The Love of Christ Compels Us — 2 Corinthians 5

0:00 Good morning. My talk this morning is going to be on the subject of motivation. I know that that can be taken a lot of different ways, can't it? But I want to take it in this sense, how am I to be motivated to a sincere devoted life for the Lord? How am I to be motivated to a sincere devoted life for the Lord?

0:32 You know, this devotion for this law... The Lord, this motivation is something I believe that every every true believer desires to have. We we oftentimes feel a certain sort of heaviness in our hearts where we're we don't find ourselves attracted along the pathway in the way we we think we ought to be attracted along that pathway, and and we desire to be motivated and sometimes we we sort of forget how, and and so today I want to take up the subject of motivation. Now my theme verse is going to be second Corinthians chapter five and verse four verses fourteen and fifteen. So if we could turn to that, second Corinthians chapter five verses fourteen and fifteen goes like this, for the love of Christ compels us because we judge thus that if one died for all, then all died, and he died for all that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for him who died for them and rose again.

2:26 So so in the in the middle of the fourth of the fourteenth verse it says, because we judge thus that if one died for all, then all died. Now I I believe that this is a logical treatment, an analytical treatment that's... So you're you're judging logically because we judge thus that if, it's a logical if, and and it's not like it's not like a an uncertainty if, oh oh if it didn't really happen, instead it's a logical if. If this is true, then this is no doubt true. So so it says if one died for all, then all died.

3:10 If one died for all, then all died, or mister Darby says all have died. In other words, it's a condition that they're in. Now the point is, it's kind of like this. So the Lord is saying... So so so God is saying, if the Lord Jesus died for everyone, then everyone undoubtedly had a need for him to die, and and and so so it's a statement of what our condition and our need is, and it's a universal need.

3:39 I'm gonna deal with that in just a second. Now the the next verse goes like this, and he died for all, and that that proves that that's that's a logical if rather than, rather than an uncertainty if, and he died for all that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for him who died for them and rose again. So what is God's purpose for those who who live through through believing the Lord Jesus? They're born again through through believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, they live. What is God's purpose for them?

5:03 So so I would take it since it deals in it, first of all, at a universal level, and then at a specific level of those who are believing, I would I would say that that the love of Christ compels us could be used in a gospel context in which in which God would say God would say to the world, look, look, I gave my son a gift of love for you and he died for you, and and because of that, I want you to to believe in me, and and so the the... Because because of God's great expression of love, he's he's he's seeking to compel them towards the point where they will actually trust in the Lord Jesus. And then for those of us who who have trusted in the Lord Jesus, there... God makes a heavier claim upon us. It's like God would say to us, this is what I want for you.

6:03 This is this you you have... I have saved you from your sins and now I want you I want you to live no no longer for yourselves, but to live for him who died for you and rose again from the dead. So our... I would say then my my theme statement for my talk is going to be this, for the love of Christ compels us. And and as I say I want to talk about motivation, I wanted to go beyond talking about motivation, I I would like to talk about the one who motivates, I'd like to talk about Christ himself, I'd like to minister Christ so that somehow we are motivated, we're brought into that for for it's no doubt that it's our perception or understanding or entering into what Christ has done for us and his love for us that's going to be what actually motivates us.

8:37 The word was with God and the word was God. So so he was he was... He's God in essence, and because he's God in essence, he did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, that is it wasn't something that didn't actually belong to him, it was it was a truism, it was already true, he wasn't taking something that didn't belong to him to consider himself equal with God. But in becoming a man, so we're talking about that, he he was coming in the likeness of man in the next verse, he's coming in the likeness of man, but coming in the likeness of man, he made himself of no reputation. Now John described this to to us also, and and it was more his his his likeness or his or his appearance, it's the beginning of the eighth verse, than being found in appearance as a man, so it was more his appearance as a divine person, that was he was shall we say, giving up or it says empties, it could be translated empties themselves, he he sort of masks his his Godhead deity, the glory of his deity, he mask it in the human form, and and then he lives his life in that form.

10:08 Now I ask this question to myself, so what what was he like and in what ways did he did he actually demonstrate his deity during the... Especially during those early years of his life, and and I I was pondering, I came up with the... These verses and I said, I've I've got it. I've got my I've got my verses. So this is this is Psalm 22.

