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Voddie Baucham - The Mind of Christ in the Believer Session 1 · Voddie Baucham Sermons

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  Speaker 1: If you have your Bibles with you, open them to
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  Speaker 1: the Book of Philippians. Philippians are our theme is the
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  Speaker 1: mind of Christ, and we'll we're looking at Philippians chapter two.
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  Speaker 1: But as we open to Philippians, I don't know how
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  Speaker 1: familiar you are with this book, but I just want
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  Speaker 1: to point a couple of things out to you. There
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  Speaker 1: are a number of verses in the Book of Philippians
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  Speaker 1: that most Christians learn early on. If you've known them
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  Speaker 1: for a while, then you may forget that they're actually
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  Speaker 1: in the Book of Philippians. I just want to point
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  Speaker 1: a couple of them out as we look here Philippians
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  Speaker 1: chapter one and verse twenty one. For me to live
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  Speaker 1: is Christ to die? Is gain very familiar with that one.
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  Speaker 1: Our passage here in chapter two will be very familiar.
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  Speaker 1: But also if you look at chapter three, look at
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  Speaker 1: chapter three, beginning in verse eight, Indeed, I count everything
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  Speaker 1: is lost because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ,
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  Speaker 1: Jesus my Lord, for his sake, I have suffered the
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  Speaker 1: loss of all things, and count all and count them
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  Speaker 1: as rubbish in order that I may gain Christ. Look
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  Speaker 1: down at verse fourteen, I press on towards the goal
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  Speaker 1: of the prize of the upward call. In Christ Jesus.
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  Speaker 1: Look at Chapter four, beginning a verse four, rejoicing the
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  Speaker 1: Lord always Again, I will say, rejoice, Let your reasonableness
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  Speaker 1: be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand. Do
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  Speaker 1: not be anxious for anything, but in everything, by prayer
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  Speaker 1: and supplication, with thanksgiving, Let your request be made known
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  Speaker 1: to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding,
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  Speaker 1: will guard your hearts and mind. In Christ Jesus, how
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  Speaker 1: many of us learn that early on? Look at the
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  Speaker 1: next verse. Finally, Brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable,
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  Speaker 1: whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever
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  Speaker 1: is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is
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  Speaker 1: anything worthy of praise, Think about these things. And of course,
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  Speaker 1: who can forget Philippians four thirteen. I can do all
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  Speaker 1: things through Him who strengthens me. And verse nineteen, My
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  Speaker 1: God will supply every need of yours according to His
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  Speaker 1: riches in glory. In Christ Jesus.
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  Speaker 2: If you.
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  Speaker 1: Haven't learned those verses and committed those verses in some
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  Speaker 1: way to your memory, I commend them to you. And
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  Speaker 1: as we think about the mind of Christ, I want
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  Speaker 1: to point that out and not only because this is
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  Speaker 1: the book that we're going to be looking at tonight,
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  Speaker 1: but also because, in a very real sense, the mind
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  Speaker 1: of Christ is about just this. The mind of Christ
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  Speaker 1: at the end of the day is about us walking
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  Speaker 1: with Christ, yes, being in communion with Christ. Yes. But
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  Speaker 1: it's about thinking his thoughts after him. Amen. It is
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  Speaker 1: about not being conformed to the pattern of this world,
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  Speaker 1: as Paul would say, but being transformed by the renewing
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  Speaker 1: of our minds, so that by testing we may approve
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  Speaker 1: the world of God. That by testing we may approve.
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  Speaker 1: How do we do that by not being conformed, but
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  Speaker 1: being transformed in our minds, by changing the way we think?
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  Speaker 1: And what begins to happen and what we begin to
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  Speaker 1: see in the body of Christ is how godly mature
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  Speaker 1: men and women in the body simplify this and model this.
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  Speaker 1: Do you have people like that in your life? Do
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  Speaker 1: you have people in your life and you go, I'm
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  Speaker 1: facing a situation. I really don't know what to do.
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  Speaker 1: I really don't know how to think about this situation.
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  Speaker 1: You had that person in your life who comes to
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  Speaker 1: mind right then, because you know that they are going
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  Speaker 1: to give you the Lord's word and not just a
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  Speaker 1: Bible verse ripped out of the text, but an applicable
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  Speaker 1: word in season. They're going to think about whatever that
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  Speaker 1: thing is from a biblical perspective. That's the mind of Christ.
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  Speaker 1: That right there, that's the mind of Christ. That they're
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  Speaker 1: not going to take their Christian hat off and just
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  Speaker 1: give you what anybody in the world will give you.
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  Speaker 1: And you know this, that's why you go to other
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  Speaker 1: friends who are not Christians. Let's say you're having a
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  Speaker 1: problem with your child, or you're having a problem in
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  Speaker 1: your marriage. You go to other friends who are not Christians,
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  Speaker 1: and they're going to give you the same answers that
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  Speaker 1: you find out there in the world. That they'll give
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  Speaker 1: you some therapeutic answer. They'll they'll give you some worldly answer.
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  Speaker 1: They'll they'll give you some answer again shallow, worldly, and
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  Speaker 1: you'll know it's not right. And eventually, and maybe even reluctantly,
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  Speaker 1: you go to that person that you know will bring
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  Speaker 1: the mind of Christ to bear on the situation. And
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  Speaker 1: I say reluctantly because oftentimes we're well aware that that
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  Speaker 1: answer is going to cut against the grain of what
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  Speaker 1: we're hearing everywhere else. Here's the other thing. It's going
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  Speaker 1: to be harder than what we hear everywhere else. Amen.
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  Speaker 1: Can we be honest? We know it's going to be
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  Speaker 1: harder because everywhere else I'm going to hear the answer
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  Speaker 1: that my flesh wants to hear, because I'm going to
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  Speaker 1: hear it from other people's flesh. These are men and
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  Speaker 1: women of the flesh, and they're going to give me
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  Speaker 1: answers to the flesh. And if you're mad at your
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  Speaker 1: husband and you want to bash his brains there, oh,
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  Speaker 1: don't act like you don't get that mad at your husband.
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  Speaker 1: If we're not going to be honest, we can just
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  Speaker 1: go you've been married long more than a couple of days. Amen.
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  Speaker 1: Somebody right, If you've been mad at your wife and
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  Speaker 1: you know you just have the images of you know
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  Speaker 1: that that scene in the Avengers where the Hulk takes Loki.
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  Speaker 2: Puny.
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  Speaker 1: God, right, those images, those those desires, the flesh creeps in,
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  Speaker 1: and that's how you want to respond. We're angry, we
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  Speaker 1: want to walk away. And you go to your friends
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  Speaker 1: in the world and you know that they're going to say,
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  Speaker 1: you know what, you deserve to be happy, or you
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  Speaker 1: go to immature Christians and im sure Christians are going
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  Speaker 1: to say the same thing, but make it sound kind
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  Speaker 1: of spiritual. You know, God wouldn't want you to be miserable.
