Pray for me as I attempt to exalt
the Savior. Turn with me please to the book
of 1 Corinthians. 1 Corinthians chapter 2. 1 Corinthians chapter 2. We'll
read the entire 16 verses of this chapter. And I, brethren, when I came
to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring
unto you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know
anything among you, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And I was with you in weakness,
and in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching
was not with enticing words of men's wisdom, but in demonstration
of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not stand in
the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. Howbeit we speak
wisdom among them that are perfect, yet not the wisdom of this world,
nor of the princes of this world that come to naught. But we speak
the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom which
God hath ordained before the world unto our glory, which none
of the princes of this world knew, for had they known it,
they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But as it
is written, I have not seen nor heard, neither have entered into
the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that
love him. But God hath revealed them unto
us by his Spirit, For the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the
deep things of God. For no man knoweth the things of a man save the Spirit
of man which is in him. Even so the things of God knoweth
no man but the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the
Spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God. that
we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. Which things also we speak, not
in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy
Ghost teacheth, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man receiveth
not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness
unto him, neither can he know them, because they are spiritually
discerned. But he that is spiritual judgeth
all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. For who hath
known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have
the mind of Christ." Now, Paul begins his chapter with a reminder
to the Corinthians of what took place when he was with them in
person. He preached to them Christ crucified.
That was His only message. He reminds them that He didn't
do it with great eloquence or with words of man's wisdom, enticing
words as some say. No, His message was simple. He told them of Christ and why
He had to be crucified. Then He reminds them in verses
11 and 12 how that natural man cannot It's impossible. Natural man cannot receive or
understand the things of God because we're told those things
are understood only by those who have been given the Spirit
of God. He tells him that it is not possible
for the natural man to understand any of the things of God because
they are spiritually discerned. It's sort of like understanding
a foreign language. When you hear it spoken, if you
don't speak that language, it makes no sense at all. You hear
someone speaking a foreign language and it just sounds like a bunch
of gobbledygook. But if you know that language
and you've been given the understanding of that language, it all makes
perfect sense. And so it is with the natural
man when he first hears of the things of God. Think back when
you first heard of anything resembling the doctrines of grace, of election,
and the redemption of us by Christ on
our behalf. Think back how strange that sounded,
particularly those of us that were raised in religion. We simply couldn't understand
what was being taught. But when you're given the mind
of Christ, You're given the ability through the Spirit to understand
and to both hear those things which are spoken of God. Those
things that were once so foreign-sounding to us now make perfect sense. Once we have the mind of Christ,
everything changes. Those things that were once so
important to us become trivial. Fame, fortune, popularity. Those things that used to mean
everything Those things that we put so much effort into obtaining
now mean nothing to us because we've been shown the vanity of
them. We've been shown something that makes all else pale in comparison. We've been shown the person of
Christ and His finished work on our behalf. And once we see
that, all the things of this world, we just count as Paul
did, as dung, good old-fashioned manure. We've shown an object. of much greater importance. We've
been given the mind of Christ, and when that happens, we cannot
help but see all things in this world as they truly are. Anything
that we can hold, anything that we can see, that we can taste,
that we can touch, is marked for destruction. It's only temporary. Nothing in this world is going
to last forever. But we now set our sights on
those things that are not seen, those things that are worth pursuing
and obtaining. Those things that Paul listed
in Galatians chapter 5. Love, joy, peace, longsuffering,
gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance. These
are the things that shall not be taken away. Now I've titled
this message from the last words of verse 16, but we have The
mind of Christ. But what does that mean exactly?
