That is a prayer as many songs
are. It's a good one. Take my life. Take my mouth. Take my feet. Take my lips, Lord. But I'm afraid
we've come far short of all those things. Philippians 2. Philippians 2. Restudying this made me go back
and read the first chapter. And this is written to the Saints.
It's written to the church at Philippi. It's written to the
church at Rocky Mountain. Whatever the Spirit of God says,
the Word of God says, it says to all the churches, every church. Oh, and let him that hath ears
to hear, hear what the Spirit saith unto the church. It's written
to the church in the Bible. Words of life. written from a
jail cell because he preached, Paul preached
truth. He preached Christ crucified,
buried, risen and reigning and ruling. Reigning and ruling and
Christ is all. He preached that Christ is all
and he was put in jail for doing so. Now here's faith in verse
Chapter 1. Look at Chapter 1. Here's faith. Verse 20. He said, My earnest
expectation, my hope is, that in nothing I shall be ashamed.
With all boldness, as always, so now also Christ may be magnified
in my body, whether I live or whether I die. That sounds familiar. You remember somebody saying,
if I live or I die, if I stay or if I go. Standing on Christ,
the rock. He said, now here's the thing,
for me to live is Christ. To live is to know Christ. Oh,
Paul said, oh, that I might win Christ and be found in Him. Oh,
that I might know Him. He said, and this is my one pursuit. There's one thing to eat for.
That's him for me. One thing to eat for. He said,
this is what I do. I press. Chapter 3, he said,
I pressed toward the mark for the prize of high calling of
God in Christ. Forget yesterday. He said, to
me to live is Christ to die is gain. This is faith. If you really
believe Christ and love Christ, you want to go be with Him. You
want to see Him. And your life is spent knowing
Him, worshipping Him. Not part of your life. Christ
is not a part. And Christ is in you. And you're
in Him. Either half the Son, half the
life. And that's to be so. He's not a part of your life. Everyone else is. But He's your
life. That's what Paul said. He said,
If I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labor, troubles,
trials. And He said to us and to the
Philippians, He said, and it's yours to have. Look at verse
20. 827, let your conversation be, your
life is to come at the gospel of Christ. Whether I see you,
come and see, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs that
you stand fast in one spirit, one mind. He keeps saying this. We've got one cause. The cause
of Christ. And we're in this thing together.
We're members of His body. He's the head. We hold the head.
And it's Philippians. He says, some don't hold the
head. They set forth and bragging on
the body, on man. That's not what we're here for.
We're here to hold up the head. And we're members of the body.
And we're all vitally joined in this cause. Even if it's a
little toe. You're part of the members. Part
of the body. We serve the head. His glory.
His honor. And each other. We're not unconnected
to one another. We're vitally joined together.
Let this mind be in you. Read on. Verse 28, verse 27,
striving together for the faith of the gospel. He's going to
go on to say, don't strive with one another. Let there be no strife, division. Let's strive together. Let there be no fighting amongst
us. We're not the enemy. The world is. False religion is. Verse 28,
don't be terrified by your adversary. We can believe this man, can't
we? Our Lord, who gave him life, who revealed himself to him,
said, Paul, don't be afraid. He was in Corinth. Everywhere
he went, his life was in danger, wasn't it? They tried to kill
him, like the Lord, everywhere. He said, nobody's going to touch
you until I say so. In Corinth, he said, I have much
people in this city. You stay right there. Don't leave. He told all of his disciples
and us, the very hairs of your head are numbered. Possess your
souls in patience. In verse 29, he said, it's given
unto you on behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but
to suffer for his sake. He doesn't save us to live for
us, but for his name's sake, for his gospel and one another. Not our own. Not our own thing. And he said in verse 30, you're
going to have the same conflict you saw in me. You're going to
be hated. Our Lord said that. You're going
to be hated. You're going to have the same conflict. They're going to malign
you. They're going to reject you. They're going to say all
manner of evil against you. False. But Christ said so. Look,
Christ said rejoice. That's how they persecuted the
prophets and the apostles. All who will live godly in Christ
Jesus will suffer persecution. We read all about that through
1st Peter. The whole book. But he says there's consolation
in Christ, verse 1. There's consolation in Christ.
Everything he said consoles us, doesn't it? Everything he is
consoles us. To be consoled means you're troubled
and you're upset. And the gospel consoles us to
be of good cheer. It is I. I live. I reign. I rule. You're mine. And consolation in Christ. But
I'm a sinner. This is a faithful saying. Isn't
that what Brother Dan preached on? And we've forgotten so soon. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners. Is that you that he described?