10:37 I want you to turn with me to Psalm 22, and we're gonna read a couple of verses that that kind of clinch the idea. Now the the the the one thing I'm I'm gonna say this, the one thing for certain that the Lord Jesus did did not give up even in masking his his his glory as as the son of God. One thing that he didn't give up was his moral glory. I think Bob you you handed out at one time some books called the moral glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, a neat a neat book by by a man named Patterson, but but the the Lord Jesus was perfect, he he was sinless, and and again I'm gonna quote Bob from something he said earlier that that there's there's three statements made in the new in the New Testament. Peter said that Jesus did no sin, and and Paul said that Jesus knew no sin, but John goes just a little step farther, he says in him was no sin.

11:42 And so the Lord Jesus was absolutely perfect and sinless morally, and and so here in Psalm 22, we're gonna go to, give me a second, I went to Job instead of Psalms. It seems like it's not in the right place. Okay. Psalm 22 verse nine. Now this is a prophetic statement, but it's like a pronunciation that's made ahead of time as the Lord Jesus speaking.

12:07 So Jesus speaking to the father, but you are he that took me out of the womb. You made me trust while on my mother's breast. I was cast upon you from birth, from my mother's womb you have been my God. Let's try to think about what this verse is actually saying. So so is is Jesus saying, now when when I was just an infant, Jesus is saying, and I was suckling my mother's breast, you made me trust in you.

12:41 You made me trust in you. And and and so so the first character of of this infant... Now now in in in in his normal human development, the Lord Jesus in his mind and and and in his physical body, he had a he had a human, normal human development, but spiritually, Jesus was God the son. Imagine that, here here here's here he is, he's he's a man that spiritually is God the son, And somehow, in in his spirit, he had this this complete knowledge as as being the son of God, had this complete knowledge of of God, and and so he he in this moral and spiritual sense, he could say, you made me trust when I was in my mother's womb, or or when I was on my mother's breast. I was cast upon you from birth.

13:36 Notice that it's from birth, there there wasn't any time that the Lord Jesus wasn't cast upon the father. I I would say it's a statement of dependence. Okay. I was cast upon you, and from my mother's womb, you have you have been my God. And so the Lord Jesus had a sense of God, of of of that that he was before God and even as even as an infant.

14:07 I think this is a think this is a tremendous verse to give a sense of what the Lord Jesus was morally and spiritually from the moment of his birth. Wow. That's really something. Now, we're we are told that he had a fairly natural growth as as a child, and that you could find that in Luke two, I'm not gonna take the time for it. I will make this statement though that that that it says one place in the New Testament that it calls the Lord Jesus the carpenter.

14:39 He's called the carpenter. In another place, he's called the son of the carpenter. I I would take it from that that the Lord Jesus learned the trade of carpentry from his father. I mean, that's that would be, I think, at least a reasonable take on it that that the Lord Jesus that the Lord Jesus probably did not just automagically know know how to use a hammer and probably dad daddy took them and I'm... This is Don's imagination, probably daddy takes takes him and and holds a nail for him and has him strike the nail, what...

15:19 Whatever. You know, the the Lord the Lord Jesus had a natural development and and would have learned the natural things of life and would have probably learned the the trade of carpentry from his father. Now what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna jump ahead to to the jump ahead to the the beginning of our Lord Jesus' public ministry, which started with his baptism. It starts with his baptism. We're going to turn to Matthew chapter three for this.

15:56 What we're trying to do is we're trying to to get a view of the Lord Jesus Christ that will somehow somehow be a motivating influence in us to to compel us along in the in the Christian pathway. So so here in the in the eleventh chapter... In the third chapter eleventh... In the third chapter of Matthew, the Lord Jesus, comes to John to be baptized, and and John... In the fourteenth verse, John tried to prevent him saying, I need to be baptized by you, now are you coming to me?

17:13 I always kind of visualize that as a God voice speaking from heaven. But but this is kind of neat because because this this is a view of the Godhead, isn't it? The trinity. And so so we we have the Lord Jesus, he's just been baptized and he comes out of the water, he's doing everything to please the father, and and as he comes out of the water, suddenly you get this this fluttering of this bird down from the air, and this little dove comes and he lights right on top of the Lord Jesus. Isn't it isn't it interesting?

