Open your Bible if you would
to Philippians chapter 2. Philippians chapter 2. The name
of the message is humility of mind or humbleness of mind, humbleness
of mind, humbleness of mind. We'll continue our study again
in this wonderful book. Paul again is writing this letter
from house imprisonment in Rome and he's writing to the Philippian
believers. He spent some time with the Philippians church and
they became very dear to him, like what we have here, very
dear to each other. They're inquiring about how he
is. They're concerned about him being
in prison. And he's told them already in chapter one that I'm
in prison for the furtherance of the gospel. And then we saw
that truth come to life when we read about the Praetorian
Guard, and I know I keep repeating this, but it's amazing, and how
the gospel spread to the Praetorian Guard, and then how the saints
in Rome were encouraged, and so much so that they became bold
even in their professions amongst the people. And think of this,
they were able to go and visit Paul face to face too. They were
able to go and visit him, but now Paul's entered into section
two and he's brought forth some precious, precious truths in
chapter one, verse 27, all the way to, all the way to Philippians
chapter two, verse four. And now we're about to embark
upon one of the most incredible portions of scriptures. And I
thank God, the Holy Spirit, for allowing Paul to pen these words
because we're going to see in the next few weeks, this is one
of the greatest passages about our King, about his deity and
about his humanity, about how he emptied himself. The word
reputation in the scripture we're going to read is empty oneself. He left the throne of heaven
to come to this sin-cursed world in total obedience to the Father. And even in the garden, he says,
nevertheless not my will, but thy will be done. He says, if
the Father be so, let this cup come past me. Nevertheless not
my will be done, but thy will be done. He was in full submission
to the Father's will. Still God, but in God the Son
in full submission to the Father and to His will. And he did all
that for us, beloved. He's the sinless one, dying for
sinners. Now, strife and vainglory had
come within the church and divisions. We saw that last week. There
were divisions and the Holy Spirit of God puts before us this wonderful
chapter on the cure for things. And last week we saw The cure
for divisions and strife and vainglory is to look to Christ. And then also to esteem others
better than yourselves. And to look at our brothers and
sisters not just as sinners, because we're all sinners, right?
But to look at each other in Christ. I'm no better than you
guys because we're saved by the same blood. We're born again
by the same spirit. See how important it is what
Brother Scott said about the ground at the foot of the cross
is level. You know when I was in religions I heard preachers
preach about, well you have to do this, you have to do this.
Right? When the Lord showed me grace
and I started listening to grace preachers, you know what I heard?
We. We, us. See, it's not preaching at you. It's preaching among the brethren. We. We. I need to look to Christ
more. I need to see my brothers and
sisters better than myself. Right? And God gives us grace to do
that, doesn't he? Especially when we see each other
in Christ. Now, it's not hard. I'll tell
you what, it's not hard to find fault with me. And it's not hard
to find fault in other people if you're looking for it. But
you know what's hard? To not see their fault. And how
do we do that? See them in Christ. That's my
brother and sister in Christ. Oh, they're struggling. They're hurting. And I love them. I love them. And come alongside
them. Come alongside them. So Paul's been bringing that
forth by inspirational Holy Spirit of God. And we've seen in verse 3 of
chapter 2 that the Holy Spirit has Paul penned the words about
us, let each esteem other better than themselves. So again this comes about not
by something we do naturally, because naturally we're fault
finders, naturally. We are. We are. Sit around unsaved people long
enough and you'll hear them complain about all different things. And
we're not immune to that, are we? Because it's in our flesh. But if we look at things from
a spiritual point of view, we won't complain as much. I'll
never forget one time I was grumbling about the weather. And this is
just me, I'll tell you what happened to me. I was grumbling about
the weather. Man, I was. I don't like, I'll be honest
with you. I'm not a big fan of the rain, okay? I'm just not
a big fan. I love spring, but I'm just not
a big fan of rain. And it was pouring here one day.