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  Speaker 1: And then you're gonna think, I gotta go to my brother,
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  Speaker 1: I gotta go to my sister, I gotta go to
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  Speaker 1: my father and the faith. I gotta go to that
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  Speaker 1: uncle in the church, that auntie in the church. Who's
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  Speaker 1: going to answer this not according to the flesh. It's
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  Speaker 1: not going to give me something that says yes, follow
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  Speaker 1: that impulse, follow that desire. But instead it's going to
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  Speaker 1: be mind of Christ. That's what this weekend is about. Amen.
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  Speaker 1: And today I want us to sort of set the
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  Speaker 1: stage by looking here in Philippians chapter two. We'll be
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  Speaker 1: getting there at verse one, and we'll look at perhaps
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  Speaker 1: the most familiar passage here in the Book of Philippians.
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  Speaker 1: Paul is writing to the church here in Philippi, and
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  Speaker 1: he's encouraging unity for the sake of the Gospel. The
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  Speaker 1: church in Philippi is a good church and a helpful church.
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  Speaker 1: We see that early on in the letter. For example,
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  Speaker 1: in chapter one, beginning of verse three, I thank my
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  Speaker 1: God in all my remembrance of you always in every
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  Speaker 1: prayer of mine for you, all making my prayer with
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  Speaker 1: joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the
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  Speaker 1: first day until now, they've supported him, they've walked with him,
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  Speaker 1: they've encouraged him, and they've been a good church in
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  Speaker 1: that regard. But there's an area where they need to
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  Speaker 1: be challenged and encouraged. And the area is in the
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  Speaker 1: area of unity, because without that they will undo everything.
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  Speaker 1: And so he begins here in chapter two, verse one.
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  Speaker 1: So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort
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  Speaker 1: from love, any participation in this period, any affection and sympathy.
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  Speaker 1: And by the way, there are all these things. And
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  Speaker 1: we know that there are all these things. We looked
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  Speaker 1: at that in chapter four he uses that same line
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  Speaker 1: of argumentation. All of these things absolutely exist. All of
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  Speaker 1: these things are ours in Christ. If we are in Christ,
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  Speaker 1: then there is encouragement, there is comfort from love, there's
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  Speaker 1: participation in the spirit, there's affection, and there is sympathy.
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  Speaker 1: That's what it means to be a Christian. That's what
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  Speaker 1: it means to be part of the body of Christ.
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  Speaker 1: So that's where he starts. He's about to make a demand,
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  Speaker 1: but he starts there, I'm making a demand on you.
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  Speaker 1: He's not making a demand on their flesh. He's not
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  Speaker 1: making to demand on people who are just out there
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  Speaker 1: in the world. He's making a demand on people who
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  Speaker 1: are in Christ. And it's very important to note here
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  Speaker 1: that when we talk about the mind of Christ, here's
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  Speaker 1: what we're not talking about. We're not talking about some
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  Speaker 1: sort of scheme to help you have a better life
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  Speaker 1: apart from the person in work of Christ. That's not
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  Speaker 1: what we're talking about. This is not, you know, one
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  Speaker 1: of those back in the day. For a while, it
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  Speaker 1: was really popular because of one author in particular, to
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  Speaker 1: have these business conferences, right, and it will be these
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  Speaker 1: business conferences where there would be principles from the Book
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  Speaker 1: of Proverbs for your business. No Gospel, no Christ, just
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  Speaker 1: these principles. We're gonna yank these principles out of the
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  Speaker 1: scripture so that you can have these principles and be
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  Speaker 1: a better businessman. Where we're not gonna yank these principles
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  Speaker 1: out of the scripture and give you these principles so
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  Speaker 1: you can be a better husband, better wife, better mother,
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  Speaker 1: better father, apart from the person in work of Christ.
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  Speaker 1: That's not the way the Gospel works. That's moralism. Moralism
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  Speaker 1: says Jesus is our moral example, and we come to
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  Speaker 1: him as our moral example. And if we live our
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  Speaker 1: lives following his moral example, we will be better people
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  Speaker 1: and we will have better lives. Newsflash, that's actually true.
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  Speaker 1: But that's not the gospel. Amen. If that's all you get,
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  Speaker 1: then you die and you're separated from God for all
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  Speaker 1: eternity and hell. Because that's not sufficient. So it's very
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  Speaker 1: important to recognize he's talking to members of the body
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  Speaker 1: of Christ. So there's absolutely encouragement in Christ. There's absolutely
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  Speaker 1: comfort from love, participation in the spirit, affection and sympathy.
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  Speaker 1: All of those things are ours in Christ. All of
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  Speaker 1: those things are true of us because of the person
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  Speaker 1: and work of Christ. Once he establishes this, he says
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  Speaker 1: in verse two, if there's any of that, he's my desire, complete,
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  Speaker 1: my joy by being of the same mind, having the
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  Speaker 1: same love, and being in full accord and of one mind.
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  Speaker 1: If that's true, If there's encouragement in Christ and comfort
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  Speaker 1: from love and participation in the spirit, affection and sympathy, if.
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  Speaker 2: That's true, If that's.
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  Speaker 1: True, if you Christian, and if all of you can
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  Speaker 1: raise your hand and say.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, that's true.
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  Speaker 1: Yes, that's true.
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  Speaker 2: That's true.
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  Speaker 1: If that's true, and we know that it's true, then
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  Speaker 1: you need to complete my joy by being of the
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  Speaker 1: same mind, having the same love, being in full accord,
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  Speaker 1: and of one mind. That's the desire that you would
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  Speaker 1: be one. He introduces this earlier a few verses earlier.
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  Speaker 1: Look up in chapter one, verse twenty seven. Only let
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  Speaker 1: your manner of life be worthy of the Gospel of Christ,
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  Speaker 1: so that whether I come and see you or am absent,
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  Speaker 1: I may hear of you that you are standing firm
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  Speaker 1: in one spirit, with one mind, striving side by side
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  Speaker 1: for the faith of the Gospel. That's what I want.
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  Speaker 1: I appreciate that you are a supportive church. I appreciate
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  Speaker 1: that you are partners in the Gospel. But I want
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  Speaker 1: you to be one. I want you to have unity.
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  Speaker 1: There's his desire. By the way, this desire is in
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  Speaker 1: keeping with our Lord's desire. Look at in the Gospel
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  Speaker 1: of John, John chapter seventeen. John chapter seventeen is really
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  Speaker 1: the Lord's prayer. Amen, we have the model prayer our
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  Speaker 1: Father in Heaven, right, that's the model prayer. But the
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  Speaker 1: Lord's prayer this would best be titled the Lord's prayer.