17:49 In your imagination, you try to see this. I I often have wondered, so how did that work? Did did it just stay on top of him, or did it kinda sink down into him because he was full of... He's filled with the Holy Spirit? I I don't really know the answer to that one, but I but I think it's kind of neat to try to understand, try to to try to visualize what what it was like to to make it real in my soul.

18:13 And so and so you can imagine the people are standing around, and they're watching this, and and and they're seeing this bird coming down, landing on the Lord Jesus, and and they're fascinated, and and then I like the way the scripture says it says, suddenly, so breaking into into their attention is this this wonderful voice, the voice of the father himself from heaven speaking. So you have... And saying, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. Now I I believe that this is this is what is actually referred to in John's gospel when it says when it says that Jesus was sealed by the father, him it says him has the father sealed in in John chapter six that that statement is made, and and it's I believe it's this idea that that as as God brings this pronouncement from heaven, it's like God's putting his stamp of approval, and I I can almost visualize this huge stamp approved going down top of the Lord Jesus. I'm sorry, I get a little bit graphic about these things, but but it wasn't it that, wasn't it that that stamp of approval upon the Lord Jesus.

19:33 This is my beloved son. I want the world to know this God saying, this is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased. Now I think this is neat because John John the Baptist tells about this in John chapter one. I think it's worthwhile for us to go over to John chapter one and to and to see what John the Baptist actually said. Now, this is this is John chapter one, and I I I'm gonna just start with the thirty first verse for the sake of time.

20:11 John is saying here, talking here, he said, I didn't know him. So I'm I'm just taking from this verse that John was not acquainted with the Lord Jesus Christ. We know that John's mother went out and visited, rather Jesus's mother, Mary went out and visited Elizabeth John's mother, but apparently they they didn't have contact through the years, and and so John says, I did not know him, but that he should be revealed to Israel, therefore I came baptizing with water. My my purpose was that God gave me, John is saying, was that that I would reveal the Lord Jesus to Israel. And so so John says, John bore witness saying, I saw the spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and and he remained on him.

21:02 And I did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, upon whom you see the spirit descending and remaining on him, this is he who baptizes with the holy spirit, and I have seen and testify that this is the son of God, John's witness. Now now, you can imagine John's excitement when when that dove came floating down on the Lord Jesus. You could you could imagine, and and and in in my mind, I'm I'm imagining John the Baptist and John John the Baptist is saying, it's him. He's the one God was talking about, he told me about. So so so John had been told ahead of time that this is what...

21:51 This is how he would know, and it happened just the way God had told him, and and John must have been very thrilled. Thrilled to the point that he would... He couldn't just stop the utterance after telling this. He says, I've seen and testified that this is the son of God. That's the one we're talking about.

22:12 That's the one who's going... Whose love is going to compel us along in our Christian pathway. Let's go for a moment to one of the Lord's miracles. We're going to go to Mark, the Gospel of Mark, and chapter four. We're kind of doing a survey as you can see.

23:20 Then he arose and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, peace be still. And the water ceased and there was a and the wind ceased and there was a great calm. And he said to them, why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith? And they feared exceedingly and said to one another, who can this be that even the wind and the sea obey him?

23:46 So so in in our in our imaginations, we we can picture that Jesus is just exhausted, been praying all night, working all day, and so he gets in the boat and he goes to the back of the boat and he lies down and and he gets into a comfortable position and and he goes to sleep. And then this this tremendous squall comes up on on on the Sea Of Galilee and and it kicks up the waves and these big waves are coming over the side of the boat and and starting to fill up the boat. Now remember that at least four of these disciples were were professional fishermen. They had a very good sense in their mind as to as to where danger was out there in the water, and they knew that if something didn't happen they were goners. And so they they jump up and they go to the Lord Jesus.

24:43 Now that was the right thing to do. That was the right thing to do to go to the Lord Jesus, but it wasn't quite right the way the thing that they said. So let's listen to what they said. They said, teacher, do you not care that we are perishing? It reminds me a little bit of what we are in in general as in human beings, when we get into some really bad situation and and and we we start saying, why doesn't God do something about this?

25:10 You know, and and and we we said, we sometimes go to the point we would even say something like, God doesn't even seem to care about, and and and isn't that isn't that the attitude that these these people had? And and and so they shake the Lord Jesus awake. Well, he's the son of God, isn't he? They weren't entering into that very well, were they, to say it like that to him. He's the son of God, and so when they wake him up, he he stands up and he commands the very elements, the winds and the wave, and I just like to visualize how that those those big waves just go, and the wind stops, and and we're the...