It was just pouring out here in the spring one day. And I'm
reading, I started reading Pink's Sovereignty of God. And in that book, he said, well,
if you're murmuring about the weather, you're murmuring about
God's sovereignty. And oh my goodness. I don't murmur about God's sovereignty
anymore. Oh, it's wonderful. It's snowing
out. Praise God. But you see, your perspective
changes, doesn't it? Because the water, Neil, as a
farmer, they need water. I don't need water. I got plenty
of it. I just turn the tap on. I got lots of it, right? But
they need water for their crops. So I may be praying for sunshine
and Neil may be praying for rain. And God will do whatever he will
in his sovereign will, but isn't that amazing? So I don't murmur
about the weather anymore. Oh my, Lord shut my mouth with
that. Let's read from verses 3 to verse
11 now. Again, this is one of the greatest
passages of the Christology of Christ. Oh my, this is amazing. Talks about his kingship. Talks
about his humility. Remember, humility is him becoming
a man. Oh, what humility. He's God. The Word of God and glory, everything's
subject to him. And he leaves heaven to save
you and I, Brother Brian. Save you, my dear sisters. Isn't
that amazing? It's absolutely amazing. So let's
read this. Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory,
but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than
themselves. Look not every man on his own
things, but every man also on the things of others. Let this
mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. Now, of course,
this isn't the mind of God in his purpose and his plan. This
is what we see of Christ upon the earth. He went about doing
good, didn't he? He went about doing good. And
we know there's none good outside of Christ. Right? Let's keep
that in mind. Who being in the form of God,
so he's God the Son, thought it not equal, a robbery to be
equal with God. So he didn't deny his deity because
he's God. When he said before Abraham was,
I am. He pronounced to the Jews in
John chapter 8 that I'm God. I'm the great I am. So he didn't think it was robbery
to declare that he was equal with God, because he's God the
Son. And remember there's God the
Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. And all three,
their power is the same. Their might is the same. They're
all God. They're all God. But look at
this, but made himself of no reputation. Reputation there
in the Greek is he emptied himself. He emptied himself. So think,
he was rich. He's king of kings and lord of
lords. And he becomes a man and he doesn't even have a place
to lay his head. Now we have homes we can go to, right? And
pillow our head. He had nowhere to go. And he's
the creator of all the universe. Oh my. He owns everything, but
he had nowhere to And you know the picture, too,
of the world not wanting Christ, the picture of it, too, is seen
in there's no room for Him in the end. No room for you, Christ. And
that's how the world is, right? Even before we were saved, think
of, we had no room for the Lord. I'm too busy doing my own thing.
My, oh my. Praise God. Praise God he intervened
in our life, eh? Praise God he saved us. Look
at this. But made himself of no reputation,
and took upon him the form of a servant. So he, number one,
he's a servant. Who's he a servant to? He's a
servant to God. He made himself submissible to
God's will. And it was God's will, right?
Thou shall call his name Jesus for he shall save his people
from their sins. So it was always the will of
God that Christ would go to the cross and die. We know that says
that wicked man took him by wicked hands and slew him. But it was
all according to the foreknowledge of God and the will and purpose
of God. Because we wouldn't be saved
otherwise would we? There'd be no way for us to be saved. took
upon the form of a servant, look at this, and was made in the
likeness of man. He's fully man and fully God. And think of this. He, the scripture says, when
you looked upon him, there was nothing that stood out about
him. You know, some men and women are just spectacular. They're
models and all that, right? With beauty and all that. This
is the king of kings. And he took upon him a body that
he just looked like the everyday man. Now how that's a picture, remember,
of the temple in the wilderness? They said just put badger skins
on it and it looks like every other building in the camp. But
inside it's pure gold. So his humanity, he just looked
like everyone else. But inside, it's pure gold. In him all the fullness of the
Godhead dwelt bodily. My! My oh my! Look at that. Was made in the likeness of man.