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  Speaker 1: His High priestly prayer in John chapter seventeen. Look at
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  Speaker 1: this John chapter seventeen, beginning of verse twenty A number
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  Speaker 1: of places that we can look and see this, but
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  Speaker 1: no place more poignant than here again, Jesus praying to
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  Speaker 1: the Father toward the end of his life. I do
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  Speaker 1: not ask for these only, but also for those who
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  Speaker 1: will believe in me through their word. Talking about the disciples,
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  Speaker 1: and those who believe through their word, that would be us, amen,
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  Speaker 1: that they may all be one, just as you, Father
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  Speaker 1: are in me and I in you, that they also
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  Speaker 1: may be in us, so that the world may believe
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  Speaker 1: that you have sent me. Don't miss that. Here's the
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  Speaker 1: union and communion that we have as believers, that we
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  Speaker 1: are in Christ, which unites us to the Father by
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  Speaker 1: the power of the Spirit, and also unites us to
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  Speaker 1: one another. That's the communion that we have verse twenty two.
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  Speaker 1: The glory that you have given me. I have given
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  Speaker 1: to them that they may be one, even as we
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  Speaker 1: are one. I in them, You and me, that they
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  Speaker 1: may become perfectly one, so that the world may know
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  Speaker 1: that you sent me and loved them even as you
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  Speaker 1: loved me. If that's the case, and if that's Christ's
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  Speaker 1: desire for his bride. Then the apostle cannot be satisfied
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  Speaker 1: with the church that's not unified, even if that church
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  Speaker 1: is a giving church, even if that church is gifted
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  Speaker 1: in any number of ways, if it's not reflecting that
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  Speaker 1: union and communion that we have with Christ and with
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  Speaker 1: one another, that union that we have with the Godhead
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  Speaker 1: because of the person and work of Christ, then there
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  Speaker 1: is a problem. John chapter seventeen is an explanation and
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  Speaker 1: an outworking of the Covenant of Redemption. The Covenant of
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  Speaker 1: Redemption is a covenant between the Father, the Son, and
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  Speaker 1: the Holy Spirit. Before the foundation of the world, an
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  Speaker 1: eternity passed, there was a covenant made in the Godhead,
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  Speaker 1: and it's outlined in John seventeen. That covenant goes like this.
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  Speaker 1: The Father, out of his love for the Son, bequeathed
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  Speaker 1: a gift to the son. That gift that he bequeathed
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  Speaker 1: to the Son was a people. The Son, out of
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  Speaker 1: his love for the Father, gave his life to redeem
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  Speaker 1: those people whom the Father gave to him as a
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  Speaker 1: love gift. The Spirit, who is the very personification of
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  Speaker 1: the love between the Father and the Son, in time
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  Speaker 1: unites those people by applying that redemption through the person
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  Speaker 1: in work of Christ, so that those people might be
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  Speaker 1: united with Christ and united with the Godhead. Here's the picture.
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  Speaker 1: God is love and an eternity past. The God who
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  Speaker 1: is love decided that that love would spill over into creation,
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  Speaker 1: and that love that spills over into creation creates a
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  Speaker 1: people by love who are redeemed by love, who has
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  Speaker 1: that redemption applied to them by love, so that they
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  Speaker 1: might be united to the God whose love spilled over
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  Speaker 1: into creation. That's what Paul is referring to here. So
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  Speaker 1: when he talks about oneness, he's not talking about a
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  Speaker 1: superficial oneness, but a supernatural oneness. This mystical union that
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  Speaker 1: we have, it is a beautiful thing. There are other
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  Speaker 1: versions and pictures of this mystical union. For example, my
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  Speaker 1: next of can my closest living relative, my next of kin,
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  Speaker 1: is not related to me by blood. You ever thought
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  Speaker 1: about that closer to me? And that my mother than
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  Speaker 1: my father, than my sister, than my brother. My next
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  Speaker 1: of kin, my closest living relative not related to me
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  Speaker 1: by blood. She's my wife, and through a mystical union
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  Speaker 1: we two have become one flesh not just physically, but
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  Speaker 1: also spiritually and emotionally one flesh. And that is a
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  Speaker 1: picture of this mystical union between Christ and his church.
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  Speaker 1: We see that, and if he's in chapter five, do
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  Speaker 1: we not? So we had this beautiful, earthly example, and
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  Speaker 1: that's what's being referred to here. So there's this desire,
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  Speaker 1: there's this request. After that, we get some commands. We
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  Speaker 1: get some commands. Look at verse three. And in order
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  Speaker 1: to understand these commands, we've got to understand the way
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  Speaker 1: Paul is operating here. I already said earlier that what
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  Speaker 1: he's saying is to people who belong to Christ, people
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  Speaker 1: who have redeemed, been redeemed by the person in work
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  Speaker 1: of Christ. That we're not talking about moralism here. We're
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  Speaker 1: not talking about Christ just being our moral example. Here,
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  Speaker 1: He's not just saying, I really want you to do better.
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  Speaker 1: So when we look at these commands, we have to
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  Speaker 1: look at them in that light. But they are absolutely
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  Speaker 1: commands verse three. So these commands explain what Paul is
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  Speaker 1: talking about. He's saying, I want you to be one
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  Speaker 1: same mind, same love, full accord, one mind. What does
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  Speaker 1: that look like? Verse three? Do nothing from selfish ambition
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  Speaker 1: or conceit. There's a don't. Here's a d but in humility,
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  Speaker 1: count others more significant than yourselves. Here's another don't. Let
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  Speaker 1: each of you look not only to his own interest
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  Speaker 1: and then another du but also to the interests of others.
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  Speaker 1: Two does and two don'ts to very serious and explicit commands.
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  Speaker 1: Here's what he desires. He desires first that we do
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  Speaker 1: nothing out of selfish ambition or conceit. And the opposite
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  Speaker 1: of that, that a humility, we count others as more significant.
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  Speaker 1: Have we heard anything about that earlier in the letter? Yes,
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  Speaker 1: indeed we have. Go to chapter one and look, beginning
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  Speaker 1: verse twelve. I want you to know, brothers, that what
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  Speaker 1: has happened to me has already served to advance the gospel.
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  Speaker 1: Remember this is about unity for the sake of the gospel.
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  Speaker 1: This whole letter about advancing the gospel. They've given so
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  Speaker 1: that the gospel can be advanced. They want the gospel
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  Speaker 1: to be advanced. I want you to know that's happening
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  Speaker 1: so that verse thirteen, it has become known throughout the
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  Speaker 1: whole Imperial Guard and to all the rest that my
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  Speaker 1: imprisonment is for Christ. This is happening all over the place.