25:54 We're one of those disciples, and we're we're there, we're watching this thing, and and and and they're just an amazement comes on us. Wow. Wow. And this was their response. It says that they feared exceedingly and said to one another, who can this be that even the wind and the sea obey him?

26:21 What sort of a person is this that that could command the winds and the waves like that? Well, they're at that point where they're grappling as to who the Lord Jesus really is in their in their thoughts. They they they they've committed themselves, they're going with the Lord Jesus, but somehow they haven't quite yet laid hold upon this and and firmed in their mind. They will, they'll get to that point, but but for right now, they're at at this point where they're saying, who could this be? Well, if they can answer that one, if they can answer that one, who could this be?

27:02 Then they've got it all. Okay. And that's where we're going with this talk, isn't it? We're gonna answer that question. We're going to jump now to Matthew 11 to an...

27:54 So the the sisters, Martha and Mary, they send this message. They send this message to Jesus. Lazarus is sick, and and so Jesus comes up to to Bethany, it's quite near Jerusalem, and and when he arrives at Bethany here, Lazarus has been dead for four days. And the the the two sisters are in deep mourning. They're sitting in the house mourning.

28:24 Jesus stops outside the town. The message gets into to Martha that Jesus is there, and so she goes out quickly. She gets up and goes out, and we'll start with the twenty first verse. We'll start with the twentieth verse. Then Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met him.

28:42 Then Mary was sitting in the house. Now Martha said to Jesus, Lord, if you'd been here, my brother would not have died. And even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give it to you. Jesus said to her, your brother will rise again. Martha said to him, I I know that that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.

29:07 Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me, though he may die, he will live, and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die. And then he... In in my... At least in my mind's eye of it, he turns to Martha's...

29:29 Looks her in the eye and say, do you believe this? Martha? Martha, do you believe this? I think maybe the Lord Jesus might even through the ages be looking at me and you and and saying the same thing to us. Do you believe this?

29:50 Is this a reality to your soul? Jesus had just said, I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?

30:09 Well, I I particularly enjoyed Martha's answer here. I think I think it it it rates it with the great great answers of scripture. She says to him, twenty seventh verse, yes, Lord. That's that's a good thing to say, isn't it? Yes, Lord.

30:29 I believe that you are the Christ, the son of God that was to come into the world. That rates with with Peter's great great confession. I love Peter's confession. I'm going to see if I can quote it to you. Peter Peter said to Jesus, and we have come to believe and to know.

30:53 I I like the way he said that. We have come to believe and to know that you are the Christ, the son of the living God. Pretty close to what Martha said, isn't it? Pretty close. I just love the way Peter says that.

31:06 Well, back to our story here. So so the so jumping ahead a little bit, the the Lord goes and talks to Mary, and then they go out to the grave. And so we're gonna we're gonna jump over to the the thirty eighth verse, and Jesus, groaning in spirit, that's his sympathy. Right? Jesus, groaning in himself, came to the tomb, and it was a cave, and a stone lay against it.

31:37 Jesus said, take away the stone. Martha, the sister of him who was dead said, Lord, by this time, there is a stench for he's been dead four days. Jesus said to her, did I not say to you that if you would believe, you would see the glory of God? Now, I I was trying to grapple with this, what what is Jesus actually saying here, and and I I believe the Lord Jesus was saying, you know, you you gotta believe. Matter of fact, if you don't believe me enough that you're going to go and move that stone out of the way, this can't happen.

32:17 It's only... If you wanna see the glory of God, you have to believe me. And so and so Martha, no doubt, does believe Jesus, and so so she she quickly straightens up. And then they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying, and Jesus and Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, father, I thank you that you've heard me, and I know that you always hear me, but because of the people who are standing by, I said this, that they may believe that you sent me. And so just understand, we gotta understand that that he's got a purpose in all of this, that they may believe that you sent me.

33:00 Important. Important. Important. Now when he had said these things, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with grave clothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth.

33:17 Jesus said to them, lose him and let him go. So so in the... I I've often I've often wondered on in this story. So they said he was bound hand and foot, but he came forth. So so I often wonder what did he do?

