Exhortations to Unity Through Humility (Part 2)

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Bibles with me to the book, the Little Epistle of Philippians, known as the

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Epistle of Joy, chapter 2, verses 1 to 11. Chapter 2, verses 1 to 11, this chapter brings out a lot on humility.

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As you turn there, let me say this at the beginning. This is, no doubt, one of the greatest passages in this epistle, this little letter to the

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Philippians. It's one of the greatest passages of all the writings of the Apostle Paul, and may

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I say it's no doubt one of the great passages of all Scripture. You can hardly do justice to it, and I can promise you

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I will not be able to do justice to this great text this morning. We do need the

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Holy Spirit of God to help us. It has great depth, as Paul would say, great depth of the riches of both wisdom and the knowledge of God.

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How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out, as he says in Romans.

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So this text, no doubt, before us today is rich beyond compare, so what I would like to do again today with the help of the

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Spirit of God is to give an overview of those that did not, were not able to hear last

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Lord's Day. I'm going to give a quick overview of what we looked at, and we're going to go right into the text, look at some very practical applications to our everyday

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Christian living. So hear the word of the living God this morning, Philippians 2, verse 1 to 11.

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Verse 1 to 11, hear God's word. Therefore, if there is any consolation in Christ, if there is any comfort of love, any fellowship of the

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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.

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Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.

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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 bond slave and coming in the likeness of men.

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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.

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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 those on earth and those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is

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Lord, to the glory of God the Father. May God bless the reading of his word from our ears to our hearts this morning.

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Please bow with me in prayer as we seek the Lord's face in favor within the hour of worship as he speaks to us through his word.

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Our Father and our God, we are thankful this morning for your holy word.

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Lord, we are standing on holy ground when we open up thy word. May we truly give reverence and awe to it and tremble before it as your word has said.

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And Father, we would pray that you would sanctify us this morning through your spirit, through your word, for your word is truth.

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We ask that, O God, you would open the eyes of our heart, that we may behold wonderful truths from it.

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Speak to us, O Lord, and change us, change us, O God, from faith to faith, from glory to glory, more into the likeness of the loveliness of the

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Lord Jesus Christ, in whom you are well pleased. And we ask this for thy honor and your glory, amen and amen.

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In this wonderful book, I love this quote, I've used it quite often, but I cannot believe,

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I can quote this too often, because it has such a significant truth of Christ's humility of condescending in the incarnation.

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It's found in the writings of the book, Miracles, C .S. Lewis, I believe

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Brother Keith posted this on the group text. Thank you, Brother Keith. I don't know how you knew

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I was going there, but you knew it, praise God. But it's one of my favorites, and I appreciate

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Brother Keith posting that, because we need to be reminded, but I'm going to read it to you. It's a little lengthy, but listen very carefully as I read

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C .S. Lewis' words from his book Miracles about the condescension and the humility in the incarnation of Jesus Christ.

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It has great truth to it. He says this, in the Grand Miracle, it's a chapter on the incarnation of Christ, and in that chapter, he draws a very rich analogies for by which we can view the incarnation.

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I'm sorry, this is a silly introduction. This is what Lewis says. He says, quote, in the

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Christian story, God descends to re -ascend. He comes down, down from the heights of absolute being and to time and space.

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Down into humanity, down further still, down to the very roots and seabed of the nature he had created.

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But he goes down to come up again and bring the ruined world up with him. One has the picture of a strong man stooping lower and lower to get himself underneath some great complicated burden.

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He stoops in order to lift. He must also disappear under the load before he can incredibly straightens his back, marches off with the whole mass of swaying on his shoulders.

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Or one may think of a diver first reducing himself to nakedness, then glancing into midair, then gone into the splash, vanished, rushing down through green warm water into black and cold water, down through the increasing pressure into the death -like region of ooze and slime and old decay.

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Then up again back to color and light. His lungs almost bursting till suddenly he breaks surface again, holding in his hand the dripping precious thing he went down to recover.

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You see the picture? He came, he and it are both colored now that they have come up into the light.

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Down below where it lay colorless in the dark, he lost his color too.

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In this descent and reassent, everyone will recognize a familiar pattern, a thing written all over the world.

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It is the pattern of all vegetable life. It must belittle itself into something hard, small, death -like, and it must fall into the ground, then the new life reassents.

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It is the pattern of all animal generation as well. There is the pattern, descent from the full perfect organism into the spermatozoon and the ovum and to the dark womb, a life at first inferior in kind to that of the species which is being reproduced.

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Then the slow ascent to perfect embryo, to the living conscience baby, and finally to the adult.

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So it is in our moral and emotional life. The first innocent and spontaneous desires have to submit to total denial.

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But from that there is a reassent to fully formed character in which the strength of original material operates.

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But a new way, death and rebirth go down to go up.

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It is a key principle. Through this bottleneck, this belittlement, the high road nearly always lies, end quote.

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How wonderful it is. In the words here of C .S. Lewis, it approaches the incarnation of Jesus Christ which is one of the central miracles of Christianity, some of the most wonderful of all things that God ever did, the great incarnation that God became flesh.

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And it is great humility. And this is what we're focusing on today, is the humility of Jesus Christ.

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This is the grand theme of these verses before us, is Christ's humility,

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His humility. It's hard for us to really grasp this when only the

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Spirit of God can help us grasp it because it is within our natures, and I know we have a new nature even as children of God, but even that is very difficult because there still is a remaining sense of sin and pride within us that we are to have crucified by the

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Spirit, put to death the deeds of the flesh, which is mortification of sin.

