

And his name is Jesus. His name is Yeshua from the land of Israel, from the city of Nazareth. And so the apostle now, he's writing to them and he's presenting before them the person of our Lord, Yeshua the Messiah. I want to say, brothers and sisters, if there will be any change in your life, we must look and learn from Yeshua, our Messiah. We don't want only to have a ticket to go to heaven and to say, hallelujah, I've been forgiven and I'm going to go to heaven. But we want to be learning from him so we will be like him and we'll be in some small way helping others to grow spiritually.

And here, Paul setting before us the one that is called the supreme person. The theme of chapter one of the book of Philippians was the Messiah, Yeshua is our life. Paul said in chapter one and verse 21, for me to live is the Mashiach. But now in chapter two, the theme of this chapter is not so much the Messiah is our life, but the Messiah is our example. And that's why he began in verse five to verse eight. And he gives us the example of the person of Yeshua the Messiah. And you notice how he began. In verse five, he says, let this mind be in you, which was in Christ Jesus.

He's writing to the Philippians. He says, brothers and sisters, you know, I want you to have the mind of the Messiah, to think like him. In fact, in Hebrew, he doesn't use the word mind here. In Hebrew, it says, In other words, let your heart be like the heart of our Lord, Yeshua, Jesus, the Messiah. It's not only your thinking. It's not only your thinking. Yes, it is. But there is a link between the heart and the mind. As a man think, so he is. In fact, when we think about the mind, we think about the heart and the attitude that a person ought to have in his or her life.

If I will change the words here, let this attitude be in you, which was in the heart of our Lord, Yeshua, the Messiah. He wants the believers to have the Messiah's attitude. And when you think about the mind, we think, we are being, you might say, the mind direct us and control us and guide us. And if our minds are like our Lord, Yeshua's mind, we will seek to learn from him and to behave like him and to have our attitude change. The Greek word is phoneo, F-R-O-N-E-O. And that simply means your attitude, your behavior, your conduct. Now, what is the wonderful thing that we see a person that have in some small way the mind and the attitude of Yeshua, the Messiah?

You know what attracted us to him in the first place? What drew our hearts to fall in love with Yeshua? It was not only the fact that he was the eternal God, the Son of God. That is given. It was the very fact that he was willing to come down to this world and to become a man of sorrows that loved you and I so much in spite of us. In spite of our failures and our sins and our shortcomings, this God became a man in order to bring us to himself. That was attractive about him. So here the apostle Paul is saying to the brothers and sisters, let this mind be in you which was also in the Messiah, Yeshua.

I want you to turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 2 for a moment for a verse to connect with this. When Paul wrote to the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians chapter 2 and verse 16, notice what he said to the Corinthians. He said, "For who has known the mind of the Lord?" Who knows the mind of the Lord? That he may instruct him. You want to know the mind of the Lord? The Lord is able to instruct you if you want to know the mind of the Lord. And then he continued and he says in verse 16b, "But we have the mind of Mashiach, of Christ, of Christos." We have it. Now, why do we have the mind of the Messiah?

Well, he meant positionally we have the mind of the Lord when we have his word. And with the help of the Spirit of God, we can follow him as he helps us with the help of the Holy Spirit of God. We have his mind in his word. We know about his life. We know what he has done. We know who he is, where he came from, and where did he go. And we have the mind of the Lord written for us in the word of God. And he's challenging the Philippians, "Let this mind be in you which was in the Messiah, Yeshua." Look at another verse in Romans 11 in verse 34.

After he wrote about the future of the restoration of our people Israel back to God. At the end, he was speaking about the wonderful thing about the wisdom of God. And he says in verse 33, "Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and the knowledge of God." How unsearchable how his judgment and his ways pass, finding out. And then notice verse 34, "For who has known the mind of the Lord?" "Or who has been his counselor?" "Or who has first given to him that it should be recompensed unto him again?" "For of him and through him and to him are all things to whom be glory forever and ever." And Apostle Paul is in prison in Rome and he's saying, "Brothers and sisters of the Philippians, I am challenging you." He's saying to them, "I want you so much that you let this mind be in you which was in the Messiah, Yeshua." If you're going to have harmony among yourself, if you're going to have unity among yourself, if you will be able to walk together as believers in Yeshua, the Messiah, the mind of Christ.