33:33 Did he did did he... If he's got his legs tied together, did he like take two inch steps or what did he did he hop? Did he hop out? Or did he crawl out? How did he get out?

33:43 I don't know, but it must have been an awesome moment for those people when the dead man comes out of the grave. Now I have often thought that as as the as the Lord Jesus, as as or as as they pulled that rock out of place, now remember, Mary had said, Lord, he stinks, and and I I think that was a reality too. He he was dead. He was dead. Okay.

34:12 And and when they opened that stone up, that place, I would I would guess that anybody that was anywhere near close was holding their their nose. It it it would have been kind of terrible. And and and yet, the Lord Jesus in his glory, in his glorious power over death itself, he commands the dead man to come alive. Lazarus, come forth. And he and he comes out, and and I also thought, you know, he he...

34:42 It says that the cloth wrapped around his face, he probably couldn't even see. I mean, he he's in pretty bad shape. So the Lord Jesus, he he immediately says, lose him and let us let him go. And I've often wondered if maybe that pictures the the situation where where we'll say that that some person who has been in the depths of sin, drug addiction, whatever it is, and that person is saved, and they come into the assembly of Christians, and so to speak, they're bound with the grave clothes of their lifestyle, and and perhaps perhaps the application that we could use is that God would have you and me as as his his ministers in this world to to minister to that person in such a way that that the grave clothes are taken off and and the person... The the cloth is pulled off the eyes so that the person can see, and and that that which bound their hands so that they can do for the Lord, and that which bound their feet so that they could go for the Lord.

35:57 It's an appropriate application, isn't it? Now into our story itself, it says, then many of the Jews who had come to Mary and seen the things that Jesus did believed in him, and that was his purpose wasn't it? Didn't he even say that was his purpose that you might believe that you might believe that they might believe that you sent me. Many of the Jews who had come to Mary when they had seized these things, Jesus did believed in him. I would if I'd have been there, wouldn't you?

37:21 He he nails through his hands, through his feet, and then in in in our mind's eye we see that cross lifted up and perhaps thunking down in the hole. What terrible pain and agony was associated with this crucifixion. And then we then we have we have the the scorn that was cast upon him, the fortieth verse, and and say... Or the thirty ninth verse, and those who passed by blasphemed him, wagging their heads and saying, you who destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself. If you are the son of God, come down from the cross.

37:57 Likewise, the chief priest also mocking with the scribes and elders said, he saved others himself. He cannot save. If he's the king of Israel, let him now come down from the cross and we will believe him. He trusted in God, let him deliver him if he will have him for he said, am the son of God. Terrible, blasphemous statements that these people made.

38:20 But we still have to ask the question, why did Jesus stay on the cross? If you're the son of God, come down from the cross. Why did he stay on the cross? Well, actually, their statements actually reveal the the the reason, don't they? So so in the forty second verse, they taunt him.

38:38 He saved others himself he cannot save. And doesn't that reveal the actual the actual problem? If he if he didn't stay there on the cross, we couldn't be saved. You and I couldn't be saved unless he stayed on the cross, but he did stay on the cross. Praise his name.

39:01 He did stay on the cross. For time's sake, we're gonna go ahead. Forty forty fifth verse, now from the sixth hour until the ninth hour there was darkness over all the land. So imagine this sort of a surreal, scene of the these three men that are up here, they're being crucified, and and and you're perhaps we're standing there, and we're viewing this scene, and matter of fact, maybe we would allow ourselves to be the centurion that watches. He's the one that had that job to do it, terrible job of cruelty, and and and yet he views the Lord Jesus.

39:41 He hears him say, he hears him say, father forgive them for they know not what they do. He he understand. Wow, I've never seen a man like this before. And and then he's he's standing there pondering this and and perhaps wondering what's going on, and and then then this darkness starts to come down over the place. And and this was no normal eclipse because it lasted three hours.

40:10 A normal eclipse is, what is it, ten, fifteen minutes of real darkness? This was no normal eclipse. This was the hand of God, and and and so so it gets dark, and perhaps if you're this this centurion, you might even have a question in your mind was, is this the end of the world? Is this it? You know, and and will it get light again?