Fully man and fully God. And being found in fashion as
a man, he humbled himself. How did he humble himself? By
becoming a man. And also by becoming obedient
to God's law in our room and place. in suffering our wrath
in our room and place. But remember, as he's living
his life, he's fulfilling the law, every jot and tittle of
the law for you and I, beloved of God. Charlie, he was living
that life for us, man. Every single thing that had to
be fulfilled according to God for the ransom of our souls,
he's fulfilling it perfectly. So, so much so that when he dies
on the cross, he cries, it is what? Finished. Finished means finished, doesn't
it? As Big Don used to say, it means getting to the end and
you can't go any further. You just can't. Oh my, look at
this. And became obedient unto death. So he's obedient through his
whole life. And then the law says the soul
that sinneth it must die, but yet he's still the sinless spotless
sacrifice. And then he goes and dies in
our room and place, beloved. Oh my. Our sins are imputed to
him. His perfect righteousness is
imputed to us. The great transfer. And he bears
the wrath of God. Look at this. It says, obedient unto death, even the death of
the cross. The crucifixion. His blood must
be shed, right sister? His blood must be shed to redeem
our eternal souls. Must be. So he goes to Calvary's
cross. And he redeems us, sister. He
redeems our eternal souls. My, what love. What love he has
for us. And now look what, as a result
of his perfect, sin-atoning, substitutionary work in our room
and place, brother, look what it says here. Verse nine, wherefore
God also hath highly exalted him. Where is he right now? Someone
tell me, where is he right now? He's in glory, amen. Amen. He's ruling, isn't he? And he's
reigning right now. And he's exalted, and look at
this, wherefore God, God the Father did this as a result of
his perfect work, hath highly exalted him, and given him a
name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus, every
knee shall bow of things in heaven, that's all the things visible
and invisible in heaven, and things in earth, and things under
the earth. Now every tongue should confess,
look at this, that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the
Father. What do we confess now that we
never confessed before? Jesus Christ is Lord! Praise
God! And you know what? Everyone who ever
lived, whether they believed in Him or not, now think of this,
This is talking about the Great White Throne. Everyone, all the
believers and all the unbelievers, everyone's going to bow their
knee. Everyone. Think of that. Hitler's
going to bow his knee. Stalin's going to bow his knee.
That fellow over in Cambodia killed all those people. He's
going to bow his knee. And think of this, good folks
who thought they were good enough to go to heaven are going to
bow their knee. Religious folks are going to bow their knee. Folks who says, oh Lord, we did
all these things in Matthew 7, for you all, and he says, depart
from me, you cursed, you workers of iniquity, I never knew you.
They're going to bow their knee, beloved. And they're going to
say with us, the redeemed of the Lord, they're going to say,
Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. And
then you know what we're going to be doing for all eternity?
Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Some
folks say, won't you get tired of worshiping in heaven? Oh no,
we'll never get tired of worshiping in heaven, will we? To see the
King? To see the one who bled for us,
brother, face to face? To see our loved ones who died
in Christ? And our friends who died in Christ? My, oh my, it'll be wonderful.
My, I think of different folks who've gone home just from me
being here, since I've been here. And even the beloved ones who
went home before I got here. We're all going to be reunited,
and we're all going to look to our King, and we're going to
say, Jesus Christ is Lord. Glory be to you, God. Glory be
to you, Father. My, oh, my. We're such undeserving
sinners, and yet you have mercy on us. Oh, my. My, oh, my. I get tired of worshiping
Christ. Never, never, never, never, never,
never. Especially when we have no sin.
My goodness. Our bodies get tired here on
earth, don't they? But they won't get tired up there. Oh my. So look at verse five here,
which says, let this mind be in you which was also in Christ
Jesus. Paul's bringing forth here the humility and the humbleness
of our great Savior. He humbled himself. He became
a man. God himself. We can't fathom that. My daughter
was asking me, what was that word you said, hyperstatic union?