What is the mind? Here's a note. It is the faculties of the understanding, the feeling, the judging and the determining of the person who does what he does. If we want to have the mind of the Lord, we need to have the understanding, the feeling, the judging and the determination that is found in the person of Yeshua the Messiah. So we also can participate here in this world and be in some small way like our Lord Yeshua the Messiah. Notice verses 6, 7 and 8, he's going to talk about the humbling or the humility of Yeshua the Messiah. He began now in verse 6 to tell us the mind of the Lord and how he humbled himself.

First of all, in verse 6, the Apostle Paul says that he was a divine person. He was that God the Son. Notice I'm reading verse 6. Notice I'm reading verse 6. Who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God. He began wanting to establish the fact that this Yeshua the Messiah, that he's speaking about right now to the brothers and sisters in Philippi, is none else but the eternal Son of God. Notice the expression, who being in the form of God. The Greek word for form is M-O-R-P-A, morpa, which is simply, it's really telling us that he actually was the outward expression of what he was inwardly.

Do you want to know God? You got to know him in the person of the Son of the Messiah. Do you know, for me, brothers and sisters, one of the biggest problems I had before I became a believer in Yeshua, is I wanted to know that this person that I'm going to put my trust in is more than just another man. Moses, our law giver, was a great man. Abraham, our father, was a great man. David, our king, was a great man. But they were men. And the problem is that all of them, with all their greatness and obedience and love for God, they were still men.

Abraham failed in saying that Sarah was his sister. Moses failed in not submitting to the Lord and smiting the rock twice. David failed in the sin that he had committed against Uriah the Hittite. All of them were men. But great men that God had raised. But here he's taking us, he began from heaven, from glory. And he says, listen, being in the form of God, expression, form, sometimes get us kind of mixed up a little bit. He was not like God. He was more than just like God. He was the substance of deity. And then he continues, he says, he counted not robbery to be equal with God.

In other words, he didn't think about being equal with God as something to grasp after. Because he was equal with God. Here we learn that in the Godhead, there was more than one person in the Godhead. We understand from other passages in the Brita Hadashah, in the New Testament, that we have in the Godhead, the Father, the Son, the Ruach HaKodesh. Abba, Ben, Ruach HaKodesh, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Co-equal. All the triune God, one God, three persons. And he was this eternal Son of God. Co-equal with the Father. Co-equal with Ruach HaKodesh, the Holy Spirit of God. He didn't count it as if robbery, something to grasp after.

Because he was equal with the Father and equal with the Spirit. Let me show you a couple of verses that we need to look into before we're going to move along. Again, I want you to understand the mindset that Shaul had. He went back to Scripture. And of course, with all the help that the Spirit of God had given to him, he was able to express this to the Philippians. In Isaiah chapter 7 and verse 14, we read prophetically about the Messiah who was going to come. Therefore, the Lord himself shall give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall call his name Emmanuel.

She will call his name God with us. And you notice that it says the alma, the virgin, the maiden. In Hebrew, the word is alma, young maiden, young woman who never knew a man. Isaiah chapter 9. Very famous verse that we know in verse 6. For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called. Wonderful counselor, wonderful counselor, the mighty God, the father of eternity, the prince of peace. And of the increase of his government and peace shall be no end, and upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth, even forever the zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform.

And notice what it says again in verse 6. A child is born, is humanity. A son is given, is divine nature. As a son he was given, he was already there. And then it says, and a government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called. Wonderful counselor, the mighty God. The Hebrew word mighty God is el gibor. How could it be possible that the child that is being born and the son that had been given should be called El Gibor, mighty God, at the same time? If he was not eternally the eternal son of God. It could not be possible. Go to Proverbs, please.

Shlomo HaMelech, Solomon the king, wrote that book. And look what he says in chapter 8 of the book of Proverbs. Here we learn about the eternal position of Yeshua, the Messiah. Look what we read in verse 22. The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his ways. Before his works of old, I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning or ever the earth was. When there was no depths, I was brought forth. When there was no fountains abounding with water. Before the mountains were settled. Before the hills was I brought forth. While as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest parts of the dust of the world.