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But it is very difficult for us and that's why we need the Spirit of God to help us to truly understand this great humility, and that's what we're going to look at, is the humility of Jesus Christ, and God willing, we're going to look at Christ's exaltation more in detail next

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Lord's Day. But as the recap a little bit from last

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Lord's Day, there are four points, and I borrowed this outline from Pastor John MacArthur, I think there's not any other better on this passage than MacArthur's outline, the four points that has to do with unity through humility.

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The first is the motives for spiritual unity, which is verses one and two. Second is the marks of spiritual unity, verse two.

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Next is the means of spiritual unity, verse three and four. Then the model of spiritual unity, verses five through eleven, which is the

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Lord Jesus Christ. The first three I will go through very quickly this morning, comment on, draw out the most important truths in its meaning, in its content.

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And then the fourth point we will look at and focus on the Lord Jesus Christ and His great humility, and then we will look at some application.

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Now keep in mind, the motives of unity answer the question why. The marks of unity answer the question what the means of unity answer the question how.

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And the model, which is really the application of where Paul goes to is the unit of unity answers the question who and that who is the

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Lord Jesus Christ. He is the who. Let me give you some questions here.

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Why should we seek unity in the church? Why is unity important? How do we experience unity?

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And we're talking about unity in truth. Now, we're just not talking about for unity, for unity's sake or for peace sake.

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We're talking about in the truth. It's very simple. It's very direct, very practical.

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And I believe it's absolutely vital for our church or for any church as that. And you can honestly say that this is basic Christianity 101.

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It's the one, two, threes and ABCs of Christianity. It's foundational. Now, as we look back,

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I'd like to look at verse one and two. The motives for spiritual unity is given to us in verse one and verse two.

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It says this. Therefore, if there be any consolation in Christ, if there's any comfort of love, any fellowship of the spirit, any affection and mercy, verse two, fulfill my joy and be like minded, he says, having the same love of being of one accord and one mind.

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Now, this is the very heart of the passage because it is the phrase being of the same mind underscore that being of the same mind.

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Is the emphasis, that's the main thrust of where Paul is taking this by the spirit of God as God has given him the the breath of breathing upon the apostle

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Paul to write this. So Paul is basically saying, I desire you to be like minded.

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It's the same thing in chapter one, verse twenty seven. You stand fast in one spirit with one mind, striving together for the faith of the gospel.

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And now he tells him why he wants them to be of one mind. And he means by one mind and how they can be of one mind.

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It is very, very practical. So he gets to the motives. Why? Why is it important for us to maintain this unity of the faith and truth in the church?

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Why is it important for us to have one spirit? Why? Why should we be striving together for the faith of the gospel?

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There are questions there and he answers these to eliminate any conflict, any discord, any disunity.

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Why is this so important to us? Well, the four motives are given in verse one.

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If therefore is any encouragement of Christ, if therefore there's any consolation of love, if there's any fellowship of the spirit, you can say or sense.

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There is any encouragement sense and the Philippian Christians biggest battle was not with the external circumstances, but it was internally they were tearing one another apart and there was divisions within them.

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And Paul basically had to demonstrate to the church how his own refusal to let external circumstances to control the attitudes.

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And as you well know here, Paul writes this little letter from a dungeon. He's in chains.

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But he did not allow that to control him. He did not allow the external circumstances to sway him from the truth.

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Therefore, ties together his conflict and their conflict.

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Paul knows as an apostle, not only is that he is a spiritual apostle, the spiritual father to these churches, he's one with them, even though he's in prison and a jail cell, a dungeon.

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He knows he is still one with them. He bleeds when they bleed.

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If they're persecuted, he's persecuted. He if they're in joy, he's in joy.

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There's the oneness there. And then he says in verse twenty nine of chapter one, for to you, it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in him, but also to suffer.

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For his name's sake, to suffer, verse 30, having the same conflict, yet that the same conflict which you saw in me now here is in me.

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So that therefore, the if the sense are basically the conditional clauses that come if, if, if or sense, sense.

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And expresses the idea of sense of each of the following clause may be considered to be a true.

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He is not speaking of doctrinal abstractions. He is speaking now, no, this a present, practical, spiritual experiences.

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This is real, folks. We could read the verse like this sense or because that's what

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Paul means here, because there is encouragement in Christ, because there is consolation of love, because there is fellowship of the spirit and because there is affection and compassion, make my joy complete.

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This is what Paul's joy was. He had a burden for all the churches and he's a spiritual father.

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So these are the driving motives that they're of the truths that should compel all of us within the church.

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Those three main exhortations. Consolation in Christ, that's encouragement in Christ, comfort of love and fellowship of the spirit, fellowship of the spirit.

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So basically, yes, there are the motives. That's the motives. Now, next in verse two, you see the marks of spiritual unity.

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He says, fulfill my joy, being like minded, having the same love, being of one accord and one mind.

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In the book of Acts, chapter four, Luke wrote these words. And now the multitudes, verse 32, of those who believe were of one heart, one soul, neither did anyone say that any of these things of the things he possessed was his own, but they all had they had all things in common.

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That's what the scripture says. They had all things in common because of their unity and humility.

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They did not think of themselves greater than the other.

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They thought of others greater than themselves. And this is the thrust in which

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Paul, the apostle, takes the Philippian church. They had great power, great grace, and it was great fear that came upon the church.

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We looked at that last Lord's Day and the head, Jesus Christ, the head of the church, by the way, made a great priority, a great priority of out of the unity of the church.

