The title of the message is The Mind of Christ in You. Paul says, let this mind, spirit, attitude, life, speaking of the life of
Christ in you, The Scriptures teach us that Christ in you is
the hope of glory. It stood out to me when I read
this that Paul did not say, let the doctrine of Christ be in
you, but the life, the mind. Because if it's there, the doctrine's
gonna be there. It's going to be there. I do not want to be
theologically correct and spiritually dead. And that's very possible. Christ said there'll be many
in that day that will say, Lord, Lord, we preached in your name.
We prophesied in your name. We cast out many devils in your
name. Do you think all of them are
Armenians? There will be religions of all
kinds, even Calvinist. You can believe the doctrines
of election. You can believe Calvinism and
go straight to hell. You cannot love Jesus Christ
and perish. You cannot have Jesus Christ
in you and perish. That's impossible. but you can
believe doctrine and miss Christ. And when Paul's in writing here,
he's saying, you remember, turn back to the chapter one here,
or I mean chapter two, verse one. Paul's saying here, he uses
this word if, two-letter word, but a very big word, a very big
word. If there be, if your claim of
salvation is real, if it's genuine, that's what he's saying, if therefore,
if this consolation, if this comfort that you claim to have
in Christ, if it's real, If any comfort of love, you find
real comfort. If that's genuine, he's saying,
if that's genuine, if any fellowship of the Spirit, you're sealed
by the Spirit of God. You have the Holy Spirit. You
have the fellowship of the Spirit. If you have the fellowship of
the Spirit, you have the fellowship of God. And if any vows of mercy,
if your tenderness and your kindness is real, is that if it's genuine,
and fulfill you my joy, you've made me happy, this is my joy,
this is my joy, that I have preached the gospel to you, not in vain,
but God has saved you. and your conduct and your actions
are coming from Christ in you. That your fear of God is from
Christ in you. Over in the scriptures it says,
your fear of me is taught by the precept of men. I have sat
in services when I was younger and they would scare the living
life out of you. You're going to hell if you don't do that.
The fear of God is taught by the precept of men. I want the
fear of God that is taught by the Spirit of God that's in me.
And it's a fear of respect. It's a fear that comes out of
love that a child has to his father. I don't want to be religious
but lost. Look over in Romans 10. I believe
that's where it is. over in Romans 10. Listen to this. Brethren, my
heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might
be saved. They thought they believed they
were. For I bear them record, they have a zeal of God. They're
zealous. They went about to kill God Himself,
Christ as God. They went about to kill Him,
thinking they were doing God a service. And Christ said to
His disciples, they'll kill you one day thinking they're doing
God a service. They have a zeal of God. They're
very religious. They do the ceremonies. They
don't miss. They do it all. They go right by the letter.
They turn the page and say, we're supposed to do this. And then
they do this. And there's no heart in it. There's no life
in it. It's just ceremonies. But not according to knowledge.
Not according to the Word of God. They don't know God at all. The ones who had the types, the
pictures, the shadows, the prophets, the Word, they had all these,
the promises, and they didn't know God at all. They didn't
know God at all. I don't want to go down that
same road. And I don't want anybody I preach to go down that road. For they being ignorant of God's
righteousness, they went about to establish one of their own,
thinking they could actually please God by their own works."
They were ignorant of the pure, holy, righteousness of God. Therefore, they went about to
produce one of their own, because that's how lowly they thought
of God. I don't want that. I don't want
that. Paul says here, verse 2, back
in Philippians 2, fulfill you my joy, that you be like-minded of the same mind, having the same love, love to
one another, same love, the same love that Christ has to us, we're
to have to one another. Of one accord, of one mind, unity,
love unites, doesn't it? Let nothing be done through strife
or vainglory or trying to get a reputation. But in lowliness
of mind, let this be genuine. Lowliness of mind, let each esteemed
other think better of others than they think of themselves. Look not every man on his own
things. It's what I need and what I have.
We're talking about this morning coming up. all the things we
try to produce and have and build bigger and better. Don't look every man on your
own things, what you desire and want and have, try to accomplish.
Look on one another's. It says here, look not every
man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.
What did Cain say when God said, where's your brother? He said,
am I my brother's keeper? You know what the answer to that
is? Absolutely. Absolutely. You and I would look
after one another. Spiritually, if somebody's going
down the wrong road, look after him. Say, you might not want
to go there. Look after one another's needs.
And then to top this off, He doesn't point to another saint.