Is there any consolation? Any comfort of love? Whose love?
His love. His love. He loved us. He loved
his people while we were yet sinners. When is that? While
we were yet sinners. When is that? When was that?
Now. Had he loved his own, we're going
to get to that in chapter 13. Hopefully. Lord willing. Had
he loved his own, he loved them to the end. What kind of love?
Saving love. Keeping love. Eternal love. We have nothing to worry about.
We have nothing to worry about. Nothing. All things repent. Any bowels? Does this touch you
deep down? Fellowship of the Spirit. Any
fellowship of the Spirit? You know, the Spirit takes the
things of Christ and shows them unto us. The Spirit gathers us
together, quickened by His Spirit, gathers us together in His heavenly
places. Is this a heavenly place to you?
Do you love to be here more than anywhere else? Do you love to
gather with the saints at the river where bright angels' feet
have trod? Our brothers and sisters are
now as the angels, and their feet have trod. They sat right
where you sit. They're right now sitting at
his feet. They're doing right now, like
Mary, what they loved to do then, like Virgie, like Ellen. She
was a rock. Sat right over there, every service,
until she's seated now with him. Do you love to gather with the
saints? The Lord has gathered together
his sheep. My sheep hear my voice. They
love to hear my voice. They must hear my voice. I know
them. They follow me. They gather together. It's the fellowship, truly our
fellowship, with the Father and with the Son around the gospel,
the fellowship of the gospel, the fellowship of the mystery,
the fellowship of his suffering. Do you love to hear these things?
Do you love to gather? Any bowels and mercy, that means
deep-seated. This thing runs deep. It's not here. If it's just here,
you'll leave eventually. But if there's a deep-seated
need in you, the heart and core of
your being, and mercy is so Fulfill my joy, verse 2, that you be
like-minded. Having the same love. Like-minded. Like who? Well, Paul. He told
them his mind toward them. He said others. Verse 20, he spoke of young Timothy. He said, I have no man like-minded
like him. He will care for your own. He
lamented that all seek their own, not the things that are
Christ's. Look at verse 2 and 3 again in chapter 2. He says,
have the same mind. Be of one accord. Same love. Love toward one another as brethren
Peter said over and over again. One mind. One purpose. One thought. The glory of God. Let nothing
be done through strife or vain glory. There can't be. There
won't be if we have the mind of Christ. If we love one another. If we're one accord. There can't
be any strife. There can't be any anger. There
can't be any jealousy. There can't be any jealousy or
envy among God's people if God's honor is what we seek. If Christ's
honor is what we seek. Can't be that way. If there is,
we're not seeking his honor. There can't be any envy and jealousy
if we're really thinking on things about it. If we really love one
another, esteem each other higher than ourselves. Indian jealousy
can't be there. Both can't be there. Can it? You're not envious and
jealous of those you love. Can't be. And we need this, don't
we? Oh, Lord have mercy on me. What
will produce this mind? What will make us of one mind?
What will give us this one mind of one accord and unite us in
love, never to cause any strife or division, never have any envy
or jealousy? Can preachers be envious or jealous?
Are you kidding? They're just men. They're disciples. One day, the Lord just told them
what he was going to suffer for their sake. How he was going
to the cross and lay down his life to them, be brutally beaten
and treated by the Pharisee, and lay down and die for their
sake. What were they talking about?
They were over to the side talking to one another. You know what
they were talking about? Who's going to be the greatest? Oh, man. Don't you know later
on they were so ashamed Talking about who's going to
be the greatest. Who was the greatest among those apostles?
Who was the greatest? Peter? No. None of them. Paul. Paul. The Lord raised him up
later on to write 14 books of the New Testament. Some of those
apostles didn't write a book. It was Paul. You know what Paul said about
himself? I'm not fit to be called a disciple. I'm less than the
least of all the saints. God said, you're going to be
the greatest. I'm going to use you more than any other. Now
he knew this. Simon Peter knew it. He deferred
to Paul. His wisdom. His position. Now here it is. Here's the only thing that will
produce this in us. And this is what saves us. A
look at Christ. A look at Christ. Paul is writing
this to set forth the Lord Jesus Christ in all His glory, in all
His honor, to exalt Christ. Christ said, if I be lifted up,
I'll draw all men to me, my men, my people, my sheep. If I be
lifted up, preach the gospel, preach the gospel, and my sheep
will hear my voice, and they'll be drawn to me. And not only
will they be drawn to me, but they'll become like me by seeing
me, by beholding me. Listen to this. Listen. Listen.