When he prepared the heavens, I was there. When he set the compass upon the face of the depth. When he established the clouds above. When he strengthened the foundation of the deeps. When he gave to the sea his decree that the water should not pass his commandment. When he appointed the foundation of the earth. Look verse 30. Then I was by him. As one brought up with him, I was daily his delight. Rejoicing always before him. Rejoicing in the habitable part of the earth. And my delight was or were with the sons of men. It's amazing. This is the wisdom personified. You know the theme of the book of Mishle, Tehillim is wisdom.

And here we see wisdom personified before us. He is presented before us as wisdom. Go to chapter 30 of the book of Proverbs for a moment. And here we read in Proverbs chapter 30 in verse 4. It says, "Who has ascended up into heaven or descended? Who has gathered the wind in his fists? Who has bound the waters in a garment? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is his name? And what is his son's name? If you can tell me." You know the man who wrote this Proverbs chapter 30. His name is Agul, the son of Yakeh. He wrote this Proverbs and he said, "Who has ascended up to heaven?" Well, the answer is God.

Who has gathered all the wind in his fists? The answer is God. Who has bound the waters in a garment? The answer is God. Who has established all the ends of the earth? The answer is God. Well, if this is God, what is his name? And then let me add, Agul is saying, what is his son's name? Can you tell me? You know, sometime among our people, Israel and many others from the nations of the world, they don't believe that God had a son. Well, Agul knew that long time before the Messiah was born. And he said, "What is his name and what is his son's name?" David said in Psalm 2, "Kiss the son, lest ye perish from the way." And so back to Philippians, beloved brothers and sisters.

Here the Apostle Paul wants to establish, he says, "Listen, I want to learn from this person by the name of Yeshua the Messiah. I want you to understand. I want you to have his mind. But before I'm going to show you his humility, I want you to understand that he was the eternal son of God. He was the Emmanuel. He was El Gibbo, the mighty God. In fact, there are so many verses that we can read. John chapter 1, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." John 1:1. Then verse 14, "And the Word became flesh." "He became a man when he dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." We read in the Gospel of John.

So, we find out that he was in the form of God, and he is the one that counted not a grasping to be equal with God. One more thing I've got to say before I'm going to move on. What is the difference between Yeshua and Lucifer? Yeshua was God the Son, and he counted not robbery to be equal with God. But Lucifer, Satan himself, wanted to grasp the place of God. We read in the prophet Isaiah, in chapter 14, how he was not satisfied to be this wonderful angel created by God. We find out that the scripture is telling us in verse 12, "How art thou fallen?" Isaiah 14:12.

"From heaven, O Lucifer, thou art the son of the morning. How art thou cut down to the ground, which deeds weaken the nations?" And look what Lucifer had said. "For thou had said in thy heart, I will ascend unto heaven. I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation in the sides of the north. I will ascend above the highest of the clouds." And then at the end he says, "I will be like the Most High." You see, this angel that had fallen, Lucifer, which we know him today as none else but Satan, he wanted to take the place of God.

He wanted to dethrone God and to take the place that belonged to God. He will pride in himself. Isaiah chapter 14 and he had been cast down and had lost the favorite place that he had. But not so with our blessed Lord Yeshua. The opposite completely. And again I'm going back to Philippians chapter 2. "Who, being in the form of God, counted not robbery to be equal with God." And beloved brothers and sisters, here in verses 7 and 8 of Philippians chapter 2, we have the seven-fold steps down of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah. And I want you to take a note of it. You notice that it says in verse 7, "But he made himself." I want to pause here again.

Nobody made him. Nobody forced him. Nobody placed this upon him. But here we can see that it was totally of himself. It was a volunteer willingness to humble himself and to come all the way down to this world in order to accomplish the work of redemption. Notice that word he began, Paul, in verse 7, "But he himself made himself." Another translation said he emptied himself. You see what Paul is saying to the brothers and sisters in Philippi? I want you to have the mind of the Messiah who emptied himself instead of having your own mind that is so full of yourselves. And he's begin to give us the list and I'll read that list, the seven-fold steps that the Messiah have taken.