You know how the Catholics do. They point to this saint, that
saint. He points to Christ. And he says
this, let this mind be in you, this spirit, this attitude. And he's speaking of the life
of Christ in you, in me. That's what he's speaking of.
The life of Christ in us. No real lasting joy, no real
love for the brethren, no real bowels of tender mercies can
be had apart from Christ in you." This to me is the very heart
of Christianity. Christ in you. Our hope of glory is built on
a person. It's Christ. But listen, is Christ
in you, that relationship, that union. I'm the vine and you are
what? The branches, that union. Now he says here, this mind,
this spirit, this life of Christ, this attitude, someone said,
attitude is everything. It is. You know, I'd owned a
business for many years and when somebody got a bad attitude,
Rarely did it ever get changed. Rarely, it usually just went
down, down, down until they went out. But to have a good attitude,
you know how much, you know how that makes the day go? When you
go to work and you've got a good attitude that day and you're
looking at your job and you're thankful you got it, you thank
God for the job and what, man, it makes the day go by so much
better. He said letting this attitude, now listen, this attitude
of humility. The one thing this flesh, does
not like is to be humble. We like fanfare. Why do you think
it's so hard for athletes to retire? It's so hard to give
up that glory. It's so hard to give up the fanfare.
But let this mind, this real spirit of humility in serving, Being a servant. A servant. You know that's the highest calling
you could have is to be a servant of God? To be a servant. Nowadays we don't like to call
them servants or employees. We call them associates. You've
got to stick a different name on it even though they are what?
Servants. We're servants. We serve one
another. Our Lord took a towel and bowed
down to His disciples' feet and He washed their feet. The God
of heaven and earth. Now think about this. The God
of heaven and earth stooped down to wash the feet of His disciples. He came to serve. Behold My servant. My Let this mind of humility,
this mind of obedience. My meat, I quoted this this morning,
my meat is to do the will of Him that sent me. We were listening to Henry coming
up on Sermon Audio. And in that message he said,
he quoted what the Lord said, except you lose your life. Except you hate your life. except you lose everything and
follow me, you cannot be my disciple. You know the doctrine of election
doesn't bother me. I believe God chose a people.
I believe that. I believe Christ died for the,
that doesn't give me, I don't have any trouble whatsoever.
I was telling Vicki, I said, but have I ever, have I, have
I hated my life? Have I really forsaken everything
to follow Christ? Let me ask you something. Which gives you more trouble? Believing that God chose the
people or loving your enemies? It doesn't take a saved man to
believe God chose the people. But I do believe it takes a saved
man to love your enemies and pray for them who despitefully
use you. Those are the things that gives
me trouble. That's what gives me trouble. It gave Christ no trouble. Father
forgive them, they don't know what they're doing. When he was
reviled, he did what? Reviled not again. He never carried any animosity
in any way, shape, or form. Now, Paul said, let that be in
you. Now, which is harder, to believe the doctrines of grace
or to live out grace? To live it out. To live it out. And that's where true Christianity
is seen. That's where it's saying. You go to the Sermon on the Mount. Christ doesn't speak of doctrine
there. He speaks of conduct and character. That whole sermon.
The longest sermon He ever preached. God came into this world, went
up on that mount and preached. And what did He preach? He preached
to the character of a believer and the conduct of a believer.
And He told us what to do and how to live. And that's not to obtain salvation. No, we know that. He obtained
salvation. He is our salvation. But he is
saying, this is your life. Because human nature is totally
opposite of that. It's totally opposite. Let this mind of humility, this
attitude, let this mind of humility, this mind of obedience, this
mind of willingness to serve, Here am I, Lord, send me." Willingness to serve. This mind
of love. He loved his enemies. I can't comprehend this. I'm not even going to try to
explain it. But you know when Judas betrayed him, he called
him friend. He called him friend. When he stood there and looked
over Jerusalem, he wept over Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Jerusalem.
How often would I have gathered you together as a hen doth gather
her brood, but you would not. That's God speaking. That's God,
that's his heart. He's opening up his heart. We
see it. Let this mind of kindness, you
know sinners felt comfortable in his presence. You know the
publicans and the harlots felt comfortable in his presence?
He sat down and ate with them. He ate with them. He talked with
them. Publicans said, Harlots! He sat
down and talked with them. The self-righteous wouldn't do
that. They didn't want to be seen with him. They used that
as a slander on him. This man eateth with publicans
and sinners. He could be eating with us, you
know. That was their attitude. He could have came up a notch
and ate with us. No, he's gotta sit down there
with the publicans and sinners. Let this mind This mind of humility,
obedience, willingness. Be in you. You know that only
what's in you is real. That's the only thing that's
real. Love not in word, but what? In deed and truth. It's easy to say, I love you. But to live it out is a different
thing, isn't it? You can say to your wife every morning, honey,
I love you. I know a man, he's not, he's
dead now. He told me, he said, I love my
wife. He beat her. He physically beat
her. But he told me, he said, I love
my wife. He wouldn't go to work. She supplied for the family.
