May the mind of Christ dwell
in me, richly. Him exalting, self-amazing. Let this mind be in you. Oh,
how I need this. Look at Philippians 2 again.
He says, well, chapter 1, it's given to you to suffer for his
sake. Paul was suffering, wasn't he? But he said, it would be an honor for me to
lay down my life for him. He says, but you'll have the
similar conflict that you've seen in me. And he says, if there's
any consolation in Christ, any comfort of love, any fellowship
of the Spirit, the Holy Spirit, fellowship of the mystery, fellowship
of the gospel, fellowship of Christ's sufferings, have you
entered Do you not enter into the sufferings of your brothers
and sisters in their own struggles? Do you not enter into it with
fellows in the same ship? We have the same things in common. Christ is our life. We have this
relationship and we worship the Lord. If any bowels, deep, abiding
feelings and mercies Experienced any of the mercy of God? Oh,
my. I've experienced more than anybody, I guess. You'd argue
with that, wouldn't you? You too, being the chief of center.
So he says, fulfill my joy. This would make me, this would
fill me with joy. He said, this is what I want. This is what I desire for you
and for myself. That you be like-minded. That you think alike. have this
same thing on your mind, having the same love, the same love,
love for God, love for His truth, love for His Son, love for His
Kingdom, love for His people, of one accord, in harmony, in
unity, loving one another. One mind. And He's going to go
on to tell us what this mind is. have this mind in you. This is
what we hope and pray for in ourselves. So you hear the passion,
the urgency in Paul's voice, even reading this and the writing
of this, he's urging people. He's the one who says the time
is short. He's beseeching us, he's pleading
with us for love and unity. And I remind you, he's the one
that is in jail, and everyone turned against him. Paul certainly
had the mind of Christ in him, after they'd beaten him within
an inch of his life. He asked the rulers, can I say
something? To the ones that just wanted
to kill him, he said, brethren. And he spoke to them, urging
them, beseeching them, pleading with them, as it were. Can you
hear that? He had the mind of Christ, didn't
he? Our Lord, hanging on the cross. The first thing, the first
thing he said concerning those that hung him there, Father,
forgive them. Let this mind be in you. I want
this mind in me, don't you? You know, all of our personal
conflict, most of our personal troubles, inward anxiety and
stress and grief depression and sadness and all of that would
go away if this man was in it. Our Lord was a man of sorrows
and acquainted with grief from his youth up. Yet, his mind,
his purpose, the love he had to his father, even to those
who were his enemies, he's going to turn his enemies. He's going
to turn. And who knows that he might turn
those enemies of ours into our best friends. He might do it. Let this mind be in you. Look at verse 21. Go on down
to verse 21, chapter 2. He says, All seek their own, and not the things which are
Jesus Christ. Our Lord did not seek His own,
did He? He sought the things of others. That's why He came
here. We're going to see that. And
really, this is the only motivation to us, the only thing that will
motivate us, that will cause us to think like this. When we
see Him, what He did for us, the love of Christ will constrain
us. Paul bemoaned the fact, grieved,
that we all seek their own, thinking about themselves. Everybody's
guilty. Our Lord one time said, you need
to love others like you love your We just do, don't we? Think about
ourselves. He said, they all seek their
own. He was bemoaning that, but not the things which are Jesus
Christ. Verse 21, the things which are
Jesus Christ. That's the glory of God. That's
what Christ, that's why He came. The glory of the Father. Knowing
what He would endure. Knowing the shame He would endure.
Knowing the hatred and everything He would endure. Knowing that.
Yet the glory of God was foremost in his mind. He thought nothing
of it. That's what Hebrews 12 said.