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  Speaker 1: They're knowing this, my imprisonment is being used for the
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  Speaker 1: advancement of the Gospel, and most of the brothers, having
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  Speaker 1: become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much
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  Speaker 1: more bold to speak the Word without fear. This is awesome.
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  Speaker 1: I am in jail again. Paul was a repeat offender.
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  Speaker 1: But this time the Word is spreading even among the
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  Speaker 1: Imperial Guard. And because of the work that the Lord
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  Speaker 1: is doing, the brethren are being in boldened. The Gospel's
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  Speaker 1: going forth. But then the good verse fifteen. Some indeed
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  Speaker 1: preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from goodwill.
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: The latter do it out of love, knowing that I
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: am put here for the defense of the Gospel. The
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: former proclaimed Christ out of what selfish ambition? Not sincerity,
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment. By the way,
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: Paul's fine either way verse eighteen. What then, only that
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: in every way, whether it is pretense or in truth,
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice. So now
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: look back at our verse verse three. Do nothing out
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: of selfish ambition. That's that same phrase. Some of these
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: people are preaching out of selfish ambition. His desire is
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: that they might be one. The command is do nothing
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: out of selfish ambition or conceit. Here's a newsflash. Your
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: natural inclination is to do everything out of selfish ambition
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: and conceit. If you can't say amen, you ought to
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: say out. That is your natural inclination. We are born
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: in sin, shaped in iniquity. We are selfish people, every
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: last one of us. It's our natural inclination. And here's
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: a newsflash. When we come to faith in Christ, that
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: selfish inclination is still there and it has to be
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: worked out of us. Sanctification is not immediate, Amen, justification
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: us being declared righteous. That that happens, and that's immediate.
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: That happens, and it's done. It's a legal declaration. Our
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: adoption is immediate. We are declared children of God. It's
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: a legal declaration. It's done. Our sanctification happens progressively over
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: time throughout our entire lives, as we are more and
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: more conformed to the image of Christ. What that means
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: is most of your sin problem is not dealt with
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: on day one. Amen. Now there are some things, there
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: are some things that God takes away from people on
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: day one. People have testified to that, and it usually
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: has to do with how the Lord is going to
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: use them in their lives. For whatever reason, that thing
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: needed to be gone on day one, and that thing
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: was gone on day one. And you may have met
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: people like this, people who used to be drunkards and
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: they got saved and then they lost the taste. It's
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: usually not the way it happens. But there are people
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: for whom that's their testimony or other things like that,
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: but that's not the normal way that it happens, by
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: the way, that's the downside of those kind of testimonies. Amen.
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: I always tell people, if that's your testimony, to be
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: careful with it, because if we're not careful with it.
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: And here's what happens. We stand up there and we
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: share our testimony as though somehow when we got saved,
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: our sanctification was immediate, and everybody else is out there going, wow,
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: I must be a horrible person because I struggle with stuff.
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: And what's interesting is wellout question individuals for whom that's
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: their testimony. The Lord saved me, and he just this
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: was gone. Guess what else is usually their testimony? They
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: continue to struggle with pride, so sanctification happens over time.
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: Selfish ambition was your life, your motivation, and your goal.
• 32:44
  Speaker 1: Just because you became a Christian doesn't mean that that
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: selfish ambition and conceit was gone. It usually means you
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: found other avenues for it. And Paul is saying, do
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: nothing from selfish ambition or conceit. The opposite of that.
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: But in humility, count others more significant than yourselves. Count
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: others more significant than yourselves. That is not a natural response.
• 33:18
  Speaker 2: It's not.
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: Count others more significant than yourselves doesn't mean that you
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: have no significance. It means that you have an outward
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: orientation and other orientation. So there's the first command. Let's
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: look at that second command. Let each if you think
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: not only to his own interests. He doesn't say, don't
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: think to your own interests. There's nothing wrong with that.
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: There's nothing sinful about that. Amen. No one ever hated
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it. As we
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: read Ephesians five, right, you have to look out after
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: your own interest so he says, look not only to
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: his own interests, but also to the interests of others.
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: So we're counting others more significant than ourselves. And we're
• 34:16
  Speaker 1: looking to the interests of others. There are the commands.
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: Now here's where we often get off the rails. We
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: are bent toward moralism, we're bent toward legalism. We're bent
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: toward looking at Christianity as a list of dues and don'ts.
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: So when we read the scriptures, we love it when
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: we find things like this where we can make a
• 34:41
  Speaker 1: list of things and boxes for us to tick off,
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: so that we can gauge whether or not we're righteous,
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: or more accurately, whether or not we're more righteous than
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: other people by the number of boxes that we find
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: to tick off. Your flesh loves lists of things to do. Amen,
• 35:07
  Speaker 1: because we want to want to redeem ourselves. We want
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: to we want some reason to boast are you a Christian?
• 35:18
  Speaker 2: Yes?
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: Because I don't do this, this, this, or this, and
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: I always do this, this, this, and this me good?
• 35:27
  Speaker 1: You bad. We love to watch the nightly news so
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: then we can see all the things the terrible people
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: have done that we would never do. And then we
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: come to a passage like this, and we go great,
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: another list that I can take off, and I'm gonna
• 35:50
  Speaker 1: go through my life and I'm gonna go through my right.
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: I'm gonna find ways tomorrow that I can do this
• 35:56
  Speaker 1: and not do that. Slow your role. Something that we
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: find in scriptures, especially in the New Testament, that we
• 36:07
  Speaker 1: need to keep in mind, especially when we're reading the epistles,
• 36:12
  Speaker 1: and that is indicatives and imperatives. Now, indicatives, okay, that's
• 36:20
  Speaker 1: the part of speech that indicates what something is. Indicatives,
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: These are flowers. That's an indicative statement. I'm indicating what
• 36:30
  Speaker 1: something is. You with me, okay, an imperative statement, Smell
• 36:37
  Speaker 1: the flowers. That's telling me something to do. Smell the flowers.
• 36:45
  Speaker 1: In the New Testament, and by the way, this is
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: an important part of understanding the mind of Christ in
• 36:51
  Speaker 1: the New Testament, especially in the epistles, we have to
• 36:54
  Speaker 1: understand the inexorable link between indicatives and imperatives. Imperatives tell
• 37:02
  Speaker 1: us what to do right. Indicatives Indicatives tell us who
• 37:10
  Speaker 1: we are as a result of the person and work
• 37:14
  Speaker 1: of Christ, what God has done on our behalf through
• 37:20
  Speaker 1: the person and work of Christ. That's what indicatives do.