40:33 But it did, of course, we know after three hours, and and so so he's he's already awed by this, and then and then he he he sees the Lord Jesus. It it says that the Lord Jesus cried out with a loud voice in the fiftieth verse and yielded up his spirit. And it says it says, behold the veil of the temple was torn in two in top from top to the bottom and the earthquake and the rocks were split, and you're the centurion, and and the rocks are breaking around you, and you're possibly afraid that they're gonna land on top of you, and it's a terrible sound. The rocks are cracking up, and and and you're afraid. And finally, the earthquake is over, and you're standing there, and you're looking, and he probably has the same sort of sense that those disciples had when when the Lord Jesus calmed the sea.

41:30 He looks up he looks up at the Lord Jesus, and he just breaks out. He says, surely this is the son of God. And and perhaps we would want to draw the same conclusion that that the that the centurion drew. Now we have the resurrection. We'll just spend a moment on that twenty eighth verse, second twenty eighth chapter, second verse.

42:41 Now we're gonna take just a minute to go over the Gospel of John. We're going to read we're going to read the story of Thomas. Now on the day of resurrection, the Lord Jesus appeared, we're we're in the twentieth chapter of John, the Lord Jesus appears to to the the 12, actually 10 because Thomas was not with them and and Judas was dead, but the Lord Jesus appears to 10 of the of the 12 disciples and and reveals himself to him. Thomas wasn't there, and then they tell him about it afterwards, and and and we're... Chapter 20 verse 21.

43:22 Now Thomas called the twin, one of the 12 was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore said to him, we have seen the Lord. So he said unto them, unless I see his hands on his hands, the print of the nails and put my finger in the print of the nails and put my hand to his side, I will not believe. After... And after eight days, the disciples were again inside and Thomas was with them.

43:49 And Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst and said, peace to you. And then he said to Thomas, reach reach your finger here. Look at my hands. Reach your hand here and put it into my side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.

44:09 And I I do like Thomas's remark. Thomas says to him, my Lord and my God. Thomas called the Lord Jesus God. My Lord and my God. Well, was good, but the Lord Jesus has a bit of a rebuke for Thomas for not believing.

44:25 But that that that rebuke that he gives is is is interesting. The twenty ninth verse, Jesus said to him, Thomas, because you've seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed. And and dear dear ones here today, this this is a blessing that seems to me to be sent to you and me today. This is a blessing that God sends.

44:53 So so basically God would maybe be saying to us, don't be like Thomas. You you... I'm I'm not gonna see it unless I can put my my hand into his side. Don't be like Thomas. Believe what God has said about the precious savior and believe it, and and Jesus is blessed are those that have not seen and yet have believed.

45:13 So so he gives us his word, doesn't he? Now interesting is in connection with this that the apostle John stops in two verses further down. He stops and he and he tells his purpose in writing the gospel of John. He says, these things are written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name. The the resurrection is God's stamp, another stamp, isn't it, of approval?

45:53 Approved. God's stamp of approval on the work of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross. Praise the Lord for the resurrection. In in Matthew, it says that that that he was declared... Jesus was declared to be the son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead, a stamp of approval.

46:20 Now I I want to go just back to Philippians two, just read the verses and then close the meeting. Philippians chapter two where we read last week. Philippians chapter two, we're gonna start with verse eight. I'm just gonna read these. And and being found, this is Jesus, being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.

46:54 Therefore, God has highly exalted him and given him the name which is above every name. I I really love the way John said that, the name. It's it's like the name that's so special that it's called the name, the name which is above every name. I wondered, does does that mean it's some other name? And the answer is no, it's the name of Jesus.

47:16 Because the next verse says, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of things in heaven, things on earth, things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. The love of Christ compels us or some other translations, the love of Christ constrains us. It's that which energizes us. Let's pray. Father God, we thank you for the Lord Jesus.

47:56 We thank you that he died on the cross for our sins, that we might that we might be saved, that that it involves such terrible suffering and yet such victory. We thank you for the Lord Jesus, and we ask you Lord that we might be stirred up every one of us. If if there's an unbeliever here, we pray that they'd be stirred up to come to the savior who gave his all for us. And for those of us have as have trusted, Lord, we pray that that we would no longer live for ourselves, but for him that died for us and rose again from the dead. We we just ask you, Lord, that you would be with us and motivate us in our lives to serve you acceptably in godly fear.

48:41 We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.