He thought nothing of the shame. It was an honor for him to suffer
shame. He said, the reproaches of them
that reproached thee fell on me. But he said, I'm glad to
do it for the glory of God. This would turn our minds around,
our thinking around. The kingdom of God was Christ's
cause. That was his first cause. Not
this world. He didn't come to say this word. He didn't come
to make himself happy. You'll never be happy if you
just try to make yourself happy. That's an insatiable fellow,
yourself. Our Lord didn't, he denied himself. He gave himself. The people of
God, and I remind you who our Lord came to save. Lest we think, we've been, you
have not, the scriptures say, we have not endured. Consider him who endured such
contradiction of sinners against himself. He gave himself sacrifice. What do we really know about
sacrifice? Sacrifice is to do without in
order for someone else to have. We've done a little bit, but
not like our Lord. He gave himself. Not only his every waking hour
and thought and his body, tirelessly and working. So he healed everybody
that had need of healing. He went about doing good to everybody,
even his enemy, all day, every day, 33 years. And then he finally, he gave
the ultimate. He laid down his It's take me,
don't take them, take me. That's sacrifice. Now, when have
we ever sacrificed like that? Well, he says, let this mind
be in you. See, the only motive, the only
thing that will motivate us to selfless sacrifice, to think
on others rather than ourselves, is to consider what Christ did
for them. And if only we were more wise,
we would see that self is the enemy. Ourselves, we are our
own worst enemies, and we spend our lives defending an enemy. And he needs to die. He just
needs to die, because he is really hurting us. The more we defend
this fellow and take up with this fellow, the worse off it
is for us. You understand what I'm saying?
Oh, that we were wise and understood that. We have some real enemies. God's people have some real enemies.
Paul said that. He said, you're going to have
the same conflict you see in me. But God sent them. And he
said in Thessalonians, it's a token of the righteous judgment of
God. It's proof, it's evidence, one of them, that you're God's
people. Because you stand for the truth if you really stand
for the cause of Christ. If you're really set in defense
of the gospel, those who hate it are going to hate you for
saying it. But you must. You must. And you're going to
have real enemies. You really are. But if it's for
Christ's sake, Peter wrote the whole first letters about suffering. And he says, if you suffer for
Christ's sake, be happy. Our Lord's the one that said
that. If they revile you, Say all manner of evil falsely against
you for my name's sake, and be happy. That's what they did to
the prophets, and ultimately the Lord Himself. My, my. So
that's its proof. But even if we're reviled and
hated by, even our friends can treat us wrongly at times. That's
what Christ did to Christ. He sent an old familiar friend
whom I ate bread. He lifted up his heel against
me. But, he laid down his life for his friend. Let this mind
be unused. Let this mind. Alright, verse
3 says, let nothing be done through strife or vain glory. Let nothing be done through strife,
fighting, quarreling. The wrath of man doesn't work
the righteousness of God. Christ said, God said, vengeance
is mine. I will repay you. You're wrong.
God will right that wrong. Don't defend yourself. Our Lord
said, turn the other tree. It's not just a good way, it's
the only way. It's the only way to end it. It's the only way
to end it. Let nothing be done. Fighting
and quarreling, it won't accomplish anything with it. If we're going
to strive for something, let's strive together for the unity
of the faith and for the cause of Christ. Let's fight this good
fight of faith. Let nothing be done through fighting
and quarreling. James wrote it and he said, Where
do these wars and fightings come among you? Don't they come of
your own self? You offended me. Well, you offended
me. Well, who have we offended? Let nothing be done through strife
or vain glory. That's pride, isn't it? Pride.
What have we got to be proud about? I mean, really. And that's one of our Chief problems
in it. Vain glory. But vain glory is
a word for pride. We take glory in something that
we have no reason to glory in. We have nothing to glory in.
What do you have you have not received? And if you received
it, why would you glory or boast or act like you didn't? Me, talking
to me. Vain glory. Let nothing be done
for your own personal glory. Nothing. Let nothing be done for your
own sake. Let all be done for God's glory. God's name's there. We need to
forget our names. Don't you love? Self loves to
write your own name. If you're going to test out a
pen, you go into the office supply, what are you going to write? Come on. Let me find an honest
person in here. Mike, you're going to write down
Mike Anderson. Huh? Our Lord forgot himself. John, scripture said, John had
the spirit from his womb. There's no greater man born of
woman, Christ said. And they came and said, what's
your name? And he'd tell them his name. My name is not important. Let this mind be in you. Christ
came in the name of the Father. He came to exalt His Father.
