Turn with me to the book of Philippians,
Philippians chapter 2. It's good to be back in Almont,
Michigan again. I love this congregation. I love to preach to people who
love Christ. My subject this morning is going
to be this, the mind of Christ. and we're exhorted here in philippians
chapter two verse five to let this man let this man be in you
which was also in christ jesus now if you would turn with me
to first corinthians i'm on a say a few things out of chapter one
in chapter two in a casually i will give you a a reference
to which verses. These verses should be familiar
to everyone here, but in Philippians chapter 2, he's talking here
about the mind of Christ, and I want to go over here to 1 Corinthians
chapter 1 and 2 and make some comments. Paul talks in 1 Corinthians
chapter 2 about this mysterious power, the mysterious power and
nature of the gospel. He calls this gospel the power
of God unto salvation. And you can take that word, and
I like to look words up every now and then and see what they
mean, and that word can mean authority. There is no power,
Romans chapter 13, but that of God means authority, all authorities
of God. That word can mean permission.
It can mean a lot of things, but you can take that word power
here and you can just run off the deep end with it, any way
you want to go with it. If you're talking about the authority
of God, the permission of God that you might approach Him,
the Gospel is that permission. If you want to talk about the
power of God in the essence of the change of the nature of a
man, bringing him out of the tomb
of his nature, making him meet to inherit the kingdom of God.
Then you're talking about that word power. And where's that
power at? It's in the gospel. In the gospel. The power of God unto salvation. He calls this gospel the wisdom
of God. He speaks of its objects. He
calls them the foolish things of the world, the base things,
the weak things, despised things, things of naught, not many mighty,
not many noble, not many wise men after the flesh. And he talks
about its glorious end that no flesh should glory in its presence. This gospel is of a mysterious
nature. He tells you that in 1 Corinthians
chapter 1 all the way through that. Those folks were glorying
in baptism. Who baptized who and who was
their favorite preacher and their orator and he's a great orator
and because he's a great orator I come to a knowledge of Christ.
We used to hear folks down at 13th Street Baptist Church talking
about coming to a knowledge of the doctrines of grace. Any fool
can pick up a book by the Puritans and come to a knowledge of the
doctrines of grace. Salvation is in Christ. It's in Christ. And he said, I thank God I didn't
baptize any of you. God didn't send me to baptize.
That's not the ultimate end to which he sent me. He said he
sent me to preach the gospel, the gospel. The preaching of the cross, he
said, is to them that are perishing, those giving over to themselves
to believe a lie, 2 Thessalonians I think chapter 2. Those given over to a religious
but reprobate mind, Romans chapter 1. Those given over to a satisfaction
and ease of mind in their idolatry and their false refuge. To them that are perishing this
gospel, he said, is foolishness, utter foolishness. But unto us
which are being saved, it is the power of God. And because of the nature of
it, the mysterious working of it, and because of its objects,
and because of its end, Paul said he was careful how he preached. He said, in first corinthians two verse
one he said when i came on to you i came not with excellency
of speech or of wisdom declaring on to you the testimony of god
and that's what the gospel is it's the testimony of god paul
said we are ambassadors of god as though god did beseech you
by us the preaching of the gospel is a serious matter You're not only held accountable
for what you can hear here this morning, but these folks in this
community are going to be accountable because it was preached here
and they didn't come to hear it. Those folks I taught you
here this morning, those folks in Corazon and Capernaum and
Bethsaida, they were held accountable for what they could have seen
and what they could have heard, but didn't. That whole outfit was cursed,
not just one or two that was there. And he said, I determine not
to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
And Paul had a proper education. He was taught by the highest
teachers, the best teachers, same as Nicodemus was. He was
a world traveler. He could have conversed with
these Greeks on their level. He could have talked about their
gods, and he does in Acts chapter 17 and his message on Mars Hill. He does. He talks about those
things. But here he said, I determined not to do it. But instead he
said, I was with you in weakness. You see that? In weakness and
in fear and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching
was not with enticing words of man's wisdom. He didn't sugarcoat
everything he said. He didn't spend ten minutes surrounding
what he was about to say Well, I don't mean this, and I don't
want you to get offended. He just said what he said. Brother
Don said the word for power there is dunamis, the word from which
we take our word dynamite. And he said the only thing you
can do with dynamite is light the fuse, throw it, and get out
of the way. That's what you do when you preach the gospel. We're
not going to have an invitation at the end of this service. The
gospel is the invitation. I don't want you to come to the
front of the church. There's nothing up here but me and some
red carpet. I can't do anything for you.