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In John 17, he prays this. And now the Lord Jesus, as the head of the church, places this burden upon the apostle

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Paul, it is of great concern to his heart as it is the heart of God. It should be also a great concern of our heart as well.

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Therefore, he gives to us this little letter to the Philippians. These verses one to four give to us the most concise, practical understanding of unity in the

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New Testament. You know, so many pastors had to say and and the officers of churches today, they and they're going against their calling and staying true and not staying true to their call by looking at outward sources of resources other than the

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Bible itself for Christian unity. You know, philosophy or any smart person, so to speak, some ideas of how to keep the church together or, you know, how sad it is that's leaning on the harm of flesh.

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And God's not going to bless any church if it's called a church, if it is a church, if they look anywhere else but the

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Bible itself. And this is where we look to for unity. And it's in the word of God.

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So Paul is basically telling them how a Christian is to act. How is he to behave?

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It's Christian behavior. Paul even mentioned that very, very plainly that we are to act and how we are to behave in the household of God behavior.

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And it's almost like a spiritual father telling children, this is the way you are to act in the home.

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This is the way you are to behave. This is the way you're to to to have an attitude.

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What kind of attitude do you have? And these are attitudes. These are attitudes, motives, marks.

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This verse, the apostle sets forth a fourfold appeal, and it's an appeal that expresses one major idea, and that is unity through humility.

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There's no other way. And it's always through humility. Fulfill my joy, he says, make my joy complete.

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Here are the marks of spiritual Christian unity by being of the same mind, having the same love, being of one accord, one mind, all together, one body, one

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Lord, one faith, one baptism. And he says that in Ephesians, the same mind we have to think alike.

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We have to think alike, we're talking about in the sense of truth, you know, we all are different in one degree, but in Jesus Christ, we're one, you see, and that's the way

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God sees us in Christ. We're one. So when we go to the scriptures, we are to say now we may have different interpretations and every so and that's when we come together and say, well, let's get on our knees and I like it.

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I like how the the old saints used to say it. Let's pray together if we can't see this together, if we disagree and if there's a conflict.

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But these conflicts, you see this in the early church, there was conflicts in the early church. And then you see in the

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Jerusalem Council, they had to come together and they had to work together. You had the apostles, you had Peter there, you had

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James there and Paul there. And they had to come together to deal with the conflicts.

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And they did work it out, by the way. By the help of the spirit of God, same mind, we have to think alike.

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And what does that mean? You see this in Romans chapter 12 and go there very quickly.

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Romans, he picks up some of the very same thing that he does here in Romans 12.

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Look at verse three. For I say through the grace given to me, not everyone who is among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think.

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But to think soberly as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith, for as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function.

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So we being many are one body in Christ and individually members of one another.

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And he goes on having them gifts deferring according to the grace that is given to us. Let us use them.

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If prophecy let us prophesy in proportion to our faith or ministry, let us use it in our ministering or serving.

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That's another way of saying to serve. He who teaches and teaching, he who exhorts and exhortation, he who gives talking about that Sunday school today with liberality, he who leads with diligence and he who shows mercy with cheerfulness.

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And there and then and then if you want to look at how the behavior looks like, look at verse nine all the way through verse twenty one.

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I may read it to you. Let love be without hypocrisy, a poor what is evil, clean to what is good, be kindly affectionate to one another.

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There's one of the one another's with brotherly love and honor, giving preference to one another.

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Notice there it's the same thing. And in Philippians, you're you're to think of the other the other person and you to put that person to esteem them as superior over yourself.

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You think about a whole church doing that. What kind of church would it be of giving and thinking of others greater than yourself?

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It's basically self -denial, folks. This is the way Jesus is taught. This is the actually the extension of that, how we are to deny ourselves and take up our cross and follow

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Christ. He goes on to say this, listen, is be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love and honor, giving preference to one another, not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the

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Lord, rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer, distributing to the needs of the saints, given to hospitality.

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Bless those who persecute you and bless those bless and do not curse. He gets this from the Lord Jesus Christ on the

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Sermon on the Mount. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep, be of the same mind toward one another.

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Do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own opinion.

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We pay no one evil for evil, having regard for good things in the sight of all men.

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If it is possible, if it is possible. As much as depends on you live peaceably with all men.

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Remember what the Hebrew writer says, follow peace with all men. And what holiness without which no man will see the

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Lord, which no one will see the Lord. Peace. Christ is the prince of peace and he has given us peace.

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Notice the apostle Paul, when he opens up his epistles many times, what is he? How's he beginning?

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Grace and peace. And the Lord Jesus Christ to you, beloved, do not avenge yourselves.

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No, no sense of of of self -defense here, but rather give place to wrath for it is written.

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Vengeance is mine. I will repay, says the Lord. God knows how to deal the blows and justice to those are doing you wrong.

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Verse 20. Therefore, if any if your enemy hungry, feed them. If he's thirsty, give him a drink for in so doing, you will heap coals of fire on his head.

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Do not overcome evil, do not overcome, do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

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You know, it isn't that a beautiful. Portrait of how the

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Christian is to behave. That's behavior. And if we followed that.

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Oh, how the church would be unified. Well, that's basically what is given there now.

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Romans 15, verse five says, now may the God of patience, comfort and comfort grant you to be like minded.

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Toward one another, according to Christ Jesus, verse six, that you may be with one mind.

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One mouth. And doing what glorifying God, that's what it's all about, right, is the glory of God.