We're going to look at several Scriptures and try to understand
the meaning of those words. I'm going to attempt to use the
very words of this book to explain what that means. And let me say
from the outset that I realize I am way over my head. Verse
16 of our text asks the question, Who hath known the mind of the
Lord And the answer to that question is only one man, the God-man
Himself, Christ Jesus. He knew the mind of the Lord
because He is indeed the Lord. But our God does not leave us
in the dark concerning His thoughts and His ways, but through His
Word, He instructs us as to how He thinks and why He does some
of the things that He does. He certainly owes us no explanation. it would be perfectly fine and
perfectly just if He would have left this entire race to perish
in darkness. But thanks be to God, He delights
in mercy. In Philippians 2, we read, Let
this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being
in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with
God, but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of
a servant, and was made in the likeness of men. And being found
in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient
unto death, even the death of the cross." Now here in this
verse we're given some insight into the mind of Christ. And
even though He was and is God Almighty, we read that He took
upon Himself the form, the role of being a servant. Now we cannot
begin to grasp what this truly means. We have no idea of the
majesty, the splendor, in which our Savior dwelt with His Father
and the Spirit throughout eternity. We just simply cannot grasp what
a condescension this was. There's never been a condescension
to match this. And we should stand in awe when
we read this, but our minds just simply cannot comprehend how
majestic our Savior is. One day we will know. and one
day we'll be able to praise Him as we ought and as we desire
to. This One by whom all things were created, who upholds all
things by the Word of His power, He that told His disciples, all
power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth. He who is of purer
eyes than to behold sin, walked among depraved, sinful men, Every moment of every day, he
was exposed to every sort of sin, filth, and debauchery. We cannot understand what that
means. I could give you an example,
numerous examples, and I've tried to come up with some, but nothing
really compares and it pales in comparison to how far Christ did condescend
on our behalf. What He saw every day and experience
vexed His very soul. And the incredible thing is this,
He didn't have to do any of what He did. He wanted for nothing. Yet He was compelled by the love
that He had for those that the Father gave Him And out of that
love for a people, he was willing to come and lay down his life,
to take on himself the form of a servant. Now, this servant
went way beyond anything that is normally expected from any
servant. He gave his very life in the
service of those that he came to serve. That is indeed extraordinary. But He did set this example for
us as to how we're to serve one another. If we have the mind
of Christ, we have the mind of a servant. 1 Peter 3.8 instructs
us in this very thing. It says, Finally, be ye all of
one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren,
be pitiful, be courteous, not rendering evil for evil, or railing
for railing, but counterwise blessing. knowing that ye are
there unto called, that ye should inherit a blessing. Now we read
in Hebrews 8.10, it says, For this is the covenant that I will
make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord.
I will put my laws into their mind, that mind we have of Christ,
and write them in their hearts, and I will be to them a God,
and they shall be to me a people. Now in our natural state, I don't think we, any of us,
have ever really come to realize that in our natural state we
despise any mention, any thought of this truly sovereign God. Our mind is so depraved and is
so full of hatred toward any thought of God that we would
not even allow Him a place in our mind. Why is that? Romans 8 tells us, because the
carnal mind is enmity against God. For it is not subject to
the law of God, neither indeed can be. This word enmity means
a deep-seated hatred and animosity. The carnal mind is not at enmity
toward God, it is enmity toward God. This is described in Romans 8,
or Romans 1, 28 I should say. And even as they did not like
to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate
mind to do those things which are not convenient. Now that's
not to say that men mind talking about God or thinking about God
as long as it's a God of their twisted imagination. They don't
mind talking about the man upstairs. I despise that term. The man upstairs, or the big
guy, or the big kahuna. As long as it's a God that is
one in their own mind, they don't mind referring to God at all.
They kind of picture Him like a feeble old grandpa that He
might get mad at you, and rail and shake his cane, but beyond
that, there's really nothing else that he can do. But you
speak to them about a God who does what He wants, with whom
He wants, when He wants, and why He wants, and they will not
have it. Tell them that their decision
that they made for Jesus is worthless. It's worse than worthless. It's
damning. And they will not hear such blasphemy. They will hate you for it. And
you tell them of a God who will have mercy on whom He will have
mercy, and whom He will, He'll harden. And they will hate both
you and that God that you're declaring. You tell them that
God does not love everybody, and that everybody does not have
at least one chance to be saved, like I've heard. Many times from
my religious relatives, everybody has at least one chance to be
saved. It's blasphemy. And history shows
that if they have it in their power, they will kill you. They
cannot get to this God who they despise, but they will be more
than happy to kill anyone who declares as holy, righteous,
sovereign God. I remember reading, I don't know
that I can quote it word for word, I don't have it in my notes.
