These Works You Shall Do — Anton Bosch

The Kenosis and the Mind of Christ

That's the sign? Good. Well, let's turn to the book of a Philippians chapter 2. Philippians chapter 2 and our theme is the spiritful life and I want to speak with you this morning on the kenosis and I'll explain that fancy term in a moment.

I just throw these terms around to impress you. But brother Tom McMahon did make reference yesterday to the fact that Jesus did what he did by the Spirit and we're going to look at a few more scriptures along that line.

But let's first begin in Philippians chapter 2 and let's read verses 1 through 11. Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.

Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests but also for the interests of others.

Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant and coming in the likeness of men.

And being found in appearance as a man he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted him and given him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven and of those on earth and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

Kenosis as the Emptying of Divine Authority

Now if you look at verse 7, he made himself of no reputation. He made himself of no reputation. The Greek word there for no reputation is the word kenosis, and that word means emptied himself. And so kenosis refers to the emptying, and you say well what does that have to do with the Holy Spirit?

Well stick around and you'll see for a moment. But this is a very important subject as far as I understand it in terms of the baptism of the Spirit, because those who do not believe in the baptism of the Holy Spirit as a separate experience from salvation hold generally hold a different view on the kenosis, hold a different view on who and what Jesus was when he walked on the earth.

Now we all agree that he was a hundred percent God and a hundred percent man. There's no disagreement on that. The problem is to what extent was he man and to what extent was he God? A hundred percent but a hundred percent.

But is he operating as man or is he operating as God? That really is the question. Now those who don't, who see the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and they don't make this connection generally by the way, but that connection is a very real connection.

Those who don't believe in the baptism of the Holy Spirit as a separate experience tend to focus on Jesus as performing the miracles that he did and living his life really as God in the flesh. Now we believe he was God in the flesh.

There's no difference on that. Jesus was a hundred percent God, a hundred percent man, or very God and very man. But when he lived as a man, was he really God? And we speak about God in the flesh, but was he God in the flesh and was it God who was empowering him to do the things or was he being God in the flesh?

Now I think I've lost you there for a moment, but what they say, let me give you their side of the story. What they say is that Jesus performed the miracles because he was God. He performed the miracles because he was God.

In other words, when Jesus opened the blind eyes, this was God, Jesus as God opening the blind eyes. You say, well I don't understand the problem. Well here's the thing, if Jesus was a hundred percent like me, am I God?

No. And so Jesus then cannot be a hundred percent man. He cannot be like me if he is God doing these things. So let me go right back and then I'll come back here and we'll see if we can pick it back up again.

Christ’s Servant Pattern in John 13

What we understand by the empty? You remember in John's gospel it speaks about the upper room, John chapter 11 I think it is, John chapter 13, and maybe let's just go there and we'll see this in operation.

Jesus is in the upper room and somebody has to wash the feet and the disciples are too proud to do this and so Jesus does it. And so John chapter 13 verse 4, he rose from supper and laid aside his garments and took a towel and girded himself.

So Jesus walks into the upper room and who is Jesus as far as the disciples are concerned? He is their teacher. He is their rabbi. He is the master. But they don't want to wash the feet so he washes the feet.

So he takes his garments and he puts them to one side. So he has stripped himself and he's not naked, he's really talking about his outer garments. So he takes his outer garments, puts them to one side.

He has now set aside his role, his authority as the teacher. And he takes a towel and he girds himself about with a towel. What has he now done? He has taken on the role of a servant and he washes their feet.

He washes their feet as a servant. Now is he still the teacher? Yes, he is still the teacher. But is he using his power as the teacher? No. What does his power as the teacher, his authority as the teacher give him as far as washing the feet is concerned?

Hey you, wash the feet. Does he have that authority? Yes, he has. He is their teacher. He is their master. But he doesn't use that. He sets that aside. He puts on the towel and he becomes the servant and he washes his feet.

And then later on in verse 12. So when he had washed their feet, taken his garments and sat down again, he said to them. So he's finished washing the feet. He presumably takes off the towel. It doesn't say so, but presumably takes off the towel and he puts his garments back on again.

