INTRODUCTION: "We serve a risen Savior!" Thus begins one of our hymns. On this day which the world sets aside to remember the resurrection of our Lord, let us consider his coming to this earth and what he gave up to provide a way of salvation for us. Let us remember again what we are to remember all year long.

BODY

I. OUR LORD'S HOME

A. Our Lord came from Heaven, the dwelling place of God.

1. He had lived from all eternity with the heavenly Father.

2. John 16:27_28_ " "for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me, and have believed that I came forth from God. {28} "I came forth from the Father and have come into the world. Again, I leave the world and go to the Father."

3. Before conception, you did not exist. Before the Holy Spirit conceived Jesus in Mary's womb, He did exist. 

a. John 8:56_58_ " "Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad." {57} Then the Jews said to Him, "You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?" {58} Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM."

B. Our Lord was equal with the Father from eternity.

1. Philippians 2:6_ " who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God,

2. John 1:1-2

3. Colossians 1:15_17 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. 17 And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.

4. Hebrews 1:3 - " (Christ) who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person,..." 

A. Our Lord emptied himself

1. Philippians 2:7 - "but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men."

2. He left Heaven for earth.

3. Jesus could have stayed in Heaven, and enjoyed the entire splendor which comes with being God the Son. Instead, he chose to leave behind the glory that was His, and come to earth. 

4. Our Lord did not give up his divinity. He did give up His Heavenly glory. He did give up His Heavenly riches. He did give up the independent use of His Godly authority and became subservient to and dependent on the Father.

B. Our Lord had to learn what it was like to live as a man.

1. In Heaven there was no pain, no sorrow, and no discomfort. But he felt all of these!

a. Matthew 8:20 - And Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head." 

b. Matthew 4:1-11 Jesus suffered the pain of fasting and thirst for 40 days.

c. John 19:28 - "I thirst"

d. John 11:35 - "Jesus wept."

2. Jesus learned for the first time what it was like to have his will disagree with his Father's.

a. Hebrews 5:7_9 who, in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and was heard because of His godly fear, 8 though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered. 9 And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him,

b. Matthew 26:39 - He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, "O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will."

III. OUR LORD'S HUMILIATION

A. Our Lord suffered the humiliation of the cross.

1. Galatians 3:13 - Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree"),

2. There is no pretty way of execution, but the cross was especially terrible. A condemned man would be scourged first and then forced to carry his own means of execution. Then he would be either strapped or nailed to the cross and raised up, being suspended in the air. Already in a weakened state, the condemned man would slowly suffocate. Sometimes it took days to day. The condemned man would sometime hallucinate because the oxygen supply would be cut off to the brain. Sometimes the legs would be broken to hasten death. This was considered humane means of hastening death. 

B. Our Lord suffered agony for us.

1. Humiliated by his enemies.

a. Matthew 26:65_68 Then the high priest tore his clothes, saying, "He has spoken blasphemy! What further need do we have of witnesses? Look, now you have heard His blasphemy! 66 "What do you think?" They answered and said, "He is deserving of death." 67 Then they spat in His face and beat Him; and others struck Him with the palms of their hands, 68 saying, "Prophesy to us, Christ! Who is the one who struck You?"

2. Betrayed by his dearest friend.

a. Luke 22:54-62

3. Mocked and beaten by pagan soldiers.

a. Matthew 27:27-31

4. Suffered on the cross.

a. Hung between two thieves, reviled by his enemies, abandoned by his friends, suffering intense physical pain. 

5. The greatest agony, being separated from his Father.
a. Matthew 27:45_46 Now from the sixth hour until the ninth hour there was darkness over all the land. 46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?" that is, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?"

6. Isaiah 53:3_5 He is despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. 4 Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted. 5 But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed. 

IV. OUR LORD'S HONOR.

A. Our Lord's was given honor above every other being in the Universe.

1. "Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name," (verse 9)

2. Through the power of the resurrection, Jesus is now Lord of Lord and King of Kings.

3. Acts 17:31 - "because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead."

4. Revelation 19:11-16

B. What a glorious homecoming that must have been, when the King of Kings return to his home!

1. Ephesians 4:8_10 Therefore He says: "When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, And gave gifts to men." 9 (Now this, "He ascended"; what does it mean but that He also first descended into the lower parts of the earth? 10 He who descended is also the One who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.)

2. 1 Peter 3:21_22 There is also an antitype which now saves us; baptism (not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God), through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 22 who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers having been made subject to Him.

3. Hebrews 12:2 - looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.