• 37:26
  Speaker 1: So when we're reading the epistles, we're reading the New Testament,
• 37:29
  Speaker 1: we would be mindful of the fact that There are
• 37:32
  Speaker 1: indicatives that tell us what God has done on our
• 37:35
  Speaker 1: behalf through the person and work of Christ, and who
• 37:40
  Speaker 1: we are as a result of what God has done
• 37:43
  Speaker 1: through the person and work of Christ. Imperatives tell us
• 37:48
  Speaker 1: what to do and what we're enabled to do as
• 37:55
  Speaker 1: a direct result of what God has accomplished on our
• 37:59
  Speaker 1: behalf through the person and work of Christ. They're linked inexorably.
• 38:06
  Speaker 1: What they're not telling us is listen, Jesus died to
• 38:10
  Speaker 1: save you. He died on the cross to redeem you.
• 38:13
  Speaker 1: You're justified, You've been adopted. That's great. Now, Jesus's part
• 38:17
  Speaker 1: of this is over. Now you need to go out
• 38:20
  Speaker 1: and do these things in and of yourself. No, the
• 38:28
  Speaker 1: indicatous in the imperatives go together, and that's exactly what's
• 38:31
  Speaker 1: happening here. So watch. Here are the imperatives. Do nothing
• 38:39
  Speaker 1: for selfish ambition, from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility,
• 38:43
  Speaker 1: count others more significant than yourselves. By the way.
• 38:46
  Speaker 2: Your flesh can't do that.
• 38:49
  Speaker 1: Won't do that. There's four that each of you look
• 38:55
  Speaker 1: not only to his own interest, but also to the
• 38:58
  Speaker 1: interests of others. Your flesh can't do that. Won't do that.
• 39:04
  Speaker 1: Verse five. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours
• 39:13
  Speaker 1: in Christ Jesus. Now, between verse four and verse five,
• 39:25
  Speaker 1: I want you again, we don't add to scripture, we
• 39:28
  Speaker 1: don't take away from scripture. But in order to understand this,
• 39:32
  Speaker 1: in order to make this point, I want you to
• 39:35
  Speaker 1: think about the question that comes between verses four and five.
• 39:41
  Speaker 1: I'm not to do anything out of self dis ambition
• 39:42
  Speaker 1: or conceit, but an humility connsider others more significant than myself.
• 39:53
  Speaker 1: If I'm the look not only to my own interest
• 39:54
  Speaker 1: but also to the interest of others, and if my
• 39:59
  Speaker 1: flesh is ill equipped to do that, then here's the
• 40:02
  Speaker 1: question that comes between verse four and verse five. How
• 40:05
  Speaker 1: do I do that? How do I do that? Because
• 40:11
  Speaker 1: I know myself? I know myself. It's going to be
• 40:18
  Speaker 1: just like how many times how many of you have
• 40:22
  Speaker 1: had the experience of trying to read through the Bible
• 40:27
  Speaker 1: for the first time. I'm gonna read through the Bible
• 40:29
  Speaker 1: this year. I'm gonna do it. And you get there
• 40:35
  Speaker 1: and you're in Genesis and right it's January, and you're
• 40:38
  Speaker 1: all committed, and you just like pumped and fired up,
• 40:42
  Speaker 1: and you're reading through Genesis, and Genesis is all narrative
• 40:45
  Speaker 1: and it's juicy and it's got all this stuff. And
• 40:48
  Speaker 1: you get through Genesis and you're like, yes, you get
• 40:55
  Speaker 1: the Exodus, still a bunch of narrative stuff and it's good.
• 40:58
  Speaker 1: And you got the baby in the basket and then
• 41:00
  Speaker 1: you got plagues and you got all day. I mean,
• 41:03
  Speaker 1: then you just say you, yeah, you just you make it.
• 41:06
  Speaker 1: It's a little rough, but you make it. You've made
• 41:08
  Speaker 1: it through Exodus this year, I'm gonna do it. And
• 41:12
  Speaker 1: then you're rewarded with Leviticus. Next thing, you know, it's
• 41:21
  Speaker 1: May June. Maybe you get up and dust yourself off
• 41:27
  Speaker 1: and you go at it again. Right, you muddle your
• 41:32
  Speaker 1: the way through Leviticus, and you're rewarded with numbers. That's
• 41:46
  Speaker 1: our flesh. And that's exactly how we are with things
• 41:50
  Speaker 1: like this. You hear something like this and there's an
• 41:54
  Speaker 1: immediate knee jerk reaction that says, yeah, you know what,
• 41:58
  Speaker 1: that's true. I do need to be more like that.
• 42:03
  Speaker 1: That's true. I do think too highly of myself. I
• 42:09
  Speaker 1: need to stop that. I do need to consider others
• 42:13
  Speaker 1: more highly. I do need to consider the interests of others.
• 42:18
  Speaker 1: Lord I'm convicted over this. Thank you for showing me this.
• 42:22
  Speaker 1: I'm gonna do better. And you do a few days,
• 42:31
  Speaker 1: a few weeks, and then the next thing, you know,
• 42:36
  Speaker 1: a few months later, you hear something like this again,
• 42:39
  Speaker 1: and you go, you know what, I remember? I remember
• 42:45
  Speaker 1: the Lord convicted me about that before, and I've slipped
• 42:49
  Speaker 1: and I'm not doing Lord. I'm gonna recommit, and I'm
• 42:51
  Speaker 1: gonna stop me. If stop me, if you've seen this
• 42:55
  Speaker 1: movie before, and for a lot of us, that's our
• 43:02
  Speaker 1: Christian life. So that question goes between there, how do
• 43:08
  Speaker 1: I do that have this mind among yourselves which is
• 43:16
  Speaker 1: yours in Christ Jesus, there needs to be a change
• 43:21
  Speaker 1: in your mind, by the way we already looked at
• 43:22
  Speaker 1: that or in Romans twelve. Right, do not be conformed
• 43:28
  Speaker 1: to the pattern of this world. Right to be transformed
• 43:37
  Speaker 1: by the renewing of your mind. Having this mind in yourselves,
• 43:49
  Speaker 1: which is yours in Christ Jesus. By the way, having
• 43:54
  Speaker 1: this mind in yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,
• 43:57
  Speaker 1: means you already had it. Amen, You don't need to
• 44:05
  Speaker 1: go find it. You already have it because you're in Christ.
• 44:10
  Speaker 1: We are already established that at the beginning that he's
• 44:12
  Speaker 1: talking to people who are in Christ. This is yours.
• 44:17
  Speaker 1: This is your inheritance as a child of God who's
• 44:22
  Speaker 1: been redeemed by the person and work of Christ. This
• 44:25
  Speaker 1: is yours. But notice what he says, though, have this
• 44:35
  Speaker 1: mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ, Jesus. Have
• 44:40
  Speaker 1: this mind among yourselves. This is something that we press
• 44:44
  Speaker 1: into We are able to because of the person in
• 44:47
  Speaker 1: work of Christ on our behalf. It has been granted
• 44:53
  Speaker 1: to us because of the person in work of Christ
• 44:57
  Speaker 1: on our behalf. What is this mind? From verse six
• 45:13
  Speaker 1: on we get what is known as the Canotic hymn.