Who is he now? He is the teacher again. Now in that is a picture then of how Jesus came. Jesus was God. He is born in human form. But he becomes a hundred percent human. Now he is still God. The same way Jesus was still the teacher.

But he sets aside his divine power and his divine authority. And here's the key. That's what I believe. Others believe no, he did not set that aside. He still had and used his divine power. No, Jesus did not use his divine power.

He became a man just like you and just like me. And so was he still God? Yes, he was God. But did he use his divine power to do anything? No, he did not. Because otherwise he was not like us. And the whole purpose of the incarnation is then invalidated.

Because then he's just, he's not like us. Now another illustration to try and illustrate this is, maybe you're familiar with a program. I've forgotten the name of the thing. Undercover boss. Undercover boss.

And you know how that works. The guy is the chief executive of the company or the president of the company and he takes a job in the company flipping burgers, let's say. And so there he is, a grill hand and he's flipping burgers.

Now is he the president of the company? Yes, he's the president. But at that moment, is he using his powers and his authority as the president? No, he's not. He's being messed around and bossed around by the store manager.

And he has problems. Does he pick up his cell phone and call head office and say, let me fix this, fix this problem. Let me fire this bad, this bad supervisor that I have here. No, he can't do that. Because he has willingly limited himself and said, I'm going to be undercover.

And he cannot blow his cover. And so Jesus comes and he lives just like us. Yes, he has, as it were, in his pocket the cell phone that will give him access to all his divine powers and prerogatives and authority.

And that's exactly where the temptation lies. And I'll come back to that in a moment. But the problem is that if Jesus for one moment reached out and used his divine authority, he would not be like us.

And so for him to tell me to live in a particular way, well, that would be unrighteous. Because how can I live like he lived when he had resources that I don't have? Now this translates into two areas in our lives in practice.

Christ’s Temptation and Human Weakness

The one has to do with us doing the work of God. But the other area has to do with temptation. Now those who hold a different view of the kenosis then say that Jesus could not sin. He was tempted. Now we're all agreed that he did not sin.

There's no disagreement on that. But the question is, did he have the potential to sin? Could Jesus sin? And those who hold the other view tend to say, and they're not all agreed on that, but they tend to say, Jesus could not sin.

It was impossible for him to sin. And their argument is basically that if he did sin, then God would self-destruct. Because now God in the flesh has sinned and God would cease to exist and that's impossible.

Now that sounds like a great theory. But the scripture says nothing on that. What the scripture tells me is that he was tempted in every point like as we are, yet without sin. Now just by the way, it does not mean that Jesus was necessarily tempted in every kind of human sin.

I've heard people say that and and I just don't believe that that is true. I don't believe that Jesus was necessarily tempted with drugs or with alcohol or with sex or with whatever the temptations are that we are tempted with.

The point here is simply that it doesn't matter what your temptation is. All temptation is essentially the same. We all have the same struggle. Some of us struggle in this area and others struggle in that area.

And so maybe I'm not an alcoholic, but I understand the problem and the struggle the alcoholic has because I have struggles in other areas. And the struggle is just as intense and the temptation is just as intense.

So Jesus did not have to necessarily be tempted in every category of human sin. And I don't believe that he was tempted in any of those categories because he did not have a sinful nature the way we have.

But Jesus' temptation is just as real. And all temptation boils down to two issues. The one is to not do what we ought to do and the other is to do what we ought not to do. That's all temptation. Comes down to those two things.

Sins of omission and sins of commission. Sins disobeying God, not doing what he wants us to do, and sins, those are the two areas, not doing what we should be doing and doing what we should not be doing.

And so Jesus is tempted in those areas. But now if Jesus then could not sin, well then he's not like me. If he had a safety net that somehow would protect him from stepping over the edge, well then what's the point of temptation?

If temptation cannot lead to sin, it's not temptation by definition. Temptation must have the potential of sin. And so you can see where we have these problems. So here's Jesus then, he comes and he lives as a human being.