I said, well, that's a fancy theologian word for just saying
the God-man. So I just say God-man. He's the God-man, isn't he? He's
the God-man. And the God-man came to die for sinners. Praise
his mighty name. Praise his mighty name. He died
for the sins of his people. In verse 8, we see the humbleness
of our Savior manifested in the fact that He became obedient
unto death, even the death of the cross. What humbleness! He's
the sinless one, and He's doing this all for you and I, beloved,
sinners by birth, nature, and choice, that we might be with
Him in glory forever. Now that's the greatest manifestation
of love, isn't it? And think of how much we love
our spouses, and we love our children, we love our grandchildren.
But think of, this love far surpasses all that. This is eternal love. Do you know God's loved his people
for maternity? With an unchanging love, even
when we were dead in sins, he still loved us. That's hard to fathom, isn't
it? And the way he loves us now is
the same way that he loved us then. and that he's loved us
in eternity. And it's the same way he's going
to love us all the way into the eternity future. I used to think
in religion, oh, man, I must have done something wrong. God's
mad at me. Oh, I must have done something wrong. I didn't do
something. I didn't pray for my food or something like that. That's a horrible way to live.
That's a horrible way to live. But what freedom we have to realize
that God's not mad at us. His wrath has been extinguished
against us by Christ our Savior in his precious blood. Isn't
that wonderful? And that God has always loved
us. My, oh my, that's amazing. That's
spectacular, isn't it? That's just amazing. And think of the sinless one
dying for saviors, God incarnate in the flesh, dying for undeserving
sinners. And he alone by himself, by his
perfect work, and by his merit alone, obtained eternal redemption
for chosen sinners such as we. So this mind of Christ is humbleness,
lowliness of mind, humbleness of mind, esteeming others better
than yourselves. Again, by nature we don't do
that, beloved. But that's the fruit of the spirit working in
us, right? Love, joy, peace, gentleness. It's all worked in
us by Christ. Look at verse 3, let nothing
be done through strife or vainglory but in loneliness of mind let
each esteem others better than themselves. Let's read verses
2 to 4 because they're linked up with verse 5. So let's read
verses 2 to 4, fulfill you my joy that you be like minded having
the same love being of one accord and of one mind. Let nothing
be done through strife or vainglory but in loneliness of mind let
each esteem others better than themselves. Look, not every man
on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.
So we see in verse 2 to 4 that Paul's exhorted the Philippian
believers to think the same thing, to be united. And the only way
we can be united is to be united in Christ, right? That's the
only way. That's the only way. So he's
exhorting them. He's exhorting them to have the
same love, the same heart agreement, the same unity of the spirit,
and then to consider themselves, consider others as excelling
over them. Listen to this in the, oh, I
don't have it there yet, but in the Greek literal Bible, it's
esteem others to be excelling more than you, to be better than
yourselves. in an excelling way. When we
see ourselves as the chief of sinners, it's not hard to see
other people in that light, is it? Right? Oh my. So verse five. Verse five is a really neat verse
because it ties into two to four, but it also, it ties into verses
five to eight as well. It's a conjunction verse because
it just ties them all in together. Right? Remember conjunction,
junction, what's your function? Right? It ties it, it's like,
it's joining that section together. It shows us, it shows us us,
let us be of humbleness of mind, and then it shows us an example.
By Christ. By Christ. It's wonderful. So it reaches back to 2-4 for
its definition. And it reaches ahead to 6 to
8 for its illustration. You see? And we're going to see
that here. And Paul does not give all that is in the mind
of Christ in these verses. Not at all. He just gives us
an example. The Holy Spirit gives us an illustration
of the humbleness of Christ. The humbleness of Christ. Because
when we think of ourselves lower than others and esteem others
better than ourselves, think of Christ. He's the God-man.