• 45:19
  Speaker 1: It's this beautiful picture of the person and work of
• 45:23
  Speaker 1: Christ on our behalf. But it's also a beautiful picture
• 45:30
  Speaker 1: of the mind of Christ that is worked out in
• 45:35
  Speaker 1: our redemption. So what is this mind of Christ? What
• 45:42
  Speaker 1: is this mind that is ours in Christ Jesus, that
• 45:48
  Speaker 1: enables and empowers us to be humble and selfless verse six, who,
• 46:03
  Speaker 1: though he was in the form of God, did not
• 46:05
  Speaker 1: count equality with God a thing to be grasped. In
• 46:09
  Speaker 1: order to understand this, we must first understand that Christ
• 46:12
  Speaker 1: is indeed God. This mind that is in us, this
• 46:17
  Speaker 1: mind of Christ. We have to understand first and foremost
• 46:21
  Speaker 1: that this is the mind of God, who, though he
• 46:23
  Speaker 1: was in the form of God, that Christ is indeed God.
• 46:29
  Speaker 1: A couple of passages of scripture that we need to
• 46:31
  Speaker 1: look at. Look at John one, John one, John one one.
• 46:44
  Speaker 1: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was
• 46:47
  Speaker 1: with God, and the Word was God. He was in
• 46:51
  Speaker 1: the beginning with God. Through him, all things were made
• 46:56
  Speaker 1: that were made. Amen. Without him, well I have apart
• 47:01
  Speaker 1: from him. Without him, nothing was made. Jesus is co
• 47:11
  Speaker 1: eternal with the Father. Jesus is co creator with the
• 47:16
  Speaker 1: Father and with the Spirit, the creator of all things,
• 47:25
  Speaker 1: all things that have been made. He's not like God.
• 47:28
  Speaker 1: He's not close to God. He's God. Look at John fourteen.
• 47:36
  Speaker 1: Look at John fourteen. A little bit longer passage here,
• 47:42
  Speaker 1: but it's well worth it. John fourteen to one. Let
• 47:47
  Speaker 1: not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God. Believe also
• 47:49
  Speaker 1: in me. In my Father's house are many rooms. If
• 47:52
  Speaker 1: it were not so, I would have told you that
• 47:56
  Speaker 1: I'm sorry. Would I have told you that I go
• 47:58
  Speaker 1: to repare a place for you. And if I go
• 48:00
  Speaker 1: to prepare a place for you, I will come again,
• 48:03
  Speaker 1: and will take you to myself that where I am
• 48:06
  Speaker 1: you may be also, and you know the way to
• 48:09
  Speaker 1: where I'm going. Thomas said to him, I love this, Lord,
• 48:15
  Speaker 1: we do not know where you're going. How can we
• 48:17
  Speaker 1: know the way? Jesus said to him, I am the
• 48:26
  Speaker 1: Way and the Truth and the life. And no one
• 48:29
  Speaker 1: comes to the Father except through me. If you had
• 48:32
  Speaker 1: known me, you would have known my father. Also from
• 48:36
  Speaker 1: now on, you do know him and have seen him.
• 48:41
  Speaker 1: Then presses in it goes, Lord, show us the Father,
• 48:49
  Speaker 1: and it's enough for us. This is, this is, this
• 48:57
  Speaker 1: is that's why this is Jesus and not us. Because
• 49:00
  Speaker 1: I'm at this point, I'm like, just all of y'all,
• 49:09
  Speaker 1: I'm gonna get some more disciples.
• 49:11
  Speaker 2: Just go.
• 49:19
  Speaker 1: And he says, have I been with you so long
• 49:22
  Speaker 1: and you still do not know me? Philip, whoever has
• 49:26
  Speaker 1: seen me has seen the Father? How can you say,
• 49:31
  Speaker 1: show us the Father? Do you not believe that I
• 49:34
  Speaker 1: am in the Father and the Father is in me?
• 49:37
  Speaker 1: The words that I say to you, I do not
• 49:39
  Speaker 1: speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells
• 49:42
  Speaker 1: in me does his works. Believe me that I am
• 49:47
  Speaker 1: in the Father and the Father is in me or
• 49:50
  Speaker 1: else believe on account of the works themselves. This mind
• 49:59
  Speaker 1: that is in us, the mind of Christ, who, though
• 50:04
  Speaker 1: he was in the form of God, who though he
• 50:08
  Speaker 1: was God, did not count equality with God a thing
• 50:17
  Speaker 1: to be grasped. By the way that right there was
• 50:22
  Speaker 1: enough that that's the mind you have access to. When
• 50:36
  Speaker 1: you talk about humility. He's not saying that somehow you
• 50:42
  Speaker 1: need to reach deep and just muster up enough of
• 50:46
  Speaker 1: whatever there is in you that you have so that
• 50:50
  Speaker 1: you can be humble and you can be selfless. No,
• 50:53
  Speaker 1: he's saying, here's who you've been united with, Here's who
• 50:59
  Speaker 1: you belonged to. Here's whose mind you are being conformed to,
• 51:06
  Speaker 1: the one who's God. And he's so humble that he
• 51:12
  Speaker 1: didn't even consider equality with God a thing to be grassed.
• 51:21
  Speaker 1: So when you get upset because people didn't respect you enough,
• 51:27
  Speaker 1: remember that's not coming from the mind of Christ. The
• 51:40
  Speaker 1: mind of Christ is the mind that did not consider
• 51:46
  Speaker 1: equality with God a thing to be grassed. And he
• 51:56
  Speaker 1: goes further into it verse seven. But emptied himself by
• 52:04
  Speaker 1: taking the form of a servant and being born in
• 52:08
  Speaker 1: the likeness of men. It's a question in the Westminster
• 52:14
  Speaker 1: short of Catechism, Question number twenty seven, wherein did Christ's
• 52:19
  Speaker 1: humiliation consist? Theologically, we talk about Christ's humiliation and his exaltation,
• 52:26
  Speaker 1: and oftentimes when we think about Christ's humiliation, we think
• 52:30
  Speaker 1: about the Cross. But Paul here is referring to Christ's
• 52:37
  Speaker 1: humiliation already in this text. Though he was in the
• 52:42
  Speaker 1: form of God, he did not count equality with God
• 52:45
  Speaker 1: a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking
• 52:48
  Speaker 1: the form of a servant, being born in the likeness
• 52:51
  Speaker 1: of men. So question twenty seven, where in did Christ's
• 52:54
  Speaker 1: humiliation consist? The answer, Christ's humiliation consisted in being born,
• 53:01
  Speaker 1: and that in a low condition, made under the law,
• 53:05
  Speaker 1: undergoing the miseries of this life, the wrath of God
• 53:10
  Speaker 1: and the cursed death of the cross, and being buried,
• 53:14
  Speaker 1: and continuing under the power of death for a time.