I want you to come to Christ. And you come to Christ, you don't
move a muscle. You don't do anything. You just
come to Him. You just look to Him with your
heart. Salvation is in Christ. It's
not in the church. It's not in the preacher. But
God uses this gospel in a mysterious way to bring about the new birth. Did you know that? Paul said,
I have begotten you through the gospel. That's a powerful statement. And he said, I'm careful when
I come to preach. He said, I was with you. He said,
this thing scares me to death. I've been thinking about this
ever since Jim called me the other day, wrestling and thinking
and begging God to give me a word for you. well what what would be wrong he said my speech my preaching
was not with enticing words of men wisdom but in demonstration
of the spirit and a power what what would have been wrong with
paul issues and everything in his heart using that wisdom that
he had using those things what what would have been wrong with
that look here at first that here's why i think in week Here's
why I owned up to what I am. Here it is. That your faith should
not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. Where
is that power? The gospel. The gospel. Because what the world cannot
and will not receive, God the Holy Spirit has revealed to us,
even Paul said, the deep things of God. He said, I hath not seen nor
ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things
which God hath prepared for them that love him. No man! These
things were hidden even from the princes of this world, he
said, otherwise they wouldn't have crucified the Lord of Glory. But, he said, God hath revealed
them unto you by his Spirit. Now listen to this, 1 Corinthians
2 verse 12, 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. Now that says a whole lot of
things, but here's what it says to me. When I told you about
that message Brother Mahan preached, and the Father ran out and wrapped
His arms around the Son, it's impossible for you to connect
yourself with that promise of God apart from the Spirit, making
it yours. That's that permission I was
talking about that comes in the preaching of the Gospel. Ah,
when the Father throwed His arms around the Son, He throwed His
arms, it was me. It was me, and I can't do that
for you. But I can preach this Gospel,
and I can stand back and hope and wonder and watch. Which things, He said, also we
speak, verse 13, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth,
but which the Holy Ghost teacheth, comparing spiritual things with
spiritual. But the natural man, that man
confined in the prison of his nature, that man bound up by
his affection for darkness, that man who says he is rich and increased
with goods and has no need of nothing, but is in reality wretched
and miserable and poor and blind and naked, that natural man who
rejects and weighs the validity of the truth of God by what he
thinks. Paul said, You will say unto
me concerning those things there in Romans chapter 9, the election
of God, the absolute grace of God in election. Well, I think,
Paul said, Who are you? Who are you? that replies against
God. What if you had some numbers
and letters after your name, educated somebody, a doctor of
the law? Who are you that replies against
God? Well, I taught Sunday school
all my life. Who are you that replies against
God? You see what I'm talking about?
The natural man, this man who's confined in the deadness of his
nature, in the ignorance of his nature, in the fallen ruin of
Adam upon him, he can't go anywhere. I told the folks down in Taylor
the other day, I was talking about the nature that confines
a man. You can take a dog out. Somebody said, well, man's free. Man has a free will. Like that
dog, he can run all over the yard, he can hunt rabbits and
tree squirrels, but he can't fly. How come? It ain't in his nature. And I tell you this, you can
read this book, and you can memorize scripture, and you can read the
old Puritans, and you can learn to preach, and you can do all
kinds of stuff, but you can't fly. You can't fly. I'm telling you,
this thing's of God. The natural man, he said, who
weighs the validity of the truth of God by what he thinks and
what seems right to him, that natural man receiveth not, Paul
said, the things of what? Of the Spirit of God. That's what he can't receive.