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That's why we put this banner right up here behind the preacher, behind anyone who who leads up here solely day of glory to God alone, be the glory.

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Because this isn't about us. This is isn't about the pastor. And this isn't about the preacher. It's all about the glory of God.

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Ultimately, it's that's where it goes to is God's glory because he is worthy.

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So what is he saying in Philippians two to be like minded? This is his concern.

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This is his concern for true humility, togetherness of soul. I like what Paul Washer said.

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The fellowship of the saints is not when saints meet together. But it's when they meet together and talk about Jesus.

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I like that. Say we can meet together and talk about any other things. But when it's true fellowship, it's when we talk about Jesus because he's he's the reason, right?

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He's the purpose. Next, you have the means of unity was verses three through five. Let nothing be done through selfish ambition, conceit, but in lowliness of mind.

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Let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look not only for his own interest, but also for the interest of others.

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Remember, remember what I mentioned last Lord's Day? We're to live for others, folks. We're not to live for ourselves.

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We do not love ourselves unto death. We love Christ and Christ alone.

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We love we do not love ourselves. Actually, Paul said it. He says, I'm crucified with Christ.

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Nevertheless, I live yet not I, but Christ lives in me and the life in which I live now in the flesh.

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I live by the faith of the son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.

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That's the reason why we had died unto Christ. We've been buried with Christ.

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We have been raised with Christ. It's no longer us that lives, but it's Christ in us.

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And Paul says, therefore, if I die, I die unto the Lord, I'm already dead. When they took it and they took his head off from his severed it from his body that day and he went on to be with the

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Lord. As far as Paul was concerned, he was already dead, folks. It's powerful, isn't it?

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And you would think, how can he how can he face such awfulness and horror of having his head decapitated from his body?

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But as far as he was concerned, he was already dead. Because he saw the death of Christ and he died with Christ and faith, and that's the way it is with us.

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Now we come to the question of how, how. That's the next one. How do we get to that unity?

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How does it practically come about? Due to the fallen humanity's innate depravity, namely self -centeredness, we're born selfish.

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We're born in this world with a fist against God because of Adam's sin.

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That's the birthday gift that we get when we enter into this world. We don't know it.

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A little child that's a precious little angel is really a depraved little reprobate.

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I know mothers, that's a tough one, but they are cute and they're precious.

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But and within the heart is that rebellion. And that's that's what

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David said in Psalm 51. I'm in sin. And my mother conceived me.

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I never will forget. I mentioned this to a lady at the Christian Missionary Alliance, and she was up in age.

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And I thought, my goodness, she should have known this. And I brought that scripture out from Psalms 51 about in sin.

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And we're all sinners. And she says, how dare you say such a thing? I said, that's I said, look, lady, that's not me saying that.

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That's the word of God. I said, you're born a sinner. Every baby is born a sinner. She said, how can you say such a thing?

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I said, look to the word of God. And I just went to Psalm 51 and I read it out.

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And she got mad with a red face and just walked away from me. I said, well, not me.

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I'm just giving you what the word of God says. Well, if a person doesn't see that, they can't see their own condition.

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They don't see their own depravity, right? How can you be saved unless you first see your condition, that you're a sinner, that you need saving?

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We know the world does not highly regard humility as well. What do they regard? Pride. You know,

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Brother Ben and Brother Jordan and Brother Daniel noticed this first hand.

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And the rest of us have seen it from the other years, previous years of witnessing these poor lost souls out there, just pride, pride.

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Well, they named it right, didn't they? What turned an archangel into a devil was not adultery.

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It wasn't the sin of adultery. It wasn't the sin of lust. It was the sin of pride. Pride. And that's what the world lifts up.

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Self -esteem. Tell me if this is true today. Even it's come in within the church, the self -esteem gospel.

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That it's OK? No, it's not OK. God don't think so.

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God abhors a haughty look. He hates a haughty look. God hates pride.

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He resists the proud. But yet the word of God places an utmost importance on humility, which is the opposite of pride.

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The word of God is crystal clear in being humble. Do nothing from selfishness, selfish ambition.

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Don't be self -seeking or conceited.

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Nor according to vainglory, as the old King James Authorized Version says, not according to vainglory, basically meaning empty pride.

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Pride is empty. Groundless esteem.

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Pride should not have any place in the Christian whatsoever. And beloved, only the cross of Christ can deal a blow to the pride.

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Never will forget this. I was listening to A .W. Tozer preach against pride on the old cassette years ago.

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And he said, let me tell you what's going to knock pride out of you. And I thought, wow, he's going to have a great solution here.

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He's going to have an answer for me. How can I get this pride out of my, my prideful heart? And you know what he said?

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The cold grave. I said, wow. In other words, this is something we're going to wrestle and fight against until the day we go home to be with Christ in glory.

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We have to be so careful. Pride should not be a part of the Christian's motivation whatsoever. Everything must be done for the glory of God and in humility.

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Then how are we to live as believers in Christ? Well, the scripture tells us. Lowliness of mind.

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And there's only one folks that is meek and lowly. Absolute holy, and that is the

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Lord Jesus Christ. And he said it in Matthew. He said, come unto me, all you laboring, heavy laden.

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I will give you rest. And when he said, learn from me, learn, he says, for I am meek in heart.

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I am lowly of heart. Some translation said lowly or meek. Same thing. Meekness is a weakness, but it is

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Christ that is lowly and meek in heart. We can't say that about ourselves. We are prideful in heart.

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So now he says he turns to the positive, but with lowliness, humility of mind, let each esteem others better than himself.