I don't think we realize sometimes the hatred and the animosity
that some men have toward Christ and His people. But there was
a man who has since died named Gus Hall. He used to run, some
of you older folks may remember him, he used to run on the Communist
Party ticket for president every four years. And Gus Hall made
this statement, I think I can quote it almost verbatim, He
said, I dream of the day when the last congressman is choked
to death on the guts of the last Christian. And he said, and since
they like to sing about the blood, let's give them what they want.
We'll slit the throats of their children, drag them across the
mourner's bench, and then we'll see how much they like to sing
about the blood. That's a little preview into the mind of depraved
natural man. He will not have this God to
rule over him. This is proven by the very act
of the killing of the Son of God. They could not get to God
Himself. But when He came to this world
in human flesh, they sought to kill Him many times, but it was
not time. But they finally succeeded. But
little did they know that His death would redeem a number that
no man can number. that by the very act that they
took such delight in, the killing of God's Son, they secured, they
cemented the redemption of an untold number. There's been a lot of atrocities
committed in this world since the beginning of time. You think
of how many men and women communism has killed, how many men and
women Catholicism has killed. You think of the holocaust. But there has never been a more
vile act committed in this world than the slaying of God's Son.
But this is the power of the sovereign potentate that we worship.
He took the most despicable, vile act that has ever been committed
in this world, the slaying of His Son. And He turned it in. to the most
blessed occurrence that has ever taken place on the face of this
earth. Now only the wisdom and power
of such a sovereign God could possibly turn such a horrendous
act of wicked men into the most wonderful blessed occurrence
that has ever taken place on the face of this earth. And had
we been there, we needn't fool ourselves, we would have delighted
to join in into the hatred and ridicule of the Savior. Paul
tells us as much in Ephesians 2. He says, "...among whom also
we had our conversation in times past in the lust of our flesh,
fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were
by nature the children of wrath, even as others." Those of us who have now been
redeemed have much to be thankful for. If you're like me, you would
have been perfectly content to continue down the path that we
had set out for ourselves. We thought we had everything
figured out. We had a plan, and we gave everything we had into
pursuing it, but thank God that He had His plans and He had overrode
ours. And remember folks, we're no
different than any unbeliever. We sometimes make statements
like, I don't see how they cannot see this, it's so plain. But
they can't see it because they're blind. They've not been given
the mind of Christ. We have so much to be thankful
for. God has saved us from an eternity of unspeakable suffering. I'm convinced that if we were to see into the pits of hell for just a few seconds, that it would be something that
our mind would never recover from. I think of relatives and
friends of mine that have gone on that had no interest in the
things of Christ. And I can't think on it long. I cannot think on the misery
that they will suffer forever. But thanks be to God, we will never know what that
is. We're told we've been translated
from children of wrath to the very sons of God, heirs to an
inheritance that shall not fade away. Colossians 121 says, and
you that were sometimes alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked
works, yet now hath he reconciled. reconciled by the precious blood
of Christ. Now, when we're told that we
have the mind of Christ, it means that we are, as Paul said, walking in the Spirit and not in the
flesh. We read, likewise the Spirit
also helpeth our infirmities. For we know not what we should
pray for as we ought, but the Spirit itself maketh intercession
for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth
the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he
maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.
Also in Romans we read, And be not conformed to this world,
but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye
may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of
God. Now, the mind of our God is incomprehensible. Paul asks in Romans 11, For who
hath known the mind of the Lord, or who hath been his counselor?
It's also written, For your thoughts are not my thoughts, neither
are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. And we also read, For
I am God, and there is none else. I am God, and there is none like
me. So if there are none like our
God, how do we come to understand anything about Him? It is again
like hearing a language that you don't understand. So it is
with our God, everything that we know about Him, we were told
by Him, we're given His Word. But even that is not enough if
we're not given His Spirit. A lost man can read this and
memorize every word, and still perish because he cannot comprehend
the things that he reads. We're told in Hebrews 1 how God
spoke through the ages using different methods, diverse manners,
it says. He spoke through the prophets.