What things? well the things the holy ghost
teacher think that what he's talking about in this chapter
what's the holy ghost teach christ said when he is coming almost
he said when i'm gone and i'm in glory he said i'm off and
again the comforter to you almost in the holy spirit of god to
you and when he comes what you don't know he's not going to
say one word about himself but he's going to take of the things
of man and he's going to show them unto you. That's the things
of the Spirit of God. Christ and Him crucified. That's
why Paul determined to know nothing else. Why won't he receive them? Because
of foolishness unto him. Neither can. That word has to
do with permission. I remember that from grade school.
Neither can he know them because they're spiritually understood.
He that is spiritual understands all things, verse 15, yet he
himself is understood of no man. That word judge means understood. Now watch this, verse 16. For
who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? Uh-oh! But we have the mind of
Christ. The mind of Christ. As simple
as I know how, what is the mind of Christ? As simple as I know
how to define it, it's the gospel. It's the gospel. It takes in
the eternality of God. It takes in the purposes and
decrees of God, the everlasting covenant of grace, the surety
ship of Christ, His incarnation, His accomplishments, His resurrection,
His intercession, His glorification. He's the one mediator between
God and men. He's the king, the priest, the
prophet. He takes in his return in ultimate
victory and to complete his great work and to judge this world. And the chief difference between
what I believe and what this world believes, what I preach
and what this world preaches, My hope and their hope, the chief
difference, is the person of Jesus Christ. The gospel is a
person. I wish I could learn that. Because
I tell you, when your heart gets cold and the words won't come, And the joy is not there. That
doctrine ain't going to do you any good. But oh, that person, when he comes, what joy, what
peace, what comfort. And I tell you this, when he
calls to you by His Spirit, to learn something about who you
are and bring you down into the dust and you cast down there
like Paul, blind, face in the mud, no hope, nothing to connect you with the
promises of God, that doctrine won't do you any good. how he's able to pick you up. He said, I've seated you with
me in the heavens. That's who I want to know. That's
the chief difference. I know I believe in election,
and this generation believes in a universal atonement. As
ridiculous as it is, they believe in it. But that's not the chief
difference. The chief difference is who.
It's who. And I tell you, you come to know
Him, you won't have any problem with election. I'm telling you
the truth. Why just don't believe in the
absolute sovereignty of God? You come to know Him, you will.
Yeah, you will. Paul summed up all his preaching
by definition and said, we preach Christ. That's what we preach. In Acts chapter 20, he takes
that Ephesian church to record concerning the gospel of Christ.
And he said, I kept back nothing from you. He said, I've sat here
now for years and preached to you and warned you. And he said,
I held back nothing. I declared unto you the whole
counsel of God. What did he preach to them? Christ. He preached Christ. Christ is
the Gospel. Christ is the Word. Christ is
the Covenant. Christ is the Kingdom. Christ
in you by hope of glory. We don't have a separate code
of conduct. This whole first chapter of Philippians
and this second chapter of Philippians, you know what it's about? It's
about fellowship. It's about communion. It's about
being down and comforting one another. And he said he didn't
have a separate code of conduct. He didn't have a separate council
that he come and he counseled folks that were down and counseled
folks in their marriage. He just preached Christ. Isaiah said he is the counselor,
didn't he? His name shall be called Wonderful
Counselor. you want some counsel learn of
him learn of him you want to know how to get along with your
wife learn of him paul said there's this thing about marriage he
said this is a great mystery but he got off that real quick
and he said but i'm talking about christ in his church he's the gospel christ in you
that's the hope of glory and we don't have a separate code
of conduct for living Philippians 121, for me, Paul said, to live
is Christ. To live is Christ. If God ever teaches that to you,
what the economy is doing won't bother you. Well, the stock market, the bottom
fell out of it. To live is Christ. The bottom
didn't fall out of Him. our economy shook the world but
it didn't shake the throne. That's why I told Larry the other
day, I said, I don't know what's going on in the economy, but
I know who's sitting on the throne. We don't look to the laws as
a standard of righteousness. Christ is the end of the law
for righteousness to everyone who believes. Isn't that what
it says? Well, usually I think we ought to follow the law. You're
not a believer. That's how easy that is. Christ
is the end of the law to everyone that believes. Everyone that
believes. Paul was persuaded of the election
of the Thessalonians. He said, God has from the beginning