• 53:17
  Speaker 1: Where does it start? His humiliation begins the moment he
• 53:23
  Speaker 1: leaves heaven and takes on fledge. The King of Glory
• 53:31
  Speaker 1: humbled himself and became a man. The King of Glory
• 53:37
  Speaker 1: humbled himself and didn't even become an important man. The
• 53:43
  Speaker 1: King of Glory humbled himself and wasn't born in a palace.
• 53:49
  Speaker 1: He was born in a manger. So when we're thinking
• 53:59
  Speaker 1: of others more highly than ourselves, there is some mind
• 54:02
  Speaker 1: operating in us that's not the mind of Christ. Because
• 54:05
  Speaker 1: the mind of Christ is not just humble but humiliated,
• 54:12
  Speaker 1: doesn't consider equality with God a thing to be grasped,
• 54:16
  Speaker 1: let alone a title or a position or the respect
• 54:20
  Speaker 1: of men. But he humbles himself and becomes a lonely man.
• 54:30
  Speaker 1: And that's not even all verse eight and being found
• 54:43
  Speaker 1: in human form. He humbled himself by becoming obedient to
• 54:47
  Speaker 1: the point of death, even death on the gross. First,
• 55:00
  Speaker 1: he doesn't hold on to his position. Second, he doesn't
• 55:13
  Speaker 1: hold on to glory. The third he doesn't hold onto
• 55:21
  Speaker 1: his life. He dies to redeem the bride bequeathed to
• 55:33
  Speaker 1: him by his father. He lays down his life and
• 55:37
  Speaker 1: he dies of death that he does not deserve, to
• 55:41
  Speaker 1: pay a penalty that he does not owe in order
• 55:44
  Speaker 1: to redeem a bride who does not deserve it. This
• 55:55
  Speaker 1: is the mind that is ours in Christ, Jesus. So
• 56:04
  Speaker 1: we can't read verse three and four as Paul saying,
• 56:08
  Speaker 1: I want you to gird up your loins and try
• 56:11
  Speaker 1: real hard to do better at this. What we have
• 56:15
  Speaker 1: to read verse three and four in light of what
• 56:18
  Speaker 1: he's just said here in verses six and seven and eight,
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  Speaker 1: because verse six seven and eight says, you have union
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  Speaker 1: and communion with Christ. You belong to Christ, and the
• 56:39
  Speaker 1: mind of Christ is yours. It's your inheritance. So when
• 56:50
  Speaker 1: I'm not doing this, when I'm thinking to highly of myself,
• 56:57
  Speaker 1: there's a couple of things that I can do. Number one,
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  Speaker 1: I can say I need to try harder, do better.
• 57:04
  Speaker 1: Or number two, I can say I am not exercising
• 57:09
  Speaker 1: the mind of Christ, and I can run to Christ.
• 57:13
  Speaker 1: I can flee to Christ. I can remind myself of
• 57:17
  Speaker 1: who Christ is. I can remind myself of what Christ
• 57:22
  Speaker 1: emptied himself of. I can remind myself of what Christ suffered.
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  Speaker 1: And when I do that, something incredible happens. My wife
• 57:39
  Speaker 1: is not. I feel like my wife should be respecting
• 57:42
  Speaker 1: me more than she respects me. I feel like this
• 57:46
  Speaker 1: person always here should be respecting me more than they're
• 57:48
  Speaker 1: respecting me. I feel like I should be honored more
• 57:51
  Speaker 1: than I'm being honored. I feel like I should be
• 57:53
  Speaker 1: whatever it is feeling the blank, I double dog dare
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  Speaker 1: you when that thought comes to your mind? To remind
• 58:08
  Speaker 1: yourself of Christ, who left his title, who left glory
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  Speaker 1: and gave up his life to redeem you, and then
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  Speaker 1: turn back to that person and keep that same thought.
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  Speaker 2: I dare you.
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  Speaker 1: See, what we need is not a three step process
• 58:45
  Speaker 1: of how to think of others more highly right. What
• 58:51
  Speaker 1: we need is a one step process of reminding ourselves
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  Speaker 1: of who we are and how we got to be
• 58:59
  Speaker 1: who we are through the person and work of Christ
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  Speaker 1: on our behalf, who gave up his title, who gave
• 59:06
  Speaker 1: up his home and glory, and gave up his life.
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  Speaker 1: And when that happens that there's no more I need
• 59:17
  Speaker 1: to do these three steps so I can be more selfless.
• 59:20
  Speaker 1: When that happens, it changes the way we think about
• 59:26
  Speaker 1: the circumstance completely. I hope it's done it for you
• 59:36
  Speaker 1: just now, because everyone under the sound of my voice
• 59:40
  Speaker 1: has had that experience, and probably recently well. You feel
• 59:46
  Speaker 1: like you were dishonored, and you feel like you were disrespected,
• 59:50
  Speaker 1: and you feel like you weren't thought highly enough of.
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  Speaker 1: You cannot hold that thought and this one simultaneously, because
• 1:00:10
  Speaker 1: when you hold this thought, when you think of Christ,
• 1:00:13
  Speaker 1: who gave up his title and gave up his home
• 1:00:16
  Speaker 1: and glory and gave up his life. You come back
• 1:00:19
  Speaker 1: to that situation and you think I don't deserve anything.
• 1:00:29
  Speaker 1: What I deserve is death, hell and the grave. Amen,
• 1:00:41
  Speaker 1: and I've been redeemed. I've been redeemed. Not only have
• 1:00:50
  Speaker 1: I been redeemed, but I've been redeemed by the blood
• 1:00:53
  Speaker 1: of Christ. The greatest price that has ever been paid
• 1:00:59
  Speaker 1: to redeem anyone or anything in this world was paid
• 1:01:03
  Speaker 1: to redeem me. And then look at the last part
• 1:01:10
  Speaker 1: of it. Therefore, God has highly exalted him and bestowed
• 1:01:21
  Speaker 1: on him the name that is above every name, so
• 1:01:25
  Speaker 1: that the name of Jesus, every niece should bow in
• 1:01:28
  Speaker 1: heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every
• 1:01:31
  Speaker 1: tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory
• 1:01:35
  Speaker 1: of God the Father. There's his exaltation, and the exaltation
• 1:01:42
  Speaker 1: belongs to Christ. But here's the news flash, folks, we
• 1:01:47
  Speaker 1: are going to be exalted with him. So whatever honor
• 1:01:59
  Speaker 1: I didn't get here, whatever respect I didn't get here,
• 1:02:02
  Speaker 1: whatever position I didn't get here, pales in comparison to
• 1:02:08
  Speaker 1: the glory that we will be revealed in us. Now
• 1:02:18
  Speaker 1: keep that in mind and look at the next couple
• 1:02:20
  Speaker 1: of verses. Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed,
• 1:02:30
  Speaker 1: So now not only as in my presence, but much
• 1:02:34
  Speaker 1: more in my absence, work out your own salvation with
• 1:02:37
  Speaker 1: fear and tribling. There's another command, right, that's an imperative,
• 1:02:41
  Speaker 1: and it's a scary imperative. It's so scary it has
• 1:02:44
  Speaker 1: fear and trembling in it. Right, So we went from
• 1:02:50
  Speaker 1: imperatives to indicative. Now we go back to imperatives again.