That's a name we need to glory in. It says in verse 3, let nothing
be done through strife or vain glory. In lowliness of mind, let each
esteem other better than themselves. Self-love. Self-love. If you love yourself, you love
a bad man. You defend yourself. He's not
worth defending. Self-righteousness. I was just
reading Isaiah 64, 6. This is Isaiah. And he said,
Our. No finer man than Isaiah, the
prophet. No more zealous man. When he
saw the Lord in chapter 6, he said, woe is me. He said, I'm
undone. I'm a man of unclean lips. And
he said, all our righteousnesses, what we think is good about us,
filthy rags. You know what that filthy rag
means? You know. It's the most despicable thing.
Our righteousness. And then there's self-pity. I'm
the chief of sinners here. Anybody? Join me? This thing
called self-pity. It's the cause of all our depression,
all our anger, all our bitterness, even loneliness. If we pity ourselves
too long, we love ourselves so much and pity ourselves, we'll
be left to ourselves. Nobody will want to be around
you. You won't want to be around anybody else. You're too pitying
yourself. I told you about when I was a
kid, I had a St. Bernard. And he was so big I
could ride him. And we had a doghouse about that
tall, you know. And when my parents would get
after me, and my, my, they sure didn't get after me like they
should have. They'd get after me, and I'd
get on this little self-pity party, you know, and I'd crawl
in that doghouse with my dog and put my arm around him and
just cry. Nobody loves me like you do.
Anybody? Nobody loves me like... You mean
this dog loves me more than my mother? What's wrong with you? Self-pity. Bitter. Angry. Job, that's what started
happening to Job, didn't it? Bless his heart. I'm not condemning
him. Because I'm worse than him. He was a better man than I am.
He did more for others than I do. Our Lord did not pity himself.
The only person who could take pride in Himself is the Lord
Jesus Christ. But He says, I am meek and lowly. If we would just think on the
cross more, if the Lord would just bring the cross before our
eyes and our mind's eye more often, we would cease from self-pity. We would cease from self-righteousness. We would cease from self-love. We would quit at least for a
time, murmuring and complaining. He did it. Scripture says down
here that he endured, he was humble, obedient unto death. Death of the cross. Alright,
look at verse 3. Let nothing be done through strife
or vainglory but in lowliness of mind. Lowliness of mind. Let
each esteem other better than themselves. Lowliness of mind.
Turn to 2 Samuel with me. 2 Samuel chapter 7. And illustrate
this. Preach a little while and illustrate.
However, I've been illustrating by our Lord, haven't I? 2 Samuel 7. This lowliness of
mind. That is, low thoughts of yourself.
We need to have low thoughts of ourselves. Our biggest problem
is we have too high thoughts of ourselves. If we had lower
thoughts of ourselves, we wouldn't be so easily offended. And we'd
have more friends. Don't you love someone that's
lowly, meek and lowly and humble? Isn't that the most beautiful?
Calvin Bunyan, one of those old fellows, said, the three greatest
Christian graces are Humility, humility, and humility. Is it not the most beautiful
thing of all? Christ said, take my yoke upon you and learn of
me, for I am meek and lowly of heart. He said, you'll find rest
for your soul. Second Samuel, here's the lowliness
of mine. David was now on the throne.
He was on the throne, the greatest man on earth at this time. And
God sent a preacher to remind him where he found him. So he wouldn't get puffed up.
Look at verse 8. The Lord said through the preacher,
Nathan, He said, Now so shalt thou say unto my servant David,
Thus saith the Lord of hosts, I took thee from the sheep coat,
from following sheep, to be ruler over my people, over Israel.
And I was with thee, whithersoever thou wentest, and cut off all
thine enemy out of thy sight, and have made thee a great name,
like unto the name of the great men that are in the earth. Moreover,
I will appoint a place for my people, I will plant them." And
on and on he goes, telling David through the preacher where he
found him, what he's done for him, and what all he would do
for him, and never leave him or forsake him. All the blessed
promise. And David, he heard it. And look
at verse 18. So David the king. King David.