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True unity is born out of humility. And humility of mind is one word in the

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Greek. It basically means God always gives grace to the lowly. Always.

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Scripture says he resists the proud. And you will find in God's word that God chooses the insignificant, the humble for his work.

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He hears the prayers of the downcast, the humble, those that humble themselves before the mighty hand of God.

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I like what Luther says. Luther says, for God is the God of the humble and the miserable, the afflicted, the oppressed, the desperate and those who have been brought down to nothing at all.

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This is his writing to his book on Galatians. And basically, he says this, he extends the quote, it is the nature of God to exalt the humble.

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To feed the hungry. To enlighten the blind, to comfort the miserable, to afflict the to afflict.

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I'm sorry. And to the afflicted, to justify sinners, to give life to the dead, to save those who are desperate and damned.

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God loves to be the savior of those who are humble and realize they're nothing. He goes on to say, for he,

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God, is almighty creator who makes everything out of nothing, end quote.

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That's the kind of savior we have, beloved. Jesus Christ came to seek and save the lost.

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Now we come to the model of spiritual unity, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ, verse 6 through 11.

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And it's going to take us a couple of Lord's days to get through this because I want us to see the example, the model, who we are to look at to this model.

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And by the way, let me say this, Jesus is just not another example of humility. He is the example.

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Jesus is not just another model amongst many.

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He is the model of humility. Christ, because he is the only one that is lowly in heart.

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No one else can say that, only Christ. And so it is him that we look to, right?

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His humility is perfect, perfect in every way.

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And Paul sets before us the true model of humility. And this is where he goes in this wonderful epistle.

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And that's why the transition goes, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.

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Because in verse 4 he says, let each of you look out not only for his own interest, but also for the interest of others.

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That's self -denial. Jesus even had to learn obedience by the things he suffered.

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It doesn't mean that there was any mistake in him, but he had to learn that as a human.

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And he is perfect, and he is the perfect illustration of true humility.

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Well, let's look at this. The truth of the matter is that, you know it as well as I do, that Christ is that very pattern for us to follow.

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In every area of life, not just the matter of humility, but in every area.

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So, but I like for us to just look at humility. There's a verse

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John mentions, 1 John 2 verse 6. The one who says he abides in him, that is in Christ, ought to walk in the same manner as he walked.

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We are to pattern our whole life after Christ. Now, there are many great saints as we admire.

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We admire the Puritans, and thank God for the Puritans. And we admire the martyrs, and we admire all.

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And actually, if you go to Hebrews, and I was going to close with, I'll close this in application in Hebrews 12.

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But all of Hebrews 11 speaks about the heroes of faith, right? And they are heroes of the faith, but they were sinful, sinners like we are.

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But they realized they were weak, they realized they were nothing. And that's the humility.

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And God worked through them. And that whole chapter 11, the cloud of witnesses.

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And then the writer of Hebrews says, looking unto Jesus, looking unto

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Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. That's who we look to. Well, praise

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God, there should be models of the church today and leaders that should be models. But like I said, the model is

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Christ. Christ Jesus himself is the model of humility, as he is the model of everything else.

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And I've already quoted it. He says, take my yoke upon you and learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart.

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We learn humility from Christ. That is why in John 13, he says, after he washed the disciples feet.

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Think of that. This is God in flesh that created these men.

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He's the creator of the ends of the earth and he's flesh incarnated and he washes their feet.

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And he says then to them, love one another as I've loved you and how he loved them.

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Oh, my, how he loved them by sacrificing himself in humble service and washing their dirty feet.

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Such an example for us to follow. So the apostle

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Paul is drawing on Jesus Christ as the perfect model of true humility, which is the means of unity.

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Paul literally follows that lead. And Paul in verses six and seven and eight, the descent of Christ.

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And it is here we have as if he comes from heaven. The highest of heaven to earth in a series of steps like climbing downward, as it were, and various factors of the descent of Christ, whose humiliation that is the model for us.

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And, you know, you could see as he comes from heaven to earth, he comes downward, downward and he's born where he's born in a feeding trough.

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He's born in a manger. That's humility. He didn't go to palaces as kings.

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He comes and the king of all kings and the king of glory comes within a feeding trough of a manger, a lowly, stinking manger.

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And that is the point of humility. But that's not the ultimate point. He goes all the way, all the way to the point of death, to the death of the crucified.

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He's crucified on a cross. There's never been such a clear demonstration of the character of humility that is displayed in the

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Lord Jesus Christ. This is so beautiful, but we need to see it when the son of God became the son of man, that we who are the sons of man might become the sons of God.

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That's not original. I heard that from the great preacher Robert G. Lee, who preached that great sermon.

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I believe Brother Allen's familiar with this, payday someday. You need to hear that. I think it's still available on YouTube.

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So if you want to hear a good sermon, hear that one. It's even in transcript. So John MacArthur said this, we can't copy his deity.

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We never will. We cannot emulate his incarnation. We cannot copy his perfection.

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We cannot copy his miracles. We cannot copy his redemptive work. But we are called to pattern our lives after his humility, end quote.

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We can't pattern our lives after him and walk even as he walked and following his footsteps.

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So then as verse five is a transition from an exhortation to illustration, it takes us from an exhortation of verses three and four to the illustration, who is none other than the

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Lord Jesus Christ is a deep passage of such theological truth.

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And that's why I said I'm going to need another Lord's Day to even scratch the surface of it. But this particular section from verse five to verse 11 is known as the hymn of Christ.

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Now, let me tell you a little bit about this. As I studied this, this was a hymn of Christ to the church.