Jesus Begins Ministry Through the Holy Spirit

We said yesterday that Luke says that he had the Holy Spirit upon him from his mother's womb. But one of the important things to notice is that Jesus does not perform any miracles until the Holy Spirit comes upon him at the baptism of John.

Now that's very important. Catholic teaching, and remember that Brother Tom made reference yesterday to the very close connection between Reformed teaching and Roman Catholic teaching. Roman Catholic teaching says that Jesus performed miracles while he was a child.

One of those miracles was that he made little pigeons or doves out of clay and he blew into them breath and they flew away. Now I'm glad you're laughing because that's what it is, it's laughable. There is no scripture for that.

Jesus performed no miracles until he began his ministry. Jesus lived exactly like we are. The scripture is specific that he was subject to his parents. He obeyed his parents. He fetched the water, he made the fire, he washed the dishes, whatever was required.

He worked as an apprentice in Joseph's carpenter's shop, swept the floor, began to learn to do things in the carpenter's shop, served his clients, made whatever things he made. He lived exactly like we are with no extraordinary powers.

Now people say, well what about when he was 12 years old? And you remember when he was 12 years old he was there in the temple and he's disputing with the rabbis and he has extraordinary insight into the scriptures.

Well you don't have to have divine omniscience, God's all-knowingness to be able to be at that level. What you just need to do is apply yourself in studying the scriptures and Jesus applies himself it seems as a young boy in reading and understanding and learning the scriptures, learning from the rabbis, learning at the synagogue.

And so when he's 12 years old he has tremendous insight, not because he is God, but because he has applied himself as a man, as a boy, in learning the scriptures. And I think that that's important because sometimes we say, well you know, I don't have a gift.

No, sometimes we just haven't applied ourselves. And so Jesus then lives and then he is baptized with the Spirit. And so let's go to the book of Luke and I think Brother Tom or was it Brother Gary did look at some of these scriptures yesterday.

I want to go through them again quickly. Luke chapter 1 and verse 15. Luke chapter 1 and verse 15. He will be great, this is the prophecy before the birth of Jesus, he will be great in the sight of the Lord and he shall drink neither wine or strong drink.

He will also be filled with the Spirit even from his mother's womb. Now that is John, but the same thing then applies to Jesus. Now Luke chapter 3 and verse 21. When all the people were baptized it came to pass that Jesus also was baptized and while he prayed the heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form like a dove upon him and a voice came from heaven which said, you are my beloved son in you I am well pleased.

And then if you go to chapter 4 you find that he is driven by the Spirit. Verse 1. Jesus being filled with the Holy Spirit returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness. And so here is the first time you now see Jesus beginning to be led by the Spirit.

He does not go to the wilderness because he is God knowing that that's what he has to do. The Spirit leads him. Now again the point here is that Jesus is living just like we live, or like we ought to live rather.

We ought to be led by the Spirit. And so Jesus goes to the wilderness not because he's God and he knows instinctively because he is God this is what he has to do. He has all the same limitations as we have.

And we say but Jesus didn't have this. He did have the same limitations. Remember when he speaks about the second coming and remember he says nobody knows the day nor the hour not even the Son of Man.

So Jesus in that statement clearly says I don't know. I don't know even one of the most fundamental things about the future because it's and really the the return of the Lord Jesus the date is really a very important thing around which everything in the at the end time revolves everything revolves around that one point and then and then from that point certain things come forward and certain things flow behind that.

And Jesus doesn't even know that. So you can see that he does not have knowledge more than you and I have. But the Spirit leads him. He goes into the wilderness. He's tempted. And you can go through the book of Acts and especially the book of Luke sorry and you'll find over and over these various references to how that Jesus then is led by the Spirit.

Jesus’ Anointing in Luke 4

Now I want to go to Luke chapter 4 and I'm skipping over all of the details you can go through these for yourself but and I think the scripture was also referred to yesterday Luke chapter 4 and verse 18.