He's far excelling than any of us. And yet His love constrained
Him to go to the cross. His eternal love for us constrained
Him to go to the cross and die for us. That was the motivation,
beloved. To die for his bride, and we're
the bride of Christ. All the elect of all the ages,
Old Testament and New, the bride of Christ. Oh, it's wonderful. My, oh my. This passage is known
among scholars as the Cunanese passage, speaking of the self-emptying
of the Son of God. The self-emptying of the Son
of God as He became incarnate in humanity. The word kenosis
is being the Greek word meaning to empty. So it's known as the
kenosis passage, the emptying of Christ, the emptying of the
Son of God. And remember, he's the bread
of life, right? We need bread to live, don't we? Well, as believers,
we need bread and we feast on he who is the bread of life,
the Lord Jesus Christ, right? There's no such sustenance for
faith, love, patience, joy, as living daily upon the Lord Jesus
Christ. And that's what the born-again,
blood-washed soul desires. We desire to live on Christ,
to feast on Christ, who is the bread of life. And we've tasted. We who are the redeemed have
tasted that the Lord is gracious, isn't it? We've tasted that.
And the scripture says this, in the word of God, oh, taste
and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is a man or woman that
trusts in Him. Blessed. I'm looking at a bunch
of blessed people. Isn't that wonderful? Oh my. So let this same attitude be
in us, this humbleness of mind. Let it be in us that was in Christ. Let Christ be our example of
humility. Let Christ be our example of
lowliness. The fact that he left the glories
and splendors of heaven to come to this sin-cursed world. Let's
read verse 5 again. Let this mind be in you which
also or which was also in Christ Jesus. See the word this in verse
5. It shows that this exhortation
reaches back to verses 2 to 4. Well the word who in this verse or not not who well Well, this
in verse 5, it connects it to 2 to 4, but it also connects
it to verses 5 and 8. So let's read verses 5 to 8 together. Let this mind be in you, which
was also in Christ Jesus. And then it says in verse 6,
who, who. So that word who there connects
verse 5 to the next passages, to the next part of the portion
of scripture, which is verses 6 to 8. actually even further down but
we'll read 6 to 8 for here, who being in the form of God thought
it not equal a robbery to be equal with God but made himself
of no reputation emptied himself and took upon him the form of
a servant and was made in the likeness of man and being found
in the fashion as a man he humbled himself and became obedient unto
death even the death of the cross. So the word again This connects
verse 5 and the word who in verse 6 connects verse 5 to verses
6 to 8 and the words this connects it to verses 2 and 4. So again
it's an interchanging verse, right? It's a conjunction verse. It joins all those verses together. All those verses together. My oh my. See the words let See the words, let mind be? They're a translation of one
Greek word which means to have understanding, to have understanding,
to be wise, to direct one's mind to a thing, to seek or to strive
for. We've been made wise by God to
the things of God. And when we were natural men
and women, we had no idea of spiritual things. But when you're born again by
the Holy Spirit of God, God makes you wise unto salvation, which
means he gives you a desire to flee to Christ. He reveals to
us that we're sinners in desperate need of Christ. And He makes
us will in the day of His power, and it happens just like that. We see that balm of Gilead. Oh,
Lord, I need You. I need You, Lord. We never cried
that out before, did we? Now we do. Oh, it's wonderful. So the word, let mind be, always
seems to keep in mind A view in the direction which thought
of a practical kind takes. There's no other Savior but Christ. There's no other way but Christ. We're wise to that now, again,
only because God has given us that wisdom. And remember who
wisdom is in scripture. It's Christ. You read the Proverbs,
it talks about wisdom. That's Christ it's talking about. Oh my. So in other words, you
could, Weiss brings forth that you can translate it, be constantly
thinking this in yourselves. Let this mind be in you. Be constantly
thinking in this way of Christ and his humbleness, his lowliness. And it won't be hard for us to
esteem others better than ourselves then. Oh my. Having this mind in you,
reflect in our own minds the mind of Christ. Let the same purpose inspire
you as was in Christ. Who do we serve? God the Father. Who did Christ serve? God the
Father. Let us be willing to say, Lord,
and we do in our prayers, right? Even when we pray for the salvation
of others. Lord, if it be your will, save him. Lord, if it be
your will, heal him. See, that changed from religion
for me. Because I used to ask God for
things thinking that it was more of a demand than anything. Now
it's like, Lord, please, if you will, have us grow in the grace
and strength and knowledge of you. Right? Please, Lord, if it be your will,
teach us. You know, I pray for the church.