You notice the small K. And this is one of the few times
king is in front of his name. And when King David in and sat
before the Lord, he said, Now here's loatheness of mine. Who
am I? Who am I, O Lord God? And what
is my house? The house of Jesse David? that
thou hast bought me hitherto. Oh, this is yet a small thing
in thy sight, O Lord God. Are you spoken also of thy servant's
house for a great while to come? Is this the manner of man? O
Lord God. And what can David say more unto
thee? O thou, Lord, knowest thy servant. For thy word's sake,
according to thy own heart, hast thou done all these great things."
Remember when God told the people through Moses I didn't do this
for your sake. I'm not doing this for your sake,
because you're better, because you're more, but you're fewer.
And you were really no different than the Egyptians when I found
you. He said, I'm doing it for my great name's sake. Remember
that. I didn't choose you because you're
worth something. I chose you to make you worth something. Because in yourself, you're worthless.
Him me. You're made beautiful through
my coming, God wants you. Like the child in Ezekiel's field.
Verse 22, David said, Wherefore thou art great, O Lord God. David's
thinking back and says, I'm not great. There's nothing great
about me. I'm just a shepherd following sheep. Neither is any
God beside thee. according to all that we've heard
with our ear. What one nation in the earth is like thy people,
like Israel, whom God went to redeem for a people to Himself,
to make Him a name, to do for you great things? Oh, man. Look at chapter 9. Turn over
a couple of pages. Chapter 9. You remember the story
of Mephibosheth? Anybody in here hadn't heard
that? Boy, I'd just like to find one. Well, let's just preach
it anyway. You know the story of Mephibosheth. He should have died. He was the
enemy of David. He's Saul's son. Later, David
had all of Saul's sons killed. They were enemies. They wanted
his throne. And here was one, the son of
Jonathan, who was David's best friend. Jonathan represents Christ. Alright, David's on the throne.
And David said, is there any... Alright, look at it. In verse
2-3 of 2 Samuel 9, the king says, Any
of the house of Saul that I may show the kindness of God unto
him. And they said, Well, Jonathan
has a son laying on his feet. He's just laying. And David said,
Where is he? Well, he's in a house of no bread.
Amiel, lower the bar, fire off. King David sent and fetched him.
His name was Mephibosheth. Mephibosheth. And he came in
before David, and David spoke peace to him. And here's what
Mephibosheth said after David promised everything, that he
would do everything for him and show mercy. Mephibosheth said
in verse 8, he bowed himself and said, What is thy servant
that thou shouldest look upon such a dead dog as I am? That's Lois of Mine. Not a dog. A dead dog. You ever seen a dead
dog on the side of the road? Would you stop and pick it up?
Hmm? If it was your dog, you would. That's loneliness of mine. I
am a nothing and a nobody from nowhere. Didn't the Lord say,
remember the pit from which you digged? Our troubles start when
we forget the pit. Our troubles start when we forget
that the Lord found us on the dung heap. Our troubles start
when we forget that we were on the hog pen, and if He had left
us to ourselves, we would have perished with the wicked. But
God the Father sent His Word. Fetch Him. Bring Him to me. I'm going to show kindness for
Christ's sake. For Christ's sake. He's the one
I'm doing this for. He's the one who earned this
for you. He's the one who's worthy of
all praise and honor and glory. Not you. You're just another
beggar on the dung heap. But, I've set my love on you. I've chosen you for Christ's
sake. Now, don't you dare glory in
anything, ever. Don't do anything. Strive in
vain. Glory, don't be puffed up. Don't
do it. Let this man be in you. And we're going to look at this
right now. This mind, this mind of Christ.
He says, in lowliness of mind. Go back to the text. In lowliness
of mind. Paul said it. He said, by the
grace of God I am what I am. There was no greater apostle
than Paul. He said, it's by the grace of God. He said, I was
the chief of sinners. Now if I'm the chief apostle,
it's not I. It's God. He said, God's showing
in me a pattern of salvation. I ought to take the worst and
make the best out of it. It wasn't me. It wasn't me, Paul said. Let not the wise man glory in
his wisdom. Let not the mighty man glory in his might and rich
in their riches. Let him that glory, glory in
the Lord. And he says, let each esteem
others better than themselves. have no confidence in ourselves.
We should have no trust in ourselves. None whatsoever. No belief. The
world thinks this is modern philosophy. You need to believe in yourself.
Don't you? You need to forgive yourself.