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It's more than likely was sung in the early church. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.

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But we don't know exactly how the ins and outs of it, but we do know it was a hymn for the early church.

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And here you have the nature of the incarnation. Paul says, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.

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Paul vividly illustrates the principle of humility in verses three and four. All godly actions begins with renewing of the mind, that we are to renew our mind daily in the word of God.

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That's why it's important not only to memorize scripture, but to meditate on scripture, to saturate ourselves with scripture.

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We wouldn't starve our body, would we? We should not starve our spiritual man as well.

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And that's far more important, folks. Our actions are the fruit of our deepest thoughts.

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Thinking and being like Christ are requirements not only for the individual, but also for the corporate body of believers.

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And this is critical. Together we need to think, meditate, act like one unit, to unite one being, one body, as like the person of the

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Lord Jesus Christ, as He is the head of the body. Well, let's look at the steps.

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Look at verse six. It begins with the statement, who, who, speaking of Christ, who being in the form of God did not consider it robbery to be equal with God.

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That's where it all began, folks. It means to say that Jesus Christ is

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God. Very God of very God. I like what the

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Ligonier Confession says. This is pretty, this is updated, but it's concise and it's the statement of Christology.

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It says, we confess the mystery and the wonder of God made flesh and rejoice in our great salvation through Jesus Christ our

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Lord. I want to stop right there. I know we're not Presbyterian, but I believe it because of scripture. Because this comes from scripture.

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It's paraphrased. With the Father and with the Holy Spirit, the Son created all things, sustains all things, makes all things new.

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Truly God. He became truly man, two natures in one person. He was born of the

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Virgin Mary, lived among us, crucified, dead, buried, rose again on the third day, ascended to heaven, will come again in glory and judgment for us.

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He kept the law, atoned for sin, satisfied God's wrath. He took our filthy rags and gave it, gave us

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His righteous robe. Gave us His righteous robe. He is our prophet, priest and king, building

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His church, interceding for us, reigning over all others. Jesus Christ is

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Lord. We praise His holy name forever. Amen. You could take that from the scriptures.

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That's another paraphrase of many creeds out there, but that right there basically simplifies it.

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Well, it's who? Who's the example? Christ. Christ is the example.

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Did not consider robbery to be equal with God. That's where it begins.

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Very God of very God. The word form has to do with nature here,

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His essence, His innate being. He is God. He existed in the form of God before the incarnation.

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He pre -existed as God, as the emphasis point from which His humiliation began.

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And you can actually see this as we've been going through the book of John. But if you go back to John 1 .1,

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right? That's probably the greatest statement ever given on the

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Logos, the Logos of Jesus Christ. In the beginning was the word, the word was with God and the word was

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God. He was in the beginning with God. But all things were made through Him and without Him nothing was made that was made.

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And Him was life and the life was the light of men. And that light shines in darkness and the darkness did not overpower it.

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Praise God. Did not comprehend it. Another translation. But actually that word comprehend, it does mean did not overpower it.

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Then as you go to the book of Hebrews chapter 1, how does it begin? It begins with God.

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God, as Genesis 1 .1, in the beginning God, Hebrews, the writer of Hebrews says,

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God who at various times and various ways spoke in times past to the fathers by the prophets has in these last days spoken to us by His Son.

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Now a lot of people get mixed up about the last days. But let me explain what the last days means.

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It means last days, right? But when did the last days begin?

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When Jesus was born. That's when the last days began. So a lot of people say, yeah but aren't today, isn't today the last days?

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Well yes. But it began when Jesus was incarnate. Then He was made flesh.

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So when people say, I like what Ravenhill says, if you prefer in time period, he says we're living in the last minutes.

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Because the clock's about to strike midnight. And Christ is about to come. These are the last days.

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He is God. Christ, in other words, this is where Paul goes in Philippians, right?

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What is he saying? In verse 11, that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is

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Lord. He's Lord. To the glory of God the

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Father. The day is coming when every soul that ever lived, whether they're in heaven or in hell, will bow the knee to Christ.

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And follow in their faces. And with their tongues confess. Whatever tongue they have in their body, glorified body, whether it's unto damnation or into eternal bliss, will confess

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Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. And the saints will do it in worship.

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But those that will be sentenced to hell will do it under the sentence of condemnation.

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Something that they will regret if speaking the name of Jesus today in blasphemy.

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But one day they will speak that name to God's glory. That He is Lord. Well, here is the steps of humiliation.

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He takes those steps down. Jesus possessed the very being of God.

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And this is the high point from which He stoops, folks. He comes into this world.

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He descends, as C .S. Lewis mentions, from light into darkness. From a level which

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He will never know or experience. For we will never be as God.

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But He does give us a pattern to follow. Because He comes down from a high and lofty level.

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He comes out of eternity and He enters into time. Doesn't that blow your mind?

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Here we are as creatures made in the image of God. And here is the Creator. That here we have it in the record of the book and the gospels.

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Matthew, Mark, Luke and John of His birth. His life. His burial.

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His death. His resurrection. And He has done it all for us. For our salvation.

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Everything. There is a divine pattern here even for us in this.

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We are not our own. Are we not the children of the living

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God? And the only way we can know these things is through the Spirit of God.

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It's the Spirit of God that gives us eyes to see. I believe one of the Puritans said this.

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You know, as we read Scriptures, always have the spectacles of the Spirit of God as the lenses to see the

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Word of God. Of what it really says. Mueller used to say this.