It says in verse 7, "But made himself of number one, no reputation." And then he says, "And took upon himself the form of a servant." He continued, "He was made in a likeness of man." He became a human being. Verse 8, "Being found in a fashion as a man." He lived as a man here among people. "He humbled himself," number 5. And then he says, "He became obedient unto death," number 6. And number 7, "Even the shameful death of the cross." See, that's what Paul is saying to the brothers and sisters. He says, "Listen, I want you to have the mind of the Messiah." If you are going to walk together to have consolation and comfort and fellowship and bowels of mercies among yourselves, you've got to learn from the person of Yeshua the Messiah who was the eternal Son of God.

But he took a decision-making. And he took those seven full steps down that brought him all the way to the shameful death on a cross. And if you look up at these seven steps, first of all, you notice that, "Who made himself of no reputation." Brothers and sisters, don't you and I always like to have reputation? This is the human problem. I like everybody to know me. In fact, in Genesis chapter 11, and I believe it is verse 4, the beginning when God told people to scatter, they built this tower of Babel, Babylon, the Babel, confusion. And they said, "Let us make a tower that we reach up to heaven and let us make a name for ourselves." The human race likes to have a reputation.

We like to have our name being exalted and our name being lifted up and look what I have done and look how great I am. Well, this is the issue that was in Philippi. This is the issue that exists in our life, in my life, in your life. The challenges that we all have, every day we want to make a reputation for ourselves. But look what it says here in verse 7. It says, "But he made himself of no reputation." When you think about emptying himself, again, I would like to remind you, one of the problems that we all have when there are friction rising up among the people of God is that I want to get my way.

I want to have my name. I want to have my place. I want to have a prominent position, you see. And here is the one that was prominent. He is the eternal Son of God. He made himself of no reputation. That's attractive. That is drawing our hearts to think about the eternal Son of God who made himself of no reputation. He continued, notice the second step that we read in verse 7b. But he took the form of a servant. Look at this. Verse 7b. He made himself of no reputation, but then he said, "And he took upon him the form of a servant." You know, "lesharet" in Hebrew, or "eved", a slave or a servant, is something that we don't like to be.

We like someone to serve us. But here's a man who was saying, "No, I'm going to be a servant. I'm going to serve the people, the human race. I'm going to minister to the human race." You know, he actually became what the Hebrew servant of Exodus 21 was called to be. Turn with me to Exodus 21 for a moment. In Exodus 21, Before our people Israel have entered into the Promised Land, God gave instruction to our forefathers 3500 years ago. And he's saying to them in chapter 21 and verse 1, "These are the judgments which thou shalt set before them, if thou buy a Hebrew servant. Six years he shall serve.

But in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing." But now notice what the servant said. "And if he came by himself, he shall go by himself. If he was married, him and his wife shall go out with him." But then verse 3, "His master given him a wife. And she will born him sons or daughters. The wife and the children shall be her masters, but he shall go out free by himself." But then it says this, "But if the servant shall plainly say, I love my master. I love my wife. I love my children. I will not go out free." "Then his master shall bring him unto the judges.

He shall also bring him unto the door and the doorposts, and his master shall bore his ear through with an awl, and he shall serve him forever." Here is this Hebrew servant. He is the one that says, "I love my master. I love my wife. I love my children. I will not go out free." It's exactly what Yeshua, our Messiah, have done. He made himself of no reputation. Number one, he took the form of a servant. He became a servant, beloved brothers and sisters. And there are many passages that we can read about the words of Yeshua concerning being a servant. And if you remember, he said himself, "I did not come to be ministered, but to minister unto others, to serve others." What an example we have in Yeshua the Messiah.

I am thinking, for example, "Come to my mind at John chapter 13, the twelve apostles are sitting around him, the upper room. And it was Yeshua himself, instead of somebody else getting up, Yeshua himself getting up, girding himself, taking a towel in his hand, taking a basin, filling up this with water, and what does he do? He began to wash the disciples' feet. Can you imagine what it meant? God the Son is washing the feet of the disciples while they among themselves argue who is the greatest. I mean, it is mind-boggling. Can you imagine the Lord washing your feet? You would say, if there is anybody who is going to wash anybody's feet, I am going to wash the feet of the Lord.