He turned into a lazy drunk. But he loved his wife. That's
easy to say. That's easy to say. But it's
not nearly as easy to get up and go to work every morning.
and get out there and do what you're supposed to do, take care
of your family. That's deed and truth. That's deed and truth. Let this mind, he said, be in
you, cultivate it, pursue it. Pursue it by prayer. Pursue it
by sitting under the gospel, the teaching of the word of God.
pursued by the study of Christ. Take my yoke upon you and learn
of me." And if you learn of Christ, you'll learn what humility is.
I am meek and lowly of heart. You'll learn that. And he holds Christ up as our
example because this mind was in the Son of God. He never thought
more highly of himself than he ought to. He's God. He's God. But He didn't go around shoving
that people's face, did He? He didn't do that at all. This mind was in Christ. It was
real. It was not fake. He said, being in the form of
God, He's God manifested in the flesh. He was one with God and
it was not robbery. It was not robbery for Him to
be equal with God. It would be robbery for me to
claim equality with God. But it was not robbery for Him
to claim equality with Almighty God. But even though He's equal
with God, He made Himself of no reputation. Of all people
that's ever walked on this earth, He could have done that. But he didn't. He didn't do it
at all. He never performed a miracle
to show off. He performed a miracle to help.
He never performed one for himself. Satan said to him when he was
in the wilderness, turn these stones into bread. He was hungry.
He didn't eat for 40 days and 40 nights. He was a real man.
He was hungry. He never performed a miracle
for himself to relieve himself of hunger or pain or anything. But he did it for us. He did
it for a lot of sinners. He bore our sickness, carried
our sorrows. And he made himself here, listen,
no reputation. Where was he born? Hospital? Huh? He was born in a stable as low
as you can get. He was born with the beast of
the field. God. When God came into this world,
He came into this world through a barn and a stable. Not a palace. Not a palace. A barn. And they laid Him in a stable.
where the cows eat their fodder, their food and their hay. That
was his bed. I wasn't laid in a stable. I was laid in a nice baby bed. But not our Lord, not the God
of heaven and earth, but in a barn. He didn't get a name for Himself
among men, among the sons of men. It says written in the Scripture,
He knew what was in man. He didn't commit Himself to men. He wasn't impressed. He didn't
come to impress. He came to serve. He came to save. He came to die. And it was not beneath Him to
serve. And He proved it to the disciples, as I mentioned, He
washed their feet. Peter said, No! No! You're not
going to wash my feet, Lord? And he said, If I don't wash
your feet, you have no part with me. But he came to serve. He showed
to them and to us true humility in serving. He said in the Scriptures, it
was written of him in the Scriptures that he came He came to serve. He came to give his life a ransom
for many. That's what he came for. He gave his life as a sacrifice.
Sacrifices, I tell you, the sacrifices you and I make, they're, can
you really call them a sacrifice? Really? He gave his life as a sacrifice. It says over in Romans 12, look
over in Romans 12, I beseech you brethren, in verse
1 of Romans 12, I beseech you brethren, I beseech you, therefore,
brethren, by the mercies of God, not by a law, not by a commandment,
but by the mercies that God has shown on you, that you present
your bodies a living sacrifice, wholly acceptable unto God, which
is your reasonable service." That's all it is. Well, I gave
up this. Well, you ought to. It's just
a reasonable service. He said, present yourself. When
he says your body, present yourself. Lord, what will you have me to
do? Well, I was going to do this today, but... I had plans today. I had plans. Well, sacrifice those plans.
Just give them up. Our Lord gave His life. He came
to die. He came to put an end to death
by His death. I don't have to experience death
because of His death. He came to take the sting out
of death. There's no sting in death. Not
at all. Not for the believer. For the
unbeliever there is. He came to remove the curse from
death by taking the curse to himself. He humbled himself. Think about
this. He humbled himself to be found
in fashion as a man. God became a man. What does God
call Jacob? A worm. A worm. The worm Jacob. Maggot. And he humbled himself
to become like one of us, except for sin. To be identified with
us. Not ashamed. Now listen, not
ashamed to call them brethren. I shouldn't be ashamed to call
anybody my brother. Have anybody in the family that's
embarrassing? Anybody in the family who's ashamed
of that? Shouldn't be. You look at the people whom
he has saved and what they've done. And a lot of the stuff
is never known. He's merciful, he keeps it hidden.