The only thing, the law won't produce this mind in us. The law won't give us love. The
law just reveals sin. The law just makes us feel guilty. The goodness of God leads us
to repent. The love of God that's in Christ, the mercy of God in
Christ, the gospel of Christ, this is what will break a hard
heart, a proud heart. This is what will make us love
as He loved, will make us Think on one another like, listen,
we all with open face, that is, with honesty, with your truly
looking to be taught, to be led by the Spirit of God, in that
we're beholding in a glass. This is the glass, the looking
glass. And what you will behold, if
you look at it, it's going to talk about you, son. And you
know what it says about you? No good. There's not one thing good. When
you look in the mirror, let me just talk to somebody about my
age. I mean, when you look in the
mirror, what do you see? Beauty? Oh, when I was really young,
you know. Hey. You're pretty. Sharp fella, aren't
you? Oh, my. Oh, I look in the mirror
now. And the more you look in this
Word, you'll see yourself for what you are. But it's a two-way
mirror. You ever seen one of these two-way
mirrors? Huh? You ever seen one? You see yourself
in it, but behind it, you look through it, you see another.
If somebody's on the backside of it, you see their face, don't
you? This mirror, We behold the beauty of the Lord. We behold
the face of God, who causes the light to shine in our darkness
and shine in our heart, that we might have the light of the
knowledge of the glory of God in the face of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Listen, it says here, we all,
as in a glass, behold the glory of the Lord and are changed into
the same image from glory to glory by the Spirit
of God. by the preaching of the gospel,
by the preaching of the word. That's how we're changed. In
other words, we see ourselves in this. Oh, wretched man that
I am. Oh, in my flesh dwelleth no good
thing. God says, keep looking. Look beyond yourself. Look beyond the flesh. Look.
If you keep looking, you'll see somebody else's face. You'll
see Christ. And you'll say, oh, he's all
together. Oh, you'll say, I want to be
found in him. I want to be just like him. Right? It's the only way. Well, we've been reading. Let
this mind be in you. All right. Here it is. Here it
is. Look at verse five. Let this mind be in you, which
was also in Christ Jesus. who being in the form of God.
He is God. He was God. He became a man.
He is God. He thought it not robbery to
be equal with God, but made himself, made himself of no reputation. This is God. Reputation. God to whom angels
pray. God whom devils bow beneath to. God whom God the Father said,
Thy throne, O God, is perfect. This is God. But he made himself
of no reputation. We spend our lives trying to
make a reputation for ourselves. We got it all wrong. We can try
all we will to make a reputation for ourselves, but we'll still
be who we are. A sinner. He made himself of no reputation,
took upon him the form of a servant, was made in the likeness of men,
found in the fashion or the habit or the body of a man. He said
a body has self-preparedness. He humbled himself. We ought
to be humble because we're nothing. He had to make himself what he
was to be one of us. The title of this message, the
subject is the self-made man. The self-made man. Not for cleverness, but this
is what this is about, rather who. He made himself to be what
he was for his people. Now, many people boast of being
self-made men and women. Many people boast of that. He's
a self-made man. They say, our president, it was
said, that he made his fortune, he started with a mere million
dollar loan from his father. A mere million dollars and then
he made his fortune. Ha! There's no self-made man
on this earth or woman. There's no one who's made, who's
done anything for them, self. By the grace of God, we are what
we are. have what we have, know what
we know, can do what we can do. By the restraining grace of God,
we don't do what we don't do. It's the restraining grace of
God that you women aren't harlots on the street and you men aren't
drug pushers. It's all grace. That's a fact. What do we have
that we have not received? Now, if we received it, why would
we glory as if we had not received it? It's because we're vain glorious. Vain glory means it's, you're
stealing, you don't have that any glory. It's vain. You're
just imagining this. You have no glory. Let not the
wise man glory in his wisdom. Let not the mighty man glory
in his might. Let not the rich man glory in
their riches. Why? Because God gives wisdom. God gives my power. God gives riches. The Lord raises
it up. The Lord casts it down. The Lord
makes it rich. The Lord makes it poor. That's
what Hannah prays. Talk no more exceedingly proudly. What we are is by the grace of
God. No flesh should glory in His presence. If any man should
glory, if he had any ability or whatever it is, glory in the
Lord. Glory in the Lord. Vain glory. It's not stealing God's glory.