But he washed the disciples' feet, one by one. He put their feet in the water, and he rubs them with his hands. He takes them out, and he dries them with a towel, one by one. An example of a servant. What a precious thing to see that. Amazing to see. Imagine if we will learn to do this with each other. Imagine how precious it will be when we are going to, in some small way, minister to each other, serve each other. Instead of elevating ourselves, serving the others. You notice the word "others" is throughout here, through this chapter here. Notice if you just go back with me to verse 3.

Again, forgive me for going back. Let nothing be done through strife or vain glory, but in lowliness of mind, let each esteem other better than themselves. Others. Notice verse 4. Look not every man on his own thing, but let every man also on things of others. It's the others. Not me, not you, not I. Not like Lucifer says that he wants to be like the Most High. I will be like the Most High. The thought here is others. And that's not easy, brothers and sisters. Notice. Then it says to us again in verse 7, but he was made in the likeness of men. What we learn from this point here, made in the likeness of men, he was born into this world just like you and I.

Seen apart. He was made just like you and I. He was born through the virgin Miriam, the Hebrew virgin Miriam in the city of Bethlehem. He became a man just like everyone else. John 1:14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. If we would have been in Israel some 2,000 years ago in Galil or in Yerushalayim, we would see him walking with everybody just like everybody else. He looked like everybody else. He walked among his own people Israel. He took upon himself the seed of Avraham. So he became a man. Now imagine, what does that mean? I know you and I don't think about it, but imagine.

He will never stop to be a man. Throughout eternity. He took union humanity with divine nature. In other words, here we have God and man in one. Not half God and half man, but completely divine God and completely a man, spirit, soul and body. Yet, sin apart. He became a man like you and I. He knows your feeling. He knows my feeling. He knows your trials. When we weep, he weep. When we weep, he weep. When we rejoice, he rejoice. He knows everything that you and I, he experienced this here in his life. Now you and I might wonder, why would God want to bother himself with that?

This is a dilemma. Why would the living God want to enter humanity and be like us? He became like a person like you and I, but of course we have always to emphasize, there was no sin whatsoever in our Lord Yeshua the Messiah. He is that holy one, undefiled, separate from sinners, and yet a perfect man, human being. It's amazing. Paul says when he wrote to Timothy, in 1 Timothy, chapter 3, and verse 16, "And without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh." This is a mystery that God entered humanity. He became a man like you and I. This is the third step downward.

Notice now the verse 8. Not only that he entered humanity and he became a human being through Miriam the virgin from Israel. Then he says here in the next verse, verse 8, "But he being found in a fashion as a man." Here it takes us further and he says, "Look, he conducted himself here in this world. He appeared and lived like any other man here in this world." You know, in the Bible we read John 11, Yeshua wept. He wept like you and I. Do you have some trials in your life and sometimes you and I need to weep? He wept like you. He wept like me. He knows what we experience in our life.

And then when we have persecution and tribulation in our life, there is no one that ever lived like the Lord Yeshua and the Messiah who understands all the trials and experiences that you and I live here in this world and experience. He is called in Isaiah chapter 53 a man of sorrows that have been acquainted with grief. Do you have grief in your life today, brothers and sisters? Do I have grief and challenges in my life? There is none that can understand you, that can sympathize with you and I as our Lord Yeshua the Messiah. When he was tired, he leaned on Jacob's well. When he was thirsty, he asked the Samaritan woman, "Give me to drink." When he was tired, he slept in the boat.

We read in Matthew chapter 8, "The foxes have holes, the birds of the earth have nests, but the Son of Man have nowhere to lay his head." That's the man, Yeshua, that we have fallen in love with. The one that Paul is presenting before us. If we are going to have harmony among the people of God, we got to learn from him. We got to be occupied with him. Now notice he continue in verse 8, and this is step number 5 now. Then it says here, "Now he humbled himself." Notice that in verse 8. "Being found in the fashion of the man, he humbled himself." You know, it is amazing.

He exactly was the opposite of the human race. The human race exhaled himself. He humbled himself. The human race wanted more for himself. God the Son, in the person of Yeshua HaMashiach, he humbled himself. He emptied himself. You know, when you look at the life of the Lord, and you read how he humbled himself. You remember what Isaiah wrote prophetically about Yeshua the Messiah in Isaiah chapter 50. "Morning by morning," verse 4. "He wakeneth mine ear to hear as I learned. The Lord God opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious. Neither turned away back," he said, "I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that pluck off the hair.