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me. He's reading from the book of Isaiah in the synagogue and he says and it says verse chapter 53 the Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor he has sent me to heal the brokenhearted to proclaim liberty to the captives to recover the recovery of the sight of the blind set at liberty those who are oppressed and proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.

Close the book. He gives it back to the attendant and he begins to teach. He says today this scripture has been fulfilled and so Jesus's statement is I am God I have come to live amongst you and I'm now going to set at liberty the captives and preach the gospel.

Is that what he says? No. The Spirit of the Lord has anointed me to do these things. So he's making a very specific statement I'm not doing these things because I am God. I'm doing these things because God has anointed me.

Now I know you're saying well this is a this is a this is really splitting hairs. This is what theologians do. No it's not splitting hairs. It's a very important cardinal issue that we have to determine for in our own hearts and minds because because what Jesus is doing is he's setting an example.

Remember that's not the primary thing that Jesus came for. Those of the social gospel say well that's what Jesus came. He came to set us an example and so you know what would Jesus do and so let me just live and do the things that Jesus did.

Now that was not the primary purpose of his coming. We understand that. He primarily came to die upon the cross to pay for our sins and and and to redeem us but in the process he also sets an example and so he lives and he is anointed by the Holy Spirit and he begins to perform these things.

John’s Gospel and Christ’s Delegated Authority

Now if we go to John chapter 14 and and there are there are literally dozens and dozens of scriptures especially in the gospel of John. Now here's one of the one of the problems we have. The theological training that I have and I don't have much but the bit I have teaches me that John reveals Jesus as divine, reveals Jesus as God.

Now I've been teaching through the gospel of John in our Sunday school for the last two years and I'm only at about chapter 12 right now but in that process I have learned many things and as I have examined these the the gospel of John verse by verse, thought about it, taught these verses, it has become abundantly evident that John does not reveal Jesus as God but it reveals Jesus as the anointed of God.

Jesus, the question is not who are you as much as who sent you on whose authority are you operating and John reveals that Jesus operates as the anointed, the Messiah, the Christ, the emissary of God, that he represents God and over and over Jesus is not saying to them I am God look at me but what does he say look at me and you'll see the father I'm showing you the father I'm not speaking on my behalf I'm speaking on his behalf very important.

Jesus does not say here I am I am God. Hear what I say because I'm God he is saying no I am come and I'm speaking on his behalf and so Jesus is living as a man. Remember and don't go away and say that I said that Jesus was not God.

Jesus never ceased to be God but he had willingly set aside his divine power and authority and he was living simply as a man and as a man he is representing the father and he's representing him 100 with a true facsimile of the father's thoughts the father's words the father's actions and so that's what you see as you go through the book of the gospel of John and so John chapter 14 and I've really just picked out a couple of verses there are there are literally as I said dozens of these verses.

John chapter 14 and verse 10. Do you not believe that I am in the father and the father in me the words that I speak to you. I do not speak on my own authority. Did Jesus have his own authority as God as the word is the second person of the Trinity.

Yes he had authority. He spoke the world's into being God. The father has committed to him all authority is committed to him all judgment. So he has authority basis. I've not spoken on my own authority but the father who dwells in me does the works.

The father who is in me does the works. So what is. And here's the problem is we we're really looking at a very complex situation because here's Jesus. He's a man but inside of him is the Godhead but he is saying I as a man and not doing anything but it is God doing them through me.

So the question is is he operating as God or is he operating as a man. He's operating as a man. He is willingly set aside his divine power. If we go to John chapter 8 and verse 28. John chapter 8 verse 28 and Jesus said to them when you lift up the Son of Man then you will know that I am he and that I do nothing of myself.

But as my father taught me I speak these things as the father taught me I speak these things. Go to Acts chapter 2. Acts chapter 2 and verse 22. Peter preaching on the day of Pentecost. Men of Israel hear these words.

Jesus of Nazareth a man attested by God to you by miracles. Notice a man attested by God confirmed or recognized by God by miracles wonders and signs which God did through him. Not which he did as God but God did through him.

Acts chapter 10 and verse 38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil for God was with him. It can't get clearer than that if you did not understand.