He sometimes spoke directly to men as He did to Moses. He sometimes
sent angels to speak to men, and disciples, and prophets. But now in these last days, we're
told in Hebrews 1, He has spoken to us by His Son, whom He hath
made heir of all things. The point is this, that had God
not chosen to reveal Himself to men, starting with Adam, We
would have known nothing of Him, and we would have been left to
perish forever. Anything we know of God is a
revelation. The word mystery is sometimes
used to describe the things of God. The term hidden mysteries
is used by Paul in many of his writings. We're told that these
mysteries have been hidden from ages and from generations. You
think about this for hundreds and thousands of years. The Jewish
nation was the only one to whom God revealed anything about His
person. The entire rest of the world
was left in darkness to perish. And so it is in our day, the
new Israel, those chosen elect of God, are brought to salvation through
a revelation of Christ, and the rest of the world is left to
perish. Men and women have no eyes to see Christ. They have
no ears to hear His Word. They have no legs, no feet to
run after Him. They've been left to perish by
a sovereign God who chooses who He will and leaves others to
perish. And such were some of you Paul
reminds us. It is indeed a marvelous work
that our God has brought in us. He has saved us from an eternity
of unspeakable misery. So it's only fitting that we'll
spend that eternity singing His praises. Now if we have the mind
of Christ, it would stand to reason that we would also act
like Christ. We already looked at how, as
He took on Himself the form of a servant, how we ought to follow
His example. How we ought to try to imitate
our Savior when men do us wrong, or even when it comes to physical
harm that had been done to the saints of God through the ages.
1 Peter 2.21 tells us, For even here unto were ye called, because
Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye
should follow His steps, who did no sin, neither was guile
found in his mouth, who when he was reviled, reviled not again. When he suffered, he threatened
not, but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously."
These last words of this verse tell us that our Savior was confident
that He who judges righteously would administer the appropriate
punishment to those who had treated Him so wrongly He firmly believed
what our God has told us. Vengeance is mine. I will repay,
saith the Lord. Now I've read that one of the
most dangerous situations you can encounter in the wild is
to be between a mother bear and her cubs. And if that bear happens
to be a grizzly or a kodiak, you can be sure that the consequences
will be dire. You may not mean any harm to
those little cubs. But if she perceives that you're
a threat, she will literally rip you to shreds. Now, how much
more grim do you suppose will be the punishment for those who
have done wrong to God's saints when the wrath of God is poured
out on those who have done despite to one of His little ones? And
I pray that if you're sitting here tonight and you don't know
the Savior, that you will never know what that is, that our God
will soon show you mercy. Yet even though we have the mind
of Christ, we live in a state of constant turmoil. Paul expressed this in Romans
7. He said, I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then
with the mind, the mind of Christ that we have, so then with the
mind, I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh, the
law of sin. He went on to discuss the constant
struggle that he, this great apostle who wrote so much of
the New Testament, that he dealt with every day. He said, those
things I do not. Those things that I don't want
to do, that's the stuff that I find myself doing. And then
he proclaimed, oh wretched man, that I am. So if the Apostle
Paul had these struggles, it should come as no surprise to
us that we do. We're like a godly man who's
been falsely accused of a crime and he's sent to prison. And he's housed with a cellmate
who is unspeakably vile and disgusting. Every word out of this cellmate's
mouth is just cursing and bitterness. And every time this godly man
attempts to pray, he's interrupted by this vile cellmate who begins
to describe in vivid detail some wretched, immoral act that he
has committed, to where this godly man cannot even pray. This
man tries to read God's Word, but is soon disturbed by this
vile wretch of a cellmate who begins another tale of debauchery. And so it is in the life of a
believer. Do you not find it so, dear saint? I don't know if you're like me
or not, but sometimes I get really sick of
being around me. And you know what I'm talking about. You try to study God's Word,
and things come into your mind that are just a shock. You try to pray, I think of that