I hid not my face from shame and from spitting." I imagine what kind of a life the Lord had when he humbled himself when he was among men here in this world, how they mocked him and they caused him all kind of grief in his life. Shame and spitting and rejection. Throughout the history of Yeshua the Messiah, he experienced misunderstanding and rejecting. In fact, he said in the psalm, he said, "My own familiar friend with whom I walk into the house of the Lord has set himself against me." Even the best friend, Judas Ishkrayot, who had sold him for 30 pieces of silver. And he gave him a kiss to identify him as the Messiah, so the leaders will come and will take him.

I mean, it is amazing to think of the life of Yeshua the Messiah, that he humbled himself. You can see it again and again of how he had done it. Notice, this is by the way the second time that we find this expression himself. In verse 7, he made himself. In verse 8, he humbled himself. Nobody had to force him to do it. He had decided to do that on his own. And then as we are getting towards the end, number 6 and number 7 of the 7-fold steps downward of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah, it was that he was obedient. Notice verse 8c. He became obedient unto death.

You know, brothers and sisters, obedience is one of our biggest problems. You know how sin came to this world? By disobedience. God said to Adam, Adam, here's all the garden is yours. Here are those two trees, the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Adam, I don't want you to eat of this tree of the knowledge of good and evil. But you can eat from everything else. Just one command, you might say. But Adam made a decision. But Adam made a decision. He says, listen, I'm not satisfied. You gave me everything to the north and the south, the east and the west, but I want this tree and I'm going to eat it anyways.

And he did so. And you and I, if we were there, we would have done the same thing. And he had plunged the whole human race into sin. And that's why we have all the friction and all the fighting and all the anger and all the things that we are doing all our life and others in this world. It all came from this sin nature that brought about because of disobedience. But here's a man that was obedient. It says here in verse 8, he became obedient, not only obedient, but obedient even unto death. Now, can you imagine when God looked from heaven and he looked at the whole human race?

All have gone astray. All have sinned, come short of the glory of God. But there was one man that gave him pleasure. And that's the man, Yeshua, the Messiah, from the city of Nazareth, who was born to Miriam in the city of Bethlehem. He was obedient. What a joy it gave the heart of the Father. What a joy to the apostle Paul, should the brothers and sisters in the local assembly at Philippi will just listen to his counsel. Fulfill my joy, he said, that you will be like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, and having the same mind. Give me this joy that I would love to have while I am in prison, he said.

Just have one mind. Learn from Yeshua, the Messiah. Be in some small way. Meshchen, or Meshichim, come from the word little Christs, little Meshichim, little Messiah, little anointed ones. We like the title, but we don't like to practice this. No wonder sometimes people say to us, and you call yourself a Meshichi, a Messiah follower, look at the way you behave. And sometimes we like to have our own rights. Do you want your own rights before God? Do you want to get, do I want to get what I deserve from the Lord? Do you want, you and I want God to challenge us on everything that we have done every time?

And he will have to condemn us again and again and again. We know that. We know our own hearts. And that's why Paul is presenting before them the person of the Lord. And I want to just notice the last, the seventh step. It says here in verse 8. It says, "Even the death of the cross." Now why does he emphasize the death of the cross? It was a shameful death. It was a shameful death. Not only to die, but to die shamefully. Lifted up between heaven and earth. Lifted up between two thieves. Nailed to the tree with his hands and his feet. And then his side with a spear pierced through.

Can you imagine? Hanging there. Only his bottom part was covered somewhat. Blood running all over his body. The crown of thorns upon his hand to mock him. A Roman crucifixion. Sometime we sing a song in the song book. A shameful death he died. Uplifted on that cross. There for everyone to view. This death of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah. And yet you know. He said in the Gospel of John. And I want to read this verse. Yeshua said in John chapter 10. And verse 17 and verse 18. He says, "Therefore doth my Father love me. Because I lay down my life. That I might take it again. Verse 18.