There's no self-made men and women. You and I have not done anything
for ourselves. God's work is in us. He gets glory. He gets glory. Right? Oh, my. Why are you not a quadriplegic? Why are your children, they have
bright minds, beautiful to look? Why? The grace of God. 100%. That's why God,
I memorized the scriptures as a young man because it impressed
me so much, Isaiah 23.9. It says the Lord of hosts had
purposed it. And what God purposes, He'll
do. He said he had purposed it to stain the pride of all glory
and to bring into content all the honorable of the earth. Because
that which is highly esteemed among men is an abomination to
God. Why is that? Because everything's of God. Everything's from Him. Pride
is baseless, groundless. It's ingratitude. It's vain glory. It's stealing God's glory. And
God hates it more than anything. Christ made himself. If you could
make yourself to be anything you could make yourself, if you
could make yourself, if you could be self-made, how would you make
yourself? Come on, be honest. How would you fashion yourself?
If you could make yourself to be any way you could, you would. How would you make yourself?
Now the world, unbelievers, 100 out of 100 would make themselves
rich, famous, loved by everyone, served by everyone, live a long
life, beautiful, admired, strong. The Lord made himself the exact opposite
of all that. Do you hear me? Things must not
be as they seem. Duty must not be outward, huh? He had no duty, the scripture
says, that we should desire. He made himself, if you don't
have duty, what does that mean? Ugly? Huh? Huh? He had no beauty that we
should desire. When they saw Jesus of Nazareth,
there was nothing about him. He didn't make it. He had no
form. I mean, he was not head and shoulders above other men.
He was very, very common. He was probably the age, the
stature back then, about my height. Tall, dark, and handsome. No
form. No compass, no beauty. Poor. Despised. Rejected. He made himself to be despised. He made himself poor. He made
himself unknown. 30 years he didn't speak up. This whole generation, everybody
wants to say something. Everybody's got something to
say. And the Son of God lived here for 30 years and never said
a word. Do you hear me? I know that somebody
out there would hear this. Scripture says, God is in heaven,
man upon the earth. Let your words be few. Christ for 30 years, what was
He doing? For 30 years He wasn't preaching
or talking to people. What was He doing? Serving the
Lord. Serving others. Keeping the sheep. Faithful like David out on the
mountain. What's he doing? What did he
do all that time? Nothing? Oh, no. He never had an idle
moment in his life. You don't have to be the mouthpiece
to do anything for the Lord. Oh, he served his cause. He served
his people. Well, how did he do that? Working.
Working. serving, ministering. You know
it. Obedient to his parents. He chose
his birth. He chose to be born in a barn.
He chose his parents, not nobility. Nobody. A couple of nobodies. He didn't glory in his family
heritage. He chose his parents. They were
nobodies. He chose his hometown. They all said, can anything good
come out of Nazareth? Yep. One thing. Jesus Christ. He chose his life with hard work. Would you choose to work hard,
hard labor all your life? Sun up, sun down, till the day
you died? He did. Why? Because that's what Adam was
told he's going to do. I'll let you in on a little secret
here in this message. This is the second Adam. This is the
covenant head. This is the second Adam from
above. This is he who comes to do something for us. He's not
just doing it to show us something. He's doing it for us. Are you
with me? Let me see some recognition somewhere.
This is the second Adam from above. He worked by the sweat
of his breath. He chose his friends. Who did
he choose? The influential? Harlots and pundits. This man is a friend of sinners
and eateth with them. Isn't that wonderful? This is greatness. Do you hear
me? This is greatness. He chose his death. He chose
to die. Who would choose to die if they
didn't have to? Anybody? Only God's people. Paul
said it, and I have a desire to depart. My father wants to
go. My mother wants to go. God's
people want to go. Don't you? Be with the Lord.
He chose to die. He didn't have to die. The wages
of sin is death. He had no sin. He didn't have
to die. He said, no man taketh my life from me. I lay it down.
He chose to die. When? A long life after 33 years. 33 years. We have no choice in any of these
matters. We have no choice where we're born, who we're born from,
where we live, our upbringing. We have no choice. Even the hair
of your head or not. He had nothing to do with your
head. You hear me? It had nothing to do with anything.