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He said, when I don't understand the Scripture, I fall on my face before God. And I ask God, open my eyes that I may see the truth.

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And he did that on his knees. Are we not blessed with all spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus?

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Are we not the children of the living God? Do what? The Scriptures say that if you do not have the

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Spirit of Christ, you are none of His. That comes right down to it, doesn't it?

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What separates a lost and dying world between those that are believers? It's the

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Spirit of God. The Spirit of God dwells within us. This is not just intellect.

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This is something that's our being. It's part of us. It's the

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Spirit of the living God that resides in us. Are we not the ambassadors of Christ?

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Do we not possess, as Christians, an exalted position as sons of God and dwelt by the

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Spirit of God? And that should humble us. That shouldn't cause us to be haughty. I don't know about you. That causes me to fall on my face.

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How could God do such a thing? In His grace, in His mercy, to show compassion to this vile, wicked sinner who deserves justice.

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Starts with the recognition of the fact that we have been lifted by God's grace. And we too must begin in our humiliation and lofty starting point.

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Notice the descent. The second statement, he says, Who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God?

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The second step, he did not regard equality with God. He did not regard equality with God by the way which explains the phrase, the form of God.

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That form of God means the same as equal with God. Folks, this is why they crucified the

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Lord. This is why that the Pharisees put

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Him on the cross. They said, He's blasphemy. He's crazy. He's out of His mind because He considers

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Himself equal with God. That's why they crucified Him. He did not regard equality with God to be grasp.

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And please notice the humility always begins with the recognition of a lofty calling. It's the first step down in any attitude.

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The attitude is that this loftiness of my calling is not something to be grasped.

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Something to be clutched. It's not something to be seized or kept.

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He let it go. He let the glory go.

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Did that make Him less being God? No, He was fully God. But He let the glory go.

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But you know the rest of the story, right? He let it go temporary. He got the glory.

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It's going to come back. Because Christ will be exalted and He is exalted.

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But here in the text, He's basically saying, This is where humility takes us.

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When you humble yourself, what did Jesus say? Everyone that abases himself shall be exalted.

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He that humbles himself shall be exalted. But he that is lifted up, he that lifts himself up will be brought down.

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That's the paradox in a sense. That's the way it works. And the more humble we are, the more

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God, before God, He will lift you up. The more we lift ourselves up,

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God will bring us down. Look at Nebuchadnezzar. Look what happened to him.

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He exalted himself and put himself up on and said, This is all because of me. And he glorified himself and then

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God caused him to go insane. For seven years. I called him the original wolfman. He was seven years like a beast in the field.

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Ate grass. He was out of his mind. And God brought it back to him after the seven years.

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Well, that's a good story of how this happens. Well, I've got to close this. I'm going to have to pick this up next

01:00:16

Lord's Day. And that's why I'm breaking this up. Keep in mind 2

01:00:22

Corinthians 8 and 9. Let me bring some application to this. For you know the grace of our

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Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich for your sakes, He became poor that you through His poverty might become rich.

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I can't help but think about these poor souls in the prosperity gospel. Takes this verse literally.

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And takes it as the Lord Jesus Christ died for them to be rich in material things.

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That is such blasphemy. But that's not what the meaning of it is.

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The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Though He was rich in glory. For your sake

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He became poor. Think of this. That should humble us just to hear that. That you through His poverty might become rich.

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All these poor souls. That shows you how lost they are. All they can think of is what we sung earlier.

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Rich as I hate not. The material things of this earth. It's their idol.

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It's going to be the things that perish. But what Paul is saying.

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Jesus being the second person of the Trinity. That God had gave up all His privileges.

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He emptied Himself. Became poor. So that we might be the chosen of God by His grace.

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Might become rich in what? What does James say? Rich in faith.

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Rich in faith. You and I are rich in faith. We're rich in forgiveness. We've been rich in justification.

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He's justified and declared. You and I righteous. Regeneration. That's rich.

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We've been reborn. With the Spirit of God. Rich in eternal life.

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Rich in glorification one day. Hallelujah. Rich in Christ.

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Rich in Jesus Christ. Oh the

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King of glory. Became a slave.

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Due loss. He did not put on a garment as a slave.

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But He literally became a slave. He literally took on the essential characteristics of a slave.

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Folks I'm telling you. Think about the Son of the living God. The King of glory to become a slave.

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And He willingly went to a cross. And died in humility. And bled naked on a cross of shame.

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For your sin and my sin. By the way

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I bring that up because that was another point of humiliation. As the almighty

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God. The Son. Who is the creator of the ends of the earth.

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The Word made flesh. Goes to that point. And He descends. He descends.

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He descends. To the point. That being in the appearance of man. And the likeness of man.

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He dies to the point. To the point of death. He humbled himself. Think of it.

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The maker. The creator. Of the universe. Condescended. Down. Down. Down. And He goes to the cross of shame.

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To die. He was crucified. Folks this is the power of God. Is Christ crucified?

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The philosophers couldn't understand it. The Greeks couldn't understand it. The Jews couldn't understand it.

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But He humbled Himself. Became obedient. Perfect obedience. To the point of death. To the death of the cross.

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And Jesus willingly took that role of a bond slave. No one forced Him to do it.

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He willingly did it. Can I just bring this to your forefront this morning?

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Such amazing love. How can it be that thou my

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God. Shouldest die for me. And we know that God couldn't die. But we know that as God.

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As a man. As a man He died. He never sinned.

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He was God's lamb. He did not deserve to die. He chose to die. As our substitute.