Oh, you just made a few mistakes. And you need to forgive yourself
a few mistakes. We'd take God off the throne
if we could, wouldn't we? You need to believe in yourself. You need to have the confidence
in yourself. You can do this. I started thinking about this
thing of self-confidence. It's completely unscriptural.
It completely goes against the scripture. By the grace of God, we need
to say that every time. By the grace of God, I can do
something. By the grace of God, I can build
or fix something or do this or play this instrument. By the
grace of God, You figure out this equation, by the grace of
God I can do this or do that, but it's by the grace of God. Without Him, now this is the
truth, without Him, you can do nothing. Does that mean what
it says? Nothing? Paul said this, we're
not even sufficient of ourselves to think anything, let alone
do the right thing. If God leaves us alone, Oh, my. But now, John, you love
this verse. I can do all things, how? Through
Christ, which strengthens me. That's not self-confidence. That's
confidence in Him. Paul said, who's sufficient for
these things? But my sufficiency, Paul said,
is of God. I've been doing this a while.
I've been doing, would you want to do this? You wouldn't want
to do this. Even now, after all these years, I have absolutely
no confidence in myself to do this. I don't want to do this
if the Lord doesn't help me. It's frightening. There have
been times when I thought, I can do this. I failed. The minute
you say that, the minute you say, I can do this, I can handle
this, you watch out. Can you see those
disciples in that boat, in that ship? Now, they grew up in those
ships. James, John, Simon, Andrew, they
grew up in those ships. They knew sailing. I can see
Simon Peter, especially, turns about 13. Simon Peter turns 13. Now, I'm
a sailor, buddy. I know what I'm doing. I've been
doing this 13 years. Ain't nothing I haven't run into. All right, here they are, grown
men. They've been doing it for 30 years, 40 years maybe, all
right? They're in that ship. The Lord's asleep. And the Lord raised a little
storm. 10-foot wave, 15-foot wave. Buddy, you landlubbers,
if you saw a 15-foot wave coming at you, you'd scream, bloody
murder. Bloody murder. You would. I'm telling you, I've
seen it. I've been there. I thought they were going to
die. And the captain, hey, nothing. Simon Peter, a 15-foot wave coming. We got this, boys. Just sit down. I'll take care of it. I got the
helm. And they start getting bigger. And they're bigger. And you don't know what tomorrow
holds. Boast not thyself of tomorrow. You don't know what wave is coming. Until finally, Peter looked up. Run and get the Lord. Wake Him
up fast. That's us. Don't have any self-confidence. If you're a child of God, if
you have any confidence, we worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in
Christ Jesus, have what? No confidence in the flesh. All our confidence should be
in our Lord. Now, there's such a thing as
being too timid, there's such a thing as being too frail-minded,
feeble-minded. I can't do it. I can't do it.
Oh, shut up. Just ask the Lord to give you
strength and do it. Ride that horse. You know, whatever.
That's not humility. That's just fear. Fear took me into a fray. Lord,
help me in everything. My prayer, supplication. Lord,
help me. I'm facing this. Help me. He'll
do it. He'll do it. But it's not you.
It's not you. And if you get through it, if
anything good comes out of it, if you're able to weather the
storm, you know what you'll say? It's the Lord. It's the Lord. Where am I? Loneliness of mind,
not self-confidence, Christ-confidence. Well, look not every man on his
own things, but every man also on the things of others. Let
this mind be in you. That's the mind of Christ, isn't
it? You know the word that sums this up? Thoughtfulness. Peter said courteous, pitiful,
thoughtful of compassion, empathy, sympathy, thoughtful of thinking
about other people. That's what we need. This is
the mind of Christ. Look not on your own things,
but the things of others. The closest I think we can come
to this is like a parent with a child or a spouse, a husband
with a wife, a wife with a husband. You think about them, don't you?