Nothing! We have no choice. He did and
he chose these things. This is amazing grace and mercy. He chose to die as a young man.
He chose the manner of his death. If you could choose your death,
you know you've got to die. How would you die? every person
in here, every person in here wants to die in their sleep,
wants to die a peaceful death, wants to die in honor. He died
in shame. He died naked. He died a long
and painful death. He died alone. And I shout because This is why
God says at the end of this thing, all glory must go. Every knee
bowed. He didn't have to do this. We didn't deserve for him to
do this. He shouldn't have done it, but he did it. Why? For his great love. Or if he
loved us. Who? Who did he do this for? Sinners. Not good people. Not
the righteous. He didn't come. But sinners. I wish I could preach this like
it ought to be preached. I thought third time's the charm. I told
many, maybe I'll get it right after the third or fourth time.
He made himself The guy says in verse eight he humbled himself
became obedient to death even the death of the cross. So who
is sufficient. You know he didn't do all this
to to just to enter into our feelings just to relate to us
though he did. He did. I love Hebrews 2 and
3. It says he as the children were
partakers of flesh and blood he took part of the same. that
through death He might deliver us, who are all our lifetime
subject to bondage, the fear of death. And He said, Oh, He's
touched with the feet of our infirmities. Don't you love that?
Oh yes, He became the poorest of the poor, so that no poor
person might see that He knows. He knows. He became sorrowful,
a man of sorrow, so that nobody, no matter what the sorrow may
be, that they will get consolation from Him. He sorrowed too. He
wept too. He was forsaken, afflicted, so
that nobody, whoever it may be, forsaken and afflicted, will
believe that they're alone in it. No, the Lord went through
this. He knows. He's touched with a feeling of
our infirmities. At all points, without sin. He says he can be a help. He's
a sucker. He's a help to those that go
through these things. I love that, don't you? He lived
by faith as a man, the poorest of the poor, the lowest of the
low, the despised, most despised man, the most rejected, the most
sorrowful, lonely. People, this is God on earth
among men. He's just not like us at all. Flesh of our flesh, He made Himself
bone of our bone, flesh of our flesh. This is the second Adam. Let me hurry up. This is the
second Adam from above. In Adam all died. The first Adam. All of us died in the first Adam. Adam and Eve, the first man and
woman, were created flesh and blood. Flesh and bones and blood. Alright? Flesh. Flesh. And God said it's good. It's
very good. They had no sin. That's why I
was dead. No sin in them flesh. They loved
God. They didn't need clothes. No
shame. You only need clothes because of sin. We're proud of our covering for
sin. We are. Christ hung naked, didn't
he? It's the second Adam. Without
Adam. He had no sin. But anyway, the
first Adam sinned against God. It wasn't ignorant sin, it was
rebellion. Enticed yet, Eve was deceived. Adam did it willingly. Why? Because he's our federal head.
We come from his loins, not Eve. We come from man. We have the
seed of man and the seed of Adam in it. Adam willfully, rebelliously,
and wickedness and saying rebelled against God is good. I'll be
gone. I like what Satan said. I will
be gone. And he died. And we died. And this thing called
sin entered our flesh. He had no sin in his flesh, but
now sin is in our flesh. You know what the scripture says
about flesh? It says that which is flesh is
flesh. It'll never be anything else.
It says the flesh lusts against the spirit. You can't do the
things you would. Why? You're in the flesh. The
scripture says, Paul said, in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. Isn't that what the scripture
says? Scripture says God said he looked down from heaven right
before the flood and he said all flesh had corrupted his way. And Psalm 14 says that God looked
down on the sons of men and he said they all together become
filthy, stinking, dead flesh. That's the way God sees mankind.
We see man, this is beautiful. Isn't he beautiful? worship and
serve the creature rather than the creator. Is it man beautiful?
No, God says he's ugly. He's full of sin. And if God
shows you your flesh, that man of flesh, you smell him too. You see him too. God opens your
eyes and look around you. You see it too. You hear it,
you smell it. So Christ, the second Adam, from
above. Adam, when he sinned, he was
cut off from God. He became poor. He didn't know
God. He became poor. He lost everything.