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Folks think of this. This is why heaven would be heaven to us. Because of Jesus. Remove Jesus out of heaven.

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There is no heaven. That's why I love to ask the question. Why do you want to go to heaven?

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Oh I love the streets of gold and the gates of pearl and all this. They don't get it. That's a benefit.

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The heaven of heaven is Christ. He is the heavens of heavens. He is the bliss of heaven.

01:05:25

An old gospel song we used to sing among the Pentecostals. And I don't know if they understood what they were singing. But I loved it.

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Jesus will outshine them all. That's the truth. Jesus will outshine them all.

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How far did He go to the point of death? Such humility. Paul describes the depths of Christ's humiliation.

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And reminds his readers that Christ died by the cruelest form of capital punishment possible.

01:05:57

Crucifixion. By Romans. The Assyrians developed it. And put

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Him on a cross. An agonizing death. A slow death. And it wasn't just the physical death

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He took. We know the real pain He took was those three hours of darkness.

01:06:15

When the wrath of God came upon Him. And God the Father crushed

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His own Son. It's hard for us to fathom this.

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Because it's more than just the physical. Even though that was bad. But you look at all this.

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Why would He love us so? But you also think how horrible is my sin.

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That God would go to such depths. To take our sin to a cross.

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And to take the wrath of Almighty God.

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To crush Him. To satisfy the Father. It's justice.

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Folks, that makes me want to just fall down right now and worship. As our heart is in worship.

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And then after this. This is why Paul says. He will be exalted above all.

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Because He went to this point. He went to the point of death. And that was the lowest point.

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He became a curse. Galatians 3 .13 Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law.

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Haven't become a curse for us. As it's written. Curses is everyone who hangs on a tree. Christ became that curse.

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So that you and I would inherit the blessing. And what's the blessing? Christ.

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He is the blessing. And one day every knee shall bow.

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And every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Very quickly.

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James 4 application. James 4 verse 6.

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But He gives more grace. Therefore He says. God resists the proud. But gives grace to the humble.

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Therefore submit to God. That's what we are to do. Have you submitted to God? Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

01:08:23

Draw near to God. And He will draw near to you. Listen to this. If you want cleansing. Listen to this. He says this.

01:08:29

Cleanse your hands you sinners. Purify your hearts. You double minded. I'm sure there were sinners out there in the congregation.

01:08:39

When He wrote this. Lament and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning. And let your joy to gloom.

01:08:44

In other words. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord. And then He will lift you up.

01:08:50

You want to be lifted up? Humble yourself before the mighty hand of God. That's James.

01:08:56

Then you go to Peter. First Peter 5. It's almost word for word identical.

01:09:04

And they both of these apostles quote the proverb. Listen to Peter.

01:09:15

Verse 5. First Peter 5. Likewise you younger people submit yourselves to the elders.

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Yes all of you then. He says. Be submissive to one another. Just not to elders.

01:09:27

But be submissive to one another. And be clothed in humility. We put our clothes on this morning.

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Right? This is something we should do with humility. We should clothe ourselves with humility. Every day that we live.

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In the home. At our workplace. As we go about. Because God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.

01:09:51

Same thing. Then He says in verse 6. Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God. That He may exalt you in due time.

01:09:59

And Peter adds. Casting all your care upon Him. For He cares for you. He cares for you. He loves you.

01:10:06

He doesn't want to see you die and go to hell. And remain to yourself. You've got breath in your body.

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You know what J .C. Ryle says? There's no repentance in the grave, folks. Right now is the day of salvation.

01:10:21

Repent while you've got breath. That's the greatest love of all.

01:10:28

That I'm called and commanded to repent. Well, we know that pride turned an archangel into a devil.

01:10:41

May we fear this. May we humble ourselves before God's mighty hand.

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And cry out and say, search me, O God. And see if there be any wicked way in me. Praise His name.

01:10:55

Jesus Christ is ready to save. Just come to Him. And He'll save you to the uttermost.

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Because He's a Savior that loves to save. And be ready to repent. Call on His name.

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For whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered. Shall be saved.

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Hallelujah. Please pray with me. O Father.

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Our Father in heaven. You are the high and lofty

01:11:29

One. Who inhabits eternity. Whose name is holy. And all the angels and all those call on Your name.

01:11:40

And praise You in heaven. Holy, holy, holy. Lord, You said that You dwell in the high and holy place.

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And with Him who has a contrite and humble spirit. To revive the spirit of the humble.

01:11:55

The spirit of the humble. And to revive the heart of the contrite ones.

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Lord, You in the reviving business. You in the bringing to life business. Father, we thank

01:12:08

You for this. May this humbling and this brokenness begin with us, O God.

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May we humble ourselves before Your mighty hand. That You may exalt us in due time.

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To humble ourselves to be broken. And Father, to be poured out vessels to serve others.

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Not for ourselves, but for You, Lord. Ultimately for Your glory. Because one day we will cast all the trophies at Your feet.

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And may our eyes be forever fixed on the One who gave us the true example. Of eternal life and life itself.

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Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. And may, Lord, we have the attitude of being like Christ.

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May this attitude be ours as we follow our Lord Jesus. May we deny ourselves and take up our cross and follow

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Christ. As Thomas A. Kempis says, Carry the cross patiently and in the end the cross will carry us.

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Father, we thank You. Help us to do this daily. We need Your Spirit, Lord. We are not capable within our own power to do this.

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But Father, by Your grace and mercy, Lord, You can give us the strength. May this attitude be ours in our everyday living.

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As we look unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.