No man taketh it from me. But I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down. And I have power to take it again." And look at the last part. In obedience. It says, "This commandment have I received of my Father." The Father sent him to this world. And he sent him with a mission to provide redemption for mankind. And Yeshua the Messiah in obedience to God went all the way to the cross, to the tree. Even as it says here, the death of the cross. And you know brothers and sisters. You and I sometimes suffer. Because of our own faults. We sometimes suffer because someone else impose upon us some things.

We are suffering sometimes because Satan attacks the people of God. But here we see a man that laid down himself. He voluntarily came down from heaven. Voluntarily took those sevenfold steps downward. He brought upon himself this judgment that you and I deserve. He was judged on the cross in order to accomplish redemption and salvation. I am sure that Apostle Paul was thinking about Isaiah 53. "All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way. But the Lord laid upon him the iniquities of our soul." He must have thinking about this whole chapter. Or Psalm 22. Or Psalm 69. Or all these Hebrew biblical accounting that was given to our forefathers some many, many years ago.

And he was thinking about them as he was writing to the brothers and sisters in the local assembly at Philippi. And so brothers and sisters, I am going to ask you like Paul. Do we want to give joy to the Lord? Do we want to learn from Yeshua the Messiah? Or do we only want a ticket to go to heaven? So we don't need to come to meetings. We don't need to read our Bibles if we only want a ticket to go to heaven. We don't need to pray because we are saved. I got my salvation. I believe in Jesus. But the rest of the time I don't need to learn from him.

I only needed the fact that he can forgive my sins and the rest I can do as I please. Our pastor Paul says no. That's not the way. That's not the way. He says fulfill my joy that you will have the mind of Yeshua the Messiah. Let this mind be in you which was also in the Messiah Yeshua. Yeshua. He becomes our Padre. And we need the Lord to help us to learn from him every day of our lives. And when we fail we need to confess it to the Lord and say Lord I have failed you. I have sinned. I shouldn't have behaved the way I behave.

I confess it before you. And the Lord can restore us and bless us and use us because we are all in the same situation. Now let me move to the second half of this and only three verses here about the exaltation of the Messiah. Not only that he humbled himself and he came down to this world but there is a consequence to his humility. There is a result from his work for us when he died for us on the cross. It says in verse 9, 10, and 11. Wherefore God hath also highly exalted him and giving him a name which is above every name. That at the name of Yeshua every knee should bow of things in heaven and of things on earth and things under the earth.

And that every tongue should confess that Yeshua the Messiah, Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Now let me just make a few remarks about those verses. Now you notice that there is not only sevenfold steps downward but there is also sevenfold steps upward. You see that number seven of course speaks of completion, of a complete number. In other words he completely humbled himself when he came down to this world and God completely exalted him. And have given him and have given him a place that is right above everyone. And notice how the sevenfold, let me just highlight them. First of all in verse 9, wherefore God, notice it's not he himself, but now God exalted him.

It says here, have highly exalted Yeshua in verse 9. Psalm 110 verse 1, sit down on my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool. When God have highly exalted him. When God have highly exalted him. When God have highly exalted him. That means that after he was on the cross. When God has highly exalted him. When God has highly exalted him. That means that after he was on the cross. He died his shameful death. And he was buried. And he rose again on the third day. God have taken him out from this world. And have placed him at his right hand. And said, sit down at my right hand.

Until I make thine enemies thy footstool. We read in Mark chapter 16 and verse 19. That after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven. And he sat at the right hand of God. God have taken him. And as the disciples are looking up. And they see him going up and up and up and up. And he was received into the presence of the Lord. And he is seated now at the right hand of God. He exalted him. Whosoever will exalt himself. God will humble. And whosoever will humble. God will exalt him. And place him in a position. And will give him a place of honor.

Notice in the same verse 9. He is also giving him a name. Which is above every name. Now that expression name here should be. He had given him a title. He had given him a rank. He had given him a position. He had given him a reputation. That's the thought that we have. He already have the name Yeshua. When he was born. But now we can see in verse 9. God highly exalted him. And gave him a reputation. A name. A title. A rank. A position. And you notice the third point. Or upward exaltation. It says. God now ordained. That at the name of Yeshua the Messiah.