chosen you unto salvation through sanctification of spirit and
belief of the truth. And that's why he called you
by our gospel. to the obtaining of the glory
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He was confident in those churches
to whom he wrote these letters. But in Galatians, he said, I'm
getting some doubts about you. How come? Because somebody was preaching
living by the law. Everyone that believed Christ
is the end of the law. They don't look to the law. I
don't need somebody telling me, Thou shalt, Thou shalt not. You're
born with a conscience that tells you those things. The most heathen tribe in the
deepest, darkest part of Africa knows those things. Nature teaches
you those things. I don't need somebody. I don't
need the Ten Commandments wrote out in Old English tattooed on
the wall somewhere. Paul said, for me to live is
Christ. It's Christ. And to die is gain. When you come to live in Christ,
death will become gain to you. My father worried for thirty
years about how he was going to die. bless his heart he just
we had relatives in the past who suffered strokes and laid
paralyzed in the bed for thirteen fourteen years he saw all those
things he saw his parents suffer with cancer and die and he just
worried and prayed and worried about it all his life and uh... he'd been up and heard brother
mayhem the lord was pleased to save him in the last part of
his life something very rare and he was up there brother may
hands and he went up back over to the house of my older sister
and he sat down in the chair and he yawned and died. To die is gain. It's gain. We do not seek some worldly common
ground for fellowship. I hunt down in western Kentucky
and there's fellas down there that come down to hunt that are
business associates of the company that I used to work for and they
they come down there and some of them are religious and they're
always hunting for some common ground of fellowship that we
can brother fellowship fellers in the same ship that's what
it is until you get in the ship you're not a fellow that's just the truth We're always
hunting for some common ground of fellowship. But we're all
one in Christ Jesus. He's the common bond, the common
thread, the basis of all true fellowship and affection. John
said to say that you love God and you don't love your brother,
you don't know God. He's the common bond. Brethren,
if I know God, you're my brother. I don't care where you're at,
what color you are, Well, you live in the mountains or in the
plains or in the north or the south, it don't make any difference. In him, Paul said, the middle
wall of petition is broken down and we're one new man. Christ is the gospel and he's
the mind of all them that believe. He's the basis of their understanding. He's the key to all the mysteries.
He's the foundation for all that we believe, He's the object of
faith, and He's the glory of God. The glory of God. John said, The Word was made
flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory. Let me give you several things
I see here in Philippians chapter 2 verses 5 through 13 concerning
this gospel we believe. This gospel begins with God. I listen to religious people
talk and their gospel begins in an experience. Their gospel
begins in a decision. Their gospel begins with a turning
over of a new leaf. uh... their gospel begins in
uh... in some deal they made on the
battlefield one fella told me he said my throat was slit ear
to ear and I was laying there and my life blood was just squirting
out on me he said I was gonna die he said I swore if God had
saved me and delivered me off that battlefield I'd serve him
till I die I said I just want to know one thing did you? he
hung his head down and said no This gospel begins with God. It doesn't begin in those things.
It doesn't begin in the vision. It doesn't begin in the good
feelings. It begins with God. Well, how far back do you have
to go? As far as you can. And when you get as far as you
can, you still can't see it. Turn with me to Galatians chapter
1. I just can't sanction the preaching
of Main Street religion. It's well known. It's worldwide. It's accepted. It's long time
established. It's organized, denominationalized. And I can't get along with them
because they refuse to acknowledge God in the gospel. They offend
somebody. The gospel does not design rest
in the decisions of men. The gospel is not designed to
appeal to the wills and wants and ways of men. The gospel is
not written to be a proposition, an offer, or a deal depending
on what men do or don't do, what men say or don't say, what men
accept and will not accept, what they reject. Everything about
this gospel begins with God. Paul said in Romans chapter 1,
he said, I'm separated under the gospel of God. In the beginning was the Word
and the Word was with God and the Word was God. Who blessed the Ephesian church
with all spiritual blessings and heavenly places? God. Everything we know about God,
we know by His Gospel, His Son. And Paul said over there in Galatians
chapter 1, he said, let me turn over there with you. I thought
I had the Scripture written out and I don't. In Galatians chapter
1, he says this, look down here in verse eleven
verse ten, for do I now persuade men or God? What's this thing
all about? Do I persuade men or do I...
