“The Father’s Desire to Honor His Son”

(Philippians 2:9-11)

I. Introduction.

A. Orientation.

We saw this morning,

That Jesus only did what He saw His Father doing –

When He came into the world

He came in a role of complete submission to Father’s will.

But it’s interesting what the Father showed Him –

What His will was for Him –

He was given authority to raise the dead spiritually –

To give new eyes and a new heart,

To give spiritual life.

He was given authority to raise the dead physically in the future –

On the day He comes again,

He will speak and the tombs will empty out.

And He was given authority to judge all the living and the dead –

All mankind will stand before Him

To give an account of their lives on that day –

We will all stand before Him,

Which is why we need to make sure we are in Christ now,

Before we die and before that day comes.

And the reason the Father has shown Him these things –

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The reason He had His Son do these things –

Was that all might honor Him even as they honor the Father.

B. Preview.

The Father has a plan to glorify His grace

In the salvation of His people.

But the way He chose to do it

Was to send His Son to do things

For which He would be greatly honored,

So that the Son, in return, might bring honor to the Father.

What I want us to consider this evening

Is the Father’s desire to honor His Son:

1. Before He came,

2. When He came,

3. And after He came.

II. Sermon.

A. First, let’s look at what the Lord did

To honor His Son before He came.

1. We should consider why

The Father wanted to do this:

As we saw in our passage this morning,

It’s because He loves His Son

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More than anything else.

Jesus is His only begotten.

John writes, “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His

glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth”

(John 1:14).

He is the One who is in the bosom of the Father from all eternity.

John writes in John 1:18, “No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten

God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.”

The One who bears His holy image.

The author to the Hebrews writes in 1:3, “And He is the radiance of His glory

and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word

of His power.”

And Paul writes in Colossians 1:15, “He is the image of the invisible God, the

firstborn of all creation.”

There is nothing the Father loves more than His Son,

Which is why He declared at His baptism,

“This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased” (Matt. 3:17).

Does this mean that the Father and the Son

Share a relationship that excludes the Holy Spirit?

Not according to Edwards.

The love the Father and Son share for each other

Is the Holy Spirit –

This, in his view, is the eternal procession of the Spirit.

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The Father loves the Son so much

He determined from all eternity

To glorify Him

By giving Him the honor of being the One

Through Whom He would bring salvation

And by richly rewarding Him for it,

As we read this morning in Isaiah 53:10-12, “But the LORD was pleased to

crush Him, putting Him to grief; if He would render Himself as a guilt

offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, and the good

pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand. As a result of the anguish of

His soul, He will see it and be satisfied; by His knowledge the Righteous

One, My Servant, will justify the many, as He will bear their iniquities.

Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great, and He will divide the

booty with the strong; because He poured out Himself to death, and was

numbered with the transgressors; yet He Himself bore the sin of many, and

interceded for the transgressors.”

It was the Son’s pleasure to glorify His Father

By giving His life to repair His honor,

And to redeem those His Father chose to love;

And it was the Father’s pleasure to honor His Son

For repairing His honor

And bringing His chosen to heaven.

2. We see the Father begin to honor Him

Even from the beginning,

By giving glimpses of His coming

And what His coming would bring.

a. He revealed His Son to Adam and Eve

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Not only to give them hope,

But to honor His Son who would give them hope.

He said in His curse on the serpent, “And I will put enmity between you and

the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on

the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel” (Gen. 3:15).

Not only did God here redeem Eve back to Himself –

He putt enmity between her and the serpent –

But He told her how He would do this:

He – that is her Seed – would bruise him – the serpent – on the head –

Jesus would crush the head of the devil on the cross –

And you – the serpent – shall bruise Him – the woman’s seed –

On the heel –

To crush the devil’s head, Jesus would have to die on that cross.

But it was the Seed that would save them

From Satan’s tyranny.

b. God told Abraham the result of the Son’s work

Would be far more reaching than just Adam and Eve –

And more than Abraham’s physical children –

But would extend to all mankind.

After Abraham was willing to obey God

Even to the point of sacrificing his son at God’s command,

The Lord said to him, “By Myself I have sworn, declares the LORD, because

you have done this thing and have not withheld your son, your only son,

indeed I will greatly bless you, and I will greatly multiply your seed as the

stars of the heavens and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your

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seed shall possess the gate of their enemies. In your seed all the nations of

the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice” (Gen.

22:16-18).

Paul tells us this seed, through Whom He would bless the nations, was Jesus,

“Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not

say, ‘And to seeds,’ as referring to many, but rather to one, ‘And to your

seed,’ that is, Christ” (Gal. 3:16).

c. God promised David this Seed would be King

Over a kingdom that would everlastingly endure.

“When your days are complete and you lie down with your fathers, I will

raise up your descendant after you, who will come forth from you, and I

will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for My name, and I will

establish the throne of his kingdom forever” (2 Sam. 7:12-13).

d. Of course, the Father had many more things to say about His Son.