song, Sweet Hour of Prayer. If I can get through five minutes
of prayer without my mind drifting into some vile thought, I'm doing
well. And I can't believe I'm the only
one that experiences that. We're in a constant state of
warfare with many things, but none are ever so present as a
violence of our own flesh, our own carnal old man. Now, we're told that we have
this mind of Christ, and we need to understand that nothing is
hidden from the God we serve. We know this from numerous Scriptures. In Ezekiel 11, it says, Thus
saith the Lord, listen closely to this, Thus have He said, O
house of Israel, For I know the things that come into your mind,
every one of them." We cannot hide even the thoughts
of our mind from this holy God that we serve. That must be a
terror to the religious hypocrite who tries to hide what he truly
is in his heart from those that he associates with. He puts on
his church face, and goes to church, he tries
to be good and religious among his co-workers, but he knows the things that
go through his mind. And when he reads this text,
I know the things that come into your mind, every one of them,
that has to be a terror to the religious hypocrite. Or God further
tells us, for I know their works and their thoughts, And several
times in the four Gospels, we read when Christ was dealing
with men, that He knew their thoughts. Now, we can pretend
to be certain things before other people, and many times, they'll
believe what they see. We like to be well thought of.
We all do. Some may not admit it, but we
do. But our Savior, astoundingly
enough, and our God that we serve, knows every thought that goes
through our minds, and in spite of that, He loves us. We don't try to hide things from
our God. We know that we're corrupt to our very core, and that drives
us to the feet of Christ. It drives us to His righteousness,
to His intercession on our behalf. Eventually, this new man will
leave this body. And this old man that gives us
so much trouble will be out there under the grass with this wretched
body. And in a way, I look forward
to that. The older I get, the more I look forward to it. I
think Paul looked forward to the day when he would be freed
from his prison, house of sin. When I read where Paul wrote
the words from a Roman prison, for I am now ready to be offered,
and the time of my departure is at hand, I can't help but
think, as the day of his execution drew near, that in a way, he
actually looked forward to it. Not so much to be released from
the physical prison that he was in, but to be released from that
old man. He said, I am now ready to be
offered. In that original Greek text, it can be translated, I
am now ready to be poured out. Or I am already poured out. Now
that alludes to the drink offering of the Old Testament. First mentioned
in Genesis 35, right after God had changed Jacob's name to Israel. Drink offerings were also included
with burnt offerings and grain offerings. They involved wine
being poured out on an altar. as an offering to the Lord. So
when Paul said, I am now ready to be offered, he meant that
he was now ready to be poured out in service and sacrifice
to his God. This is similar to what we read
in Psalm 22 concerning the death of our Savior, when he said,
I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint.
Christ said to His disciples in Matthew 26, this is my blood
of the New Testament. which is shed for many for the
remission of sins." Another way this could be translated is this
is the blood of the New Testament which is poured out for many
for the remission of sins. Now Paul having the mind of Christ
counted in an honor to be poured out in the service of God. And hopefully that will be our
mindset if we have the mind of Christ. Our mindset will be,
Lord, pour me out. Use me up to the last drop in
Your service. Conform me to the image of Christ.
And even as I say that, I say it with dread. Because when you
pray to be conformed to the image of Christ, you're praying for
some heartbreak. He would not call a man of sorrows
for no reason. Now one day we at last shall
see Him as He is, and we'll be able to praise Him as He deserves
to be praised. And at that time, finally, we
will truly, truly know what it is to have the mind of Christ. I pray that the Lord will bless
that to your hearts. Lord willing, this coming Sunday,
our friend Mike Walker will be with us. And a week from tonight,
I have no idea who's going to be here, Mark. Mark doesn't know
either. Frank Tate. Frank will be with
us. So, be in prayer for those men. I'm sorry, I'm not as prepared
as I should be. Anyway, and don't forget our
fifth Sunday dinner. Lord willing, it will be a time
to get to visit a little bit more than we normally do. Lord
bless you. You're dismissed.