Every knee will bow. And so we read in verse 10. And that at the name of Jesus. At the name of Yeshua. Every knee should bow. You see. You have elevated him. And placed him at his right hand. Saying to him. Sit down on my right hand. Until all your enemies. Going to be made your footstool. But you see. What he is also saying to him. Here in verse 10. That at the name of Yeshua. Every knee should bow. Now I know today. People look at him. And they say. Who is Jesus? Who is Yeshua? And why would I submit to him? Why would I accept him?

What do I need him for? And the Bible teaches us. That God placed him in a place. In a pinnacle of the universe. That at the name of Yeshua. The very same name. That was despised. And rejected. Rejected. Is a very same name. And a very same person. That everyone will have. To bow their knees. To him. And again. I would like to. Emphasize. The name Yeshua. Come from two Hebrew words. Yehovah Hamoshia. Jehovah the Savior. And in this name. Everyone. Will bow. You shall call his name. Yeshua. For he shall save his people. Reformed their sins. That's the Yeshua. That God have lifted up.

And raised and placed him. And now. In the steps four. Here we find out that. Who is going to bow their knees. Notice that. We have three groups mentioned here. In verse 10. Things in heaven. Things. In earth. And things under the earth. Now the things that are under the earth. You might say. Are those who rejected him. And will end up to be. Eternally lost. But even. From the lake of fire. They will still have to bow their knees to him. You might say. The things in heaven. All the heavenly. Company. You might say. On earth. When the nation of Israel. Will be restored. The nation of Israel.

Will be. Also. Bowing their knees. To Yeshua. The Messiah. The church. The ecclesia. In glory. And all the. Redeem. In every generation. Will end up to bow. Their knees. To the Lord Yeshua. And I would like to say this. Today. That if you are here. Without. The Lord Jesus. The Messiah. You and I. Have a choice. To bow our knees. To him. Today. Because if we left. This world. Without accepting him. We will end up. To bow our knees. Before him. But it will be. Too late. Away. From him. As. Lost. And so finally. Beloved. Brothers and sisters. Verse 11. It says. And that. Every tongue.

Should confess. That Yeshua. Hamashiach. Jesus Christ. Is Lord. To the glory. Of God. The Father. This is the. Seventh. Step upward. When God said. As Romans 14. Says. Every tongue. Will confess. Those that reject him. Today. Those that despise him. They will end up. To confess. With their mouth. With their tongue. Every tongue. Will confess. That Yeshua. Hamashiach. Jesus. The Christ. Is Lord. Notice the word. Lord. Lord. The Hebrew word. For Lord. Is Adon. Master. Lord. The one. That is. A master. The man. That who. Is. That Lord. Of all. To the glory. Of God. The Father. Now. Let me conclude. With one verse. In the Old Testament.

In the book of Isaiah. Chapter 45. And verse 23. For me. God. Long time. Had said. Before. The incarnation. Of the Messiah. I have sworn. By myself. The word. Is gone. Out of my mouth. In righteousness. And shall. Not return. That unto me. Every knee. Shall bow. And every. Tongue. Shall confess. This is in the Godhead. Long before. The Messiah. Yeshua. Came to this world. We have. This declaration. By the triune. God. That every. Tongue. Will confess. Every knee. Shall bow. To. The Lord. Himself. And in this case. As we have it. In Philippians. Chapter 2. And verse 11. To the person. Of our Lord. Yeshua. The Messiah. The Messiah.

Now let me sum it up. If we are going to learn. Any lesson. From this passage. We have to. Ask ourselves. Just the same. Like the Philippians. Am I learning. From. Yeshua. The Messiah. Am I conducting. Myself. Among the brothers. And sisters. In a small measure. Like Yeshua. The Messiah. The moment. We are not. We are really not. Pleasing the Lord. We are not helping. Our brothers. And our sisters. Talking about. For division. And separation. Among the people. Of God. And I can assure you. We will never have. Joy. In our hearts. At all. We cannot have. The joy. Of the Lord. And behave. On an ongoing basis.

In a way. That is not pleasing. To him. If we want to have. Joy. And blessing. And harmony. Among the people. We need. To have. This mind. As it was. In the person. Of our Lord. Yeshua. The Messiah. May he help us. To do so. Brothers and sisters.