The whole OT is filled with prophecies, promises and types

That all pointed to Him,

As we see in Jesus’ discussion with the two on the road to Emmaus.

After they expressed their disappointment

That Jesus – whom they didn’t recognize at that time –

Had not been the Redeemer they hoped for,

Jesus said to them, “‘O foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all that the

prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these

things and to enter into His glory?’ Then beginning with Moses and with

all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all

the Scriptures” (Luke 24:25-27).

The OT is full of references to Jesus

Because of the Father’s desire to honor His Son.

B. When Jesus came into the world,

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The Father further honored Him.

1. First, He appointed a prophet to go before Him

And to get the people ready.

The angel said to Zacharias, when he prayed for a child, “Do not be afraid,

Zacharias, for your petition has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear

you a son, and you will give him the name John. You will have joy and

gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth. For he will be great in the sight

of the Lord; and he will drink no wine or liquor, and he will be filled with the

Holy Spirit while yet in his mother's womb. And he will turn many of the

sons of Israel back to the Lord their God. It is he who will go as a forerunner

before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, TO TURN THE HEARTS OF

THE FATHERS BACK TO THE CHILDREN, and the disobedient to the

attitude of the righteous, so as to make ready a people prepared for the Lord”

(Luke 1:13-17).

2. John was sent not only to prepare His way

But also to point Him out

When the time came for Jesus’ presentation to Israel.

We read in John 1:29-34, “The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said,

‘Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! This is He

on behalf of whom I said, “After me comes a Man who has a higher rank than

I, for He existed before me.” I did not recognize Him, but so that He might

be manifested to Israel, I came baptizing in water.’ John testified saying, ‘I

have seen the Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven, and He remained

upon Him. I did not recognize Him, but He who sent me to baptize in water

said to me, “He upon whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining

upon Him, this is the One who baptizes in the Holy Spirit.” I myself have

seen, and have testified that this is the Son of God.’”

3. As we saw earlier,

The Father further honored Him at His baptism

When He publicly declared His love for Him.

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“After being baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold,

the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove

and lighting on Him, and behold, a voice out of the heavens said, ‘This is My

beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased’” (Matt. 3:16-17).

4. He honored Jesus

By showing Him what He was doing –

That is by revealing His plan to Him

And giving Him the power to carry it out –

As we saw this morning.

5. And after Jesus was crucified,

And was buried,

The Father glorified Him again

By raising Him from the dead,

And by showing Him to many witnesses.

He honored Him not only by raising Him,

But by taking Him up into heaven,

Where He is now seated at His right hand.

The author to the Hebrews writes,

“But He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, SAT DOWN AT

THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD, waiting from that time onward UNTIL HIS

ENEMIES BE MADE A FOOTSTOOL FOR HIS FEET” (10:12-13).

C. Finally, we come to our passage

That tells us what the Father is doing now to honor His Son

And what He intends to do in the future.

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Paul tells us in Philippians 2:9, “For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and

bestowed on Him the name which is above every name.”

Because Jesus was willing to lower Himself the most –

Because being the Son of God from all eternity and equal with God,

He was willing to humble Himself by becoming a man –

Without ceasing to be God,

Or giving up any of His divine attributes,

Or changing in any way –

And because as a man,

He was willing to humble Himself further

By becoming a curse for us on the cross,

God exalted Him –

As we’ve seen,

He’s seated at the right hand of God

As King over all creation –

And has been given the greatest of all names –

“So that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in

heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that

Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (vv. 10-11).

This has been fulfilled in part:

There are many churches in many countries

That worship the Lord from Lord’s Day to Lord’s Day,

And who serve and honor Him with their lives.

That’s why we’re here this evening;

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That’s why we live the lives we do.

There are demons and the souls of rebellious men in hell

That know who He is and tremble.

And there are angels and redeemed souls in heaven

That continually worship Him.

But one day it will be fulfilled completely:

All in heaven,

And on earth,

And in hell,

Will bow the knee to Him –

Either willingly or unwillingly –

And every tongue will confess

That He is Lord,

To the glory of God the Father.

It is the Father’s desire to honor His Son,

That His Son might in turn honor Him.

He has promised that one day

Everyone will bow before Him –

Even those who right now

Are doing just about all they can

To dishonor Him,

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And to tear down what He has established.

This is our hope that all this evil

Will one day come to an end.

Let me just encourage you to trust the Lord.

He is able to do all He has promised.

There’s no question He will bring His kingdom one day with power

And put a final end to Satan’s kingdom.

The Lord indicates there is still a great deal

He intends to do to honor His Son in this age.

And so hold onto that hope,

Continue to love and serve Him,

And don’t ever be afraid to stand up for His truth.

If you haven’t yet willingly bowed the knee to Jesus

Let me just encourage you again this evening

To do so now while you still have the opportunity.

He will forgive you,

He will receive you,

If you will submit to Him –

If you will turn from your sins

And trust Him to save you.

Don’t mistake His patience for acceptance.

There’s only one way you can be reconciled to Him,

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And that is by surrendering to His Son. Amen.

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