And yet he's not ashamed to call us brethren. He's not ashamed
to call us brethren. He humbled himself to be found
in fashion as a man. God, Almighty God, in all his
glory, humbled himself to become one
of us. One of us. His death is the death of everyone
who believes God. Why should it be so difficult
for me to sacrifice something or to
do something? Why is it so difficult for me
to be humble? Why is it so difficult for me
to, if somebody compels me to go a mile, to go two? Why should
it be so difficult if somebody wants my coat to give him my,
wants my cloaks to give him my coat also? Why is that so difficult? He did. He's our example, he
did. He did. And you know what? God has highly exalted him. God has highly exalted him. Scripture
says, "...he that humbles himself shall be exalted, he that exalts
himself shall be abased." And God has highly exalted Him.
He's the only man who truly pleased the Father by His obedience.
The only one. And He's highly exalted. I said
He died. He was put to death. Well, He's
not dead. We don't worship a dead Christ.
I do not go around and you do not go around wearing a cross
with this emblem of supposedly Jesus hanging on it. He's not
there. And He's not in the grave. He's
seated at God's right hand, exalted. And everything, everything is
under His power. And He rules and He reigns over
everything, listen now, for our good. Our good. You say, well, there's been some
things that's happened to me that is not very good. Oh, yes, it
was. If you're a child of God, it's
for your good, no matter how much it hurt. It's for your good. And he's been given a name which
is above every name. You know, John the Baptist, when
they came to him, they said, who are you? And he said, first
of all, I'm not the Christ. He said, let's get that straight.
I'm not the Messiah. But I'll tell you who I am. I'm just a voice. I'm just a
voice. We hear of the woman at the well.
Do you know her name? There was a certain centurion.
Do you know his name? There's only one name that means
anything. And that's his name. When Vicki and I got married,
she took my name. She took my name and dropped
hers. His name, the name of our husband,
is the only one that matters. Right? I was watching a television
program not too long ago. That's been some time ago. And
this lady that they were talking to, interviewing, she and her
husband was having a real battle before they got married because
she did not want to drop her last name. She wanted to keep
her name. I thought, what an idiot. I mean,
you're already walking into a mess. You better stop. But she did
not want to take his last name. She wanted to keep, she thought
so highly of her last name, she didn't want his name. I thought,
well, why do you marry the guy for? That shows what you think
of the person. We are glad to have his name,
Christian, Christ follower. I know that's being abused, but
I'm glad to be called a disciple of Christ, a Christian. There's no other name given under
heaven whereby we must be saved. Whatsoever you ask in my name, it'll be done for you. No man in any age has been saved
by any other name, any other person. A name represents a person. It represents a person. The angels
bow to his name. They bow to his name. It says here that at the name
of Jesus, every knee should bow of things in heaven, things in earth,
and things under the earth. And every tongue is going to
confess. It's going to confess now that He's Lord. Not that He's Savior. I don't think anybody's got enough
sense coming out of the rain is gonna, would take, you know,
wants a savior. They don't wanna go, nobody wants
to go to hell. But nobody wants the Lord, that's our problem.
We don't want anybody to be the boss, but us, right? I know I'm right. I've employed
enough people, I know I'm right. And I've worked myself, I know
what my problem is. We don't like to be told what
to do, not naturally. Not naturally. But every tongue is going to
confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. The host of heaven, they
do it willingly. Gladly, you do it. You who believe
God, you willingly confess His Lordship. And those who wind
up in hell, they're going to confess it too, whether they
like it or not. They're going to confess that He is Lord. And
it's going to be to the glory of God the Father. Every one
of them. Christ is our example.
Christ is our life. He's our all in all. And I want
I do, I desire this mind, the mind of Christ, the life of Christ,
the spirit of Christ, to be in me. I want true humility, not put
on, because that's what I'm supposed to have. I want true humility,
I want true love, I want true willingness, I want a real, genuine
attitude of gratitude to God. for what He's done for me in
Christ. That's what I want. I want to be correct theologically, but I'd much, much rather be
correct spiritually, in my heart. There's a song we sang at 13th
Street a long time ago. Lord, I want to be like Jesus
in my heart. I don't think we have that song
here, but boy, every time we sang that song, I thought that
spoke to me. That's what I want. And that's
what I want for you. The life of Christ in you. Okay.