GOD'S SUPERMAN

88 - God’s Superman
December 23, 1973 
Pastor Henry F. Kulp






Philippians 2: 5 - 8 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: 7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: 8 
And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

Here we have one of the most important Scriptures that we can study and understand. It has to do with the hypostatic union. The most neglected and yet one of the most important subjects in the Bible. I am sure that most of you say, what does that mean?

1/ It is a doctrine over which there has been much controversy since the beginning of the Age of Grace. Most cults have not understood this truth.

2/ In the person of Christ, there are two natures inseparably united. WITHOUT MIXTURE, WITHOUT LOSS, OR TRANSFER OF THESE ATTRIBUTES— WITHOUT LOSS OF SEPARATE IDENTITY. Christ is both God and man. He has identity as God and identity as man.

3/ The cults say Jesus Christ is Deity and not humanity. Or, they say He is humanity and not Deity. They cannot understand this union. Some say He was God, but when He became man, He gave up His Deity and, of course, this is impossible.

4/ In vs.6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: He was in the form of God. Here it speaks of His Deity. HE THOUGHT IT NOT FORGERY TO USE GOD’S SIGNATURE WITH HIS LIPS. 

He kept saying, “I AM”. John 18: 8 Jesus answered, I have told you that I am he: if therefore ye seek me, let these go their way:

Here Christ says, “I AM”. If He is not God, then He is guilty of a terrible deed. He was guilty of forgery. If I go down to the bank and I want some money because I need some money, but I haven’t any money in the bank, and I know I haven’t any money in the bank. I pick up a check and write out an amount--say $5,000, and I know that you have $5,000 in the bank, so I sign your name, and then cash the check against your account. I am breaking the law--I am a forger. I am guilty of a crime and spend time in prison. If Christ used the Name of God and He is not God, then He is not worth believing in, trusting in. He is a criminal.

5/ Satan desired to be equal with God. Isaiah 14: 14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.

And he was the highest of all God’s creation. He was the anointed cherub, he was the sum, full of beauty and wisdom, but he wasn’t satisfied. He wanted to be like God. BUT ONLY GOD CAN BE LIKE GOD. SO, THEREFORE, JESUS CHRIST MUST BE GOD.

6/ You remember Eve. This was her sin. Genesis 3: 5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.

She thought it was not robbery to be equal with God. The only One who can make that statement is Jesus Christ.

Now, I would like you to see vs. 7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: He took upon Him the form of a slave and was made in the likeness of men.

LIKENESS
HOM-OY-O-MAH. It means He was like a member of the human race, but also, He was different. In that in His humanity, He was superior to any man who ever lived. No member of the human race was as strong as He, as great as He, as intelligent as He, or as brave, or anything else.

8/ HE HAD THE SAME PHYSICAL STRUCTURE, BUT HE WAS DIFFERENT—A male of the species.

How I dislike religious art—Christ with a scrawny, weak body. He was the most powerful that ever lived. In His humanity, He was a man in every sense of the word, but He was the greatest Man who ever lived. He was a superman.

9/ Let me show you a few of the reasons why He became a man:

    1/ TO BE OUR SAVIOUR 
He died to be our Saviour. He could not die as Deity, Jesus Christ as God is Eternal Life, and Eternal Life cannot die. As God, He is omnipresent. In other words, everywhere present, and He could not reduce Himself to one place, the cross, if He were not a man.

    2/ MEDIATOR  
I Timothy 2: 5, 6 And if a man also strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned, except he strive lawfully. 6 The husbandman that laboureth must be first partaker of the fruits. Jesus Christ in His divine nature could not be a Mediator. He had to be a man. 

Let us look at Job 9: 1, 2, 32, 33. Then Job answered and said, 2 I know it is so of a truth: but how should man be just with God? 32 For he is not a man, as I am, that I should answer him, and we should come together in judgment. 33 Neither is there any daysman betwixt us, that might lay his hand upon us both.

A Mediator must be equal with both parties of the Mediation. He had to be both God and man. The only way to bridge the gap between God and man was to become a man. As God He could not. But as God and man, He could.

    3/ KING OF THE JEWS 
One of the promises given to David was that from Him would come One Who would be King. The program of Israel was four-fold: a land, a seed, a throne and a king.

Zechariah 14: 9 And the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one.

Psalms 72: 11 Yea, all kings shall fall down before him: all nations shall serve him.
As Deity, He could not be the King of the world. He had to be a Man to be King.

10/ John 8: 58 Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am. We have His Deity. In John 19: 28 After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst. He said, “I thirst.” Deity cannot thirst.

John 8: 39, 40 They answered and said unto him, Abraham is our father. Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham’s children, ye would do the works of Abraham. 40 But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God: this did not Abraham. 

John 4: 6 Now Jacob's well waas there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well: and it was about the sixth hour. 7 There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink. 

He grew tired (just as a man) and needed sleep. Being in the fashion of a man he needed sleep and water.

11/ Philippians 2: 8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

FOUND
U-RISK-O. And, it means recognized. Having been recognized in fashion. And the word Fashion, in the Greek SKAY-MAH. THIS IS AN OVERT LIKENESS. This Scripture should read, Having been recognized in outward appearance as a Man, He humbled Himself. Again, Deity cannot be humbled. Only a Creature, or man can be humbled. This is another reason for Him becoming a man.

12/ OBEDIENT
WHO-PAY-KOSE means total obedience, total submission to authority. In this case it is to the Father’s authority as a Judge, as God judged the sin of the world in Christ, and it should be to the extent of death, even the death of the cross. He didn’t die a heroic death. He didn’t die a normal death. It isn’t a matter that He just died, but that He died an accursed death. He didn’t die quietly among HIs friends, or on the battlefield, but He died as a criminal. In our day, the gallows, or the electric chair would be the same.

13/ It was a death of shame--that is why it annoys me to see women with crosses as jewelry, for that seems so beautiful. The cross is not a thing of beauty, the cross is a thing of shame. Galatians 3:13. Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:

14/ Philippians 2: 9 - 11 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: 10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; 11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

THE SON OF GOD HONORED
Because of all this, He has been highly exalted, and none of this would have been possible if He had not been born in Bethlehem of the Virgin.

AMEN

Ref: 12/23/1973 / 88 - GOD'S SUPERMAN / 4/10/2020