• 1:02:54
  Speaker 1: Read the next verse. For it is God who works
• 1:02:59
  Speaker 1: in you to will and to work for his good pleasure.
• 1:03:03
  Speaker 1: There's the indicative. There's the indicative. He comes back and
• 1:03:13
  Speaker 1: he reminds us again, you don't have the imperatives without
• 1:03:19
  Speaker 1: the indicatives. And the indicatives that's the mind of Christ
• 1:03:24
  Speaker 1: that has to be formed in you. The mind of
• 1:03:28
  Speaker 1: Christ that is formed in you is what allows you
• 1:03:34
  Speaker 1: to think rightly and to act rightly in circumstances and
• 1:03:39
  Speaker 1: situations that your flesh cannot handle. So what we need
• 1:03:49
  Speaker 1: is the mind of Christ. And what is so pernicious
• 1:04:00
  Speaker 1: about the way our adversary, the devil operates, is that
• 1:04:05
  Speaker 1: he has Christians, for the most part, tied up in
• 1:04:11
  Speaker 1: legalism and moralism, trying to better our flesh instead of
• 1:04:22
  Speaker 1: recognizing the mind of Christ, which is ours, instead of
• 1:04:30
  Speaker 1: recognizing that. What we are called upon to do is
• 1:04:33
  Speaker 1: to press in to the mind of Christ to be
• 1:04:37
  Speaker 1: conformed to the image of Christ, so that we bear
• 1:04:41
  Speaker 1: the family resemblance and learn to think Christ's thoughts after him,
• 1:04:46
  Speaker 1: so that remind ourselves again and again and again of
• 1:04:51
  Speaker 1: whose we are because of the person and work of
• 1:04:55
  Speaker 1: Christ that has redeemed us. And then coming back to
• 1:04:59
  Speaker 1: our situations and circumstances with the mind of Christ. Not see,
• 1:05:05
  Speaker 1: we don't do that instead of obedience. Amen, we don't
• 1:05:11
  Speaker 1: do that instead of obedience. We do that because it's
• 1:05:15
  Speaker 1: the only thing that will produce obedience. As the mind
• 1:05:23
  Speaker 1: of Christ is developed in us, we begin to think
• 1:05:27
  Speaker 1: Christ's thoughts after him. When circumstances come our way. We
• 1:05:37
  Speaker 1: apply that over and over and over again, and as
• 1:05:44
  Speaker 1: we grow in grace, that application becomes more and more
• 1:05:51
  Speaker 1: natural of us. But don't get too proud, because what
• 1:06:03
  Speaker 1: will happen is you'll get so proud of yourself because
• 1:06:05
  Speaker 1: you'll say, hey, there used to be a time when
• 1:06:08
  Speaker 1: I struggled with this, and now because the mind of
• 1:06:13
  Speaker 1: Christ on this right here, I got this, I got this,
• 1:06:19
  Speaker 1: and then another sin will tap you on your shoulder
• 1:06:29
  Speaker 1: and remind you you need to apply the mind of
• 1:06:34
  Speaker 1: Christ in every area and that aspect of your life.
• 1:06:40
  Speaker 1: But here's what's even worse from our perspective, is you'll
• 1:06:49
  Speaker 1: grow in grace in this particular area, and you'll get
• 1:06:54
  Speaker 1: strengthened in this particular area. And just when you think,
• 1:06:59
  Speaker 1: praise the Lord, I've overcome this particular area. Praise the Lord.
• 1:07:04
  Speaker 1: I used to be a hot head, couldn't stand to
• 1:07:10
  Speaker 1: be disrespected, couldn't stand whatever this that deea. But now,
• 1:07:14
  Speaker 1: but now the mind of Christ, look at the way
• 1:07:17
  Speaker 1: that I'm handling all this, And then something else will
• 1:07:20
  Speaker 1: happen to remind you sanctification is an ongoing process throughout
• 1:07:27
  Speaker 1: the entirety of your life. Amen, hallelujah, Praise the Lord.
• 1:07:37
  Speaker 1: Not finished yet, But that's okay because the Blood of
• 1:07:43
  Speaker 1: Christ will never lose its power. You keep running there,
• 1:07:53
  Speaker 1: you keep reminding yourself of what God has accomplished on
• 1:07:58
  Speaker 1: your behalf through the person and work of Christ, and
• 1:08:02
  Speaker 1: who you are as a result of it, and what
• 1:08:06
  Speaker 1: you have been enabled and empowered to do as a
• 1:08:11
  Speaker 1: direct result of it, and how that transformation brings you
• 1:08:19
  Speaker 1: to greater and greater obedience, not just greater and greater obedience,
• 1:08:23
  Speaker 1: but delight in your obedience. And Beloved, this is what
• 1:08:36
  Speaker 1: we're experiencing when we go to that mature brother or
• 1:08:40
  Speaker 1: sister and the Lord. We come to them with whatever
• 1:08:45
  Speaker 1: it is, and in one way or another they do this.
• 1:08:52
  Speaker 1: They take our situation or our circumstance, and rather than
• 1:08:56
  Speaker 1: responding according to the flesh, they take you back to
• 1:09:00
  Speaker 1: the Gospel, back to the person and work of Christ,
• 1:09:04
  Speaker 1: who you are as a result of what God has
• 1:09:07
  Speaker 1: accomplished on your behalf through the person in work of Christ,
• 1:09:11
  Speaker 1: and applies that to whatever your circumstance is. This is
• 1:09:18
  Speaker 1: what I'm dealing with with my kid. This is what
• 1:09:20
  Speaker 1: the Gospel says you are as a parent. This is
• 1:09:24
  Speaker 1: what I'm dealing with with my husband, with my wife.
• 1:09:26
  Speaker 1: This is what Christ and his redemption has given you
• 1:09:32
  Speaker 1: access to as a husband, as a wife, And by
• 1:09:42
  Speaker 1: God's grace we learn to walk in it. Amen.