If you did not know that we're speaking about God in the flesh and we just speaking about another man. Let's say we talk about Peter. Can you see that that scripture can apply to Peter or to John or to anyone else.

Let's read it again how God anointed Peter with the Holy Spirit and with power and Peter went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil for God was with him. Would that be true.

Yes it could be true. So you can see that it's that that the scripture is not giving Jesus anything extra over what any other man potentially could have and that's really very important for us to grasp.

The Wilderness Temptation and Gethsemane

Now let me let me get to the temptation. Because what this does is it is it it really puts the whole thing together for us. And I know that we're a little bit on a on a on a side bar here and I'm going to come back to the central central issue in a moment.

So in what regard is Jesus tempted. In what respect is he tempted. What is it that Jesus is tempted in. Now if you if you don't understand everything I've said up to now you're really going to struggle to understand what the temptation is really about.

But the temptation really for Jesus is about one issue and that issue is to use his divine power. That's the temptation to use his divine power other than God anointing him for a specific job or a specific task.

So if you go to the temptations in the wilderness and and I know that you can analyze those temptations in many ways and they represent many many different things. But the first temptation is to turn the stones into bread.

Now why was that a problem. Because Jesus didn't Jesus make bread later on. Yes he did. So why was it a problem then. Now remember the temptations have as far as I understand them have very little to do with Jesus's physical needs.

Jesus was at the fortieth day of his fast. He knew he was going to eat pretty soon. He was in fact the body at that point no longer wants food. So he is not ravenously hungry any any longer. And clearly the issue is not about Jesus feeding his flesh.

But the temptation is a symbolic one of course to tempt him to build his kingdom on bread on the felt needs of people. But in order to do that what would he have to do. He would have to be God. He would have to exit his he'd have to break cover.

We can use that term. He would have to break cover. And he would have to operate as God because the father was not going to anoint him through the spirit to turn stones into bread because that was not what the father wanted at that point.

So you can see that the temptation has got nothing much to do with bread and has to do with what power he's going to use when. And you can translate that to every one of the other the other two temptations.

But then you remember that at the end of those temptations it says that the devil left him alone to come back at him at another better time more convenient time. When does the devil come back to him. Well it's in the garden of Gethsemane.

It's in the garden of Gethsemane. What is the issue in Gethsemane. My will and he's will. Can you see the two. Not me as God me as a man. And within Jesus is the same problem that we have. We have God within us.

We have the Holy Spirit within us as we saw yesterday if we're born again we have the Holy Spirit within us. And the Holy Spirit is saying do this. But my flesh my humanity says do that. And for Jesus the issue is the Spirit says go to the cross.

But he's human. This says no I don't want to go to the cross now. That is not sin in itself. That's just that's just being human. Jesus wasn't a masochist or something like that who took pleasure in suffering.

He doesn't want to go to the cross. And so here's the issue. And here's where he is. The temptation becomes real to me because now it's an issue of do I do what I want to do. Or do I do his will. And of course what we do is we give in to the flesh most of the time.

And we just do. But the writer to the Hebrew says that you have not yet resisted unto blood. The verse that we struggle to understand. But maybe it'll help you a little bit this morning. We have not yet resisted unto blood or the shedding of blood in striving against sin.

And so the struggle for Jesus becomes so intense that the blood vessels on his forehead burst. He is under such intense pressure because of these two forces. If you like he's humanness and the divine will.

And he says not my will but your will be done. Could Jesus have failed at that point. I believe he could have because otherwise why is the struggle so intense. Now this goes even further and I'm just gonna go over this very very quickly.

Christ’s Physical Suffering and the Cross

Introduce these ideas to you. And I know that you probably need a lot more explanation on the but I let me just plant the seeds with you. The first is that Jesus is tempted at the whipping post. And one of the things that happens in the garden of Gethsemane is that he was heard because of his godly fear.

What did Jesus fear now. Normally we say well he feared God. I don't think that. That's what it's saying. I believe that if you look carefully at the at the last days or last hours of Jesus' life what he fears is the flesh.