A lot. And you don't think, I need to
serve them. You want to serve them. You really
do want their happiness and well-being over your own. You really do,
don't you? Especially parents and a child,
don't you? You would sacrifice everything
for your child. for whatever they need. You wouldn't
have to stop and think of that. That's natural. And that's not
thank-worthy. You're supposed to. And that's
God-given. Now, supernatural is to think
on your non-kin. To think on your brethren. Now,
let this mind be in you. Now, who did Christ think on? Holy people? Who did he set his
mind, his affection, his heart upon to come to help? To come to say, who? The very
ones that said, we don't want you. Get out of here. Oh, man. Now that's thank-worthy, isn't
it? That's praise-worthy, isn't it? We hadn't done that. And
it shouldn't be hard for us to love our own anyway, those that
are just like us. But look on the things of others. Every man on the things of others,
not our own things. So spiritual and material. Our depravity, our sinful self,
as we go to bed at night thinking what we're going to do for ourselves
tomorrow. And we wake up in the morning
and think, what can I do for myself today? Isn't that sad? We're a sad lot. That's why the
Lord lets us be submissive most of the time. Though our Lord
was a man of sorrows acquainted with grief, yet he was a happy
man. He's called the blessed man.
Blessed means happy. He was always cheering them up
when he was the one that was full of sorrow. Because it's more blessed to
give than to receive. Think on others than your own
time. Let this mind be in you which
was in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, thought it
not robbery to be equal with God. He is God. He was God. He is God. He made all things. Why did He make all things? Scripture
says He made them for Himself. Didn't He? For Himself. For His
own glory. For His own pleasure. For thy
pleasure they are and were made. But, now, He made Himself. as a man, not in a way to please
himself, but his people. You remember the message on the
self-made man? He who was God and taught it
not robbery to be equal with God, is equal with God, but made
himself of no reputation. He who had whom the angels worshipped
and prayed. reputed as everything. Scripture
says of man, the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing,
as grasshoppers. That's what the Lord thinks of
man. Worms. Not a man. Christ is the man. Adam was a man until he fell
and became a worm, grumbling in the dirt. The inhabitants
of the earth. He said you get them all together,
all the nations, put them all together. Worthless. God who was everything, Christ
who is everything, reputed as everything, as God, made himself
of no reputation. He said, I'm a worm. Made himself
a worm. Would you do that? I wouldn't
do that. He did. Made himself of no reputation. Man spends his life trying to
make a reputation for himself, to try to become somebody. And
I asked you that question on Sunday. Do you want your children
to be somebody in this world? Or do you want them to be in
the Kingdom of God? You can't be both. You can't be both. That's what
the Scripture says. You can't serve God and man. You can't
be loved by God and loved by the world. He made himself of no reputation. He took upon him the highest,
greatest occupation of all. Didn't he say this? He that is
greatest among you, let him be what? Servant. He took upon him the form of
a servant. Would you choose to be the king
sitting on the throne being served or the servant in the galley
cooking his food in the hot kitchen? Sweating, living in a poor hovel,
bringing the keys. Which would you choose? Huh? He who was rich, and for our
sake, whose sake? Whose sake? Nobody. A bunch of nobody. You
see your caller? Became poor, that we through
his poverty might be what? Be rich. There's two things that's
the hardest, if not, it's impossible for man to do. Two things. Number
one, give somebody else the credit for something you've done. And
number two, take the blame for what they've done. You know,
if somebody gets credit for something you've done, it doesn't matter
what it is. Sweeping the floor. Oh, I did that. Well, then do it tomorrow. It's
going to need it again. Spain's laureate. Or taken to blame. Taken to blame. Christ could
vote. And again, who'd he do it for?
My, my. Consider your own selves. My,
my. That's why Paul was the greatest
servant in the New Testament. He said, I'm the chief of sinners,
so I'm going to be the greatest servant. He was forgiven much,
or loved much, served much. Well, go on. It says he took
upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness
of men. And you and I just don't know
what condescension that was. We just don't know. Closest we
can come to that is us becoming a dog. You love dogs, but you
don't want to be one. No, you don't. You don't want
to be a dog. We've got to better off than
dogs. Our Lord became a man, and for Him to do that, to leave
a place where everybody loved Him, nothing but peace and joy,
gentleness, goodness, love, unity, glory. To come down here with
nothing but sin, and wrath, and anger, and bitterness, and lust,
and vileness, and filthiness, and wickedness. To leave that
for this? What's the word I'm looking for? No limitations, no weaknesses,
no... bound by flesh or anything like
that, and got in a body and had to completely live by faith,
hand out on everything, could not provide for himself, completely
live. And he lived poor, very poor. He who had everything depended
on his every meal. That's the way he made himself.