I pray, Lord, please, please have us grow in you. Please keep
cultivating that wonderful spirit of humility and humbleness. Right? Cultivate that love that we have
for one another. He's done it, hasn't he? It's
been amazing. And it's not because of my prayers. It's because God,
the Holy Spirit's working. It's nothing we can ask and he
can do whatever he pleases, right? But he puts it on our hearts,
doesn't he? We pray for one another. We hear someone going through
stuff. Oh Lord, please, please, please give them grace. Please
be with them. Even though we know they're a believer. You
know. My oh my. So the sum total of thought in
this exhortation seems to be that of the urging of the Philippians
to follow in their own lives the distinctive virtues of the
Lord Jesus Christ spoken of in verses two and four. Don't do
anything for vainglory, right? Don't have strife or divisions. Esteem others better than yourselves. And it's a habitual direction
of our Lord's mind with reference to self. That is the Apostle's
thinking. It's an attitude of humility.
Think of the great humility of Christ in emptying himself. Made
himself of no repetition. Emptied himself. And became submissive
to the Father's will. A servant, the scripture says. The King became a servant. The one whose will we cry, if
it be your will, Lord, became submissive to the Father's will.
My, oh my, oh my, oh my. Why? That we might be redeemed
by the shedding of his precious blood. That we might be born
again by the Holy Spirit of God, the great Comforter who our King
sends. Oh my. And Christ lived a life of self-denial,
really, didn't he? He denied himself. My oh my. And that was manifested all through
the life of Christ. The giving of himself as a ransom
for our souls. Listen to what it says in Acts
chapter 10. We just read this a few weeks back in our study.
How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with
power, who went about doing good. He went about doing good, and
healing all that were oppressed of the devil, for God was with
him. He went about doing good. And in his life, we see the selflessness
of Christ. I was talking to Crystal this
week, and I said, you know, we are all selfish. Even the believer,
after they're saved, we're still selfish. We still are. A little baby, why do they cry?
They want attention, right? My oh my. So, selflessness and the humility
of Christ is brought forth. And we're going to see it brought
forth even more. Turn if you would to Romans chapter 15. We're
going to close with this. Romans chapter 15. Think about
Christ's humility. He left His throne in glory. And he came to give his life
for ransom. And he sealed our pardon, beloved, with his precious
blood. That's how he sealed our pardon, with the shedding of
his precious blood. And Christ is the key that unlocks
the rich treasures of all great doctrine in the scriptures. He's the key. He's the hub. I
love Detroit, because Detroit's like a hub. All the roads go
from the hub. He's the hub, beloved. He's the
center. We're like spokes. And actually, all the great doctrinal
truths are like spokes. Right? But he's the hub, isn't
he? He's where they all find the
center. Look at this in Romans chapter 15. We're closed with
this. This is another exhortation by Paul to the Romans. We'll
read verses 1 to 7. We then that are strong ought
to bear the infirmities of the weak and not to please ourselves.
Let every one of us please his neighbor for his good to edification. For even Christ pleased not himself,
but as it was written, the reproaches of them that reproached thee
fell upon me. For whatsoever things were written
aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience
and comfort of the scriptures might have hope. Look at that,
the scriptures are written for our learning. Now the God of
patience and consolation, that's comfort, grant you to be like-minded
one toward another according to Christ Jesus, that ye may
be with one mind and one mouth, glorify God, even the Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Wherefore, receive ye one another
as Christ also received us to the glory of God. So may God
grant us strength and grace, beloved, to be of humbleness
of mind and lowliness of mind. What a Savior, what a Redeemer.
Brother Steve, can you close us in prayer?