What's this thing about? Or do I seek to please men? For
if I yet please men, I should not be the servant of Christ,
but I certify, I guarantee you, he said. But the gospel which
was preached to me is not after man. It just ain't. You go any
direction you want to go with that. It's not after man. He
said, I didn't receive it of man. I wasn't taught it by man,
but by revelation of Jesus Christ. And you can go on to read here.
He tells them, he said, you know my behavior, you know what I
did, you know how I persecuted the church. But when it pleased
God, who separated me from my mother's womb and called me by
His grace to reveal His Son in me, then I knew how to preach.
And he went out and preached. Everything we know about God,
we know by His Son. John chapter 1, he said, I read
that to you a while ago in a Sunday school lesson, no man has seen
God at any time. All His perfections, His counsels,
His covenants, His promises are all known in Christ. In him,
John said, was life, and the life was the light of men. To
know Christ is to know God, and to know God is eternal life. Listen to this, 1 John chapter
5. He that believeth on the Son
of God hath the witness in himself. He that believeth not God hath
made him a liar, because he believeth not the record that God gave
of His Son. And this is the record that God
hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.
he that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son
of God hath not life. These things have I written unto
you, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you
may believe on the name of the Son of God. It begins with God. And I know this, it's manifest
in a man. It's manifest in a man. The mind
of Christ is that man that knows God came into the flesh. And there's no explaining that.
Christ didn't come down here and take on the nature of a man
separate from his nature of God. In him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily. He's God and man in one person,
one nature, one mind. and those who receive him as
he's declared by the effectual testimony of god who are born
not of blood nor the will of the flesh nor the will of man
but of god are the same as those in john chapter one fourteen
who see the word made flesh it's not just that he kept the
law it's how he kept it perfect thought indeed. It's not how
long he suffered, but who suffered. It's not just the presence of
another godly man on earth, but the appearing of the God-man.
It says he tabernacled among us. What's he talking about?
Well, you remember the old tabernacle in the wilderness? On the outside
it just looked like every other tent, but on the inside it was
filled with the holy things of God. He tabernacled among us. It's manifest in a man, a representative
man, a substitute, a mediator, a surety, one who stands in the
room instead of another. And I know this, this gospel
is secured in glory. How do I know God's satisfied
with what He did? I've got to go out and meet God.
I don't have to go out here and meet your idea of righteousness. I don't have to stand before
some Baptist board. I've got to stand before God. I'm interested in God. What's
God's requirement? How do I know God is satisfied
with His sacrifice and satisfied with His righteousness, satisfied
with all the blessings that He came to bless me with? How do
I know that He finished His work? and God satisfied Wade because
He raised him from the dead. He raised him from the dead. And listen, given into the hands
of this glorified mediator, the victorious Christ, the God-man,
seated at God's right hand, having fulfilled all, purchased all,
manifested all, said everything aright, paid everything that
was due, sits a man in glory on our side. Boy, if that don't give you some
hope, nothing will. On our side. You talk about assurance. Assurance has to do with knowing
Him. It's not how much doctrine you
know, it's knowing Him. Knowing Him. it's got its beginning with god
it's manifest in a person it's secured in glory who shall lay
anything paul said to the charge of god's elect it's god that
justifies it's christ that died and then last of all this gospel
is applied made effectual brought to light by the spirit of god
brings us all the way back to first corinthians chapter one
and two you see what he said? the spirit of god takes these
things and he shows them unto you And then you can stand back like
Paul, and you can say, I know your election of God. Because
our gospel come not unto you in word only, but in power, and
in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance. And you become followers
of us and the Lord. You receive the word in much
affliction, much controversy, and objection, much resistance.
And you received it with joy in the Holy Ghost, and you become
examples to all that believe. from you sounded out the gospel
as far as your means would allow, because you patiently wait for
the Lord from heaven, and because you turn to God from your idols."
Paul said, I know your election. I know what you believe. You
believe the gospel. Oh, our God, give us that faith
that rests in Him. We want to know the doctrine.
We want to teach the doctrine. But we want to know Him who is
the doctrine. Bless this message for Christ's
sake. Amen.