Why did he do it? Not to show us how, but to do
it for his people. Do it for his people. For the
joy set in the former. Look at verse 8. And being found
in fashion as a man. And I remind you what kind of
fashion he fashioned himself. The body he fashioned himself.
No form, no company, no beauty. He wasn't taller than anybody.
He wasn't more handsome than anybody. In fact, he was not
good to look at. And his greatest beauty though
is Isaiah 52 where it says his visage was marred more than any
man. He never looked more beautiful than when he was disfigured for
our sake. What if somebody died saving
you or disfigured when you think their scars are the most beautiful
thing about them? That's what he did. The only one in heaven,
the only one in heaven someday that's going to have any marks
on his flesh. any scars, any blemishes. They're
not a blemish, but it's a mark of glory. It's the Lord Jesus
Christ. Well, go on. It says, being found
in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto
death. He did not have to die. He was
not a sinner. He did not have to die. He had
to be obedient to it. You and I, it's appointed unto
us once in a time. It's already set. The bounds are set. You
can't pass. Because of sin, we're going to die. Okay? He didn't
have to die. He laid down his life willingly.
Most people's secret thought is they're going to live forever.
And if you ask most people, they say they want to live forever.
They don't want to die. If you ask anybody if they chose
to die, they'd say, no, I don't want to die. Our Lord chose to die at 33 years
old. He laid down His life. Obedient unto death, but not
just death, the death of the cross. The death of the cross. My, my. To be forsaken by God. We all want to die a peaceful
death. We all want to die a death with our family all around us.
Everybody forsook Him. His death was a violent death.
We all want to die a painless death. We all want to just fall
asleep in peace and wake up in glory. Not he. He died a painful
death. We all want our family around
us. He said, my God, my God, why has thou forsaken me? Why? Because if he didn't do that,
we won't die in faith. He said, because I live, you
live also. And because he died, we'll never
die. Oh, let this mind be in you. So he said, read on, he says,
Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, because he who was
high became so low, lower than the low, lowest of all of the
low, God hath exalted him higher than the highest. Because he
came in God's name, not for his own name, but for the Father's
name. God has given him a name which is above every name. At
the name of Jesus, every knee should bow. Jesus was His name
of humiliation, His earthly name, His name of His manhood on the
earth, Joshua, Savior. Here's the name. Things in heaven,
things under the earth, every knee should bow, every knee will
bow. Everything should right now.
In heaven, in earth, things under the earth, and every tongue should
confess that Jesus the Christ, here's the name above everything.
Yes, Lord. He said, you call me Lord and
Master. You say, well, so I am. To this end, Christ both died
and was buried and rose again that he might be Lord. God has
given him this name, this title above every name. He's the Lord. To the glory of God the Father.
So, brethren, beloved, let this mind be in you. And as he's obeyed,
not in my presence only, he said, but now much more in my absence.
God is not absent. He sees us, doesn't He? Be mindful
of that. The Lord sees us, hears us. Let's
not be offensive to Him. And work this out. You're on
my... Work it out. We'll deal with that more Sunday.
Alright, stand with me. Our Lord, Oh, we thank You for
Your Word and we thank You for the Gospel. We've heard it so
many times and yet, just give us a little more of
these bowels and mercies and fellowship. We'll enter into
it more with Christ, what He's done for us. My, my. We're ashamed. Every person in
here, surely every believer would be ashamed how we've heard this and how
we've sinned against glory and grace and taken it for granted
and do not think, not thankful enough to our Lord
for all that He's done for us. Lord, forgive us. We're so glad
You know our crime. Remember, we're dust and ashes
and we're glad, but Lord, but God, we ask You through Through
Christ's name that you would indeed let this mind be in us. Deliver us from this evil man
within us, ourselves. Deliver us, we pray. Make us
like the Lord Jesus Christ. He's worthy. He's worthy. Thou art worthy. In Christ's
name, amen. Thank you.