Cut off from God. Full of sin in his flesh. He
couldn't do anything with the flesh that wasn't sin. Enter
the second Adam. God sent the second Adam. Adam
took that fruit from Eve, his wife. and willingly plunged us
into sin and despair. Christ, in a noble act, His bride,
not a sinless bride, a forlorn woman, a fallen woman, an ugly
bride, the altogether lovely Son of God, in a noble act, in
an act of love, not willing for her to perish, didn't take sin
from us, was made sin for us. This is the best I can do with
this. No man who's sufficient for these things. That he came
first as a man in the flesh to glorify God in the flesh. Man
was created for the glory of God. To love God was mind, heart,
soul, and body. And we don't love God like that
with any of those things. Christ did. He came second Adam. to glorify God in the flesh,
not just to show us how, but to be our righteousness, our
covenant head. Are you with me? Don't lose me
now. He came to cover their sins. He's making a garment. We're
naked. because of sin. He's making a
garment with his own hands, with his life, with his works. He's
sewing up a righteous path, a seamless road that he's going to say to
the prodigal, to say to the Spirit of God, to the priest in the
gospel, here he comes. I knew he would. I said he would.
Here he comes back. Sinner he is. Look at him. He
smells bad. Look at him. He's naked. He's
in rags. Look at him. Bring the best robe. What robe? The one I made with my life. It covers our smell. It covers
our nakedness. It makes us beautiful. With His life, when He was made
sin, He condemned sin in the flesh. And He also taught us
a glorious lesson, a profound, divine lesson in true beauty. We are so impressed by the flesh.
So impressed by the flesh. We admire the flesh. There is
nothing admirable about the flesh. In fact, God says it's an abomination.
Proud look. You see people studying their
stuff. Christ came and he was ugly,
but he was all together lovely. You can understand what I'm saying.
Duty's not downwards. Duty's not in the flesh. Beauty
is the beauty of holiness. Beauty is the beauty of heart,
mind. They made a movie, A Beautiful
Mind. Put it on that. There was one
beautiful mind. It was the mind of Christ. He
never thought in pure thoughts. Never! He never thought ill will
toward anyone. Never! No envy, no wrath, no
jealousy. Never! Clean hands. I bet his hands were the dirtiest
hands of any man that ever did stand. I guarantee you. They
were more callous than yours. There was dirt under his fingernails.
That's not dirt. That's not dirt. Dirt is something you can't wash
off. Dirt is inward. Dirt is what comes out of his
heart. He had dirty hands, but they were clean hands. Pure hands. always served the glory of God
and served other feet. His feet were not swift to mischief
like ours, swift to mercy. Oh, how beautiful are the feet
of Him that come with the... There's never feet like His.
Feet is the ugliest part of our body. They were His most beautiful. Feet. His mouth. Our lips are
full of curses and bitterness, complaining, murmuring, complaining.
Never, he has never! His eyes, pure eyes, dove's eyes, no guile,
no deception, no deceit. You look at honesty, integrity,
you can't believe him. He's altogether lovely. He had
blue eyes? No! He was a Jew! Was he a Caucasian white? No,
he's burned by the sun. Brown. He's black, but he's comely. Dirty hand. Oh, they're clean
hands. Scarred hands. You know that in glory we're
all going to be without spot and without blemish. Perfect,
pristine bodies in the flesh. But not one blemish, like a newborn
babes that do abuse on our brow, but one person there is going
to have scars. And we're all going to think
he's the most beautiful person here. Show us those scars. Beauty marks. Beauty marks. The price of our
redemption. Most beautiful thing we've ever
seen. How about you? True beauty. He was made sin. Made sin for us who knew no sin. He knew who knew no sin. That
we might be made the righteous of God and Him. He willingly,
obediently became obedient unto death. Agreed to die. Willingly
died. Laid down His life for His sheep.
Not for the good, not for the righteous, but for ungodly, for
sinners. Not for those who asked for Him,
but for those who said, go back. Those who reject Him despise
Him. This is His greatest glory. This is His greatest beauty.
See, this is beauty. This is glory. It's mercy. It's
love for the unloved. It's love for those in danger.
He tells us to do that. We can't do it. We try to do
it. He did it. He did it. And God's beholding
His Son on this earth. He's beholding His Son. Altogether,
please. well I have one child and she
I love her I think she's beautiful inside and out and she was an
obedient child there's nothing more beautiful to a parent than
obedience oh and Lord was obedient even
at the death the death of the cross and he hung there on that
cross made sin for his people not everybody but his people
made a curse made out of love made a curse hanging on a tree
is unrecognizable flesh his flesh was unrecognizable people know
his business was more than any man. His face was a cake mass of blood. But God's looking at him thinking
he's all together. How about you? Like that mercy seat, that ark.