And that's the problem is we don't fear the flesh. We have no respect for the flesh. He said. Well I've never heard that I must fear the flesh. I must fear God. Well here's exactly the problem. That's why would many many times as Christians were in the mess that we are.

Because we have no respect for the flesh for the power of the flesh. That's why young young people are a danger on the road. Because they have no fear. They have no respect for the dangerous dangerous situation in which they find themselves inside of a motor car.

And so Jesus understands that what is waiting for him. And so he's brought to that webbing post and he is beaten to the point of death. And remember that Jesus is not. Jesus is not given 39 stripes. That we deal with this yesterday.

I think we touched on it. I don't remember he's not given 39 stripes under Jewish law. Sorry. No this was last Sunday you missed that one. He doesn't receive 39 stripes which is a beating under under Hebrew law under the Old Testament which limited it to 40 but they cut it out to 39.

That's not what he gets it. You know I've heard you know that of course there's this whole teaching. I'm sorry I'm going off on a tangent here but I'm I'll come back. There's this whole teaching about divine healing based on the 39 stripes of Jesus.

And so by his stripes we are healed there 39 major categories of sickness. And so Jesus gets one strike once. What. One strike for every one of those major sicknesses. Well apart from anything else it just falls down on this issue.

And that is that he didn't get 39 stripes strokes he was beaten under Roman law and there was no limit. There was no limit and so and and that beating was a death sentence in itself. Now I don't want to get overdramatic but I want for you to try and understand that what Jesus is struggling with because as they tether the flesh of his back every fiber of his human being is crying out for release just like we would.

And the problem is that if we were in that situation we would have no means of escape. But Jesus has a means of escape. He is God bottled up locked up inside of him is his divine power. And with one thought literally one thought he can translate himself out of that situation back into glory with one thought he can choose to die.

I have that power to lay down my life take it up again. You think you don't think that Jesus was pushed to the very limit of being tempted to say I've had enough no more. Let me just die let me just return to the father.

That's the temptation. And that's what he fears because he's just like us but hidden behind that is his power as God. But he does not use that. Now you see if you go to the cross you find exactly this if you are save yourself and us the same temptation.

And so you can begin to see why this doctrine is important. Because it flows through the very work of what Jesus came to do. And so Jesus was tempted in every point like as we are. And he understands this intensity of our temptation.

And so when he asks us to overcome he's not asking us to do what he did not do or what he had extraordinary power to do. And I don't have that kind of power. He's asking us to do exactly what he did with exactly the same tools and the same wherewithal that he had.

And so there's where those two things with the two areas in which this plays out. Now let's get back to Jesus's miracles. So Jesus performs the miracles not because he is God but because he is anointed by the Holy Spirit.

Miracles as Gifts of the Holy Spirit

And he does only what the father anoints him to do. Yes he can do over and above that. Remember he goes into the pool of Bethesda and there's a multitude you know I've often tried to figure out how many a multitude is.

You know all I know is it's more than 10 and it's probably like a hundred or more than a hundred. But there's a multitude of sick people. Now do you think that Jesus being compassionate as he was did not want to heal everybody in that place I believe he wanted to heal everyone.

But how many does he heal the one man. Why does he just heal one man. He says I do nothing that I don't see my father do. And so the father in his wisdom tells Jesus heal that man. And Jesus touches the one man and he walks out and he leaves all the others.

Now from a human point of view we would say well you know surely he must have you. He had the power. Why didn't he just do that. No he is illustrating to us a very important principle and that is that he is living by the leading of the Holy Spirit and he is only doing what the Holy Spirit tells him to do.

He's not doing what he can do. He's not doing what he wants to do. He's doing what the Holy Spirit tells him to do. And so if we then go to the to the various miracles of the Lord Jesus I believe that in them you can see seven of the nine gifts of the Holy Spirit.

Now let me just step back here for one moment. We speak about the gifts of those but right now I'm referring to the nine that are listed in 1 Corinthians chapter 12. But remember that's not the only list.