He is the ark. He is the mercy seat. You remember
the ark and the mercy seat? Picture of Christ? That ark and
that mercy seat were gold. Fine gold. But there was so much
blood poured over that, it was brown. It was unrecognizable. The gold couldn't be seen. You
had to see it by faith. That thief on the cross. Who
did I fall, who Christ did this for? A thief and a murderer.
That thief on the cross. Standing, hanging beside him. See, can't see his eyes. Christ's
eyes swollen shade. His face covered with blood. All of a sudden, that thief sees
gold. Sees glory. Sees beauty he'd
never seen before. Sees his substitute. Sees his
Lord. Sees his sins laid on him. Sees
the Lamb. If you saw a lamb butchered and
slain, it would fill you full of grief and sorrow. Behold the lamb, isn't he beautiful? And in a moment, that thief was
changed from a thief and a robber to giving God all the glory,
to beholding the beauty of the Lord. And Christ said of that
thief, And some of his last words, dying words, today, you'll be
with me in paradise. And the next time he saw Christ, in all his glory, beauty. This
is a lesson, too, the Lord tells us in true beauty. True beauty. Young people, old people. Beauty
is inward, not outward. Beauty is the mind of Christ.
Beauty is the character of Christ. Beauty is love, mercy, grace,
compassion. Beauty is not outward. It's the
beauty of wholeness. Beauty is meekness, not pride.
Pride's ugly. Tell me who you're drawn to. Proud people or meek
and lonely and humble people? Here's the thing we're told to
do. Don't look on the things of others. Don't talk about yourself.
Don't love yourself. There's nothing about you lovely.
Have you ever been around somebody all they want to talk about is
themselves? Do you want to be around that person? They never
ask you a thing? They're not interested in you? What is there about us that should
be interesting? What do we got to say? What should
people hear from us? Was Christ interested in others? He gave himself for it. He never spent a day for himself. He was always about a day. Let this mind be of you. True
beauty, true strength is not in body, young men. True strength
is not in body. Accomplishing great feats. True
strength is strength of character. Strength of heart. Strength of
will and purpose. Strength of faith. God-given
faith, true riches, true riches are faith, hope and love, mercy,
peace, grace. Let this mind be in you. True
blessedness, true happiness is not in serving yourself. You'll
never be happy. You will never be happy. God
won't let you be happy if you serve yourself. True happiness
in serving others. True happiness and blessedness
is not receiving, but giving. He gave himself. What? His life. And this is what he's telling
us. Beauty. The greatest beauty and the greatest
glory of all is in being made sent of. Would I lay down my
life for you? I hope so. I don't know if I
would or not. Would I lay down my only child's life for you? No way. I'll just be honest. I wouldn't do it for the likes
of me. Wouldn't do it. Would I do it for a death row
criminal? No way. It's exactly what God did. It's
exactly what He did. We all, to him, look just like
those death row criminals. That's lovely. If I did, I used
this illustration down there, if I did, if that was the only
way that I could free one of those death row criminals like
that, unworthy, filthy, wretched, vile animals, if there's only
one way I could do it is to give my beloved only child and swap
places It's going to count for something. It's going to be effectual. That old boy is going to come
out of there and he's going to be changed. He's going to be changed. And
he's going to live the rest of his life to the praise of the
glory of that one that took his place. Yes, sir. And that's exactly
what God does. Exactly. Wash is clean. Such were some of you, but you're
washed. You're justified. You're sanctified by the blood
of Christ. And you live your life. He really
did this for you. You live your life. No vainglory
anymore. No boasting. Boasting is not
excluded. Now, from then on, you're telling
people what Christ did for you. How Christ was made for you.
Amen. He made Himself. The self-made man. All right. Let's sing in closing number
333. May the mind of Christ, my Savior, live in me. May the mind of Christ, let this
mind be in you. 333. Stand with me. O my dear old Savior, May the mind of Christ my Savior
live in me from day to day, by His love and power controlling
all I do and say. May the word of God dwell richly
my heart from hour to hour, so that all may see our triumph
holy through His power. Fourth verse. May the love of
Jesus fill thee as the waters fill the sea. Him exalt himself
abase thee. This is victory. Last verse,
listen to the word. May His beauty rest upon me,
And I seek the lost to Him, Where I live for ever. The channels feed on me. You're dismissed. you Okay, thank you.